Research & reports

Dhea Ivana Hidayat · TUTURRUPA · Indonesia

A study at SD Marsudirini Cor Jesu in Semarang, Indonesia, examining whether the comic "Komik Kota Kita," developed from urban farming research, could teach urban farming to fourth-to-sixth-grade students at a school with green open space but limited student understanding of urban farming. Observation, interviews, and questionnaires assessed comprehension, while interviews with teachers and parents tracked changes in environmentally caring behavior. Most students understood the comic because its visuals matched their age-group preferences, and they became more concerned about the environment.

Roza Yunita, Jamsari Jamsari, Winda Purnama Sari, Meisilva Erona, Lily Syukriani, Firsta Ninda Rosadi, Jeanne Venora, Hasbi Al Huda · Jurnal Hilirisasi IPTEKS · Indonesia

A community outreach report describes introducing and practicing container-based microgreen cultivation technology at SMP Baiturrosyid School and its surrounding community in Koto Tangah district, Padang city, Indonesia. Methods included socialization, counseling, demonstration planting of microgreens in containers, and discussion of cultivation techniques. The report concludes that students' understanding of agriculture increased and that students were able to cultivate microgreens following the taught procedure.

Heather Kirk-Ballard, Kristine M. Lang, Esther McGinnis, Kerry Smith, Lucy Bradley · HortTechnology · United States

The 2021 Extension Master Gardener (EMG) National Summary reported an estimated 84,700 volunteers across the United States, who helped communities grow food, supported physical and mental health activities, worked on environmental projects, and together contributed 3.1 million hours of education worth $88 million to the public. The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for the program, prompting many states to reduce requirements and increase flexibility for volunteers; a 2022 ASHS conference workshop shared strategies from three Extension educators and EMG coordinators on engaging volunteers in local food systems and community gardens despite limited in-person contact.

Ahmad Shukry Yahya, Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris, Jasmin Arif Shah, Nurulnadiatulamira Ahmad Zaki · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Global

A concept paper aiming to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) factors influencing the adoption of urban farming. It outlines urban farming's potential benefits — improved access to fresh produce, reduced food transportation costs, community health improvements, and contributions to greenhouse gas reduction and biodiversity — and reviews existing approaches that treat KAP factors individually versus as a holistic model, aiming to deepen understanding of the KAP model as applied to urban farming adoption. No empirical data is presented.

Arini Putri Hanifa, Eka Triana Yuniarsih, Retna Qomariah, Nurmalinda, Yopi Saleh, Yati Haryati, Indarti Puji Lestari, Susi Lesmayati · IntechOpen eBooks · Indonesia

A book chapter discusses the urban farming movement in Indonesia across five topics: trends in yard utilization and food provision policy, the importance of urban farming in society, community perception and involvement, the pandemic's impact on household food security and supply chains, and government strategy for sustaining participatory urban farming. In the Indonesian context, urban farming is defined as cultivating food crops, vegetables, fruit, herbs, and medicinal or ornamental plants combined with fish and poultry, on home yards, office yards, school gardens and communal gardens. It concludes that the sustainability of urban farming still requires government assistance and intervention plus private-sector involvement through corporate social responsibility, and that government must support both policy and physical infrastructure to build business partnership networks between producers and market actors.

Meike Rombach, David Dean · Frontiers in Horticulture · Global

A study on urban food foraging examines key factors determining consumers' willingness to try foraged food, spend time and effort on it, accept risk, and commit to food foraging. A conceptual model — in which general perceptions of nature, food foraging, and COVID-19 shape three specific attitudes toward food foraging, which in turn drive four behavioral intentions — was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Results show the strongest drivers of willingness to try are approval of responsible foraging activities and individual benefits of foraging. For willingness to spend extra time and effort, all predictors had some impact. For willingness to accept risk, approval of responsible foraging activities and societal benefits were influential. For commitment to food foraging, individual and societal benefits were the most important drivers.

Arief Setyo Nugroho, Bambang Sumardjoko, Anatri Desstya, Minsih Minsih, Choiriyah · International Journal of Elementary Education · Indonesia

This qualitative descriptive study examined strengthening environmental-care character through ecoprint artwork in Indonesian elementary schools, set against a backdrop of poorly tended school garden plants and littered food and drink packaging. Using interviews and observations with triangulation for validity and an interactive data collection-reduction-presentation-conclusion analysis, the study reports an 88.32% success rate for the ecoprint intervention in strengthening environmental care, with a secondary effect of awakening students' entrepreneurial spirit through producing leaf-motif paintings and cloth products.

Febrianto Syam, Zulfiani Zulfiani, Sadhriany Pertiwi Saleh · Al-MUNZIR · Indonesia (Makassar)

This qualitative study examines the environmental communication strategies and models used by Makassar Berkebun, an urban farming community in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, to introduce the concept of urban agriculture, drawing on interview and literature data analyzed descriptively through an environmental communication and urban agriculture framework. It finds the community applies four types of communication strategy, socialization, campaign, education and training, to realize its vision and mission, and that the communication model used is a mechanistic and interactional one based on David K. Berlo's (1960) and Schramm's (1954) communication models.

Abigail M. Decker, Scott A. Morrison · The Journal of Environmental Education · Global

An exploratory study examined how gender is communicated, experienced and constructed in nature-based education (NBE), based on 30 hours of fieldwork at one private outdoor preschool and two public elementary school garden clubs. The analysis identified four sites where gender socialization occurs in NBE: materials, spaces, conversations and educators. While gender-coded human-made objects tend to be fewer outdoors, the study argues that environmental educators must be intentional and explicit about curating a gender-decoded learning space, recognizing how gender is constructed by and for children and communicated and experienced, and must foster understandings of gender beyond the binary.

Mary Leou, Tania Goicoechea, Bethany Kogut · Catholic education/Catholic education (Dayton, Ohio. Online) · United States (New York City)

A report on "Bees Alive!", a civic ecology program run over three years by the NYU Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education & Sustainability in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. A university, public schools, non-profit organizations and the Lentol Garden community garden collaborated to establish a native-plant pollinator garden, funded by EPA Region 2, using place-based education and experiential learning theory to create an outdoor classroom that supports wildlife and teaches the public about pollinators.

Fadhilah Ramadhana, Nurina Orta Darmawati · Jurnal Sains dan Seni ITS · Indonesia

Gardening in densely populated areas — urban farming — has been widely practiced among urban communities using narrow plots or home yards, a trend that gained further interest during the pandemic, though facilities and costs pose challenges. The self-watering system method is presented as a solution using easily available tools and materials that can be implemented independently. Public knowledge, particularly among teenagers, about the benefits of medicinal plants is described as still minimal. To introduce cultivation via an accessible method, this design research combined observation of the self-watering system, experimental study, in-depth interviews with a gardening community, comparative study of similar videos, and literature review for secondary data, producing an explainer animation. The output is a two-part series: the first episode explains the self-watering system method overall, and the second explains its application using two wild medicinal plants. The video content covers the self-watering cultivation method, plant profiles, and the edible or medicinal parts of the plants, and is to be distributed via YouTube.

Stacy M. Philpott, Azucena Lucatero, Sofie Andrade, Cameron R. Hernandez, Peter Bichier · Insects · United States (California)

This study examined how native plant species richness, garden management, and landscape composition affect the abundance and richness of native and non-native bees, ladybeetles, ants, and ground-foraging spiders in urban community gardens (urban agroecosystems) in California, United States. Native plants — about 10% of species but only about 2.5% of plant cover — had little influence on arthropods overall, with the only significant effect being a negative one on non-native spider richness, likely reflecting native plants' low cover. Garden size increased native and non-native bee abundance and richness and non-native spider richness; floral abundance increased non-native spider abundance and native and non-native spider richness; mulch cover and tree/shrub abundance increased non-native spider richness; and natural habitat cover increased non-native bee and native ant abundance but was associated with fewer native ladybeetle species. The study concludes that native plant richness does not strongly influence the abundance and richness of beneficial arthropods.

瑞樹 荒毛, 昌弥 菊地, 明日風 清水, 洋一 松本, Mitsuyoshi KISHIGAMI · Institutional Repositories DataBase (IRDB) · Japan

With the public "Cooperative Agricultural Extension Program" in Japan facing growing budget and staffing constraints, and prior research pointing to a need for JA (agricultural cooperative) farm-guidance services to compensate for or substitute it in scale and function, this study (2023, Japan) examined JAs that administer urban agriculture through a review of statistical data, interviews with farm-guidance staff, and content analysis of disclosure publications from three Osaka Prefecture JAs, assessing the current state and potential of their farm-guidance services as a substitute provider. The analysis found that even for urban-type JAs, which can relatively easily build market-driven production and sales models, their farm-guidance services remain unable to adequately compensate for or substitute the public extension program in scale and function.

G. C. Moore Smith, Gilda Berruti · · Italy

This chapter explores Italian community gardens and the multiple policy frameworks that govern these activities, framing urban and peri-urban horticulture as part of a long tradition carrying social, environmental, and health benefits. It states that the drive for locally produced food is part of a recurring theme in public discussion; while few advocate national self-sufficiency, the widespread presence of locally based civic horticulture is said to raise awareness of food-production factors and to have a beneficial impact on patterns of food consumption and procurement. The chapter presents results of an investigation carried out in various parts of the country — Turin, Venice, Bologna, Siena, Rome, and Palermo — and also explores the special case of urban horticulture in greater Naples.

Kamal Prasad Acharya, Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki, Birgitte Bjønness, Krishna Prasad Duwadi · Advances in educational marketing, administration, and leadership book series · Nepal

A participatory action research study (observe-plan-act-reflect) involving students, teachers and parents as co-researchers examined a school-garden project at a public school in Nepal. The garden functioned as a "living laboratory" for learning about flora, fauna and their interrelations, and transformed teaching into a mix of indoor and outdoor sessions. Students developed a sense of responsibility for environmental conservation and were positioned as "junior scientists" caring for the garden, with parents, teachers and students engaging in it as a co-curricular activity.

B. BOLOU-BI Emile, Philippe GUETY Thierry, TRAORE Adama, KONE Brahima · African Journal of Agricultural Research · Global

To evaluate the effect of biochar on tomato production in acidic soil, a complete randomized block design with 5 replications tested four treatments: 0% (T0, control), 8% (T1), 12% (T2) and 16% (T3) biochar application, measuring plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, fruit number and biomass. Plants receiving biochar (T1, T2, T3) were taller than the unamended control (T0); T1 plants averaged 12±2 fruits per plant, while T0 control plants produced no fruit at all, and T2/T3 fruit counts fell between the control and T1. Soil chemical analysis showed exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity, pH, soil organic matter, total nitrogen and C/N ratio all higher than the initial soil, though treatments had no significant effect on soil enzymic activity. The study recommends recovering waste as an organic material source in urban horticulture and open-field cultivation to restore soil fertility.

Winalyn Denzon, Meraflor C. Estose, Krysha Camille Villanueva, Joa H. Jao · Multidisciplinary Science Journal · Global

A descriptive study surveyed 50 randomly selected respondents from designated areas on their acceptability of a container gardening program designed for BTVTED (technical-vocational teacher education) students, to gauge whether it could serve as a food augmentation strategy. Analysis using means and standard deviations found most participants were female, and acceptability was highest on the economic dimension — producing one's own food, generating income and supplying household subsistence. The researchers recommended that local governments run education campaigns to expand participation in container gardening.

Nataliya Apanovich, Seth Asare Okyere, Stephen Leonard Mensah, Louis Kusi Frimpong · Societal Impacts · United States

This study examined societal benefits gained by university students participating in community-based learning through the University of Arizona Community Garden (UACG) in Tucson, Arizona, using interviews, participant observation and student activities. Findings showed the community garden provided psychosocial benefits, including social interaction and connection with nature, for the participating students.

Alexis R. Cole, Jennifer Pethan, Jason Evans · Nutrients · United States

An integrative review examines the potential role of teaching kitchens operated in collaboration with local agriculture — including farms, community gardens, vertical farms, and urban agriculture — against the backdrop of diet-related chronic disease in the United States. The paper reviews the current state of agricultural systems, the food-is-medicine concept, consumer behavior, and the roles of each sector, followed by case studies illustrating how gaps between teaching kitchens and agriculture programs have been addressed. It summarizes opportunities for combining teaching-kitchen and agriculture-program knowledge and resources, along with challenges that may arise.

Luis Manuel Cárdenas Cárdenas, Rafael Fernando Oyaga Martínez, Martha Luz Ortiz Padilla, Adriana Morales Salazar, Emily Juliana Tumbaco Patiño · Ingeniería e innovación · Colombia

A master's-degree research project in environmental pedagogy for sustainable development, conducted in 2020-2021 at the La Honda Educational Center in the La Honda village of Timbío municipality (Cauca), Colombia, examined school gardens as a teaching tool to strengthen environmental education and meaningful learning among fourth and fifth graders. Using qualitative, socio-critical action research, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with parents — largely via technology platforms because of pandemic confinement — along with children's drawings and participant observation. The gardens were found viable for rescuing the community's cultural tradition; a curricular proposal was built with the school garden as its center of interest, and community members were involved in creating and sustaining the garden.

Leonor Ángeles Hernández, Mónica Leticia Acosta Miranda, Julio Pérez Machorro, Daniel Domínguez Estudillo, Leidys Fernández Arias · IPSUMTEC. · Mexico

A project in the eastern Morelos region of Mexico designs and builds urban/family gardens supported by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, primarily targeting small-scale farmers, homemakers, families, and older adults, aiming to let users remotely monitor gardens via mobile device or computer and reduce the time spent on routine care. The project is still under development, building prototype gardens of varying sizes and crops equipped with organic nutrients and an automated irrigation and monitoring system.

Urban Sustainability Exchange (Metropolis) · Urban Sustainability Exchange (Metropolis) · Colombia

A case study on Bogotá's expansion of urban and peri-urban agriculture as a response to COVID-19 and the climate crisis. With technical support from the Bogotá Botanical Garden, 14,266 people received basic urban-agriculture training and 31,926 received technical assistance between the second half of 2020 and February 2022, while 11,970 vegetable gardens were supplied with inputs. In April 2022 the city launched the AUPA mobile app for real-time data collection and updates.

Ilieva R.T., Cohen N., Israel M., Specht K., Fox-Kämper R., Fargue-Lelièvre A., Poniży L., Schoen V., Caputo S., Kirby C.K., Goldstein B., Newell J.P., Blythe C. · Land (MDPI), 11(5):622 · Global

A systematic review of 272 peer-reviewed publications drawing on urban-agriculture sites in 57 countries, organizing socio-cultural benefits into four domains: cohesive communities, health and well-being, economic opportunities, and education. Community connection and learning emerged as the most frequently reported benefits.

Hume C., Grieger J.A., Kalamkarian A., D'Onise K., Smithers L.G. · BMC Public Health, 22:1247 · Global

A systematic review synthesizing 53 eligible studies. Community garden participation was positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake and several psychosocial and community outcomes, though effects on physical health indicators were mixed.

Gray T., Tracey D., Truong S., Ward K. · Local Environment, 27(5):570-585 · Australia

A mixed-methods study of 42 social-housing residents across six new community garden sites in Sydney. Participants reported greater health and wellbeing awareness, new interest in growing fresh food, shared produce and recipes, happiness, and frequent socialization and community connectedness.