Research & reports

Teri Burgess‐Champoux · SOPHIA (St. Catherine University) · United States

Teri Burgess-Champoux received a $1,000 grant to explore perceptions, barriers, and strategies for intergenerational community garden experiences involving preschool-aged children and their families. The goal is to enhance vegetable liking, increase intake, and improve home availability, guiding future research in this area.

Charles E. Hess · HortScience · United States

Reflecting on horticultural science over the past 60 years, it is evident that it is in a period of great opportunity. Recognition of the role of fruits and vegetables in a healthful diet has led to food for health initiatives that encourage diets rich in horticultural crops. The 'locavore movement' fosters the popularity of purchasing locally, spurring increased interest in farmers' markets and urban gardening. Internationally, the idea of peri-urban gardening recognizes the value of horticultural crops in improving nutrition and income on relatively small areas of land in developing nations.

Kassey Steele · ˜The œAgricultural education magazine · United States

This paper discusses the increasing relevance of urban agriculture in the United States, where the urban population was almost 80% in 2010 and continues to grow. It argues that as urban dwellers increasingly influence food consumption decisions, understanding agriculture becomes crucial. The paper suggests that university agricultural education programs should prepare pre-service teachers to address the needs of a predominantly urban population, making urban agriculture a less contradictory concept.

Maritza Bautista · Digital Commons - CSUMB (California State University, Monterey Bay) · United States (California)

This research highlighted the lack of agricultural education in elementary schools in California's Salinas Valley and implemented an action project to build a garden at Alisal Community Elementary School. The project presented students with concepts related to agriculture, food production, and nutrition, linking them to science. These efforts helped students make conscious decisions about their diet, how they treat the earth, and potential future agricultural careers.

Mark Apel, Ayman Mostafa, Bill Brandau, Gregg M. Garfin · Journal of Extension · United States (Arizona)

In 2011, Arizona Cooperative Extension implemented the Externships in Sustainability program, where undergraduate students conducted community-based sustainability projects. This program, distinct from internships, allowed students to apply skills to community outreach, benefiting agents, students, and communities through improved university-community relationships and projects like community gardens. Other states' Extension programs could adopt this model.

Kevin J. Holohan · Language arts journal of Michigan · United States

This paper is based on an empirical study conducted at a charter high school in a Midwestern US metropolitan area. The study investigated how social ecology, with urban agriculture as a hands-on practice, fosters an ideal of citizenship through a program where students collect traditional Puerto Rican recipes from elders and grow the necessary produce within their community.

Benito Rodríguez Haros, Enriqueta Tello García, Salvador Aguilar Californias · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Mexico

This paper describes "Un pasito en grande," an agroenvironmental vegetable garden established five years ago at Colegio Ateneo nursery school in Tezoyuca, Mexico, where agrochemicals are forbidden. The garden, involving children and parents, aims to address the erosion of knowledge related to food production and safety. It has become a space for ecological and environmental awareness, spreading to other educational settings and operating on principles of ethics and permaculture.

Рена Упитис, Scott Hughes, Anna C. Peterson · Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies · Canada

An 8-month qualitative study was conducted at a school garden program in one public elementary school in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Data collected from eight students through observations, semi-structured interviews, and student photographs identified five themes enhancing environmental stewardship (including connecting with nature, caretaking, and harvesting) and three themes explaining the program's long-term success (including parental involvement and community connections). The study highlighted benefits of the school garden program, as well as some difficulties associated with the program and limitations of the study.

Marshall A. Baker · ˜The œAgricultural education magazine · United States (New Mexico)

This article describes two agricultural education programs in New Mexico, USA: one established in 1935 in a rural community connected to the dairy industry and the Ogallala Aquifer, and another established in 2009 in an urban area focused on sustainability and environmental issues. Both programs are successful in advancing agricultural education by connecting to local community issues. The article suggests that a program's connection to its local community and its concerns is more important than the size of the city.

Jan Ray, Koh Ming Wei, Diane M. Barrett · · United States (Hawaiʻi Island)

This study examined the effect of a week-long teacher training workshop, part of a year-long School Learning Gardens Professional Development Program, on 29 classroom and school learning garden teachers in Hawaiʻi. Teachers' attitudes toward sustainability education were measured before and after the workshop. Findings showed a statistically significant increase in teachers' overall attitudes toward sustainability education, including aspects related to productivity and comfort.

Marlene Wurfel · Earth Common Journal · Canada (Edmonton)

This article presents a case study of the Parkallen Community Garden in Edmonton, Canada, which began its first growing season in Spring 2012. The garden transformed an unused strip of lawn into a communal "edible food forest" and won the City of Edmonton's top community gardening award in its first year. The study details how the permaculture design was implemented and interpreted within the gardening community.

Terry B DelValle, Lisa B Gaskalla, Joan B Kyle · · United States (Duval County)

Duval County Extension, in collaboration with partners, offered "Gardening for Grades" workshops to 71 teachers and school volunteers in Duval County, USA, to support school garden initiatives. Participants engaged in activities linking science, math, and literature to gardening, and received materials to start school gardens. Follow-up surveys indicated 12,214 sq ft of garden area was added, benefiting 2,292 students, with 92.9% of students exposed to new foods and 64.3% showing improved eating habits and increased physical activity.

Rachel E. Scherr, Rachel Cox, Gail Feenstra, Sheri Zidenberg‐Cherr · California Agriculture · United States (California)

Research indicates that garden-based nutrition education increases fruit and vegetable preferences and consumption in children, and Farm to School programs promote increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and participation in the National School Lunch Program. A survey of UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) advisors and directors in California reported that all respondents implemented garden-based nutrition education and Farm to School programs, but evaluation occurred much less frequently.

Melvin Delgado · Columbia University Press eBooks · United States

This chapter focuses on community gardening as an intervention aimed at addressing obesity, tracing its history in the United States back to the late nineteenth century as a response to social and economic crises. While community gardens can achieve various social, economic, political, educational, and health-related goals, the chapter also discusses potential pitfalls of community gardening. It emphasizes a social justice perspective for community gardens, particularly regarding community inclusion and participatory democracy.

Marcos José de Abreu, Renato Barretto Barbosa Trivella, Letícia Oliveira de Melo, gisa Garcia, Alexandre Cordeiro, Óscar José Rover · · Brazil (Santa Catarina)

The Vida Nova community garden, established in 2009 in Jardim Janaina, Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, Brazil, serves women from rural and urban areas facing food and social insecurity. This project aimed to disseminate participatory agroecological methodologies in urban agriculture. It resulted in a 36-page educational booklet and a course, leading to group strengthening, increased community gardens, and diversified cultivation in the neighborhood.

André Ganzarolli Martins, Ana Paula Tridapalli de Almeira · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

A report on nearly two years of small-scale agroecological seed production through a community garden project on the central campus of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil. Seeds were cultivated within small agroecological and agroforestry systems, producing carrots, lettuce, sunflower, beans, green manure crops and others; harvest and storage details are described as crucial steps requiring special attention. The report states that seed production was fundamental to sustaining the plantings and, through donations, supported other urban agriculture and agroecology initiatives.

Gina M. Bacigalupi · San José State University ScholarWorks (San Jose State University) · United States (California)

An online survey of more than 400 members of the California State University East Bay Concord Campus community (California, United States), conducted in 2013, measured stakeholder interest and willingness to contribute money, time and labor to a proposed educational farm at this non-land-grant public urban university. Support was high across all stakeholder groups, but students and those holding multiple campus roles reported greater interest than faculty and staff, while administrators reported the lowest likelihood of participating. Younger respondents and women anticipated greater interaction than older or male respondents; by income, middle-income respondents anticipated the largest financial contributions, while both the highest- and lowest-income groups anticipated the smallest contributions.

Ashley S. Harms, DeAnn Presley, Ganga M. Hettiarachchi, Stephen Thien · Journal of Extension · United States

As participation in urban agriculture grows across the United States, potential soil contaminants in urban environments present challenges. A study assessed the educational needs of urban gardeners and farmers throughout the US regarding soil contamination. The results indicate that urban gardeners and farmers need and want information and guidance on best management practices for safely growing food crops on mildly contaminated urban soils.

Iris T. Stewart, Elizabeth K. Purner, Patricia D. Guzm ́n · Children Youth and Environments · United States (California)

In Santa Clara County (SCC), located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Region and marked by high income disparities and an ethnically diverse population, this study used surveys and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine links between the presence and use of school gardens and the socioeconomic and ethnic composition of surrounding neighborhoods. Statistical analysis found that school gardens in SCC are more likely to exist in economically stronger and ethnically less-diverse neighborhoods, showing that garden provision is not equitably distributed. School gardens can be maintained with relatively modest resources — a coordinator, planting area, small budget, and school-community support — yet securing these resources can itself be a significant barrier for some schools. Because natural play areas suited to environmental exploration were not typically found at SCC schools, the study suggests school gardens can play an important role in reconnecting children with the natural world.

Renee Raiden Boyer, Ben Chapman · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · United States

This practical guide outlines recommended agricultural practices for food safety in school and community gardens, covering topics such as food safety, site selection, pesticides and fertilizers, handwashing, water and irrigation, composting, garden design and animals, sanitation and tools, a sample community garden layout, an FAQ, and a glossary.

Susan L. Johnson · Planning for higher education · United States

This article discusses urban agriculture on the campus of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in the United States, centered on the MUSC Urban Farm. Against a backdrop of rising chronic disease and obesity, it describes community gardens as improving nutritional status and increasing physical activity, community engagement, safety and local economic strength while providing environmental benefits, citing a study by Zick et al. (2013) in the American Journal of Public Health that found community garden participants had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) than non-participants. The MUSC Urban Farm is presented as a living classroom where students, faculty, staff and the community explore the connection between food and health.

Filipe Ribeiro Cardoso Porto, Jacionira Coêlho Silva · Americanae (AECID Library) · Brazil

This study describes the ethnobotanical practices of horticulturists and consumers surrounding chili pepper (malagueta pepper, Capsicum frutescens L.), cultivated at the Vila Poti municipal community garden in southeastern Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. Information gathered on pepper production reported various purposes and methods of medicinal use of different plant parts, applied for ailments otherwise treated with industrial pharmacological medication. The study characterizes these as traditional knowledge with anthropological elements that go beyond systematized science, functioning as an identity marker of the human-environment relationship in cultural production.

Jacqueline M. Swank, David E. Swank · Journal of school counseling · United States

Addressing the challenge school counselors face in delivering a comprehensive, developmental school counseling program to large numbers of students, this paper (2013, United States) presents a creative use of a garden program to foster student development through integration with the natural environment. It describes activities and metaphors tied to five garden stages within the program — planning, preparing, planting, maintaining, and harvesting — identifies which American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2004) student standards each garden activity addresses, and discusses the implications and practical considerations for school counselors.

Sandy Campbell · The Deakin Review of Children s Literature · Canada

This is a review of Hadley Dyer's "Potatoes on Rooftops: Farming in the City" (Annick Press, Toronto, 2012). Although marketed by the publisher for grades 4–7, the reviewer finds the actual reading level higher — Tenth Grade on the Coleman-Liau Index and 9.2 on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test. Despite a children's-book design, the content is dense and textbook-like, moving from an introduction on food and the need for urban agriculture through small- and larger-scale urban agriculture examples to related social and political movements, with a glossary, resource list, and index. The Toronto-based author received Ontario Arts Council funding, but the review notes little Canadian content, with the book's apparent market being the United States; it cites international examples including Africa, Japan, and Scotland but says little about the practicalities of urban gardening in Canada, where growing conditions differ sharply by region (e.g., Florida vs. Edmonton). The review rates the book 3 out of 4 stars, recommending it for high school and public libraries and noting it is most useful for teen and adult readers.

Pierre Walter · Environmental Education Research · United States

This paper argues that community gardens in the North American food movement serve as rich non-school sites for informal adult learning, despite being under-researched in environmental education. It proposes applying theories of public pedagogy and social movement learning from Adult Education to frame the study of learning within these gardens. The paper reviews empirical research on the benefits of community garden participation to illustrate the potential for further research on the link between learning and these benefits.