Research & reports

Maulia Usni, Melani Fitri · Prosiding Seminar Nasional Pembangunan dan Pendidikan Vokasi Pertanian · Indonesia

Based on a literature review drawing on books, websites and journals, this study examines how urban farming can support agricultural sustainability in West Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Framing sustainability around the availability of natural resources, human resources and environmental quality, it identifies strategies for optimizing urban farming, including microgreens cultivation, hydroponics, aeroponics, vertical cropping systems (vertikultur), and indoor vertical farms.

Henriette John, Martina Artmann · International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development · Germany

Based on a German case study, this paper introduces an integrative framework for evaluating the environmental, social and economic sustainability of urban agriculture, applying multi-criteria analysis via the Analytic Hierarchy Process combined with a participatory approach. Analyzing the examples of vertical farming and community-supported agriculture, the environmental dimension received the highest weight, followed by the social and then the economic dimension; among sub-criteria, species diversity received the highest weight and food quality and safety the lowest.

G Charan Tej, P. Lakshmi, B. Savitha, A Meena · International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development · India

A study in Telangana state, India, examined the adoption of terrace gardening as a response to urban space scarcity. Adoption was found predominantly at a moderate level (48.33%), driven by enthusiasm, a desire for chemical-free produce, and cost-saving motivation, with education, health consciousness, and media exposure (notably YouTube) playing roles in uptake. Among specific practices, potting-mixture proportions and harvesting at recommended stages showed high adoption, while removing virus-infected plants ranked lower, possibly reflecting limited awareness of disease spread.

Victoria Dietze, Amna Alhashemi, Peter H. Feindt · Food Security · Global

Using the Urban Food Production Innovation System (UFoPrInS) concept, a 2024 study analyzed the urban contexts and enabling and impeding factors for implementing controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) in three contrasting locations — London, Nairobi and Singapore — based on document analysis and semi-structured expert interviews. Findings show Singapore as a favorable location because public policies support CEA implementation to reduce food import dependency and enhance the resilience of food supply. In London, high food import dependency is increasingly seen as problematic, but CEA implementation has been hampered by other policy priorities. In Nairobi, where over half the population lives in informal settlements without adequate food, water and sanitation, CEA is unlikely to make an economically efficient contribution to food security. The study concludes that CEA implementation is likely to be suitable in locations with ample capital and knowledge, stable political, social and infrastructure conditions, and limited space, where its value can be linked to hospitality and tourism and supported by favorable pricing for resource savings.

Asaduddin Abdullah, Dikky Indrawan, Anggi Mayang Sari, Asep Rakhmat · Policy Brief Pertanian Kelautan dan Biosains Tropika · Indonesia

A policy brief on the urgency of developing innovative urban farming in Indonesia as a response to challenges in urban food security and nutrition. It discusses urban farming's role not only in increasing food availability but in achieving locally based nutritious food, preserving local wisdom, supporting a free nutritious food program, and contributing to poverty reduction and environmental quality. It states that implementation remains constrained by existing policy limitations, and calls for comprehensive policy change including integrating urban farming into urban spatial planning, building community capacity, and providing infrastructure, technology, and public awareness support.

Karuniawan Puji Wicaksono, Setyono Yudo Tyasmoro, Akbar Saitama, Paramyta Nila Permatasari · International Journal of Environment Agriculture and Biotechnology · Indonesia

A study in Kedungkandang District, Malang City, Indonesia (May-September 2022) assessed agrotourism potential across four sub-districts using direct-observation survey and SWOT analysis, in an area with average temperatures of 22.7-25.1°C and humidity of 79-86%. Identified strengths included government-owned land available for agrotourism use, existing paddy-based agrotourism integrated with sheep farming and fisheries, a nearby Masked Village aerial-photography tourist site, multiple potential locations for agrotourism-based edutourism, and community enthusiasm. The study concludes that agrotourism development in Tlogowaru sub-district should be organized around two functions: lodging and trade, and agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery education.

Chengxiang Zi, D. Winterbottom, Juanjuan Liu · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · China

Focusing on a well-preserved village of the Dong ethnic group in southwest China that maintains traditional livelihoods and a local food system, a study used field surveys, interviews and participatory mapping to propose an edible green infrastructure (EGI) model for traditional villages. The model comprises the "rice-fish-duck" cycle as the core of traditional livelihoods, a hierarchical ecological structure of "households-groups-village," and corresponding management models. By theoretically analyzing the EGI of traditional villages shaped over China's millennia-old agricultural civilization, the study aims to inform sustainable food-system and natural-resource-management knowledge, applying it to the construction of bio-districts in rural China.

Matthias Middendorf, Marius Rommel · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Germany

This study used a transdisciplinary mixed-methods approach, combining literature, qualitative and quantitative data, in cooperation with the German CSA Network to build a framework capturing the diversity of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Germany, where CSAs grew from about 10 to over 500 in just over a decade yet remain niche. Using the framework to co-develop a survey covering 70 participating CSAs, the researchers found that community financing (domain A) is the defining characteristic distinguishing CSA from other alternative food network forms, and confirmed high diversity in differentiating characteristics (domain B), including governance types split among producer-led, consumer-led and integrated CSAs.

Adriana Díaz Caamaño · Academia XXII · Spain

This essay frames urban food cultivation and harvesting, once a common practice around human settlements in past centuries, as a new trend for urban sustainability amid an environmental crisis driven by city growth and its planetary impact. It argues that unsustainable agriculture is straining to feed a vast population with little awareness of the countryside or of its benefits for mental and physical well-being, but presents no specific study data or case findings.

Iara Rafaela Gomes · Sociedade & natureza · Brazil

A study examining agricultural activity, in particular family farming, in the Fortaleza Metropolitan Area (FMA) of Ceará State, Brazil. Drawing on primary and secondary data on producer profiles and agricultural and food-processing establishments in the region, it identifies key issues in production and food systems within the FMA. The study presents the production strategies used by family farmers, the challenges they face, and opportunities they identify, and argues that examining agriculture in metropolitan areas links socio-spatial and socio-environmental problems and points toward cross-sectoral public policy.

M Abror, A. Miftakhurrohmat, Andriani Eko Prihatiningrum, Ade Eviyanti · Journal of Social Comunity Services (JSCS) · Indonesia

This community-outreach program in Candi District, Indonesia, targeted the Muhammadiyah Student Association (IPM), a youth organization, aiming to improve members' understanding and skills in vertical culture cultivation as a way to optimize narrow urban land for agriculture, delivered through structured socialization, training, and mentoring. Participants gained the ability to design and implement vertical culture systems, agricultural productivity improved in both quantity and quality of harvests, and the program evaluation showed a significant increase in participant knowledge.

Kimberley Hodgson · Urban agriculture · United States

A critical examination of urban agriculture governance in Seattle, Washington, USA, tracing the geographic, social, agricultural and governmental context of city policy. Seattle established its P-Patch community gardening program in 1973, and grassroots and community organizations have worked on food production and food security since the early 1970s, but the city government did not begin systemic policy engagement until the early 2000s. Using a critical lens, the chapter examines key policies - including urban agriculture zoning regulations and the Local Food Action Plan - and projects such as the Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands Project, to assess the impact of urban agriculture policy on racial, social and health equity.

K. O. das G. DIAS, M. C. UZEDA, A. C. A. [UNESP] Alves, M. dos S. F. R. de AZEVEDO · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil

In mid-2021, a 400 m² "productive backyard" (quintal produtivo) was set up at the Fazendinha Agroecológica km 47 in Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, run jointly by Embrapa, UFRRJ, and PESAGRO-Rio, with four subareas for vegetables, unconventional food plants (PANC), fruit trees and annual crops, and egg-laying hens. Food production recorded over six months of 2021 demonstrated the plot's potential to counter food insecurity by supplying a healthy, diversified diet and generating extra household income through the sale of surplus produce.

Wirda Rohmah, Marina Ramadhani, Ghulam Fathul Amri · Jurnal Bengawan Solo Pusat Kajian Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Surakarta · Indonesia

Using a literature-study method, this research examined food security conditions in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia — a rapidly urbanizing city — and their implications for urban sustainability and resilience, covering food availability, access, utilization, and stability. It found that urbanization in Surakarta has increased food demand, altered food supply chains, and created distribution and affordability challenges, with urban land-use change, economic inequality, and the effectiveness of existing food policies and programs identified as the main factors shaping food security, and argues for an integrated approach combining improved urban agriculture, strengthened local food systems, and better coordination among stakeholders.

Godwin K. Naazie, Isaac Agyemang, Anthony Mwinilanaa Tampah-Naah · Heliyon · Ghana

A quantitative survey of 362 urban households across diverse neighborhoods in Ghana used descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and binary regression to examine socioeconomic factors behind urban agriculture participation under climate stress. Household size and income were significant at the 0.05 level, middle- and high-income households participated more than lower-income ones, and land was acquired mainly through purchase, which the study identified as a barrier to participation.

Xanath Bautista-Villalobos, Eduardo Garcı́a-Frapolli · Hábitat y Sociedad · Mexico

Two community urban gardens in Mexico City were analyzed through the lenses of agroecology, the social and solidarity economy, and social innovation. Working with garden administrators and key participants, the researchers defined participatory indicators and ran workshops to gauge local perceptions of how the gardens function. Both initiatives were viewed positively by their communities, though few residents were actually involved. Most evaluated variables scored satisfactorily, but aspects such as the source and use of water, income distribution within the community, and the creation of communal budgets had not met their objectives.

David Berná Serna, Sara Sama Acedo, Patricia Homs Ramírez de la Piscina · Revista Española de Sociología · Spain

Against the backdrop of the current eco-social crisis, this article analyzes the "eco-transformative capacity" of collective initiatives in three Spanish case studies: neo-ruralization and natural wine production in the Sierra Oeste de Madrid and southern Sierra de Gredos, agroecological supply systems in Catalonia, and community urban gardens integrated into a municipal program in Madrid. The analysis focuses on the motivations, challenges, and limitations agents encounter while practicing sustainable ways of dwelling, producing, and consuming, and on their relationship to public institutional agendas on eco-social transition.

Ada Baldi, Nicolas Lucio Gallo, Anna Lenzi · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · Italy

Semi-structured interviews with participants in the "social gardens" of Prato, Italy — plots the municipality assigns to individual pensioners or unemployed people for growing vegetables for home consumption — examined demographic and socio-economic characteristics, cultivated crops, and plot areas. The typical gardener was male, retired, averaged 74 years old, and had a low level of education. A 50 m2 plot with 40% of its area cultivated was estimated to yield about 90 kg of vegetables per year, roughly 61.5% of one person's fruit and vegetable needs. Tomatoes occupied more than 80% of the cultivated area. Vitamin C and Vitamin A showed the highest nutrient contributions, while calcium and sodium showed the lowest.

Jennifer C. Franco, Saturnino M. Borras · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global

This chapter examines the dominant convention in critical agrarian studies and agrarian movements — that land struggles are best captured by an agrarian-reform framework of expropriating land from large private monopolies for redistribution to landless and near-landless working classes. It argues that while this type of struggle remains important, it does not fully capture the range of land struggles of working people across rural and urban, agricultural and nonagricultural spaces. Over recent decades the working classes have fragmented, as the numbers of people combining agricultural/nonagricultural and rural/urban livelihoods have vastly expanded, decentering working people's land struggles from the classical treatment tied to agriculture and capitalism. Land struggles today are dispersed and multisited, with political leadership and power that are polycentric rather than unified, and span multiple scales.

Andin Irsadi, Partaya Partaya, Abdul Jabbar · Jurnal Abdimas · Indonesia

Tanjung Mas Village in North Semarang District, Semarang City, Indonesia, is vulnerable to food insecurity due to a high level of poverty, since poor residents are unable to either produce or buy sufficient food. This has prompted government and residents to try to secure food independently through farming, though limited availability of agricultural land has hampered these efforts. This community-service program aimed to provide knowledge and skills and to facilitate urban farming facilities to achieve food independence in Tanjung Mas, using methods including socialization, counseling, dissemination, training, and facilitation of urban farming facilities. As a result, the community gained an understanding of urban farming, learned about urban farming technologies, acquired verticulture skills, and verticulture facilities were established as learning demonstration plots.

Nick DeMarsh, Alfonso Morales · Urban agriculture · United States

Focused on cities in the United States, this paper (2024) frames urban agriculture as an opportunity to challenge the status quo of current urban and food systems, discussing the opportunities and challenges that increased urban population and density create for it through Howe and Kaufman's ethical framework of means and ends. Noting the tendency for ethical ends (economic or other outcomes) to preempt consideration of ethical means or processes, it applies this means-and-ends framework to propose three key ideas for framing the ethics of urban agriculture: a place-based historical perspective, a bridge connecting cities and regions, and a nested approach to reimagining healthy socio-ecological systems. It argues that urban agriculture practitioners must understand the history of urban places and agricultural processes both as consequences of national historical processes and in present place-specific contexts and future orientations; that urban agriculture's contribution to an environmentally sustainable future rests on recognizing food production and consumption as an essential part of human life; and that its transformative potential stems from its significant role in the urban and food systems that shape everyday life — while cautioning that this potential does not mean change through urban agriculture is inevitable, since it requires participants and stakeholders to critically examine their own practices and expectations.

Tatiana Hlinka · Journal of Student Research · United States

In New Jersey, 50 food desert areas face the most severe food insecurity across both rural and urban contexts. This study identified nine barriers to implementing urban agriculture initiatives in New Jersey's urban food deserts, using a sequential quantitative analysis combining a survey of food systems professionals with a GIS-based spatial analysis to identify the most prevalent barrier. Working in partnership with New Jersey urban agricultural organizations, the study found that lack of funding was the most commonly cited barrier to expanding urban agriculture initiatives. The GIS-based spatial analysis found that high-priority barriers varied by region, but that all organizations identified funding, or lack of access to funding, as a significant barrier regardless of whether they operated in a low- or high-income neighborhood. The study concludes that policymakers must reevaluate the role of urban agricultural organizations in New Jersey's urban food deserts.

Tiffanie F. Stone, Janette R. Thompson, Emily Zimmerman, Tássia Mattos Brighenti, Matt Liebman · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States

In the US Corn Belt near Des Moines, Iowa, researchers combined land-use visualization with producer surveys to examine a future scenario supplying 50% of a metropolitan population's dietary needs from local "table food" (fruit, vegetable and grain crops for direct human consumption) by 2050. Surveys were sent to 1,360 row crop and 55 specialty crop producers, yielding 316 and 25 eligible responses respectively. The scenario would require less than 3% of available agricultural land and roughly 130 additional producers, mostly in grain production. Based on producers' stated plans, local production could supply about 25% of residents' fruit, vegetable and grain needs, up from a 2% baseline. Row crop producers ranked food safety regulations as their strongest constraint, specialty producers ranked labor availability, and both groups cited crop insurance and processing facilities as important.

Gunawan Adi Pratio, Siti Nur Rohmah, Muhammad Ali Akbarsyah, Arseto Endro Supriyanto · Jurnal Bengawan Solo Pusat Kajian Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Surakarta · Indonesia

This literature review study examines the concept of urban farming as a solution to agricultural challenges in cities with little or no traditional farmland. Drawing on literature covering urban farming practices in major cities worldwide facing land constraints, it summarizes techniques including hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical farming, and use of rooftops or vacant urban spaces. The review finds urban farming can improve access to fresh food, reduce emissions from food transport, and improve environmental quality through increased green space, while also empowering local communities through job creation and resident involvement in food management, and supporting organic waste management by using household waste as fertilizer. However, resource constraints such as water, fertilizer and technology, along with regulatory and policy issues, were identified as the main barriers to implementation, and the paper concludes that collaboration among government, the private sector and local communities is needed.

J Resmi, K Vismaya, V. Chitra, S K Anjana, K V Sumiya · International Journal of Environment and Climate Change · India

Focusing on the role of trees and forested ecosystems in sustainable development and climate change adaptation and mitigation, this study compares Miyawaki forests — a high-density planting method developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki to intensify green cover and support local biodiversity — with food forests, planned and planted forests of food plants providing a variety of food year-round. The study sites were in Palakkad district, Kerala, India: Krishi Vigyan Kendra Palakkad, where a Miyawaki forest patch was established, and V.T. Bhattathiripad College in Sreekrishnapuram, where a food forest was established. While both approaches aim to restore ecosystems and enhance biodiversity, they differ in design, purpose and management: the Miyawaki forest reconnects with nature by supporting native flora and fauna for biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration, while the food forest reconnects with nature by providing a food source for pollinators and habitat for many animals, and is described as environmentally friendly because it requires no chemical pesticides. Both techniques are described as effective for establishing urban forests and converting unproductive wasteland into ecologically and socially beneficial productive land.