Research & reports

Loren Alcorn · Proceedings of Student Research and Creative Inquiry Day · United States

A student research presentation on middle school students in the United States (2021) discusses the correlation between school gardens and nutrition education, asking whether students relying on school lunches actually benefit from the nutrition standards those lunches must meet. It argues that a school garden would let students learn to grow their own food, encounter new foods, and interactively learn how different foods affect health, with garden produce potentially incorporated into cafeteria lunches. Citing existing evidence that greater access to fruits and vegetables increases consumption and that school lunches generate substantial food waste, it suggests that nutrition education and exposure to new foods through a school garden could reduce that waste; the presentation itself does not report original measured data directly testing the garden-nutrition education correlation.

Gabriela Eustáquio Lacerda, Julliany Lopes Dias, Guilherme Nobre Lima do Nascimento, Ilsamar Mendes Soares · Revista Brasileira de Plantas Medicinais · Brazil

Dried leaf bark and freeze-dried gel from Aloe vera grown in community gardens in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil were analyzed for chemical composition, phytochemistry, and heavy metals. Moisture content ranged from 7.06 to 10.62%, ash from 13.62 to 32.63%, crude protein from 5.58 to 7.47%, lipids from 0.58 to 2.04%, and crude fiber from 16.22 to 16.49%. Phytochemical analysis identified gallic acid, catechin, gallocatechin, ellagic acid, naringin, myricetin, quercetin, and kaempferol. No heavy metals were detected in the samples analyzed. The authors note further research is needed on how seasonality affects these compounds.

Elisângela Brauner, Maria Cecília Pereira Santarosa, Cecília Elenir dos Santos Rocha · Revista Eletrônica de Educação Matemática · Brazil

This article analyzes a teaching intervention within Brazil's Residência Pedagógica pedagogical residency program, in the mathematics course, that used a community garden in basic education to investigate and teach the mathematical concepts of angles and polygons. Instruction proceeded through mathematical-modeling stages of gradually increasing complexity, and the intervention surfaced challenges including finding a site for the garden, students' prior knowledge of measurement, and recognizing patterns to solve modeling problems. It concludes that developing varied practices in the school setting favors and broadens mathematics learning.

Lilian Nadja Silva Brito, Renally Cristine Cardoso Lucas, Fernanda Ferreira de Andrade, Ygor Alexandre Beserra Sousa, Rilva Suely de Castro Cardoso Lucas, Renata Rocha Cardoso Madruga, Gabriella Barreto Soares · Revista da ABENO · Brazil

This article reports the experience of a group of dentistry students at the State University of Paraíba, Brazil, who, in the second half of 2018, formed a "health-promoting space" bringing together culture and art with the Unified Health System (SUS) at the Argemiro de Figueiredo Family Health Unit (USF) in Campina Grande. The space was built through an experience titled "Graffiti that brings life" and through the process of building a community garden at the USF. The activities were marked by strong interaction among students, the community, the health team, and local social resources, and they strengthened the bond between the health team and the population. The presence of dentistry students in primary care was observed to be important, with students recognizing that the dentist's role in primary care extends beyond providing oral health assistance.

Alessandra Polastrini, Cláudia Regina de Sousa e Silva, João Aparecido Bazzoli · Informe GEPEC · Brazil

This study examined whether urban community gardens in the central region of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, fit a conventional or agroecological production model, surveying four gardens (in blocks 1006, 1106, 1206 and 1306 Sul) through questionnaires with 42 gardeners and interviews with two staff from the Urban Gardens program. Findings showed a mismatch between the number of registered gardeners and those actually working the plots; gardeners were mostly low-income, low-education women; use of products incompatible with agroecological production was documented, though a transition process was underway with gardeners adopting agroecology-based management techniques; and oversight and technical assistance existed but at levels insufficient to ensure adequate guidance for gardeners and product quality for consumers.

Doralice Sátyro Maia, Miriam Hermi Zaar · · Brazil

Drawing on field observation, photographic records, questionnaires and informal conversations, alongside prior research and government data, this study analyzes the persistence of rural practices — small-scale cattle dairying (vacarias) in João Pessoa and agricultural practices in Natal, both coastal cities in Brazil's Northeast — within areas classified as urban, describing these as "islands of rurality" that resist real-estate speculation and urbanization pressures, and calling for methodologies better able to distinguish urban from rural attributes in such hybrid spaces.

Erin Anzalone · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States

This paper outlines plans for a subsidized Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at Sugar Grove Farm, part of the Indian Creek Nature Center (ICNC) in Linn County, Iowa, using agroecology and restorative agriculture to grow food crops and make affordable produce available to low-income households, describing the intended logistics and reasoning for the program, which the paper states was set to launch in 2018. It does not report outcomes.

Becky Griffin, S. K. Braman · Journal of Entomological Science · United States

In 2017 and 2018, gardeners at 36 locations across 21 Georgia counties, United States, volunteered for the Georgia Pollinator Census pilot project, counting insects in September and October on an aster species and one other participant-chosen plant species (28 plant taxa were selected in total) while also receiving training in insect identification. Bumble bees, honey bees and wasps were sighted more often in rural areas, while carpenter bees, flies and other insects were sighted more often in urban areas; participants also showed increased entomological interest and insect knowledge, and the pilot's results were used to refine criteria for a larger, state-wide census.

Allea Martin, Amy Coplen, Lauren Lubowicki, Betty T. Izumi · Health Education & Behavior · United States

A Photovoice study of the CSA Partnerships for Health program in the United States, a subsidized community-supported-agriculture scheme designed to lower the cost barrier to fresh produce for low-income households. Twenty-eight participants photographed aspects of the program over 2 to 4 weeks and discussed selected images in focus groups; they reported that the program supported positive changes in their physical and social health and helped them learn about new foods, cooking and agriculture. Based on these self-reported, qualitative accounts, the authors suggest that a reduced-cost CSA membership combined with cooking education can support participants' ability to try new foods, build skills and improve health outcomes.

Valéria Borges Yonegura, Henrique Manoel da Silva · Confins · Brazil

A study of the Tatuquara neighbourhood and surrounding areas of Curitiba, Brazil, combining bibliographic review, historical-geographic analysis, and interviews with community gardeners (horteiros) conducted over 2017-2018, found that urban gardens improved local life, landscape and community safety and fostered topophilia and place attachment. Despite being used in city marketing, the practice's continuity is threatened by the possible end of a partnership with the electric utility and by pressure from the real-estate market.

Yasmin Koop‐Monteiro · Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice/La Revue canadienne de criminologie et de justice pénale · Canada

Using neighbourhood census data from 2005 to 2015 in Vancouver, Canada, multilevel modeling assessed the effects of new community gardens along with median income, population size, homeownership and ethnic diversity on property crime. Median income, population size and new community gardens each showed significant negative effects on crime, with the addition of one community garden reducing neighbourhood crime by approximately 49 counts, a 1,000-person increase in population reducing it by 48 counts, and a CAD$1,000 increase in median income reducing it by 34 counts.

Rafael Caetano de Lima e Silva, Ricardo Dagnino, Leonardo Nunes de Lima, Rejane Margarete Schaefer Kalsing · MoExP - Mostra de Ensino, Extensão e Pesquisa do Campus Osório · Brazil

A literature review examined the research methods used in urban and peri-urban agriculture scholarship held in the LUME digital repository of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. From 14 selected documents (two journal articles, five master's dissertations, two doctoral theses, and five undergraduate capstone papers), the analysis applied the mixed-methods classification frameworks of Briceño-León and Creswell. Of the 14 documents, five used mixed methods, eight used qualitative methods alone, and one used quantitative methods alone, indicating that qualitative and mixed approaches predominate in urban and peri-urban agriculture research at this institution.

Isaac Kwadwo Mpanga, Ursula K. Schuch, Jeff Schalau · Current Research in Environmental Sustainability · United States

A study in north-central Arizona, United States, investigated land use and farm practices among small-scale growers and their role in resilient, sustainable local food production. Amid rising pressure from population growth and extreme climate on agricultural land, Arizona's average farm size fell 57% while the number of farms rose 127% between 1997 and 2017, and family farms under 10 acres now make up 50% of the state's farmer population. The study found that 52% of the surveyed small farms were family operations, with regenerative and sustainable practices predominating — cover cropping (27%), compost use (26%), crop rotation (23%), animal or green manure (22%), no-till (21%), and reduced tillage (18%) — while conventional practices such as intensive tillage (5%) and synthetic fertilizers (13%) were less common. For pest, weed, and disease control, 95% of growers used biological, cultural, or mechanical methods versus 5% using conventional synthetic chemicals, and for irrigation, 78% used water-saving methods (drip, subsurface, sprinkler) while 11% used open flood irrigation.

Laryssa Roberta Alves Farias, Sanádia Gama dos Santos · Revista Interseção · Brazil

A qualitative case study examines a school garden project at a rural school in Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil, carried out as part of the Mais Educação program (2018-2019), aimed at promoting good nutrition and environmental education practices by using unused spaces on school grounds for an organic garden. The results describe the development of pedagogical and environmental activities centered on growing vegetables for school meals, with a focus on good nutrition, health, and improving students' quality of life.

Kevin Bolduc · The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) · United States

A blog post published on 10 November 2021 by the US grant-assessment body CEP. Grantees spend roughly 8 hours a year on reporting for a typical grant and often more than 30 hours across a grant's life, yet only about 60 per cent get to discuss the report they submitted with their funder. Around 70 per cent of nonprofits said funders relaxed or cancelled reporting requirements during COVID. The author argues that unless foundations genuinely engage with what is submitted and discuss it with grantees, reporting requirements should be eliminated or drastically reduced.

Beatriz Salazar · CEPES (Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales) · Peru

A CEPES article describing biohuertos run by communal kitchens (ollas comunes) in metropolitan Lima, a practice underway for roughly a decade under the legal framework of Ordinance 1629 (enacted 2012). It cites implementation across 12 districts without giving specific garden or participant counts, and concludes that such urban agriculture initiatives should be incorporated into Local Climate Change Plans and funded under regulations for the country's food emergency law.

Mariela Jara · IPS Agencia de Noticias (Inter Press Service) · Peru

IPS News reported on 12 October 2021 on the 1,400 square-meter "Biohuerto Ayllu 21" garden in Sector II Group 21, Villa El Salvador, 25km south of Lima. Started in 2018, the garden has 40 plots of 6 meters each and separate production, training, seedling, harvest, post-harvest and sales zones. It is run by 12 families, all elderly women migrants, who work an average of two days a week growing chard, radishes, broccoli, celery, tomatoes, beets, basil, spinach and lettuce, mainly for household consumption.

Eduardo Sá · Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia (ANA) · Brazil

An article tracing three decades of Belo Horizonte's urban agriculture and agroecology policy, from the 1993 founding of the municipal food and agriculture policy department (SMAB) through the 2004 creation of Amau and the 2018 launch of a participatory organic-certification system (SPG-RMBH). It reports that in 2019 the city's food bank handled 387,905 tons of food and school meal programs served 84.7 million meals.

Mupeta M., Kuntashula E., Kalinda T. · Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development · Zambia (Kitwe, Lusaka)

Using propensity score matching on survey data from Kitwe and Lusaka, this study finds that urban agriculture participation increases household income by 13.7–19.1%, demonstrating a significant positive economic impact.

Shrestha P., Small G.E., Kay A. · PLOS ONE, 15(4):e0230996 · United States

A study measuring and quantifying nutrient recovery efficiency and loss from compost application in urban gardens. It shows compost often supplies phosphorus far in excess of crop demand, and surplus P can be lost to waterways. The work argues that closing the food-waste-to-compost loop in urban agriculture must be designed for sustainable nutrient management, not just diversion.

Charlotte Glennie · City & Community · United States (Seattle)

This study examines how culture shapes urban political and economic processes by analyzing documents and interviewing advocates of Seattle's P-Patch community garden program, which has secured near-permanence for its publicly owned sites. It finds that advocates leveraged cultural capital and Seattle's legal-policy infrastructure to institutionalize the gardens within urban planning, but notes that as amenities signaling sustainability the gardens also contribute to gentrification, so equity requires deliberate consideration.

Yuki Kato · City & Community · United States (New Orleans)

This study examines the development of the urban cultivation scene in New Orleans over the decade following Hurricane Katrina, focusing on entrepreneurial projects. Contextualizing in-depth interviews with growers, it finds that dominant motives shifted from social missions to economic interests as the city moved from recovery to redevelopment, and argues that the distinction between socially and economically motivated cultivation cannot be easily drawn.

Caitlin K. Kirby, Lissy Goralnik, Jennifer Hodbod, Zach Piso, Julie C. Libarkin · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Lansing)

A descriptive correlational survey (n=92) of the urban agriculture system in Lansing, Michigan, examining demographics, farm characteristics, motivations, barriers, and resilience indicators. Support actors (nonprofits, university extension, municipalities) were most strongly motivated by social and environmental justice, and motivations around community-building and justice correlated significantly with several resilience indicators.

Carmen M. Ugarte, John R. Taylor · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Chicago)

This study evaluated chemical and biological soil-health indicators at 21 urban-to-periurban sites in Chicago (home gardens, community gardens, institutional farms, and private urban farms). It measured soil fertility, nematode trophic composition and food-web indices, and concentrations of lead, arsenic, and zinc; nematode communities differed by management scale and were likely influenced by soil organic matter and pH. Lead, arsenic, and zinc were below levels of concern, and soil fertility was significantly increased by management, particularly in community gardens and urban farms.

Kate G. Burt, Kathleen Delgado · Electronic Green Journal · United States (New York)

This study developed and validated a survey measuring the social and dietary outcomes of community garden participation in relation to food-system equity, testing it with community gardeners in New York City (n=38). The resulting 25-item Just Community Gardening Survey showed high test-retest reliability and internal consistency and covers domains such as social cohesion, collective efficacy, dietary intake, and food access, incorporating food-justice aspects not assessed in prior research.