Research & reports

TechCrunch · TechCrunch · United States

TechCrunch reported that vertical farming company Bowery Farming ceased operations on November 4, 2024. The company had raised more than $700 million and was valued at over $2 billion in its 2021 funding round, but had gone through multiple rounds of layoffs in 2023. The article places this alongside the bankruptcies of AeroFarms and AppHarvest as evidence of a broader downturn in the vertical farming sector.

Stephanie Hinnershitz · The National WWII Museum · United States

Published 26 November 2024, this article from The National WWII Museum describes the U.S. Victory Garden movement of 1942-1945, during which Americans tended more than 20 million gardens, producing 42 percent of the nation's fresh produce (10 billion pounds) in 1943 alone. It also notes that 120,000 incarcerated Japanese Americans were made to garden in internment camps.

Camila Neves Lange, Bruna Moreira Freire, Lucilena Rebelo Monteiro, Marycel Elena Barboza Cotrim, Bruno Lemos Batista · Plants · Brazil (Santo André)

Sixty-four lettuce plants were collected from six urban garden sites in Santo André, Brazil, to measure potentially toxic elements and test household washing. Lead reached 0.77 mg/kg at the Capuava 1 site near an industrial complex, above the 0.1 mg/kg limit, with chromium and arsenic also elevated. Sodium-hypochlorite soaking worked best, removing 48% of lead, 46% of arsenic and 52% of vanadium, while plain water immersion removed about 30% of lead and arsenic and cadmium and chromium fell by under 10%. Total cancer risk for children exceeded acceptable thresholds at some gardens, and the authors conclude washing alone is insufficient and environmental source control is required. Roots were not analysed because gardeners did not want beds damaged.

· Corresponsables · Peru

Spanish-language CSR outlet Corresponsables reported on 1 November 2024 on the 20th anniversary of "Huertos en Línea" (Online Gardens), a project started in 2004 by neighborhood women under power transmission lines in Villa María del Triunfo, Lima, with support from transmission line operator ISA REP. Participating families harvest around 25,600 kilograms of vegetables per quarter, grow more than 40 agroecological vegetable varieties, and earn up to 350 soles a month from selling surplus produce.

Agência Senado · Agência Senado (Senado Federal) · Brazil

An Agência Senado article reporting that Law 14,935/2024, sanctioned on July 26, 2024 and published in the official gazette on July 29, 2024, created Brazil's National Policy on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (PNAUP). The law defines urban and peri-urban agriculture as farming and livestock activity integrated into the urban ecological and economic system, and lists seven objectives including expanding food security for vulnerable urban populations, occupying idle urban spaces, generating alternative income, linking production to public procurement, promoting family labor and cooperatives, encouraging agroecological production, and spreading organic-waste recycling.

AIPH (International Association of Horticultural Producers) · AIPH (International Association of Horticultural Producers) · Brazil

AIPH's Green City case study on Curitiba, Brazil (associated with the 2024 AIPH World Green City Awards), describes an urban agriculture program dating to the mid-1990s comprising 147 gardens — 47 community, 43 school, and 36 institutional — covering 17 hectares (177,000 m²). The gardens produce about 160 tons of vegetables per month and benefit 37,000 people; 89 beehives are also installed.

Câmara dos Deputados (Agência Câmara de Notícias) · Agência Câmara de Notícias, Câmara dos Deputados (Brasil) · Brazil

A Brazilian Chamber of Deputies news article reporting that Law 14.935/24 — originating from Bill PL 906/15 introduced by federal deputy Padre João — was published on July 29, 2024, creating a National Policy on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture. Its stated objectives include expanding food security for vulnerable urban populations, putting unused urban and peri-urban land to use, generating alternative income for urban residents, linking food production to public procurement (schools, hospitals, prisons), supporting family farming and solidarity-economy organizations, promoting environmental education and organic farming, and encouraging reuse of organic waste and rainwater; implementation is to be decentralized across federal, state and municipal governments, civil society and educational institutions.

Goralnik L., Radonic L., Garcia Polanco V., Hammon A. · Land, 12(1):68 · United States

A qualitative study of a food-bank-run community garden in Lansing, Michigan, examining what fosters inclusion for refugee and immigrant gardeners. It shows how garden management practices promote inclusion that builds social capital, an outcome important for refugee and immigrant wellbeing.

Landry M., Asigbee F., Vandyousefi S., Ghaddar R., Davis J. · Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 123(3):637-643 · United States

A cluster randomized controlled trial in mostly low-income, Hispanic Texas elementary schools testing whether the TX Sprouts garden, nutrition and cooking intervention affected academic performance. It found the program did not harm academic outcomes, showing that garden-based food education can be integrated into instructional time without lowering achievement.

García-Vásquez R., Vera-Guzmán A.M., Carrillo-Rodríguez J.C., Pérez-Ochoa M.L., Aquino-Bolaños E.N., Alba-Jiménez J.E., Chávez-Servia J.L. · AIMS Agriculture and Food 8(3):832-850 · Mexico

Compared phenolics, vitamin C, carotenoids, capsaicinoids, and antioxidant activity in Oaxacan Huacle and De Agua pepper landraces versus commercial Jalapeño. Landraces showed higher flavonoid and carotenoid contents, underscoring indigenous germplasm value.

Litt J. S., Alaimo K., Harrall K. K., Hamman R. F., Hébert J. R., Hurley T. G., Leiferman J. A., Li K., Villalobos A., Coringrato E., Courtney J. B., Payton M., Glueck D. H. · The Lancet Planetary Health 7(1):e23-e32 · United States

Observer-blind RCT among Denver community-garden waitlist adults. The gardening intervention significantly increased fiber intake and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and reduced perceived stress and anxiety compared with controls.

Alaimo K., Beavers A. W., Coringrato E., Lacy K., Ma W., Hurley T. G., Hébert J. R. · Current Developments in Nutrition 7(5):100077 · United States

Mixed-methods analysis of an RCT showing community gardeners increased vegetable intake from baseline to harvest, an effect mediated by greater seasonal eating of locally available produce.

Riehn J.K., Fogel N.S., Hathaway J.N., Camilo G.R. · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 5:1100470 · United States (St. Louis, MO)

Surveyed bees on three urban rooftop food farms and two nearby ground-level community gardens in St. Louis during 2017–2018. Rooftops hosted 38 species—a nested subset of ground-level communities, with fewer bumblebees and more non-native Megachile—with implications for pollination services on rooftop food production.

Jha S., Egerer M., Bichier P., Cohen H., Liere H., Lin B., Lucatero A., Philpott S.M. · Ecology Letters, 26(3):369-383 · United States (California)

Using >5,000 observations over five years across a network of urban community gardens in California, this study quantifies trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services (e.g., pest control and pollination) in urban agroecosystems. Contrary to assumptions that food production conflicts with biodiversity, it finds many synergies and few trade-offs, and shows that surrounding natural landscape cover interacts with local management to mediate services from mobile animals — underscoring the role of garden management and urban planning in optimizing biodiversity and human benefit.

Kerstin Schreiber, Klara J. Winkler, Killian Abellon, Graham K. MacDonald · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States

This study analyzes 25 local food strategy and action-plan documents from 22 major US and Canadian cities (over 300,000 residents) to assess how cities plan for peri-urban and rural food production. It finds that topics such as farmland access and quality, farm viability, agricultural training, processing infrastructure, and the needs of marginalized groups (including BIPOC) are often overlooked, and that fewer than half of cities defined how progress would be measured.

Frank Oliver, Melanie N. Stock, Paul Grossl, Grant Cardon · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Salt Lake County)

This study conducted an initial screening survey of soil contaminants (lead, arsenic, and benzo(a)pyrene) in community gardens and urban farms in Salt Lake County, Utah, where urban agriculture is expanding. Lead ranged from 14.8 to 516 mg/kg (mean 91.8) and arsenic from 2.83 to 39.3 mg/kg (mean 11.8), with all arsenic values exceeding the US EPA regional screening level of 0.68 mg/kg. The baseline data were used to develop local screening levels and soil management plans for producers.

Samuel J. W. Peters, Sydney M. Warner, Eri Saikawa, P. Barry Ryan, Parinya Panuwet, Dana B. Barr, Priya E. D'Souza, Gil Frank, Rosario Hernandez, Taranji Alvarado, Arthur Hines, Chris Theal · GeoHealth · United States (Atlanta)

Using community-engaged research, researchers and community gardeners co-designed a study measuring soil lead concentrations via XRF and ICP-MS at 19 urban agricultural and residential sites in west Atlanta and three rural Georgia sites. Most sites were below the EPA residential screening levels but above the University of Georgia's low-risk agricultural levels, and some sites containing metal-refining waste or slag reached three times the EPA level. The findings led local and federal agencies to initiate cleanup of the slag residue.

Zhiming Zhang, Dibyendu Sarkar, Frances Levy, Rupali Datta · Sustainability · United States (Jersey City)

This field study demonstrated the effectiveness of a chemically catalyzed phytoextraction model, using the biodegradable chelating agent EDDS with vetiver grass, in a lead-contaminated community garden in Jersey City, New Jersey. Despite ongoing lead input from a nearby construction site, soil lead fell from 1144 to 359 mg/kg over three years. EDDS converted non-plant-available lead forms into plant-available forms, and vetiver roots accumulated more lead than in plots without EDDS.

Hannah Ramer, Kristen Nelson · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States (Minneapolis)

Using a contextualized case comparison of the City of Minneapolis and the independently elected Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, this study examines how urban garden land policies granting access to publicly owned land can either reduce or exacerbate racial inequities. It argues that seemingly minor policy details systematically shape who benefits, and that the Park Board went substantially further on racial equity—aided by more intensive public participation in developing the policy details.

Stacy M. Philpott, Peter Bichier, Genesis Perez, Shalene Jha, Heidi Liere, Brenda B. Lin · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States (California)

This study examined how garden physical features, garden "luxury," and land-tenure security influence plant species richness, functional diversity, and composition in community gardens on the California central coast. It found that land-tenure-secure gardens had higher plant and crop richness, while luxury-associated variables raised ornamental richness and flower abundance but lowered crop richness.

Logan Bowdish, Adalie Duran, Justin Richardson, Eric Vukicevich · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States

In an urban community farm, this study evaluated how crop identity, harvested tissue, and soil factors—including arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi—affect crop uptake of lead and arsenic. Lead uptake increased with lower soil pH and lower soil phosphorus, greater AM fungal colonization was associated with greater lead uptake, while more fungal storage vesicles related to less arsenic uptake into leaves.

Justine Lindemann · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States (Cleveland)

This article explores the potential for "collaborative survival" in deindustrialized urban spaces, arguing that abundant so-called vacant parcels offer a pathway toward more self-determined food systems. Using the work of Black gardeners and farmers in Cleveland, Ohio as a case, it frames urban food production as a praxis of liberation that contests structural racism and reimagines alternative urban futures.

· Sustainability · Arizona, USA

Assesses the feasibility of rooftop rainwater harvesting for food production on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, discussing its potential to alleviate community water stress.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Mexico (Queretaro)

Shows how urban agroecology enhances agrobiodiversity and resilient, biocultural food systems in the semi-dryland, medium-sized city of Queretaro, Mexico.

Range Camille, O'Hara Sabine, Jeffery Tia, Toussaint Etienne C. · Foods · USA

Assesses effectiveness of food policy councils in major US cities, highlighting how unstable funding and weak institutional support undercut their ability to influence policy. Concludes that many councils underperform relative to their mandate due to resource and capacity constraints.