Research & reports

Khalilnezhad Seyyed Mohammad Reza, Tobias Kai · · Iran

This study explored the dimensions and attributes of productive and agricultural landscapes in six Persian Gardens (Akbariyeh, Rahim Abad, Amir Abad, Bahlgerd, Pahlavanpur, and Shahzadeh) in Iran. Using descriptive-analytical methodology, library research, interviews, and field studies, it showed that fruitful greenery is significantly present, even in governmental gardens, due to the need to provide recreational services for owners and guests. The combination of ornamental and fruit species enhances garden beauty, aims for efficiency, profitability, and self-sufficiency, and medicinal properties are also noted.

Taylor J.R., Lovell S.T. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(1):22-32 · Global

Studies African American, Chinese, and Mexican-origin home gardens in Chicago, finding that ethnic gardeners saving open-pollinated traditional crop seeds preserve agrobiodiversity while reproducing cultural identity and supporting community food systems.

山口 創 · 食資源教育研究センター報告（CEIS Papers）, 29: 83-88 · Japan

Through interview surveys of three cases (Komoike-dainagon bean, Harima-o garlic, Himeji-ebiimo taro), this paper analyzes the process by which local varieties become recognized regional resources and the challenges of their development.

Scheromm P. · Développement durable et territoires · France (Montpellier)

Based on 40 semi-structured interviews, this study examines the agricultural motivations and practices of urban dwellers participating in collective gardens in Montpellier, revealing how city residents reconstruct an agricultural identity through gardening.

· Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences · United States

Documents seed exchange networks in the United States (including the Seed Savers Exchange) and their role in food system resilience and heritage crop diversity.

Nadal, Ana, Cerón, Ileana, Cuerva Contreras, Eva, Gabarrell Durany, Xavier, Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro, Pons Valladares, Oriol, Rieradevall Pons, Joan, Sanyé-Mengual, E. · UPCommons institutional repository (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) · Global

This paper discusses the historical relationship between cities and agriculture, noting that agriculture was essential in ancient civilizations. However, in 20th-century modern urban planning, such as Le Corbusier's Chandigarh and Lucio Costa's Brasília, agriculture was largely excluded from major cities.

Jenny Morales Sánchez, Paola Aguilera Rocha · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Colombia (Bogotá)

In Usme locality, Bogotá, Colombia, the Ambiká-Pijao indigenous community, displaced from Tolima, undertook an initiative through the "Ambiká Seeds House of Thought" to recognize ancestral agricultural traditions. This non-conventional education facility hosts children aged 2 months to 5 years to maintain and strengthen their customs and ancestral knowledge. Maize, a native and sacred plant, was planted in soda bottles as an urban agriculture strategy for limited spaces, allowing children to connect with their customs and understand planting as a sacred act in their worldview.

Bill Musser · · United States (Iowa)

The 2015 CBHL annual meeting and conference was hosted by Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, from June 16-20, 2015. Held during SSE's 40th anniversary year, the conference theme reflected the growing public interest in creating edible landscapes.

Bill Musser · · United States (Iowa)

The CBHL 2015 annual meeting and conference was hosted by Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, from June 16-20, 2015. The conference theme reflected the growing public interest in creating edible landscapes.

Peano C., Migliorini P., Sottile F. · Ecology and Society · Global

Develops an indicator-based sustainability assessment tool translating Slow Food's 'good, clean, fair' principles into criteria spanning economic, ecological, social, cultural, and quality dimensions, applied to the Slow Food Presidia project.

Kloppenburg J. · The Journal of Peasant Studies · Global

Argues that food sovereignty requires seed sovereignty, examining the Open Source Seed Initiative's attempt to apply open-source legal tools against corporate enclosure and intellectual property rights over plant genetic resources.

Khoury C.K., Bjorkman A.D., Dempewolf H., Ramirez-Villegas J., Guarino L., Struik P.C. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) · Global

Shows national diets grew about 36% more similar over five decades, increasingly reliant on a few major crops, with implications for food security, nutrition, and the value of conserving crop diversity.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture · Global

FAO's revised international technical standards guiding genebank management of plant genetic resources, covering orthodox seed, field, in vitro, and cryopreservation collections to ensure secure long-term conservation.

· Resources · Global

Reviews community seedbanks worldwide and classifies their multiple functions and services, including conservation, exchange, and sharing of seeds.

Renee Meschi · Sound Ideas (University of Puget Sound) · United States (Tacoma)

This research examined the plants, fungi, and people of Tacoma's Swan Creek Park Food Forest (SCPFF) in the United States. The study investigated the site's history, including indigenous plant use by the First People of Cascadia, Native American food sovereignty projects, and the influence of immigration waves. It concluded with recommendations for ethical development and cultural sensitivity at the SCPFF.

Pautasso M., Aistara G., Barnaud A., Caillon S., Clouvel P., Coomes O.T. · Agronomy for Sustainable Development · Global

Reviews concepts, methods, and challenges for understanding farmer seed exchange networks, central to conserving landraces and sustaining agrobiodiversity through informal social and ecological seed systems worldwide.

Westengen O.T., Jeppson S., Guarino L. · PLOS ONE · Global

Assesses the completeness of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault's safety-duplication collection against the world's ex-situ holdings, quantifying global backup of crop genetic diversity across 156 crop genera.

Douglas E. Ponticos · Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) · United States (Florida)

A thesis on the cultural history of Florida's Brooksville Ridge in the United States traced the changing cultural landscapes of west-central Florida, from pre-Columbian and Seminole landscapes to the rise of the Ridge. Using primary and secondary documents, including local primary sources such as photographs of locals replanting forests and accounts of community gardens and canning, the study traced how a uniquely settled Floridian culture emerged from unsettled landscapes during the early 20th century, amidst war and depression.

Kevin J. Holohan · Language arts journal of Michigan · United States

This paper is based on an empirical study conducted at a charter high school in a Midwestern US metropolitan area. The study investigated how social ecology, with urban agriculture as a hands-on practice, fosters an ideal of citizenship through a program where students collect traditional Puerto Rican recipes from elders and grow the necessary produce within their community.

Mirella Cultrera, Maria Christina de Mello Amorozo, Fábio Cop Ferreira · SITIENTIBUS série Ciências Biológicas · Brazil (Mato Grosso)

An ethnobotanical study in five peripheral neighborhoods of Santo Antônio do Leverger, Mato Grosso, Brazil, surveyed 135 households and detailed 30 to characterize food plant cultivation. Ninety-seven species from 38 families were identified across homegardens, fields, and empty lots. While some species were common, the similarity between species/varieties across households was generally below 50%, and many had low frequency, revealing a vulnerability to species loss despite social network circulation.

Maira Echeverry, Sebastián Gutiérrez, Julián Pineda, Nelson Ravelo · · Colombia

This account describes Barrio San Luis, an informal settlement on the eastern hills of Chapinero, Bogotá, Colombia, formed by rural-to-urban displacement and still undergoing legalization, where residents obtained services such as a community-run water system through collective organizing. It describes the Casa Taller Las Moyas, a project founded roughly seven years earlier to serve neighborhood children and youth left without care while parents work, offering workshops in baking, ceramics, crafts and urban agriculture in two daily shifts organized around school schedules; the text ends mid-sentence and provides no further data on the seed-conservation activities named in the title.

Katakami T. · 観光研究 (Journal of the Japan Institute of Tourism Research) · Japan

Using Yamato traditional vegetables, examines the process by which place-specific food culture becomes a tourism resource, stressing the role of key persons creatively managing how the culture is supplied to others.

Bellon M. R., Hodson D., Hellin J. · PNAS 108(33):13432-13437 · Mexico

Assesses farmer-based traditional maize seed systems in Mexico and their vulnerability to climate change, with implications for maintaining and adapting landrace diversity in situ.

Joyce Rain Anderson · Journal of international women's studies · United States (Bridgewater)

A project in Bridgewater, United States, is creating an Indigenous garden at the BSU community gardens, involving the construction of a traditional wetu dwelling and the cultivation of a "three-sisters" and medicinal garden. Local Native participants are constructing and tending the garden, and will be instructed in ancestral ways. The initiative aims to support and advance Native culture, allowing students and community members to learn about traditional gardening and dwelling construction from a Native perspective.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) · FAO, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture · Global

FAO's comprehensive global assessment of trends in conserving and using plant genetic resources, documenting genetic erosion, genebank accessions, and policy needs for safeguarding crop diversity for food security.