Research & reports

Abby M. Lohr, Melanie L. Bell, Kiera Coulter, Sallie A. Marston, Moses Thompson, Scott C. Carvajal, Ada M. Wilkinson‐Lee, Lynn B. Gerald, Josephine D. Korchmaros · Health Education & Behavior · United States (New York City)

This cross-sectional secondary analysis used evaluation data from a university-supported Community School Garden Program (CSGP) to examine, mostly among Latino/a (Hispanic) elementary students at Title I schools in New York City, United States, whether duration of school garden exposure (≤1 year versus >1 year) was associated with self-reported learning and school connectedness, using social cognitive theory as the analytic frame. Duration of school garden exposure showed no statistically significant association with self-reported learning or feelings of school connectedness. Regardless of past exposure, fifth-grade students, females, and those identifying as Latino/a (Hispanic) felt the garden program improved their learning; qualitative results indicated most students enjoyed time in the garden and felt the program helped them learn new things and feel connected to school.

Paulo Silvano Magno Fróes Júnior, Fabrício Khoury Rebello, Cyntia Meireles Martins, Maria Lúcia Bahia Lopes, Caio Cézar Ferreira de Souza, Joyce dos Santos Saraiva, João Paulo Borges de Loureiro, Antônia do Socorro Aleixo Barbosa, Geany Cleide Carvalho Martins, Janayna Galvão de Araújo, Marcos Antônio Souza dos Santos · Journal of Agricultural Studies · Brazil

This study characterized agricultural production systems under urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in the Curuçambá neighborhood of the Metropolitan Region of Belém (RMB), Brazilian Amazon, identifying the main techniques, crops, and animals raised, and estimating production's contribution to family consumption on a complementary, exploratory basis. Data came from interviews with 63 residents (52.50% of the neighborhood's population), two weeks of food-consumption monitoring for six producer families, and georeferencing using Google Satellite imagery. Farmers came mainly from northeastern Pará (57.14%), with others from Maranhão (9.52%), Ceará (9.52%), and Paraíba (1.59%); urban agriculture in the region was established through the migration of rural residents to Amazonian cities. Most farmers had completed elementary school II (69.84%) and had an average monthly income of one to two minimum wages (50.79%). Agricultural production occurred in roughly 111 residences in the neighborhood, based on horticulture and small livestock keeping, across six production systems -- common beds (71.43%), suspended beds (12.70%), fruticulture (6.35%), agroforestry yards (3.17%), hydroponics (4.76%), and aquaponics (1.59%) -- directed toward supplying RMB markets. On average, 30.89% of farmers' income covered family consumption, and the opportunity cost of consumption for the five main crops grown (jambu, lettuce, coriander, chicory, and cariru) was estimated at R$79.88 monthly, 8.37% of the minimum wage at the time.

Annie-Pier Mercier, Gabrielle Rochefort, Julie Fortier, Geneviève J. Parent, Véronique Provencher, Simone Lemieux, Benoı̂t Lamarche · Current Developments in Nutrition · Canada

A short questionnaire measuring local food procurement behavior, the Locavore-Index Short Form (Locavore-I-SF), was developed and validated among 299 French-speaking adults (85% women) in the Quebec City metropolitan area, Canada. The 12-item, 12-point instrument covering short food supply chain use and geographic origin of carrot, tomato and lettuce showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.74), correlated strongly with the original Locavore-Index (r=0.84, P<0.0001) and with photo-verified food origin (r=0.50, P<0.0001), and was higher among gardeners than non-gardeners (mean difference 2.3±0.4 points, P<0.0001); its association with the Healthy Eating Food Index-2019 score was weak (B=0.05±0.02, P=0.02).

W. Wang, J.A. Garner, G.A. Marshall, M. Sitaker, E.H. Belarmino, A.S. Ammerman, S.B. Jilcott Pitts, R.A. Seguin-Fowler, J. Kolodinsky, K.L. Hanson · UNC Libraries · United States

The Farm Fresh Foods for Healthy Kids (F3HK) randomized controlled trial, conducted in New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington from 2016 to 2018, assigned 305 caregiver-child dyads to a cost-offset (half-price) community supported agriculture (CSA) share plus tailored nutrition education, or to a delayed-intervention control group. After one growing season, no significant net effects were observed on children's dietary intake, BMI, or physical activity. Caregivers, however, showed statistically significant net improvements in cooking attitudes, skills, and self-efficacy, fruit and vegetable intake and skin carotenoid levels, and household food security. Improvements in attitudes and self-efficacy persisted at one-year follow-up, but improvements in caregiver diet and household food security did not. The number of weeks a household picked up its CSA share — not the number of education sessions attended — was associated with improvements in caregiver fruit and vegetable intake and household food security. The study concludes that cost-offset CSA plus nutrition education improved caregiver and household outcomes within one season but had no effect on children, and some improvements were not maintained after the CSA season ended.

Kent Kovacs, Grant West, David J. Nowak, Robert G. Haight · Ecological Economics 197: 107424 · United States

A meta-analysis of 21 hedonic property-value studies and 157 unique observations estimates the elasticity of US home values with respect to tree cover. Finds a larger elasticity for off-property than on-property tree cover, suggesting home values rise more when the tree cover is not something the owner has to maintain. Reports that the elasticity in neighborhoods with more than 25 percent tree cover (0.013) is four times that in neighborhoods with 0-10 percent cover (0.003), meaning the effect is non-linear across coverage levels.

Sara N Lupolt, Raychel E Santo, Brent F Kim, Thomas A Burke, Keeve E Nachman · GeoHealth · United States (40 cities)

A 2022 review that collected and evaluated 43 soil-safety-related urban agriculture policies across 40 US cities. About half of these cities had at least one policy that recommended soil testing or provided a testing service, but only eight cities had any policy containing an actual requirement (on soil testing or on a specific growing practice). The authors also found notable inconsistencies between cities in what counts as an 'acceptable' level of lead in soil and in the actions recommended at each level. Because US Environmental Protection Agency guidance on soil lead was not written with urban agriculture in mind, the paper sets out the research needed to revise that guidance and offers recommendations for drafting or revising municipal soil safety policies. It documents a governance gap: responses to urban soil contamination are fragmented across jurisdictions and mostly non-binding.

Daria Ponstingel · Socio-Ecological Practice Research · United States (Austin)

A 2022 study of community gardens in Austin, Texas, USA, examining the approaches used to govern them and the socio-ecological outcomes associated with each model. Using Ostrom's socio-ecological systems framework, the author combined key-informant interviews with garden managers (yielding both qualitative and quantitative data) with remote-sensing estimates of net primary productivity — a proxy for carbon sequestration — derived from ECOSTRESS imagery on the International Space Station and Planet Inc. data. Social outcomes were measured as gardeners' satisfaction and perceived success; ecological outcomes as green-space ecosystem services. The highest social and ecological performance was found in gardens with 'bottom-up' governance structures, where community members hold decision-making and management authority. The author argues the two kinds of outcome are codependent and that the governance approach determines the form that codependence takes. The study covers gardens in a single city, so generalisation elsewhere remains to be tested.

Congreso de la República del Perú · El Peruano, Normas Legales (Diario Oficial del Perú) · Peru

Peru's Congress passed Law No. 31458 on 26 April 2022, published the next day in the official gazette El Peruano (Normas Legales). The law legally recognizes ollas comunes (community soup kitchens) as temporary or permanent grassroots social organizations, guarantees their sustainability and financing during emergencies such as natural disasters or health emergencies, and promotes beneficiaries' productive work and entrepreneurship. It authorizes local governments and the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion to reallocate budget to fund food procurement and distribution for ollas comunes, and requires the Ministry of Health to approve technical guidance on sanitary and nutritional conditions.

Ministerio de Desarrollo e Inclusión Social (MIDIS) · Ministerio de Desarrollo e Inclusión Social (MIDIS), Plataforma del Estado Peruano · Peru

Peru's Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion (MIDIS) reported on 6 May 2022 that, according to registration data in its Mankachay Perú ("Mi ollita Perú") information system, Lima Metropolitana had registered the most Temporary Citizen Food Support Initiatives (ICAAT, including ollas comunes) at 2,506, followed by Callao (242), La Libertad (101) and Arequipa (98). The system launched on 5 November 2021, with local governments entering data that citizens and officials can view in real time.

Instituto Escolhas · 100 Políticas (Instituto Escolhas) · Brazil

A case study of Belo Horizonte's urban agriculture policy. Under Municipal Law No. 10,255/2011, three types of production units — school-based, public-facility-based, and community-cooperative — operate a combined 182 units producing about 3.82 tons of food per month. The program's annual municipal budget is roughly R$2 million, of which R$1.5 million is allocated to the community-cooperative units.

Instituto Escolhas · 100 Políticas (Instituto Escolhas) · Brazil

A policy analysis of Rio de Janeiro's Hortas Cariocas program, launched in 2006. It comprises 56 gardens — 27 school-based and 29 community-based — across 25.3 hectares, employing 276 people (191 in schools, 85 in communities). In the first half of 2022 the gardens produced about 35 tons of food; in June alone, 7.2 tons were produced (3.1 tons sold, 4.1 tons donated), with roughly R$150,000 per month paid from the municipal treasury as stipends.

Landry M., van den Berg A., Hoelscher D., Davis J. · Nutrients, 13(9):3081 (MDPI) · United States

A randomized controlled trial across 16 mostly Hispanic, low-income elementary schools in Texas evaluating the TX Sprouts intervention, which embedded gardening, cooking and nutrition lessons. Children in intervention schools significantly increased vegetable intake, showing that garden-centered food education can improve children's dietary quality.

Greathouse J., Henning S., Soendergaard M. · Plants 10(5):965 · United States

Grafted heirloom tomatoes (Black Krim, Green Zebra) and standard Big Beef onto rootstocks in hydroponics, measuring antioxidant capacity, phenolics, and lycopene. Specific rootstocks raised antioxidant capacity and altered phenolic content of heirlooms.

Guzzon F., Arandia Rios L.W., Caviedes Cepeda G.M., Céspedes Polo M., Chavez Cabrera A., Muriel Figueroa J., Medina Hoyos A.E., Jara Calvo T.W., Molnar T.L., Narro León L.A. · Agronomy 11(1):172 · Latin America

Reviews the fundamental role of Latin American maize landraces for food security, livelihoods and culture, the threat of genetic erosion, and the current state of their conservation and use.

Lange S. J., Calancie L., Onufrak S. J., Reddy K. T., Palmer A., Warnock A. L. · Nutrients 13(2):683 · United States

National survey showing that the presence of food policy councils is associated with local policies supporting healthy food access, including for food-insecure populations, underscoring their role in food system governance.

Davis J. N., Pérez A., Asigbee F. M., Landry M. J., Vandyousefi S., Ghaddar R., Hoover A., Jeans M., Nikah K., Fischer B., Pont S. J., Richards D., Hoelscher D. M., Van Den Berg A. E. · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 18:18 · United States

Cluster RCT in 16 elementary schools. A one-year gardening, cooking and nutrition program significantly increased children's vegetable intake but did not reduce BMI or other obesity outcomes.

Rendón Schneir E. · e-Agronegocios, Vol. 7, No. 2 · Peru (Lima)

Analyzes short horticultural value chains (cadenas cortas) in Lima, showing that removing intermediaries improves farmer incomes and strengthens urban food security, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carola Grebitus · PLOS ONE · United States (Detroit)

Using an online survey of 420 residents in Detroit, Michigan, this study analyzed behavioral and socio-demographic drivers of growing produce at home and in community gardens. It found that trust, attitude, and knowledge affect home growing, while involvement and personality drive community gardening; household size affects home growing, and gender, age, and income affect community gardening. The findings offer implications for fostering small-scale urban agriculture through city planning and nutrition education.

Mary P. Corcoran · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (New Haven)

Based on 28 in-depth interviews and participant observation in New Haven, CT (Fall 2018), this article examines community-based food-justice activism across the urban agriculture and food-policy sectors. It finds that grassroots civil society groups largely set a broad and contradictory hunger agenda, that their work is structurally constrained by dependence on philanthropic funding and a fiscally weak municipality, and that a tension persists between depoliticizing and repoliticizing hunger—tensions sharpened by COVID-19 and the 2020 BLM mobilization.

Catherine Sanders, Casandra Cox, Leslie Edgar, Donna Graham, Amanda Philyaw Perez · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States (Arkansas)

This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with 16 urban farmers in Northwest and Central Arkansas to assess their needs and their interactions with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Needs were highly individualized by operation size, years in operation, and mission, but common needs included market pricing, co-ops, and equipment access; participants viewed Extension positively but noted it lacked resources specific to small-scale, sustainable farming.

Catherine G. Campbell, Shelli D. Rampold · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Florida)

Through a University of Florida IFAS Extension statewide survey of local government stakeholders, this study assessed attitudes, subjective knowledge, perceived benefits and barriers, and educational needs regarding urban agriculture. Respondents showed positive attitudes and moderate knowledge, and the findings support the hypothesis that a lack of basic knowledge about UA hampers efforts to foster it through local policy.

Marilyn Sitaker, Mackenzie McCall, Weiwei Wang, Mia Vaccaro, Jane Kolodinsky, Alice Ammerman, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Karla Hanson, Diane Smith, Rebecca Seguin-Fowler · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · United States

Using a qualitative approach, this study describes the organizational models and best practices of five well-established nonprofit cost-offset community-supported agriculture (CO-CSA) programs in the US, which aim to increase low-income households' access to fresh produce while helping CSA farms grow. Administration took several forms—direct subsidies to member farms, acting as an aggregator/packer/distributor, or sourcing from an in-house incubator or food hub—funded through government grants, donations, and fundraising, with dedicated staff and community partnerships identified as key success factors.

Russomanno J., Jabson Tree J. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · USA

A PRISMA-guided systematic review of how sense of community (belonging) at farmers markets shapes customer engagement, and how markets relate to food access for low-income shoppers.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · USA

A scoping review of how urban agriculture education programs foster youth civic engagement, leadership, and understanding of social justice in the United States.

· Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · USA

A study of how agency and sociality within gardens designed for health and healing cultivate participant wellbeing and community resilience.