Research & reports

Ted White · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · United States

Non-market sales, barter, trade, donations, and other creative transactions have been integral to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) since its inception, promoting creativity and new economic thinking due to its advance payment system for unknown harvests. Based on qualitative field research, primarily in the Northeastern United States, this chapter examines the innovative transactions that have enabled CSA and other Community Supported Enterprises (CSEs) to grow. While acknowledging that the 'Community Supported' model has not solved the challenge of providing adequate incomes for producers or attracting diverse participants, the chapter presents evidence of CSA as a vibrant system connecting producers and consumers through creative transactions.

Sarah DeSantis · · United States

This paper explored the association between community gardens and health promotion by reviewing twenty studies selected from two databases. The research found positive associations between community gardens and various health promotion outcomes across different populations. It concluded that community gardens are an effective tool for improving health promotion outcomes.

Rosy Kátia Souza Gonçalves, Hélder Ribeiro Freitas, Braz José do Nascimento Júnior, Lucas Ricardo Souza Almeida, Isabela Oliveira Leite, Amanda Santos Moura · · Brazil (Juazeiro)

This study mapped plant species cultivated and commercialized in the Community Garden of the Urban Social Center in Bairro Alto do Alencar, Juazeiro/BA, focusing on agroecological urban agriculture's role in medicinal plant production. Results showed that 61% of the 122 garden beds were occupied with medicinal herbs, regularly supplying basil, mallow, mastruz, holy leaf, and tanchagem, among others, to meet local demand. The cultivation of herbs, alongside vegetables, reflects a growing interest in health promotion through agroecological products.

Lara Cristine Gomes Ferreira, Stéfanny da Cruz Nóbrega · Revista GeoNordeste · Brazil (Goiânia)

This study explores agroecological urban agriculture in the Greater Goiânia region of Brazil, aiming to qualify the debate on its current relevance, understand the role of socio-biodiversity and food sovereignty, and foster dialogue through socio-environmental education. The methodology included a theoretical-bibliographical review, secondary data collection, and action research at a public school in Goiânia. The findings suggest that agroecological urban agriculture is an alternative to reduce the negative effects of agribusiness and minimize socio-environmental problems, highlighting the importance of family farming and education for food sovereignty and social equality.

Alexandra van den Berg, Judith L. Warren, Alex McIntosh, Deanna M. Hoelscher, Marcia G. Ory, Christine Jovanovic, Michael López, Lisa Whittlesey, A. Kirk, Caren Walton, Lisako McKyer, Nalini Ranjit · Childhood Obesity · United States (Texas)

The Texas!Grow!Eat!Go! (TGEG) study assessed the individual and combined effects of school-based gardening and physical activity (PA) interventions on children's eating and PA behaviors and obesity status in 28 low-income schools in Texas. Participants included 1326 third-grade students and parents, with data collected at the beginning and end of the school year. Children in schools receiving the gardening intervention showed significant increases in nutrition knowledge, vegetable preference, and vegetable tasted, while children in gardening or PA intervention schools significantly decreased BMI percentile.

Jennifer Engels, Sheree J. Watson, Henrietta Dulai, Kimberly Burnett, Christopher A. Wada, ‘Ano‘ilani Aga, Nathan DeMaagd, J. J. McHugh, Barbara Sumida, Leah L. Bremer · PLoS ONE · United States (O‘ahu)

A researcher-farmer collaboration on O‘ahu's Sumida watercress farm conducted a 25-year trend analysis and a year of intensive spring water sampling. Negative correlations were found between historical crop yields and increases in the Oceanic Niño Index, temperature thresholds, and pest outbreaks. Despite urbanization, on-farm water quality was very high, and microbial analyses suggested the farm provides nutrient retention services to downstream systems. The study demonstrates that challenges facing urban agricultural systems shift over time.

Kristen Giombi, Anupama Joshi, Caroline Rains, Jean L. Wiecha · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

To measure the reach of Oregon's farm-to-school grant program, descriptive analyses and t-tests were conducted between the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years. Following the intervention, the number of nonwhite students in participating districts nearly doubled, and average local food purchases, especially fruits and vegetables, increased for low-income districts. These results suggest that the opt-in approach to the grant program facilitated greater participation from low-income districts.

Noah Lenstra · · United States

An online questionnaire conducted in Spring 2017 among public libraries in the U.S. and Canada found that 1,157 libraries offered programs related to physical activity, including yoga classes and community gardens. Forty-one percent of these libraries reported developing such programs with partner institutions, with Parks and Recreation Departments being the most commonly noted partner.

Laura Lucas, Fabiana Li · Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation · Canada (Winnipeg)

The Rainbow Community Gardens in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is a community project supporting immigrant and refugee families in growing their own food. This photo essay examines the role of food and community gardens in expressing cultural identity and their possible benefits for community building, skill learning, and growing culturally appropriate foods for health and food security. These benefits gained new relevance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gamel Nasser · European Journal of Public Health · Brazil

A Brazilian non-profit developed a nutrition education project from 2016 to 2018 to combat childhood obesity, incorporating school gardens and education. The program successfully integrated activities into school curricula, leading to healthier lunches. 76% of parents reported that school gardens increased their children's fruit and vegetable intake, and 33% of children changed their eating habits after the program.

Lisa Berglund · · United States (Detroit)

This paper analyzes media coverage of informal practices like street vending, murals, and urban agriculture in Detroit's redeveloping neighborhoods. It reveals that while these practices are appropriated by developers and new, affluent arrivals as entrepreneurial and necessary for redevelopment, they are treated fundamentally differently from the informal practices of long-standing, marginalized residents, which are often condemned as illegal. This inconsistency highlights how legal frameworks are manipulated to exclude long-standing residents from the city's "renaissance."

Leonardo Mendes da Silva, Vanessa Dutra, Delton Francelino, Natália Oliveira Dias · Enciclopédia Biosfera · Brazil (Barbacena)

Research was conducted in Barbacena, Minas Gerais, Brazil, to identify empty urban spaces and wastelands suitable for community gardens. The study, carried out by the Center for Studies in Urban Ecology, aimed to map these spaces for potential community garden proposals to public and private entities. Ten locations were selected based on specific criteria, and general perceptions were presented to facilitate understanding and dissemination, though the study did not intend to establish planting projects or direct community contact.

Ana Galvis Martinez, Brooke A. Porter, Paul Rogé, Leah Atwood, Natalia Pinzón Jiménez · · United States (California)

The Bay Area Farmer Training (BAFT) program trained aspiring urban farming practitioners in agroecology, utilizing a pedagogy rooted in humanistic values, social justice, and decolonial and feminist frameworks. An analysis of BAFT from the perspectives of participants and founding educators led to recommendations for educators and program developers. These recommendations include training in restorative justice, cultivating cross-cultural dialogue, building trust, humanizing classrooms, preparing guest speakers, and designing values-centered curricula.

Naiane Modri Fuzinatto, Sílvio Santos · Turismo - Visão e Ação · Brazil

This qualitative case study evaluated the impact of urban agriculture (UA) on the competitiveness of a restaurant in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected through documentary research, semi-structured interviews, and direct observation, then analyzed using the VRIO model. The findings suggest that UA can develop a competitive advantage when combined with conceptual and technological elements.

Jackson Green, Lauren Maunder, Kristina Gulczewski · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · United States

This project presents group research on urban agriculture as a tool for revitalizing urban food deserts, utilizing a website. The website provides definitions, explanations, and examples of food deserts, urban agriculture, and their combination. The project also includes an addendum to the Green New Deal, discussing government recognition of urban food deserts.

Justine Lindemann · New York University Press eBooks · United States (Cleveland)

This chapter explores how gentrification in Cleveland, Ohio, impacts Black urban farmers' and gardeners' access to land in disinvested neighborhoods. It examines the ancillary effects of development on alternative land reuse efforts. The study highlights that despite a seemingly endless supply of vacant lots, gentrification negatively affects land access for these communities.

Colleen Saxen · CORE Scholar (Wright State University) · United States

This participatory action research (PAR) explored a school garden program in a historically marginalized community during the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests. School staff and community partners co-created the garden, expressing meanings, values, and visions through photovoice, mapping, and gardening activities. Participants described experiences of love, empowerment, and justice, demonstrating the value of PAR for cultivating school gardens as sites for social justice and the role of an ethic of love in community building.

Tucker Jensen · Digital Commons - Hamline (Hamline University) · United States

This capstone project reviews the effects of community gardens on low-income urban populations in the United States. After reviewing prior work on the history of racism in America, disparities in food insecurity, the correlation between poverty and health, and environmental impacts specific to urban communities, the project developed a five-day unit of study set at an established community garden. The unit teaches middle school students about community gardens through STEM lesson activities, has students design their own garden, and aims for them to be able to explain why a community garden matters to their neighborhood's success.

Laryssa Mylenna Silva Santos, Maria Elizabete de Oliveira, Darcet Costa Souza, Cristiane Lopes Carneiro d’Albuquerque, Marcus Vinicius Guimarães Clack · Informe Econômico. · Brazil

This paper describes and analyzes the social, economic, and technological aspects of the agroecological transition toward organic certification at the Povoado Soinho Community Garden in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, outlining the profile of its horticulturists and their production. Teresina's Community Garden Program, created by the municipal agriculture and supply agency (SEMAB), initially aimed to reduce delinquency among socially vulnerable children and adolescents, but later added goals of increasing horticultural output, generating employment and income, and improving farming families' diets. As of 2016, Teresina had 70 production units, five of which were awaiting organic certification from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), including the Povoado Soinho Community Garden, which was undergoing the transition to organic production with support from the rural development secretariat. The analysis found that plots managed by women predominated and showed greater production diversification than those managed by men, and that more than half of plots received help from at least one family member.

Luiz Andrei Gonçalves Pereira, Marina de Fátima Brandão Carneiro, Igor Martins de Oliveira · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Brazil

A study analyzing the spatial organization of urban agriculture in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil, practiced in residential backyards (quintais) and vacant lots. Methods combined a literature review with empirical fieldwork in the city's urban agriculture areas. Through theoretical and conceptual discussion, the study examines urban agricultural practices and public policies aimed at promoting food security in Montes Claros.

Daniele Eckert Matzembacher, Fábio Bittencourt Meira · Organizações & Sociedade · Brazil

A 2020 case study of the CSA (community supported agriculture) organization "CSA Alfa" in Minas Gerais, Brazil, using Karl Polanyi's theoretical framework. It frames CSA as a movement that repositions agricultural production around fair-trade and agroecological principles through short chains linking production and consumption, and finds that market exchange and reciprocity coexist as different regulatory principles within CSA Alfa. Friendship, tolerance, loyalty, and commitment build a communal ethos around food, and the study argues CSA acts as a counter-movement to commodification by strengthening participants' relative autonomy and raising social cohesion among participating groups.

Abby M. Lohr, Nick Henry, Denise J. Roe, Claudio Andrés Garrido Rodríguez, Rosalva Romero, Maia Ingram · Journal of School Health · United States

This study evaluated the effect of garden-based learning on outlook and behaviors toward vegetables among primarily Latinx third- and fourth-grade students at four elementary schools with different garden programs in southern Arizona. Students completed a bingo-format survey and participated in class discussions measuring their attitudes and behaviors. Students at schools with more garden exposure were more likely to give responses reflecting positive attitudes and behaviors toward vegetables, and most often named vegetables grown in the school garden as their favorites in class discussions. For third- and fourth-graders, longer exposure to a school garden was associated with more positive perceptions of and desire to consume vegetables.

Cristhiane Oliveira da Graça Amâncio, João Pedro Ribeiro Oliveira, Leonis Junior Santos Silva, Bruna Maria Pereira Ribas, Claudemar Mattos, Ilzo Arthur Moreira, Robson Amâncio · · Brazil (São Paulo)

Among farmers of the Rede CAU (Carioca Urban Agriculture Network) in the Vargem Grande neighborhood of western Rio de Janeiro, data collected from February to December 2019 using the LUME method analyzed production of fruit, vegetables and compost across 8 hectares of land. Total family income was estimated at R$62,632.00, of which 56% (R$38,906.00) came from agricultural income (with the greatest profit from vegetables sold at fairs) and 46% (R$30,726.00) from non-agricultural income (space rental); 65% (R$45,421.53) of total income derived from women's labor (making sweets and dried fruit for sale) and 35% (R$24,210.47) from men's labor (planting and management). The main constraint on improving production was difficult access to the steep, hard-to-reach region and the large distances between subsystems, with optimizing self-production of inputs through composting and mechanizing transport proposed as alternatives.

Caio Tibério Dornelles da Rocha, Luciana Calabró, Diogo O. Souza · · Brazil

A proposal outlines the implementation of technical-pedagogical school gardens in the states of Maranhao and Piaui, Brazil, reviewing Brazil's legal framework on the Right to Adequate Food and Food and Nutrition Security and discussing the main characteristics of a reference school garden. The proposed implementation is a strategy for institutionalizing gardening models in public education institutions serving children and adolescents aged 6 to 14, positioned as the initial step toward establishing a School Vegetable Program for Improving Eating Habits as part of pedagogy aimed at building healthy, sustainable eating habits.

Evan Bowness, Hannah Wittman · The Journal of Peasant Studies · Canada

A study advancing the theory of agrarian citizenship—the bundle of rights and responsibilities underpinning the food sovereignty movement—based on interviews with 34 participants engaged in urban agriculture in Metro Vancouver, Canada. It introduces the concept of urban agrarianism, defined as an urban ethic of care for foodlands and, by extension, a relational responsibility to exercise solidarity with those who cultivate and harvest food. The paper argues that urban people, especially those with privilege, should recognize the impacts of their social-ecological metabolism and mobilize for food sovereignty struggles, including for the repatriation of lands stolen through colonial dispossession.