Research & reports

Deborah Dotta Corrêa, Gilson Luis Borges Corrêa, Lisiane Ilha Librelotto · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil

This study examined the role of urban agriculture from a Brazilian agricultural perspective through qualitative and exploratory bibliographic research. It hypothesized that urban agriculture serves not only to supply food demand but also as a promoter of environmental education and sustainable development. The findings indicated that urban agriculture revives previously used agroecological principles, effectively contributes to environmental education, and enhances sustainable development by fulfilling the economic, social, and environmental orders of urban ecosystems.

Silvana Maria Ribeiro, Jessica Franco, Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Cláudia Maria Bógus, Helena Akemi Wada Watanabe · DEMETRA Alimentação Nutrição & Saúde · Brazil

This paper discusses the recovery of practices focused on food, health, and the environment through four workshops held in Brazil in 2012 and 2013, which systematized experiences from the agroecological urban agriculture project "ColhendoSustentabilidade." This participatory qualitative research, involving 24 participants, revealed that contact with land in garden activities contributes to cultural recovery and new knowledge construction, promotes gradual changes in eating habits by emphasizing the food-health-environment relationship, and provides opportunities for social interaction involving food.

Kristin Reynolds · International Journal of Food Design · United States (New York City)

Farm School NYC, an adult education program in New York City, was examined as an example of radical innovation in urban agriculture education for social justice. Based on research conducted between 2013 and 2014, the program uses critical pedagogy and popular education to train adult students in urban farming, social justice advocacy, and teaching skills. A network of urban agriculture practitioners, educators, and activists created this community-based training program, which infuses radical visions of social change into its daily educational activities.

Carl E. Taylor, Elizabeth B. Symon, Amy Dabbs, Alexander Way, Olivia M. Thompson · HortTechnology · United States

An online survey of 37 educators (36% response rate) in South Carolina, who completed a school gardening training course between 2012-2015, assessed a pilot farm-to-school initiative. The study found that most educators were unaware their garden was part of the initiative, and gardens were not integrated with school-wide programs, particularly cafeteria meals. However, most educators maintained their gardens for over a year and used them for academic instruction.

Gayle Mallinger, Molly Kerby · Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping (Click on Current or Archives; Registration Optional) · United States (Kentucky)

This narrative describes a three-year community garden project at the Boys & Girls Club in a semi-rural Kentucky city, addressing disparities in access to fresh produce, education, and food programs in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Participants engaged in preparing garden sites, planting seeds, and harvesting vegetables through a Junior Master Gardener program.

Katiuscia Maria Da Silva · Revista ComSertões · Brazil

This article reflects on the concept of "place" by observing its re-significations from modern geography, which established new relationships between humans and their environment. It discusses perceptions observed "in loco" based on theoretical foundations, analyzing the Povo Unido Community Garden. The study aims to capture the meanings of place that permeate humanistic geography and define the human-place relationship within this space.

Richie Roberts, Jon W. Ramsey · Journal of Agricultural Education · United States

This study explored the lived experiences of urban agricultural educators in the United States to understand the essence of their meaning in work. The essence emerged as a "Black Swan" metaphor, representing their distinctiveness in agricultural education, guided by individualization, self-connection, contribution, unification, and coping abilities. These educators appeared to cope with challenges through transcendence, possibly due to serving a distinct population largely comprised of ethnic minority students in low socioeconomic households.

Rachel A. Clare, J. S. Jenkins, Debbie Humphries · The FASEB Journal · United States (New Haven, CT)

In 2016 in New Haven, CT, USA, a 16-week urban agriculture-based wellness program was evaluated for 73 low-income individuals with multiple risk factors for diabetes. The program aimed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease diabetes risk factors. Among the 30 participants with complete data after program completion, daily vegetable servings increased to an average of 2.1, but daily fruit servings decreased to 1.5.

Camila Bevilaqua · Ponto Urbe · Brazil (São Paulo)

Fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, accompanied three indigenous people from "Aldeia Vertical." Since 2016, these individuals have been developing a community garden in the Complexo de Favelas do São Carlos. The garden is constructed as a space for "dissemination of indigenous culture" through relationships involving bodies, food, and techniques. The study focused on the relationships between "culture" and "learning" as established by these individuals, dialoguing with Amerindian ethnology and Afro-indigenous approaches.

Rosalina Almendras · Language arts journal of Michigan · Canada

This project, part of ‘Empowering Growth’, partnered with the Ottawa Juvenile Detention Center (OCJDC) to build a community garden and assess information technology (IT) for improving gardening outcomes. It evaluated available technological tools for gardening and proposed developing a custom web-based garden application for OCJDC, offering planning and tracking capabilities. A prototype of the application was designed to identify specific needs of residents and staff.

Devon A. Mihesuah · American Indian Culture and Research Journal · United States

In Oklahoma, tribes have initiated numerous food projects over the past three decades aimed at achieving food sovereignty. However, Oklahoma's complex history, environmental issues, and current politics present challenges such as uneven food quality, poor indigenous health, intratribal factionalism, racism, and a stark dichotomy of affluence and extreme poverty. These factors complicate the creation of self-sufficient food systems and the reconnection of tribal members with traditional foodways.

Joice Zagna Valent, Letí­cia de Oliveira, Vinicius Dornelles Valent · DRd - Desenvolvimento Regional em debate · Brazil

This descriptive study aimed to describe a social urban agriculture project in a community located in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Through a literature review and a semi-structured interview with the project coordinator, it was shown that urban agriculture possesses social, economic, ecological, and symbolic dimensions beyond food production. The study concluded that various projects developed around urban food cultivation, with main impacts including the promotion of food security, generation of employment and income, environmental management, social integration, and development of human capital.

Lisa Morano, Vassilios Tzouanas · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Houston)

The University of Houston–Downtown (UHD) launched an urban agriculture and sustainability program in 2016, engaging undergraduates in hands-on projects like creating aquaponics systems. Qualitative student surveys indicated increased knowledge and impact on career directions. However, the 2017 program plans were disrupted when Hurricane Harvey flooded the school and destroyed student aquaponics systems, necessitating a focus on rebuilding and future resiliency.

Tyson J. Sorensen, Kelsey Hall, David Francis, Joshua Dallin · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States (Utah)

A survey was conducted among 42 teachers who attended the Urban Agriculture Workshop in Utah to assess the value of various workshop aspects and measure pre-post gains in knowledge, ability, and importance. The survey also measured attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral controls, and behavioral intention, with demographic data also collected.

Roxanna Duntley-Matos, Victoria Arteaga, Ángel García, Rafael Arellano, Roberto Montes Garza, Robert M. Ortega · Journal of Community Practice · United States (Flint)

This critically intersubjectively engaged ethnography examines emergent Latinx lead crisis rehabilitation efforts in Flint, MI, focusing on the role of education within multicultural struggles for validation. It employs cultural humility, transformative complicity, and empowerment paradigms, emphasizing organizing strategies that respect faith-based, union, and urban gardening histories. The study's popular pedagogical methods promote agency among detained youths from Kalamazoo, who contribute through protest music, testimonies, and commentaries.

Helena C. Lyson · · United States (California)

This qualitative fieldwork in a large, urban school district in Northern California explored school food reform efforts addressing childhood obesity. Reforms transpired through three processes: sustained involvement of parent-activists, leadership by the school food service director in championing farm-to-school efforts and facilitating partnerships, and widespread community support for funding and implementation. These findings indicate how local social change transformed public school food programs to benefit youth health.

John Diaz, Susan T. Webb, Erin Elsberry · EDIS · United States (Florida)

A three-page Extension fact sheet from the University of Florida outlining a framework for county garden associations, noting growing recognition of the educational, environmental, health, and social impacts of school and community garden projects, and describing how such associations allow Extension to provide technical information supporting new and existing gardens. It outlines the framework used by a pilot garden association program in Polk County, Florida, written by John M. Diaz, Susan Tyler Webb, and Erin Elsberry and published by the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication in March 2017.

Kerstin Martin, Taylor Hinton, Darby Anderson, Elizabeth J. Schafer, Rebecca Dawson · The FASEB Journal · United States

This report examines a comprehensive community wellness initiative launched in 2014 in Meadville, Pennsylvania — a town classified as a food desert under USDA criteria, where 26.1% of residents lived in poverty and nearly 13% had poor nutritional status in 2014, and where an estimated 70% of adults regionally were overweight or obese with childhood obesity above 30%. The initiative established community gardens, piloted a fresh fruits and vegetables program in a local elementary school, and launched a mobile farmers market — piloted in summer 2016 in collaboration with the local bus company — targeting a low-income neighborhood to increase access to fresh produce and reduce obesity.

Patsy Eubanks Owens · Children Youth and Environments · United States

This is a review of Illène Pevec's book Growing a Life: Teen Gardeners Harvest Food, Health, and Joy (New Village Press, 2016, 407 pages), which presents the experiences of youth — typically low-income and ethnically diverse — participating in a dozen gardening programs across four US states: Colorado, New York, California and New Mexico. Examples cited include youth in New York helping plant green walls and youth in New Mexico learning to grow traditional Native American foods. The review characterizes the book as research-based evidence documenting the effects of school gardening programs on adolescent development and well-being.

Kenna McMrrray, Kelsey Hall, Roslynn Brain · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States

This descriptive piece from Utah, United States, explains Community Supported Agriculture as a farming arrangement providing a direct link between the community and the grower, in which shareholders purchase a share of the CSA and receive produce at regular intervals, typically weekly. It lists potential benefits — access to local, fresh produce free of preservatives and added hormones, and support for diversified agriculture — alongside potential barriers, including the seasonality of production, a smaller variety of products and the upfront cost of a share.

Jason Martinek, Lynn Prosen · Transformations The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy · United States

This interview-format article profiles Lynn Prosen, a science teacher and garden education coordinator at Gill St. Bernard's, a day school in Gladstone, New Jersey, USA, who teaches science from preschool through fourth grade. The school's roughly two-acre garden is divided into four 70 x 80 ft plots — one with raised beds, two dedicated to growing food for the dining hall and farm — alongside a 110-tree apple orchard and beehives for honey production.

Emily Heying, Kendra M. Butkowski · The FASEB Journal · United States

This study surveyed 22 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members receiving weekly vegetable shares in central Minnesota, USA, administering a demographic and anthropometric survey at the season's start and four follow-up surveys on vegetable consumption and food waste, each 10 days after a share pickup. Average BMI was 26.1 ± 4.3 kg/m², average family size was 3.1 ± 1.2 persons, and average distance traveled to pickup was 3.4 ± 5.8 miles; the percentage of vegetables consumed depended on vegetable type and family size but not BMI. Leafy greens were both the most frequently included vegetable and the most frequently discarded; 80% of participants reported increased awareness of food waste from taking part in the study, but only 53% believed their food waste had actually decreased, and awareness showed no correlation with vegetable consumption or discarding behavior.

Cat Buxton · · United States

This is an announcement for a free workshop on garden insects, held Thursday, June 22, 2017, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Community Garden at Ratcliffe Park in White River Junction, Vermont. The workshop was led by a garden consultant and sponsored by the Upper Valley Food Co-op.

Jorge Luiz de Góes Pereira, Fabrício Darley Paixão Fernandes · Revista Brasileira de Educação do Campo · Brazil

A qualitative case study using field observations and document analysis, conducted from April 8 to June 22, 2016, examined two pedagogical projects — "Community Garden" and "Hands That Make" — at the municipal elementary school Pedra Torta (a Community Agroecological School) in Águia Branca, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The findings show that these projects enable students to perceive multiple dimensions of rural reality and to value rural culture.

Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Denise Eugênia Pereira Coelho, Cláudia Maria Bógus · DEMETRA Alimentação Nutrição & Saúde · Brazil

A study of three municipal schools in Greater São Paulo, Brazil, examined the dietary impact of children's experience growing food in school gardens, as perceived by parents and educators. In-depth interviews with principals, teachers, and staff, plus semi-structured in-home interviews with parents, gathered responses from 27 individuals — 19 parents and 8 educators. The school garden was found to promote reflection on eating and food through knowledge gained from direct contact with growing food crops, affecting both the children and their families. Concrete effects reported included dietary changes, greater knowledge of food and the food system, increased appreciation of the food produced, and greater motivation to try new vegetables.