Research & reports

Andrew Koval · Educational Media Reviews Online · United States (New York City)

The 27-minute documentary film "Brooklyn Farmer" (2014) covers organic urban rooftop farming as a business. The film offers perspectives on the cost of farm labor's exposure to pesticides versus the increased cost of organic vegetables, citing aesthetics, supply chain reduction, and human health as benefits of urban farming. While noted for its informative text and enhanced production value, a stated limitation is that it should have featured farmers in a more traditional vegetable production capacity to provide a diversity of opinion concerning the market.

Amy Wagenfeld, Erica Whitfield · Children Youth and Environments · United States (Florida)

In January 2010, the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, received a grant to install school/community gardens to reduce obesity and increase access to fresh produce among minority communities, primarily Hispanic children and families. A 42-item survey measured the gardens' usability, curricular integration, movement/exercise capacities, and health benefits. Findings indicated that participating in garden programs positively influenced students' and teachers' lives.

Bhavna Shamasunder, R Mason, Luke Ippoliti, Laura Robledo · Environmental Justice · United States (Los Angeles)

A community-based research project in Pacoima, Los Angeles, examined 36 families who received home gardens, training, and support in 2013. Following families through one planting cycle, data showed the potential for home gardens to contribute to household food budgets, increase home pride, motivate community involvement, and provide green spaces. This project aims to address the research gap on home gardens' benefits and challenges.

Hugo Puerto · Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research · United States (Florida)

This ethnographic study in Indian River County, Florida, investigated challenges in engaging Mexican im/migrant farmworkers in community-based health solutions, specifically community gardens. Despite efforts by farmworker leaders and the health department to promote community gardens for health and economic benefits, little engagement was observed within the farmworker community. The research, based on participant observation, surveys, and interviews, analyzed barriers to healthy eating and the limited role of grassroots initiatives in improving health outcomes.

Sonya J. Jones, Casey Childers, Amy T. Weaver, Jacquelyn Ball · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · United States (South Carolina)

In South Carolina, United States, a piloted farm-to-school program with four components, including local producer partnership, SC-grown foods in the cafeteria, promotion, and a school garden, was evaluated. A quasi-experimental design compared fruit and vegetable consumption in children from participating schools to matched comparison schools. Results showed that children in farm-to-school schools consumed more vegetables but fewer fruits than those in comparison schools.

Virajita Singh, Alexander Thill, Daniel Handeen · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · United States (Minneapolis)

Project Sweetie Pie (PSP) is a non-profit organization in North Minneapolis, United States, that addresses food insecurity by establishing community gardens. To date, PSP has started over 25 gardens, providing fresh produce to citizens. The Camden Greenhouse planning project engaged the community to understand needs and generate ideas for creating a food hub in Camden and North Minneapolis.

Walter Belik · Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional · Brazil

This article discusses the use of the Food and Nutritional Security concept in Brazil's Fome Zero Project and its implementation through various programs initiated in the past decade. It concludes by calling attention to the need to improve programs related to supply, food and nutritional education, and urban agriculture to enable the functioning of an integrated Food and Nutritional Security system.

Carlos Antônio Gonçalves da Costa, José Thyago Aires Souza, Daniel Duarte Pereira · polemica · Brazil (Gurjão)

This study portrayed and analyzed the inclusion of an environmental education project using a school garden as a tool in Gurjão municipality, Brazil. The research demonstrated that the school garden facilitated learning based on various areas of knowledge and fostered conscious and critical citizens regarding environmental issues. It highlighted that the school garden can serve as an open-air laboratory to be utilized across all disciplines.

Elena Broaddus, Liana S. Przygocki, Peter J. Winch · Children Youth and Environments · United States (Baltimore)

A year-long case study examined six eleventh- and twelfth-grade students participating in a farm-based youth internship program in Baltimore, Maryland. Using Self-Determination Theory as an analytical framework, program components that promoted participants' engagement by meeting their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness were identified. The findings indicate specific strategies that urban agriculture programs can use to more effectively engage youth.

Maria José Pereira Tavares, Ana Paula Maia Espíndola Rodrigues, Reginaldo Ferreira de Lima Júnior, Pedro José Santos Carneiro Cruz · Encontro Regional Nordeste I 2015 · Brazil (João Pessoa)

The "Praticas Integrais da Promocao da Saude e Nutricao na Atencao Basica – PINAB" University Extension Program, active since 2007 in João Pessoa, Brazil, uses popular education methodology to promote health and food security. The "Horta Popular Boa Esperanca" community garden, a key initiative, provides weekly educational activities like cultivation and harvesting, fostering collective work and social mobilization. The program's actions create a collective space for learning and integration between the community, health services, and university, contributing to health promotion and environmental care.

Faith Rusk · · United States

This resource provides information for UDC students on urban agriculture as a social movement that combines traditional farming with the lifestyle of an urban dweller.

Karinna Vernaza · · United States

This paper describes a semester-long, community-based service learning project at Gannon University's First-Year Seminar in Engineering, utilizing the university's community garden. Projects included designing a rainwater collection system and vertical planters to engage first-year students in the engineering design process. Students' self-reported data indicated increased appreciation for engineering design and understanding of societal engineering solutions.

Gabriel Gonçalves Ribeiro Silva, André Maciel da Silva, Antônio Fernandes Nascimento · Periódico Eletrônico Fórum Ambiental da Alta Paulista. · Brazil

This study describes the development of a didactic strategy to approach environmental themes in fundamental teaching II, presenting a teaching sequence involving the construction of a terrarium in a 7th-grade classroom in Brazil for teaching environmental education and ecology concepts. Students built a terrarium, visited the school garden, and deepened discussions through a video. Based on student evaluations, the practice was effective not only for teaching formal concepts but also for the civic formation of students, who perceived themselves as agents of environmental transformation.

Ana Paula Louzada, Ernesto Grillo Rabello, Yan Menezes Oliveira · Revista Interinstitucional Artes de Educar · Brazil

This study documents the collective construction experience of an agroecological garden by psychology students at the Federal University of Espírito Santo. The paper emphasizes the relevance of this practice in producing integral health and critiques the current context of Integrated World Capitalism, which separates humans from nature.

Jenna Banning · ScholarWorks -A service of University of Vermont Libraries (University of Vermont) · United States

This study analyzed three years of student surveys collected before and after one year of participation in the American Heart Association's Teaching Gardens program. While improvements were indicated in preferences, food systems learning, social norms, and gardening skills for the experimental group, none of these changes over time were statistically significant. At post-test, significant differences were found across all five indices by gender (girls more positive) and by school minority concentration and socioeconomic status (SES), with mixed effects for environmental factors.

Kynda R. Curtis, K. Eileen Allen, Ruby A. Ward, Curtis, Kynda R., Allen, Karin, Ward, Ruby A. · Journal of food distribution research · United States (Utah)

This study examined the impacts of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program participation on consumer attitudes and behaviors related to food consumption and preparation among CSA members in Utah. Data were collected through pre, post, and monthly surveys, food purchase receipts, and CSA basket contents. Results showed shifts in participant dietary intake and food preparation attitudes and behaviors, including increased fresh produce consumption, decreased grain intake, and fewer meals consumed away from home. Participants also became more interested in cooking and canning/preserving, with increased availability of Vitamin C, Vitamin B, and folic acid.

Ellen Barnidge, Elizabeth A. Baker, Mario Schootman, Freda Motton, Marjorie Sawicki, Frank Rose · Health Education Research · United States

This quasi-experimental study in rural Missouri evaluated an intervention providing nutrition education and community garden access to African Americans to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. At mid-intervention, the intervention county showed lower hypertension and BMI. Both nutrition education participation and community garden access were independently associated with perceived fruit and vegetable consumption, with the strongest effect when combined. However, individuals with access but without education had a reduced likelihood of consuming recommended servings of fruits and vegetables.

Tracy George, Debbie Humphries, Trace Kershaw, Josh Singer · The FASEB Journal · United States (Washington, DC)

This study explored the health and community experiences of gardeners at Wangari Gardens, a community garden in Washington, DC, through 17 semi-structured qualitative interviews. Gardeners chose to garden for improved nutrition, chronic disease management, hobbies, and connection to nature and community. They continued gardening for relationships, physical benefits, harvests, and self-efficacy, indicating community gardens provide multi-faceted individual and community benefits.

José Tobias Marks Machado, Jeferson Tonin, Evandro Pedro Schneider · SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología · Brazil

This study, conducted in two schools in Cerro Largo - RS, Brazil, during 2013, performed a post-implementation analysis of ecologically based school gardens introduced through a university extension program. Positive results included the proliferation of similar projects. However, significant difficulties were emphasized in integrating the school gardens with disciplinary education, attributed to existing conservatism in the educational context.

Ari Novy, Devin Dotson · CSA News · United States

This article argues that botanical and public gardens are well-positioned to connect the public with agriculture, especially in urban centers where interest in food and agriculture is resurging. With over 70 million visitors annually and existing infrastructure, botanical gardens can serve as urban nodes for science-based education. They can perform plant research, offer education, interpret plant uses, and showcase plant beauty.

Alicia S. Landry, Nikki Chittendon, Christine Coker, Caitlin Weiss · Journal of Extension · United States

This article describes the perceived physical and psychological health impacts of community gardening on participants in the Mississippi Delta. Identified themes include gardening as an educational tool, increasing self-efficacy, and fostering responsibility for personal and community health. Additional benefits reported are exposure to new healthy foods, increased physical activity, and legacy building.

Elizabete Cristina Ribeiro Silva, Alexandre Brasil Carvalho da Fonseca, Fernanda Pereira Dysarz, Ernani Jardim Reis · Alexandria Revista de Educação em Ciência e Tecnologia · Brazil

This research identifies parameters for school gardens in Brazil, analyzing various experiences and an urban public school case. The study correlates the health of students and farmers in agricultural activities, explicitly pointing out negligences in this regard. It argues that a healthy eating concept from school gardens requires an equally healthy production system, and attention to student safety can highlight farmers' working conditions, which is crucial for food and nutritional education.

Hannah Cobb, Madisen Hasenauer · Digital Commons - CSUMB (California State University, Monterey Bay) · United States (California)

This paper proposes that school gardens can be a powerful tool for teaching sustainability concepts to elementary school students. It suggests that teachers who receive school support, collaborate with committed volunteers, and have access to appropriate resources are prepared to confidently educate students on ecological conservation through school gardens.

Bill Musser · · United States (Iowa)

The CBHL 2015 annual meeting and conference was hosted by Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, from June 16-20, 2015. The conference theme reflected the growing public interest in creating edible landscapes.

Laura Forbes · Digital Commons - CSUMB (California State University, Monterey Bay) · United States (California)

School gardens are common in elementary schools, but teachers find it challenging and unnecessary to incorporate them into their time and everyday curriculum due to time restrictions and the need to focus on required classroom curriculum. This capstone focuses on the beneficial factors students can receive by properly implementing the school garden into everyday curriculum and how teachers can successfully incorporate it. By creating a garden-based program and lesson plans that incorporate required subjects, teachers can spend the necessary time teaching required subjects while utilizing the school garden.