Research & reports

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.

Jonathan Lowell, Sara Law · CABI eBooks · United States (Texas), Cuba

A comparative study of urban agriculture projects in Austin, Texas, and Havana, Cuba, revealed that sustainability discourses primarily focus on food production methods, with little attention paid to persistent food insecurity issues that urban agriculture has yet to address, or to the cultural politics of food, where race, class, and gender shape access to food choices. While agricultural practices and their perceived value were similar in both cities, the study found comparable outcomes in how food exposed spatial and social divisions.

Denes Dantas Vieira, Reimilde Gomes da Silva Amorim · EXTRAMUROS - Revista de Extensão da Univasf · Brazil (Juazeiro)

This study aimed to investigate the dilemmas of the social trajectory of the Povo Unido community garden in Juazeiro/BA, Brazil, located on the banks of the São Francisco River. This garden is known for its organic vegetable production and as one of the first groups focused on overcoming poverty and combating hunger in Brazil's semi-arid northeast. The research contributes to reflection based on social organization and organic food production.

Rebecca Gresh · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · United States (California)

This qualitative study investigated two alternative food projects in San Diego, California, to reveal how food justice is envisioned and practiced. "Project New Village (PNV)" in a low-income area resists institutional racism and class inequality through a community garden and farmers market. In contrast, the affluent "San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project (SDRS)" resists suburban sprawl and environmental destruction through sustainable food production. PNV faces obstacles like law enforcement patrols interrupting community rebuilding, indicating that alternative food movements may reproduce structures of oppression.

· Policy Press eBooks · United States (Detroit)

This interview chapter features Grace Lee Boggs discussing revolution, evolution, and change in Detroit. Boggs posits that revolutions stem from communities claiming spaces to realize their desired world, viewing urban agriculture and grassroots movements as acts of revolution that "grow our souls." She highlights Detroit as a pioneer in this new form of revolution, advocating for revolution as a way of life rather than a power grab.

Benjamin Goldstein · · United States

This project aims to address uncertainties regarding the environmental performance of urban agriculture, using the Northeast United States as a case study. Existing literature lacks environmental appraisals comparing urban and rural food production, leaving questions about whether the benefits of reduced farm-to-fork distance are outweighed by energy demands of year-round growing systems, and if farm-scale resource efficiencies translate to meaningful shifts in a city's environmental footprint. This report comprises six chapters that explore and contribute to the understanding of urban food systems.

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.

Maria Luiza de Andrade Benini · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (Campinas)

This study examined how place and space influence the consolidation and configuration of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group, using the example of a group in Barão Geraldo, Campinas, Brazil. CSA is a consumer group where consumers finance agricultural production and share benefits like food health, as well as risks like production losses. Field research, using observation and open interviews, showed that the configuration and appropriation of a space are essential for strengthening the CSA group.

· Policy Press eBooks · United States (Detroit)

In this interview chapter, Grace Lee Boggs discusses revolution, evolution, and change in Detroit, reflecting on her life's work. Boggs states that revolutions stem from communities claiming spaces to realize their desired world, rather than from seizing power. She views urban agriculture and other grassroots movements as acts of revolution that help "grow our souls," highlighting Detroit's pioneering role in this new approach.

Megan Betz, Jacob Mills, James Farmer · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This study conducted a qualitative, inductive survey of community orchard organizations in the U.S. (42.64% response rate) to establish a baseline understanding. Participants were identified via internet presence, meaning little is known about orchards without an online presence. Findings showed that community orchards are primarily established on public land, with primary motivations including environmental concern, education, and a sense of community. Organizers reported that fruit and nuts produced feed residents in the immediate surrounding area.

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.

Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell, James Bliesner, Keith Pezzoli · California Agriculture · United States

This study collaborated with the San Diego Community Garden Network to analyze the production, distribution, and consumption of produce from eight community gardens in San Diego County. UC San Diego researchers and students worked with county residents and community-based organizations to develop a survey. Interviews with gardeners and survey data documented how community gardens contribute to individual and household health, well-being, and community development. The findings suggest that community gardens have the potential to contribute meaningfully to community development, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.

Lindsay K. Campbell · Cornell University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)

In New York City, chapter six revealed how civic and public actors working outside PlaNYC iteratively embedded urban agriculture and food policy into municipal planning efforts. Within the void created by city hall’s lack of engagement, other figures in the municipal government seized the opportunity to advance food policy agendas for New York City. The 2011 update to PlaNYC included a brief crosscutting section on food, although it lacked capital funding to fuel the achievement of its stated goals, and was seen by advocates as a symbolic and political achievement.

Lewis C. Gray, Lucy Diekmann, Susan J. Algert · CABI eBooks · United States

This book chapter examines the renaissance of urban agriculture in North America since the 1960s creation of community gardens, asking whether it is producing enduring landscapes and socio-economic change or is transitory like past movements. After surveying broad research themes — civic engagement, community development, food justice and ecosystem services — the chapter examines barriers to and impacts of urban agriculture in Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley, where significant economic disparities are reflected in unequal access to different forms of urban agriculture.

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.

Lindsay K. Campbell · Cornell University Press eBooks · United States (New York City)

This chapter traces the network of actors and storylines involved in creating, advocating for and maintaining urban agriculture in New York City. It recounts a brief history of community gardening as a social movement in the city since the 1970s, then explores the practices and narratives of a newer wave of civic practitioners active from the 2000s onward, distinguishing threads focused on local food production, food justice, and neighborhood stabilization and youth empowerment.

Emily Benton Hite, Dorie Perez, Dalila D’Ingeo, Qasimah Boston, Miaisha M. Mitchell · Annals of Anthropological Practice · United States

A study examined the structure and meaning of community gardens in Frenchtown, Tallahassee, Florida's oldest and most cohesive African American community. Using a mixed-methods approach during a five-week NSF-funded ethnographic field school with the Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee, the study analyzed how residents transform empty spaces into places of engagement and empowerment, resisting systemic racism. Through garden activities, residents transcend race, culture, income, and neighborhood boundaries while promoting health, heritage, place-making, and economic opportunities, positioning community gardens as an expression of social resistance.

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

A 2017 fact sheet from Utah State University explains what community supported agriculture (CSA) is, outlines types of CSA models along with their benefits and barriers, and lists CSAs operating in Utah.

Timothy F. LeDoux, B. W. Conz · CABI eBooks · United States

A chapter documenting how the food justice movement in the lower Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, USA, has challenged inequities in the agri-food system alongside broader socio-economic and racial disparities. It examines Holyoke-based Nuestras Raíces and Springfield-based Gardening the Community, two organizations using urban agriculture to alleviate food insecurity and improve food access while reimagining ecological and socio-spatial relationships in a region marked by decades of de-industrialization and neoliberal economic reform. Drawing on urban political ecology, it argues their assertion of a "right to the city" underlies attempts to dismantle institutional racism and socio-economic stratification embedded in both the current food system and the region.

Katyelle Rafael, Ariella Andrade Marchioro, Cristiane Maria Colli, Bruna Tiaki Tiyo, Fernanda Ferreira Evangelista, Renata Coltro Bezagio, Ana Lúcia Falavigna-Guilherme · Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · Brazil

This study genotyped Giardia duodenalis in raw-eaten vegetables (crisp lettuce, regular lettuce, kale, chicory, and rocket) sampled from street markets and community vegetable gardens in an urban area of southern Brazil. Researchers analyzed 130 samples from street markets and 130 from community gardens (260 total), washing them in Tween 80 solution, filtering through a cellulose acetate membrane, amplifying the GDH gene by semi-nested PCR, and genotyping positive samples by PCR-RFLP. 7.3% (19/260) of samples tested positive for G. duodenalis, from both street markets (10/130) and community gardens (9/130), including both organic and non-organic products. Assemblage AI predominated, but assemblages B and E, which carry zoonotic potential, were also found. The study concludes this points to a need for investigating commercially sold raw vegetables and establishing stricter quality control.

Melanie Bedore · Social & Cultural Geography · Canada

Drawing on mail-in surveys and interviews with participants in the Good Food Box (GFB) community food program in south-eastern Ontario, Canada, this qualitative study used Foucault's later work to examine socio-spatial relations of care for self and proximate others in food provisioning. GFB participation was found to be predominantly a self-caring act motivated by frugality and physical health; where care for others was expressed, the dominant themes were helping less economically fortunate others, local farmers and family.

Miriam Hermi Zaar · OKARA Geografia em debate · Brazil

Arguing that analyzing territory across multiple scales requires an analytical framework grounded in the dynamic, repeated interweaving of elements and processes that combine into — and clash as — diverse "territorial fragments," this paper examines urban agriculture as a site where city and countryside, urban and rural, and their diverse practices approach, blend and are sometimes confused with one another. Focusing on horticulturists in the Gramorezinho Community in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, as its case, the study shows that historical and spatial singularities — environmental, socioeconomic and administrative — have produced distinct processes that at times align and at other times contradict one another.

John Ikerd · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

An opinion piece arguing that although some critics view the growing popularity of urban agriculture as a superficial response to concerns about urban food deserts, it could instead become an important part of the U.S. food system, as it already is in much of the rest of the world. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 800 million people worldwide cultivate fruits and vegetables or raise livestock in cities, and the World Watch Institute estimates that urban agriculture produces 15 to 20 percent of the world's food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not yet collect data on urban agriculture, but urban gardens are described as an increasingly important source of fresh produce in some cities, particularly the inner-city areas of older post-industrial cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia, and Camden, New Jersey.

Carolyn Dimitri, Lydia Oberholtzer, Andy Pressman · British Food Journal · United States

Based on a 2012 national survey of urban farmers in the USA (35 questions), this study analyzed the social missions of urban farms, their extent, and differences and similarities among farms with varying missions. The survey found that food production is an essential mission for all urban farms, and some also have social missions related to food security, education, and community building. Farms with explicit social missions were found to donate a higher share of food and were less likely to own farmland compared to market-oriented farms.