Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
1627 results(31 / 66)
Estudos sobre agricultura urbana no Brasil no período de 2008 a 2017
2019Paula Fernanda Nóvoa Souza Lara, Maria Mirtes Cortinhas dos Santos, Izaura Cristina Nunes Pereira Costa, Thiago Almeida Vieira · Amazonia Investiga · Brazil
This study analyzed scientific production on urban agriculture in Brazil from 2008 to 2017, using data from the CAPES Periodicals Portal. It observed that articles on urban agriculture remain scarce, despite the topic's social, environmental, and economic potential and relevance. The study suggests that state support for agricultural production in urban spaces could encourage the adoption of urban agriculture practices and related studies.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsComprehensive Farm-to-School: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of the Classroom, Cafeteria, and Community
2019Suzanna Elkin · ScholarWorks -A service of University of Vermont Libraries (University of Vermont) · United States
This dissertation presents a mixed-methods case study of a comprehensive Farm-to-School (FTS) program in a northern California school district. It comprises three papers, each exploring one of the "3-C" domains: classroom, cafeteria, and community. The first study qualitatively examines teacher involvement in FTS, the second uses mixed methods to research a new school lunch program, and the third examines the community aspect.
Food educationCommunityHealthEconomicsImplantação de horta comunitária em um campus universitário : inclusão social e qualidade de vida
2019Bianca Jacqueline Silva · · Brazil
This study describes a project for implementing a community garden at the Itabira campus of the Federal University of Itajubá. The project began with dialogue among campus workers and aims to foster greater involvement with the university community and local population. The garden is planned as a space for observation, cultivation, and leisure, potentially contributing to education and activities on ecology, environmental education, and integrated management of solid and organic waste, with positive impacts on the local environment and participants' health.
CommunityElderlyFood educationHealthUMass Carbon Farming Initiative Design Overview
2019Nikhil Villani, Jack Stambaugh · ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · United States
The UMass Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) at the Agricultural Learning Center (ALC) involves Stockbridge School of Agriculture students and faculty researching and practicing regenerative food production. Initiated in Spring 2018, students designed and installed a chestnut-sheep silvopasture on a two-acre site. The first season involved starting a chestnut nursery, planting chestnuts, and rotationally grazing six sheep between rows.
Food educationCommunityOrganic cycleClimate changeScaling out agroecology from the school garden: the importance of culture, food, and place
2019Bruce G. Ferguson, Helda Morales, Kimberly Chung, Ronald Nigh · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Mexico
A case study of the LabVida school gardens program in Chiapas, Mexico, explored the potential and limitations of scaling agroecology through formal education. Educators gained an appreciation for agroecology and learned practices, though their understanding of agroecological principles and scientific processes remained limited. The program's greatest impact was on educators' eating habits and their perception of the value of local knowledge. The study demonstrates that garden and food-system work can leverage institutional resources to improve educational outcomes, including agroecological literacy.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceDiscursos de agricultura urbana em São Paulo: formação, profusão e captura
2019Martin Jayo, Eduardo de Lima Caldas · kult-ur revista interdisciplinària sobre la cultura de la ciutat · Brazil (São Paulo)
A study in São Paulo, Brazil, examined recent forms of appropriation of the urban agriculture agenda, using a historical analysis of urban agriculture practices by Caldas and Jayo (2019). It was observed that traditional urban agriculture discourses have been captured by new actors, including parts of the public sector opportunistically appropriating the theme and the real estate market promoting an imitation of urban agriculture as a marketing tool.
Governance failurePolicyEconomicsCommunityDeveloping undergraduate community psychology pedagogy and research practice
2019August John Hoffman, Jordan Seitz, Anthonie Collins, Rich Downs · Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community · United States
This study describes the experiences of two community psychology students participating in "green" volunteer sustainable programs. One student worked with young men in a youth detention facility maintaining a vegetable garden, while another organized a community apple harvest in Wyoming, MN. Participants were interviewed about their subjective experiences and how these programs improved understanding of diverse cultures and the value of outdoor "green" voluntary programs.
CommunityFood educationHealthASSENTAMENTO SÃO FRANCISCO: UMA TEIA DE PRODUÇÃO SUSTENTÁVEL
2019Matheus Martins Mendes, André Victor Sales Passos, Carol Rebouças da Silva · · Brazil
This internship experience, guided by popular extension university principles, focused on knowledge exchange between scientific and popular communities in the San Francisco settlement, Jose de Freitas, Piaui, Brazil. A partnership between the Federal Rural University of the Semiarid Region, REAPI, and local farmers led to the implementation of a women-maintained community garden and the recovery of four springs. Agroecological activities also highlighted the role of women farmers in agroecological transition.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceDIYOrganic cycleMutirão como ferramenta política: agricultura urbana e cidadania.
2019André Ruoppolo Biazoti, André Ruoppolo Biazoti · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil (São Paulo)
This paper analyzes the mutirão (collective work) practices established in some community gardens in São Paulo city. Mutirão is observed as a practice with an inherent political and insurgent character that promotes not only food production but also shared management of public spaces, community building, and the production of the common as a political principle of self-governance.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justicePolicyHealthy eating promoting in a Brazilian sports-oriented school: a pilot study
2019Fábia Massarani, Marta Citelli, Daniela Silva Canella, Josely Correa Koury · PeerJ · Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
This pilot study evaluated the eating habits of 83 adolescent athletes in an experimental school in Rio de Janeiro from 2013 to 2016. Following the implementation of a school garden, experimental kitchen activities, and health promotion classes, the frequency of raw salad and fruit consumption increased, suggesting that integrated healthy eating promotion programs may improve eating habits.
Food educationHealthCommunityGrowing Local: The Role of Urban Gardening in Fostering Food Security, Sustainability, and Community
2019Franklin Wagner, Lindsey Payne · Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement · United States (Lafayette)
In summer 2016, Purdue University researchers collaborated with Lafayette's GrowLocal Urban Gardens Network in Lafayette, Indiana, to conduct a baseline analysis of current community gardening initiatives. Using qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, they identified motivations and barriers to participation through stakeholder interviews and focus groups. The study indicated that urban gardens as community spaces may serve a greater purpose than providing fresh food, and its results informed a planning document for GrowLocal with strategic recommendations for governance, communication, event integration, and collaborative grants.
CommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceHealthWelfareSafe community gardening practices: focus groups with garden leaders in Atlanta, Georgia
2019Candis M. Hunter, Dana Williamson, Melanie Pearson, Eri Saikawa, Matthew O. Gribble, Michelle C. Kegler · Local Environment · United States (Atlanta)
This study used five focus groups with Atlanta community garden leaders to investigate perspectives on composting, hygiene, and mulching, which are practices to reduce exposure to soil contaminants. Gardeners cited a need for more funding, volunteers, and training. A primary barrier to composting and mulching was concern about contamination of source materials, and participants did not directly link these practices to reducing soil contaminant exposure. Hygiene challenges included concerns about beneficial bacteria, inadequate water access, and limited supplies.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthCompostThe experience of community urban gardens: Social organization and food security
2019Joeli Silva de Souza, Ryzia de Cássia Vieira Cardoso, Lídice Almeida Arlego PARAGUASSÚ, Sidione Ferreira dos Santos · Revista de Nutrição · Brazil (Salvador-Bahia)
A cross-sectional exploratory study in Salvador-Bahia characterized community gardens, with five out of seven gardens participating and data collected from 13 horticulturists. 80.0% of gardens lacked land legalization, 100.0% operated without technical support, and 60.0% had no social organization. Major difficulties included lack of funding, volunteers, and water use restrictions, indicating insufficient policies limited technical support and financing.
Governance failureCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsPolicyDoes Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security? Examining the Nexus of Food Access and Distribution of Urban Produced Foods in the United States: A Systematic Review
2018Siegner A., Sowerwine J., Acey C. · Sustainability 10(9):2988 · United States
Systematic review of US urban agriculture and food systems literature. Finds strong emphasis on multiple benefits but few studies robustly measuring urban farms' impact on food security in low-income communities.
WelfareHealthCommunitySocial perception of urban agriculture in Latin-America. A case study in Mexican social housing
2018Nadal A., Cerón-Palma I., García-Gómez C., Pérez-Sánchez M., Rodríguez-Labajos B., Cuerva E., Josa A., Rieradevall J. · Land Use Policy 76:719-734 · Mexico
Through interviews with 65 stakeholders in Mérida's social housing, this study analyzes social perceptions of urban agriculture in low-income Latin American settings, exploring its potential for safe, nutritious food supply and social benefits.
CommunityWelfarePolicyPhysical and Mental Health Impacts of Household Gardens in an Urban Slum in Lima, Peru
2018Korn A., Bolton S.M., Spencer B., Alarcon J.A., Andrews L., Voss J.G. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 15, No. 8 · Peru (Lima)
A longitudinal pilot study examining the feasibility and health outcomes of household garden implementation in a Lima urban slum, collecting anthropometric and mental health data at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months, finding positive associations with nutritional status and wellbeing.
HealthWelfareCommunityUrban agriculture, racial capitalism, and resistance in the settler‐colonial city
2018Nathan McClintock · Geography Compass · United States
This review proposes that the lens of "racial capitalism" can illuminate the contradictory motivations and outcomes of urban agriculture (UA). It examines how UA can contribute to racial Othering, the racialization of space, and dispossession on the one hand, while enabling struggles of resistance and self-determination on the other. The author uses this framework to address how settler-colonial logics persist in the contemporary North American city.
PolicyCommunityGrowing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce and food security
2018Lucy O. Diekmann, Leslie C. Gray, Gregory A. Baker · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Santa Clara County)
This research evaluates how three types of urban gardens in Santa Clara County, California—home gardens, community gardens, and community food security (CFS) program gardens for low-income families—contribute to food security using a multidimensional framework. In summer 2015, median production ranged from 26 kg (CFS participants) to 56 kg (home gardeners), enough for at least one adult to meet federal vegetable guidelines; interviews further showed gardeners valued knowledge, control, freshness, flavor, organic methods, and cultural acceptability, not just quantity.
HealthCommunityWelfareCultivating healthy trajectories: An experimental study of community gardening and health
2018Dietlinde Heilmayr, Howard S Friedman · Journal of Health Psychology · United States
Framing community gardening as a promising but under-evidenced multifaceted health intervention, this paper presents one of the first experimental studies on the topic. The results showed promise for aspects of community gardening while underscoring the need for more rigorous methodologies, and the article offers a framework for studying the health effects of community gardening and similar multifaceted health-promotion efforts.
CommunityHealthCultivating (a) Sustainability Capital: Urban Agriculture, Ecogentrification, and the Uneven Valorization of Social Reproduction
2018McClintock N. · Annals of the American Association of Geographers · USA
Demonstrates how urban agriculture becomes entangled in eco-gentrification, arguing that eco-gentrification is not merely a side effect of an urban sustainability fix but is central to how racial capitalism operates through green urbanization.
EconomicsCommunityPolicyGated gardens: Effects of urbanization on community formation and commons management in community gardens
2018Egerer M., Fairbairn M. · Geoforum · California, USA
Under rapid urbanization on California's central coast, social tensions permeate garden boundaries and shape internal relations. Conflicts over membership rules, resource management, and theft of produce erode community cohesion within the gardens.
CommunityPolicySustainability as business strategy in community supported agriculture
2018Daniele Eckert Matzembacher, Fábio Bittencourt Meira · British Food Journal · Brazil
This exploratory case study investigated two Brazilian Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives over two years and six months using participant observation, ethnography, interviews, and secondary data. It found that the analyzed CSA activities integrate social, environmental, and economic sustainability dimensions, providing guaranteed sales and higher incomes for producers, and emphasizing sustainability education for consumers. The findings cannot be extrapolated to broader populations due to the exploratory nature of the study.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityFood educationThe politics of urban agriculture
2018Nathan McClintock, Christiana Miewald, Eugene McCann · · North America
This chapter explores urban agriculture (UA) as fundamentally political practices, examining its role in neoliberal governance and sustainability policy-making, and as an object of contestation. It relates UA motivations and practices to processes of urbanization and political economic restructuring. The chapter highlights that UA is a site of political contestation, arising from broader political economic shifts.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsBrownfields to Greenfields: Environmental Justice Versus Environmental Gentrification
2018Juliana Maantay, Andrew Maroko · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · United States (New York City)
This study examined whether proximity to community gardens in less affluent neighborhoods is associated with an increased likelihood of gentrification, using Brooklyn, New York as a case study. Employing GIS and spatial analysis, the results suggest that proximity to community gardens is associated with significant increases in per capita income over a five-year period. This indicates that environmental improvements, such as community gardens, may paradoxically spur gentrification and the displacement of existing lower-income residents, raising concerns for environmental justice.
Equity & displacementCommunityEconomicsPolicyWelfareCommunity‐supported agriculture in the United States: Social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming
2018Mark Paul · Journal of Agrarian Change · United States (Massachusetts)
This paper evaluates the livelihoods of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts from their perspective. Results indicate that while CSA farmers earn more farm income than other U.S. farms on average, they still earn far below the median national income and generally fail to earn a living wage. Despite these economic findings, farmers stressed the importance of broader social, ecological, and economic benefits to farming. The study concludes that CSA has largely failed to provide adequate livelihoods for farmers to date.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunity