Research & reports

Josh Beniston · The Knowledge Bank (The Ohio State University) · United States (Ohio)

An experiment on assessing and managing soil quality for urban agriculture was conducted during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons on demolished vacant urban lots in Youngstown, Ohio. Soil compaction was identified as a primary constraint, with high bulk density values of 1.79 g cm⁻³ for in-ground plots and 1.55 g cm⁻³ for raised beds. Crop yield data from 2011 showed that both compost-amended and compost + biochar-amended plots had significantly greater crop yields than control plots, with compost + biochar plots achieving the highest harvest index values.

Michelle Melissa Althaus Ottmann, Juliana Maantay, Kristen Grady, Nilce Nazareno da Fonte · Cities and the Environment · United States (New York City)

This study investigated urban agricultural practices and gardeners' perceptions in community gardens in the Bronx, New York City, United States, using semi-structured interviews, garden observations, and GIS spatial analysis of socio-demographic characteristics. GIS analysis revealed a significantly higher rate of poverty and Hispanic population in block groups within a quarter mile of the community gardens. The gardens were characterized as places for socialization, fresh produce, neighborhood beautification, and education, and gardeners valued family/community time, nature, and therapeutic benefits, but expressed fears of losing the gardens due to lack of city protection and developer take-over.

Elizabete Cristina Ribeiro Silva, Alexandre Brasil Carvalho da Fonseca · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)

This study discusses the multidimensionality of agriculture and its interfaces with environmental and health education, based on perceptions from social actors in a school and an extension unit belonging to the Municipal Network of Rio de Janeiro. Agricultural activities are suggested as a pedagogical tool to facilitate complex thinking and transdisciplinarity, and to perceive food and environment as interconnected transversal themes. School gardens are re-qualified for urban spaces based on agroecological urban agriculture principles.

Erika S. Svendsen, Lindsay K. Campbell, Nancy Falxa-Raymound, Jessica Northridge, Edie Stone, Carolin Mees · Cities and the Environment · United States (New York City)

This study introduces a longitudinal examination of community gardens in New York City, building on data collected since 2003 by the GreenThumb program. In summer 2011, structured phone interviews were conducted with representatives from a sample of 102 community gardens to examine membership, programming, partnerships, and motivations for gardening from 2003-2011. The research aims to understand the evolving role of community gardens and how they have changed over time.

Arvazena E. Clardy, Brian R. Copeland · ˜The œAgricultural education magazine · United States (Nashville)

This article advocates for implementing sustainable school gardens in agriscience education programs, drawing on the author's experience as a former educator and current work with middle and secondary schools in Nashville, Tennessee. It suggests that school gardens can cement learning for students and address issues like food deserts and childhood obesity in inner-city areas.

Katherine Johns-Galvin · · United States

This research examined the cycle of poor nutrition in the Frog Hollow neighborhood, Hartford, Connecticut, an urban food desert characterized by limited access to affordable, healthy foods. It argues that the growth of farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture, and community gardens has reintroduced affordable, attainable healthy foods to the neighborhood. This introduction of locally grown produce at affordable prices has enabled the Frog Hollow neighborhood to begin addressing food insecurity.

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

This systematic review aims to summarize scientific literature on community gardens as a means to increase fruit and vegetable intake in preschool-aged children (2-5 years) in childcare settings in the United States. The review, limited to peer-reviewed journals published within the past five years, seeks to identify research gaps. Data analysis is ongoing, and future research is needed to address the benefits, effectiveness, sustainability, and policy impacts of community gardens.

Teddi Dineley Johnson · ˜The œNation's health · United States (Denver)

This abstract describes various projects aimed at creating healthier neighborhoods in the United States. Examples include liquor retailers in Louisville, Kentucky, removing alcohol ads, utility boxes in Chula Vista, California, being transformed into art, and youths at risk for gang violence in a Denver neighborhood participating in a community garden. These initiatives focus on violence prevention and health promotion.

Mahbubur Meenar, Brandon Hoover · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Philadelphia)

This paper examines urban agriculture (UA) projects' role in addressing food insecurity in lower-income neighborhoods of post-industrial U.S. cities, using Philadelphia as a case study. While UA projects are vital, findings indicate concerns regarding their geographic, economic, and informational accessibility, social exclusion, and spatial mismatch between participants and neighborhood demographics. Challenges also exist in distributing fresh produce to impoverished populations and UA's economic contributions in underprivileged areas.

Zee Leung, Dean Middleton, Karen Morrison · BMC Public Health · Canada (Ontario)

This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with ten participants from the public health sphere in Ontario, explored how One Health and EcoHealth approaches are shaping public health practice. Four major themes emerged: the importance of connecting human health with the environment, the role of governance in promoting these ideas, the value of partnerships, and the challenge of operationalizing holistic approaches.

Shikha Srivastava, Scot Nelson · ScholarSpace (University of Hawaii at Manoa) · United States (Hawaii)

This article discusses Cercospora leaf spot, a common fungal disease affecting eggplant in home and community gardens in Hawaii. It describes the pathogen and disease symptoms, offering integrated practices to improve plant growth and yields for gardeners.

Gail Langellotto, Abha Gupta · HortTechnology · United States

Using peer-reviewed studies of garden-based nutrition education programs delivered to children in the United States, a study applied meta-analytical techniques to examine effects on children's nutrition knowledge, preference for fruit and vegetables, and consumption. Compared with experimental controls (no nutrition education) and nutrition education programs without a gardening component, a vote-counting analysis found most outcomes nonsignificant in the control and nutrition-education-only groups, but positive and significant in the gardening group. The quantitative meta-analysis was limited by the small number of studies reporting full descriptive statistics, but one robust result stood out: gardening increased vegetable consumption in children, while the impact of nutrition education programs alone was marginal or nonsignificant.

Brittany Minnick Hanson · Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research · United States

This study of several community gardens in Orange County, Central Florida, conducted structured interviews with gardeners and semi-structured interviews with garden leaders to examine effects on food insecurity, health, and community cohesion, as well as the challenges gardens face. Results showed benefits including increased fresh produce consumption, improved physical activity, better mental health, and stronger community cohesion, but about a third of the gardeners and a majority of the leaders identified lack of participation as a challenge.

Ann Weltin, Roberta Proffitt Lavin · Journal of Community Health Nursing · United States

A mixed-convergent parallel design intervention study tested whether participation in a community garden could improve diabetes control among members of a Midwest United States community of Marshallese immigrants. Marshallese clients recruited from a local community health center took part in a community garden, and qualitative data from field observations on cultural norms and beliefs, food perceptions and barriers to health care corroborated data gathered at diabetes follow-up medical appointments. Persons who actively participated in the community garden showed a significant reduction in HgA1c after the intervention compared with those who did not participate, though the abstract does not report the number of participants or the size of the reduction.

Loran Mary Luehr, Sylvia B. Smith · Journal of Student Research · United States

A study examined the effectiveness of a four-week interactive food sustainability education program covering local foods, gardening, recycling, and world hunger, delivered to 85 elementary-age students at two schools in southern Illinois. Using a within-subjects repeated-measures design with pre- and post-program surveys analyzed in PASW (Version 18.0) and a significance level of p<0.10 given the exploratory design, the program was found most effective with fourth graders, who showed significant change across all four measured areas: understanding world hunger, effects on their surroundings, understanding of community supported agriculture (CSA), and awareness of stores carrying more local foods. Eighth graders showed significant change in two areas (effects on their surroundings and CSA understanding), and sixth graders showed significantly higher scores only in CSA understanding. The paper reports positive results for the youngest age group while flagging the more limited results among sixth and eighth graders as warranting further research.

Largo-Wight E., Chen W. W., Dodd V., Weiler R. · Public Health Reports · United States

Survey of 503 university office staff finding that as workday nature contact (gardens, plants, greenery) increases, perceived stress and general health complaints decrease, providing evidence for workplace greening and garden programs.

Litt J. S., Soobader M.-J., Turbin M. S., Hale J. W., Buchenau M., Marshall J. A. · American Journal of Public Health 101(8):1466-1473 · United States

Denver survey finding community gardeners ate fruits and vegetables 5.7 times daily versus 4.6 for home gardeners and 3.9 for non-gardeners, with social involvement and neighborhood aesthetics also shaping intake.

Ratcliffe M.M. · Health Promotion Practice · USA

A study of garden-based education for middle school-aged students; 236 completed a Garden Vegetable Frequency Questionnaire and 161 a taste test, showing improved recognition, attitudes, preferences, and willingness to taste vegetables, plus greater variety eaten.

Chris Szczygiel · eCommons (Cornell University) · United States (Buffalo)

Greening vacant lots is one of the most cost-effective ways for the city of Buffalo to improve its neighborhoods. A program to clean up, green up, and maintain vacant lots can combat blight, raise property values and tax revenue, lower crime rates, and improve residents' quality of life. Greening lots can provide various community benefits, including jobs, educational opportunities, and a local source of fresh, nutritious food.

Patrice Sutton, David Wallinga, Joanne Perron, Michelle Gottlieb, Lucia Sayre, Tracey J. Woodruff · Health Affairs · United States

This article examines evidence that the intensive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics, and fossil fuels in food production, as well as chemicals in food packaging, are potentially harmful to human reproductive and developmental health. The US food production system, while relatively low in cost, often yields food that is high in calories and low in nutritional value. The authors conclude that policies to advance a healthy food system are necessary to prevent adverse reproductive health effects.

Heidi M. Blanck, Olivia M. Thompson, Linda Nebeling, Amy L. Yaroch · PubMed · United States

This study analyzed data from 1,994 US adults from the National Cancer Institute's Food Attitudes and Behaviors Survey to assess the use of farm-to-consumer venues for purchasing fruits and vegetables. It found that 27% of grocery shoppers reported at least weekly use of these venues during summer. Older adults and those in the Northeast were most likely to use them weekly, with no differences observed by sex, race/ethnicity, education, or income.

Marina de Fátima Brandão Carneiro, Igor Martins de Oliveira, Gabriel Alves Veloso · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Brazil

This article discusses food and nutritional security, urban poverty, and their relationship with urban agriculture, which arises from the urbanization process. It analyzed quantitative data from the Pan-American Health Organization and Pastoral da Criança in two neighborhoods of Montes Claros, Brazil, to map poverty distribution and child malnutrition. It concludes that the search for more effective and continuous alternatives for food insecurity is increasingly urgent, as hunger has only increased globally despite various initiatives.

Alice Hu, Ángela Acosta, Abigail McDaniel, Joel Gittelsohn · Health Promotion Practice · United States

This qualitative study identified strategies to promote locally grown produce from an urban agriculture project, Produce From the Park (PFP), among low-income neighborhood residents and community organization representatives (20 interviews, 2 focus groups, 3 participant observations) in a mid-Atlantic city in the United States. Informants identified structural and cultural barriers to purchasing healthy food, including price, location, food culture, and lack of interest, and proposed strategies such as distribution via mobile food carts and farm stands, marketing new foods through taste tests and cooking demonstrations, and youth mentorship. These strategies were inexpensive and incorporated cultural norms and local assets.

Siny Tsang, AM Holt, Eduardo Bessa Azevedo · Chronic diseases and injuries in Canada · Canada (Cobourg, Ontario)

This needs assessment in Cobourg, Ontario, interviewed food program clients to identify barriers to food access. Clients reported lack of transportation, insufficient food quantities, and inconvenient operating hours as barriers to using food programs. They also cited lack of available vegetables and fruit at home and income as barriers to consuming more produce.

Greg Jackson, Amanda L. Raster, Will Shattuck · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Southern Wisconsin)

Since 2005, four insurance providers in southern Wisconsin have offered rebates to policyholders who subscribe to a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation, reducing costs by up to 40%. This program, managed by MACSAC, led to increased fruit and vegetable consumption among CSA members and reduced advertising time for growers. Both the number of MACSAC member farms and the total shares offered by these farms have substantially increased, indicating the program's success in reducing grower risk and expanding production.