Research & reports

環境省 · 環境省 (Ministry of the Environment, Japan) · Japan

On 21 June 2024, Japan's Ministry of the Environment published its estimate of national food loss for FY2022 (Reiwa 4), totaling approximately 4.72 million tonnes (2.36 million tonnes from businesses, 2.36 million tonnes from households), down about 510,000 tonnes from FY2021's 5.23 million tonnes (2.79 million business, 2.44 million household). The government's goal is to halve food loss by FY2030 relative to FY2000 levels.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan) · Japan

On 21 June 2024, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that business-sector food loss for FY2022 fell to 2.36 million tonnes, meeting the national target of halving business food loss from the FY2000 baseline of 5.47 million tonnes to 2.73 million tonnes by FY2030. This is a decrease of 430,000 tonnes (15.4%) from the prior year's 2.79 million tonnes.

Neetu Choudhary, Alexandra Brewis · Journal of Urban Health · Global South

A narrative review of 169 papers on food and nutrition in cities of low- and middle-income countries. Urban agriculture is the most common theme, and studies report gains in dietary diversity and food expenditure — but the review notes it is the relatively well-off, not the poor, who are found to practise urban agriculture, and land-access constraints exclude the poorest from those benefits. It also documents the nutrition transition toward processed, high-fat and high-sugar foods and a resulting double burden of malnutrition. Cash assistance shows promise during crises, but social protection alone is insufficient against food insecurity. Four evidence gaps are named: gender dynamics, WASH linkages, equity and intersectionality within cities, and the role of local government.

Namenge Philip Tendet, George Alliwa Makalliwa, Daniel Nyamongo Sagwe · The Pan African Medical Journal · Kenya (Nairobi)

A survey of 328 urban farmers in Kasarani sub-county, Nairobi County, Kenya (85.42% response rate) plus five agricultural extension officers and five chiefs. The strongest constraints on urban farming were flooding (mean 3.66), lack of rain (3.52) and pests and diseases (3.49), followed by poor yields and soil erosion. Institutional barriers were also reported: harassment by city authorities, insecure land rights and restricted access to plots. Respondents were 65.55% male, 63.41% married and 41.46% casual labourers, with 63.11% earning USD 40–80 a month — indicating that urban farming here is concentrated among low-income households facing both climate stress and weak institutional support. Limitations: not all urban farmers could be interviewed, and comparison outside the study sub-county was restricted.

内閣府 · 内閣府 · Japan

A nationwide survey report on Japan's specified nonprofit corporations (NPO houjin), published by the Cabinet Office in March 2024 and covering fiscal 2023. It tabulates corporate profiles (location, year of establishment, age and gender of the representative), activity (field of work, volunteer numbers, problems faced, partnerships with companies, international activity), accounting, disclosure and digitalisation practices, and financial realities such as main income sources, borrowing and membership-fee revenue, separating certified from non-certified corporations. Responses are organised into seven regional blocks from Hokkaido-Tohoku to Kyushu.

一般財団法人 日本民間公益活動連携機構 · 一般財団法人 日本民間公益活動連携機構（JANPIA） · Japan

JANPIA's evaluation guideline for the intermediary distribution organisations, activity-support organisations and executing organisations that deliver Japan's dormant-deposit-funded programmes, first issued in July 2019 and revised in May 2024. It sets out the basics and purpose of evaluation within the dormant deposits scheme, who evaluates and when, and the governing principles, then devotes a separate chapter to social impact evaluation and its structure. The document shows how evaluation is built into every tier of the funding chain as a condition of the money.

Government Outcomes Lab, University of Oxford · Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab), Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford · Global

Published 5 November 2024, announcing that the INDIGO Impact Bond Dataset run by Oxford's Government Outcomes Lab had reached 300 projects, described as the world's largest open-access resource of its kind. It lets governments, practitioners, investors and researchers share standardised data on outcomes-based contracts. The outcomes-based financing pipeline has more than tripled over the past three years, and eight practitioners from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the UK describe using INDIGO to inform programme design and research.

Stadtverband Leipzig der Kleingärtner e.V. · Stadtverband Leipzig der Kleingärtner e.V. · Germany

A page in which the Leipzig city federation of allotment gardeners collects national figures for the organised allotment system: 20 state federations, more than 13,310 clubs, 503 regional, district and area federations, and about 890,000 members. Counting family and friends, roughly five million people use a plot, and the nationwide average wait is three years. On costs it gives an average ground rent of 0.18 euro per square metre per year, working out at about 66.66 euro a year for an average 370-square-metre plot.

· Corresponsables · Peru

Spanish-language CSR outlet Corresponsables reported on 1 November 2024 on the 20th anniversary of "Huertos en Línea" (Online Gardens), a project started in 2004 by neighborhood women under power transmission lines in Villa María del Triunfo, Lima, with support from transmission line operator ISA REP. Participating families harvest around 25,600 kilograms of vegetables per quarter, grow more than 40 agroecological vegetable varieties, and earn up to 350 soles a month from selling surplus produce.

· LCR Diario Digital · Argentina

A regional Argentine newspaper report on the national Ministry of Human Capital's March 2024 discontinuation of ProHuerta, the national program providing free seed kits for household gardens. In the Villa Regina area of Río Negro province, the local Comisión de Fomento of Valle Azul stepped in to purchase and freely distribute 100 seed kits for the spring-summer season, while INTA (the national agricultural technology institute), though no longer funded to buy seeds, continues to offer free technical advice on soil improvement and pest control.

Kishimoto K., Yan W. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (Cambridge), 38:e54 · Japan

Quantitatively classifies roughly 430 registered allotment gardens in Tokyo by number of plots, plot size, price, contract duration, and facilities, mapping their spatial distribution and providers. Most allotments were founded after 2000 and are owned by local governments, yet demand for plots exceeds supply across much of the metropolis.

Landry M., Asigbee F., Vandyousefi S., Ghaddar R., Davis J. · Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 123(3):637-643 · United States

A cluster randomized controlled trial in mostly low-income, Hispanic Texas elementary schools testing whether the TX Sprouts garden, nutrition and cooking intervention affected academic performance. It found the program did not harm academic outcomes, showing that garden-based food education can be integrated into instructional time without lowering achievement.

神戸市 · 内閣府地方創生推進事務局（地域再生計画認定） · Japan

A regionally certified revitalization plan that Kobe City submitted to the Cabinet Office. Building on the Gastropolis Kobe 2020 vision, it sets KPI targets for local-food consumption, exchange population, new farmers and food-business startups through programs such as EAT LOCAL KOBE, farmers markets, citizen and tourist farm experiences, and student-farmer product development.

Nakajima Y., Akita N. · 都市計画論文集 58(3):767-773 · Japan

Addressing urban farmland repositioned from 'land to be converted to housing' to 'land that should exist' under the 2015 Urban Agriculture Promotion Plan, the study examines how municipalities should strategically position productive green areas and operate the purchase-request system to preserve them, using Setagaya Ward—an early adopter of such purchases—as a case study.

Choi S.-W., Shin Y. J. · Sustainability (MDPI) · Korea

Uses input–output analysis to compare the production- and value-added-inducement ripple effects of Korean smart farms against conventional agriculture, demonstrating the economic impact of fourth-industrial-revolution, business-oriented smart farming on the national economy.

Moghimi F., Asiabanpour B. · Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 25:1837-1855 · Global

Presents the first quantitative model evaluating the economic prospects of vertical farming in a competitive market, analyzing investment and operating costs against market prices to identify conditions for profitability and the central role of energy cost.

Wiśniewska-Paluszak J., Paluszak G., Fiore M., Coticchio A., Galati A., Lira J. · Land Use Policy 127:106562 · Poland, Italy

Uses the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas to analyze urban farming strategies in Poland and Italy, identifying three business types (service-, product-, and land-use-oriented) and how each communicates value to market segments.

Folorunso E. A., Schmautz Z., Gebauer R., Mraz J. · Heliyon 9(8):e18979 · Nigeria

Evaluates the profitability of ten small- and medium-scale commercial hydroponic farms using NPV, IRR, benefit-cost ratio and sensitivity analysis, finding larger farms more profitable but viability highly dependent on retail prices, crop choice and market size.

Chicoine M., Rodier F., Durif F. · Agriculture and Human Values 40(3):1153-1170 · Global

Analyzes how companies use commercial urban agriculture labeling in product marketing, examining the consumer-perceived benefits and risks of leveraging urban farming as a brand and value proposition.

Oh S., Lu C. · The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 98(2):133-140 · Global

Review of commercial vertical farming with IoT-based precision control, discussing its contribution to food security and the sustainability and profitability challenges facing the indoor farming industry.

Wang L., Liu C., Lu N., Takagaki M. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 7:973341 · China

Case study investigating China's plant factory and vertical farm industry, analyzing corporate deployment and challenges, and proposing policy and technical countermeasures to advance commercialization.

松井 崚, 栗山 尚子, 水野 優子 · 日本都市計画学会関西支部研究発表会講演概要集 21巻 pp.49-52 · Japan

Typologizes private-sector housing-district regeneration including Daiwa House's Livnest Town project (Midorioka Neopolis), showing that in developer-responsibility types, firms lead diverse initiatives such as community hubs and cultivation businesses.

株式会社Tryfe, 農林水産省 · 農林水産省 農山漁村振興交付金事例 · Japan

Fukuoka case report on using MAFF grants for exchange markets linking urban farmers and citizens, promoting local food and interest in citizen and experience farms with municipal collaboration.

一般社団法人KOBE FARMERS MARKET, 農林水産省 · 農林水産省 農山漁村振興交付金事例 · Japan

Kobe grant case report on youth-oriented farmers markets using urban agriculture function grants, documenting city-farmer-civic collaboration to secure urban farmers and activate citizen farms and direct sales.

神奈川県 · 神奈川県 調査報告書 · Japan

Kanagawa prefectural tabulation of citizen farms by municipality — including 285 in Yokohama and 64 in Kawasaki — enabling comparison of public, cooperative and farmer-led setups across the prefecture.