Research & reports

Ana Carolina F. G. Araújo, João Paulo de Souza Moreira, Lorena Martins Costa, Tales Bedeschi Faria, Louise Rochebois Quintão, Aline Silva Santos · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

At IFMG – Santa Luzia campus, a community organic garden was established to develop agroecological awareness among teachers and students. This initiative, stemming from discussions during Environment Week, involved constructing flowerbeds and planting vegetables. It aimed to create spaces for knowledge construction and promote future extension projects for mapping small farmers and replicating the school garden.

Jennifer White · Sustainability The Journal of Record · United States

The Sustainable Learning Initiative at Franklin Falls is a long-term partnership between Colby-Sawyer College and PermaCityLife in Franklin, New Hampshire. To date, 265 students have participated, engaging in experiential learning to develop sustainable solutions for community needs. Students have assisted with projects including permaculture/edible landscaping, contributing to a grassroots effort to revitalize the community.

Christine Porter · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Wyoming)

This mixed-methods study, conducted over five years with five food justice Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in the U.S., including quantifying harvests from 33 gardeners in Laramie, Wyoming, and surveying 20 of them, documented benefits of home and community gardening. Four categories of benefits were identified: improving health, producing quality food in nutritionally meaningful quantities, providing cultural services, and fostering healing and transformation. The findings illustrate a range of health, food, cultural ecosystem services, and social change outcomes from gardening.

Kamran Zendehdel, Lorraine Clarke, Xiaochu Hu, Richard Hess · Journal of Extension · United States (Washington, DC)

A 2015 youth urban agriculture workshop for students from underserved areas in Washington, DC, revealed gender and racial differences in perceived knowledge gain and intended behavior change. Female students and Black students reported about half-grade higher (0.43–0.63 points) scores for knowledge change, while only female students showed an increase in intent to change behavior. These results suggest that female students may learn at a faster rate than males and that experiential learning aids Black students in gaining knowledge.

Mitch Rose · Antipode · United States (Detroit)

This paper discusses the Detroit urban farming movement, conceptualizing the economy as an over-productive and wasteful system of energy exchange. It argues that the inefficient, redundant, and wasteful nature of urban farming in Detroit is an appropriation of potentialities within the general economy. The study highlights that diversity is not a result of positive relations but emerges from the prolific nature of the general economy.

Fabiola Bernal, Edith Yolanda Romero Hernández, Krystal Dennicé González Fajardo, Susana Sánchez Viveros, Rebeca Monroy‐Torres · Revista Espanola De Nutricion Comunitaria-spanish Journal of Community Nutrition · Mexico

This cross-sectional comparative study in Mexico compared food security levels among beneficiaries of community kitchens within the National Crusade against Hunger program, differentiating between those with and without a community orchard. The study involved three community kitchens: one with an orchard and two without. Results showed that the frequency of food security was 16.67% for kitchens with an orchard and 10.00% for those without. Furthermore, 48.93% of beneficiary households from kitchens with an orchard reported having a variety of foods, compared to 14.28% for those without.

Sonya Sachdeva, Marla R. Emery, Patrick T. Hurley · Society & Natural Resources · United States

This paper investigated how wild food foraging is framed in print and digital news media and how these depictions varied over a 15-year period including the Great Recession, using automated content analysis. Results showed that prevalent framings represented foraging as either a self-provisioning practice or a source of luxury commodities and experiences, with economic uncertainty appearing to affect the frequency of each framing by news media sources. These distinct framings may influence future regulatory landscapes of foraging.

Natalia Matesanz Ventura · · United States (New York City)

This article examines over fifty self-managed community gardens in Loisaida, New York, which form an informal network combining "affection" and "dissidence" to create "affect-dent" spaces. These gardens, established since the 1960s, reconfigure public space by opposing administration, the real-estate market, media invasion, and the appropriation of public space by the private sector. The study highlights how these spaces challenge dominant power structures and serve as a reference in contemporary architecture of the common.

Kate Gardner Burt, Marissa Burgermaster, Raquel Jacquez · Health Education & Behavior · United States (New York City)

This study aimed to determine the level of integration of school gardens and identify factors predicting integration. 211 New York City schools in the United States completed a survey, and the average garden integration score was 34.1 out of 57 points. Operating budget had a significant influence on the integration score, and partner organizations, evaluation/feedback, planning the physical space, and characteristics of the physical space were positively and significantly related to budget.

Paola Brum · PIXO - Revista de Arquitetura Cidade e Contemporaneidade · Brazil (Pelotas)

The "Ocupação Canto de Conexão" is an occupied abandoned building in Pelotas, Brazil, near the Federal University. It provides student and popular housing, a community garden, and cultural activities for residents, students, and the homeless. For nearly two years, the space has been maintained by volunteers and community contributions, operating without public funding.

Monika Egerer, Brenda B. Lin, Stacy M. Philpott · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · United States (California)

This citizen science study in the California Central Coast examined water use, vegetation, and soil management in urban gardens. Water use varied by gardener and was positively related to mulching and crop cover. Gardeners expressing high concern for drought and water conservation paradoxically tended to use more water, while those in gardens with more rules used less.

Nancy F. Sonti, Erika S. Svendsen · Society & Natural Resources · United States (New York City)

Semi-structured interviews with community gardeners in New York City explored their motivations for gardening. Gardeners' motivations were found to be both personal and collective, with community gardens providing a space for reflection and a deep connection to nature for many. Joy and personal fulfillment consistently remained the most prevalent motivations over time, while the impulse to improve the community decreased, and food production and cultural identity connections became more common motivations.

Clétina Inês de Brito Rodrigues, Rafael Pereira Barros, Iraci Fideles, João Victor de Brito Rodrigues, Genilson Tabosa Wanderley, Glicia Luiza nunes · Fórum de Integração Ensino, Pesquisa, Extensão e Inovação Tecnológica do IFRR - e-ISSN 2447-1208 · Brazil

This project aimed to encourage the Guariba indigenous community in Brazil to produce vegetables through a community garden, promoting food access and security, work opportunities, and income generation. Activities included environmental and social education, entrepreneurship, and healthy eating practices. The project involved over 20 participants and resulted in the construction of a community garden and training for community members and student interns.

Janaina Henrique dos Santos, Júlio César Maestri · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

This work presents the experience of reapplying the "Revolution of the Baldinhos" Social Technology, which involves managing organic residues and urban agriculture, in Macaiba-RN, Brazil. The project focuses on women collecting household organic waste to produce thermophilic static compost for urban food production and gardening. This method, originating from the UFSC Method, was applied through the Urban Housing Project with Social Technology (MUTS), supported by AACC/RN and Banco do Brasil Foundation, marking its first national application.

John Dotter · · United States (California)

This paper documents people-plant relationships in San Jose, California's ethnically diverse Community and Cultural Heritage Gardens from 1977 to 1992. Unpublished university research, magazine articles, and newspaper stories show how partnerships with grassroots community groups contributed to the gardens' sustainability. Preliminary findings suggest greater utilization of non-English speaking skilled horticulturalists, and case studies illustrate how cooperative development of San Jose gardens produced benefits like neighborhood beautification, stimulated social interaction, and nutritious food production.

Leandro Matias dos Santos, Michelle Emanuelle Silva, Cirlene Jeane Santos e Santos · Diversitas Journal · Brazil

This article is based on fieldwork conducted by NUAGRARIO researchers and Agrarian Geography students from the Federal University of Alagoas in Maceió-AL, Brazil, focusing on urban agriculture. The fieldwork aimed to verify if virtually selected areas contained urban agriculture practices. The article's main objective is to demonstrate the importance of fieldwork in social formation through understanding, observation, and recognition of reality, highlighting geographic contents that can be approached through this methodology.

Stacy C. Moak, Caitlin P. S. McAteer, Heather A. Rossi, Merrill J. Schmidt · Journal of Community Psychology · United States (Little Rock)

This study investigated community perceptions of fresh food access in two target neighborhoods in Greater Little Rock, Arkansas. Through interviews at food pantries, online surveys with local experts, and asset mapping of healthy food resources, findings revealed that cost and transportation are barriers to fresh food access. Residents supported mobile markets and community gardens as viable options for increasing fresh food access.

Saúl Ortiz Riveros, Nancy Domínguez González, Noel Reyes Pérez, Marycruz Abato Zárate, Carlos Roberto Cerdán Cabrera, Miguel Ángel Escalona Aguilar, Josè Armando Lozada-García · Revista Biológico Agropecuaria Tuxpan · Mexico (Xalapa)

This study characterized urban and peri-urban gardens within the Xalapa Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Network (RAUPX) in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, based on garden size, diversity, arthropod presence, and phytosanitary management practices. Findings indicated that producers' phytosanitary practices are corrective rather than preventive and are moderately related to the presence of pests.

Walter W. Furness, Courtney M. Gallaher · Local Environment · United States (Rockford)

A study in Rockford, Illinois, examined community gardens to assess their contribution to residents' access to fresh produce and other social benefits. Data was collected through interviews with gardeners, focus groups, and surveys of food pantry users. The findings indicate that while non-gardening community members benefit from increased produce provided by the gardens, they do not receive all the social and communal benefits associated with active garden participation.

Joakim Ethan Cohen · · United States

This thesis explores Black food justice organizations in Oakland and Detroit addressing food security in low-income communities of color. It argues that food deserts result from discrimination and marginalization perpetuated by racist laws and policies. The thesis explains how urban gardening enables Black people to regain control of the food system and promotes empowerment and self-determination.

Stephanie Wagner · Syracuse University Libraries (Syracuse University) · United States (Syracuse)

This project explores Syracuse, NY's food environment and socio-economic issues pertaining to lack of food accessibility. It examines the existing network of Syracuse Grows community gardens, how architecture can intervene within it, and the architect's role in improving the local food environment. The goal of architectural interventions is to provide the community with a platform to kick start a larger change in the urban and socioeconomic fabrics of the city.

Kathleen Howe, Jenny Bach, Myles DeCoito, Shari Frias, Rebecca Hatch, Susan I. Jarvi · Frontiers in Public Health · United States (Hawai'i)

A collaborative project with five Hawaiʻi Island schools developed an integrated pest management plan to control slugs and snails, intermediate hosts of rat lungworm disease (Angiostrongylus cantonensis). Curricula for grades 5-8 were created, and students trialed five shelter materials, removing over 4,000 invasive slugs and snails while collecting data. This initiative aimed to reduce human cases of the disease and restore public trust in local agriculture through education and pest control.

Giulia Giacchè, Wania Rezende Silva · ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI · Brazil (São Paulo)

This article investigates the role of urban agriculture (UA) in reconfiguring urban spaces and promoting sustainable cities. A survey conducted in two urban gardens in São Paulo, Brazil, found that UA's individual and collective practices contribute to sustainable urban development by reducing social, economic, and environmental inequalities.

Daniel Calbino, I. Borges, Luis Antonio Andrade Rosas, C.T. Abreu, Fernanda Anziliero Gonçalves · COLÓQUIO - Revista do Desenvolvimento Regional · Brazil

This case study in Sete Lagoas, Brazil, discusses the advances and challenges of agroecological urban community gardens, which have a history of approximately 33 years. Research findings indicate that public policy enables income generation for producers, increased supply, and food security in the region. However, the study highlights the need for greater support to address producers' limited technical knowledge and the importance of more supportive interpersonal relationships.

Hélder Ribeiro Freitas, Suellen Bispo Coelho, Vashtir Ramalho dos Santos Braga, Diego Cesar Alves Lima Verde, Cristiane Moraes Marinho, Rita de Cássia Rodrigues Gonçalves Gervásio · · Brazil

This work analyzed knowledge exchange processes promoted by the Center for Research and Studies Sertao Agroecological, focusing on the experiences of farmers and organizations in the Sertao do Sao Francisco Baiano and Pernambucano Territories. Through extension projects and teaching activities, students and teachers interacted with agroecology, organic production, and urban and peri-urban agriculture experiences. These interactions fostered closer ties between farmers and the university community, enabling dialogical exchanges and strengthening perspectives in teaching, research, and university extension.