Research & reports

Tufan Özsoy · International Journal of Agriculture Environment and Food Sciences · Global

Starting from the premise that population growth, environmental change, urbanization, shifting consumption patterns, waste, geopolitics and infectious disease strain global food security, this paper proposes a model for promoting rooftop farming on residential, commercial and public housing as a way to build regional self-sufficiency in a transition toward a green economy. It frames rooftop farming as a strategic tool for strengthening local economies, reducing inequality, internalizing responsible production and consumption, and improving urban quality of life, and cites real cases, though it does not report specific figures or measured outcomes.

A. N. Pokataev · Mezhdunarodnaja jekonomika (The World Economics) · Russia

A study on private subsidiary farms—a critical component of Russia's national agricultural sector—argues that developing horticulture is an inexpensive and stable strategy for improving household food security. According to estimates from the Union of Gardeners of Russia, 125 million Russians belong to households that obtain food from land they cultivate themselves, and Rosstat estimates that of Russia's 8.851 trillion rubles in total agricultural production (at actual prices) in 2022, households accounted for 2.071 trillion rubles, a quarter of the total. However, amid growing sanctions pressure on the agricultural sector, both the number of farms and production efficiency indicators for personal consumption and sale have declined significantly, hindered by regulatory obstacles including the inapplicability of the 'dacha amnesty' to most allotment gardens, serious cadastral errors, growing numbers of abandoned plots, and new legislative restrictions on keeping farm animals and birds on garden plots.

Elsa Blareau, Pauline Sy, Karim Daoud, Fabrice Réquier · Insects · France

A study near Paris, France, evaluated the effects of insect-mediated pollination service and potential pollination deficit on fruit set, seed set, and fruit quality (size, weight, malformation) in strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) growing in an urban area, using flower-visitor observations and pollination experiments. Flower-visitor observations found that the pollinator community consisted solely of unmanaged (wild) pollinators, despite beehives being present in the surrounding landscape. Pollination experiments showed that wild-insect pollination improved fruit size as a qualitative measure of production but did not improve fruit set, and no evidence of pollination deficit was found in this urban environment.

Md. Ujjal Husen, Nazmun Naher, Zannatul Firdaus Binte Habib, Hapsa Rahaman, Abdul Halim · Journal of Experimental Agriculture International · Bangladesh

A pot experiment at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, conducted from November 2021 to April 2022, examined the productivity of chili (BARI Morich 3) on rooftops of different building heights compared with a ground plot, using a Completely Randomized Design with four replications across four treatments: ground control (0.0 m), a three-storied rooftop (11.28 m), a six-storied rooftop (21.34 m), and a ten-storied rooftop (34.75 m). As building height increased, soil moisture, plant height, stem diameter, leaf/branch/fruit numbers, fresh and dry plant weight, single-fruit weight/length/diameter, and yield fresh and dry weight per plant all significantly decreased (ground > 3-story > 6-story > 10-story), while air temperature, soil temperature, and light intensity significantly increased with height. Ground level performed best, and the study suggests rooftops up to three stories can be selected as suitable for chili rooftop gardening.

Luiza Vigne Bennedetti, Paulo Antônio de Almeida Sinisgalli, Maurí­cio Lamano Ferreira, Fabiano Lemes de Oliveira · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global

Following the PRISMA protocol, a 2023 systematic review evaluated 26 studies on the interplay between urban agriculture (UA) and sustainability surveyed on Web of Science. While UA is increasingly recognized as an action to promote urban sustainability and inform public health policy for urban populations, the review confirms that its implementation still presents challenges in countries across both the Global North and Global South. The review identified numerous key challenges to UA adoption, including air and soil contamination, availability of green areas, layout of urban infrastructure, and food distribution, among others. Given the many socio-economic and environmental contextual factors involved — especially when comparing Global North and Global South realities — the review concludes there is a need to develop a model adaptable to these different contexts. It further concludes that the concept of sustainability lacks a universal understanding, and that one of the most important remaining gaps is addressing social issues in relation to environmental ones.

Vitória Oliveira Pereira de Souza Leão, Roberta Moraes Curan, Paulo Eduardo Moruzzi Marques · Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional · Brazil (São Paulo)

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on the world's population, and concerns about food supply — particularly for the most vulnerable populations — gained prominence among international bodies, Brazilian public institutions, researchers and civil society (2023). Difficulty responding to the crisis, especially misalignment of buffering measures across levels of Brazilian government and compounded by threats to democracy, produced a picture of absent effective public planning for food and nutrition security. In this context, urban and peri-urban agriculture (AUP), combined with food solidarity initiatives, emerged as a strategic means of food access in the most vulnerable urbanized regions, while allowing farmers to maintain their income. This article examines different food supply actions in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil, at the peak of the pandemic, focusing especially on new dynamics among seven urban and peri-urban farmers representative of the situation in São Paulo's main production regions. Beyond social coordination among different solidarity groups in the municipality, the article highlights the role of short, proximity-based distribution circuits in sustaining local production and ensuring food consumption for food-insecure populations, amid a marked shortage of emergency food and nutrition security policies.

Mahir Yazar, Ece Baykal Fide, İrem Daloğlu Çetinkaya · Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning · Turkey

A 2023 study of climate policies in nine cities in Turkey examined how vulnerable groups and individuals are identified and how land-use policy is developed to address the identified vulnerabilities and climate justice concerns, using policy content analysis and expert interviews. The analysis found critical relationships between identified vulnerable groups, responsive land-use policy and climate justice. While social-aid municipalism-related vulnerabilities dominated districts' climate policies, nature-based solutions (NBS) — especially green infrastructure and urban agriculture — emerged as the dominant climate adaptation approach. However, the way urban vulnerabilities are prioritized in the climate and sustainability plans places less emphasis on intersectionality and infrastructure-related vulnerabilities, and tokenism of justice occurs in the policy documents: the plans do not incorporate vulnerable communities into land-use planning. The study concludes that the complexity of responsive land-use policy requires greater awareness of how to practically support vulnerable communities.

Heather Kirk-Ballard, Kristine M. Lang, Esther McGinnis, Kerry Smith, Lucy Bradley · HortTechnology · United States

The 2021 Extension Master Gardener (EMG) National Summary reported an estimated 84,700 volunteers across the United States, who helped communities grow food, supported physical and mental health activities, worked on environmental projects, and together contributed 3.1 million hours of education worth $88 million to the public. The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for the program, prompting many states to reduce requirements and increase flexibility for volunteers; a 2022 ASHS conference workshop shared strategies from three Extension educators and EMG coordinators on engaging volunteers in local food systems and community gardens despite limited in-person contact.

Ahmad Shukry Yahya, Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris, Jasmin Arif Shah, Nurulnadiatulamira Ahmad Zaki · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · Global

A concept paper aiming to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) factors influencing the adoption of urban farming. It outlines urban farming's potential benefits — improved access to fresh produce, reduced food transportation costs, community health improvements, and contributions to greenhouse gas reduction and biodiversity — and reviews existing approaches that treat KAP factors individually versus as a holistic model, aiming to deepen understanding of the KAP model as applied to urban farming adoption. No empirical data is presented.

Siti Asiah, Eva Banowati, Erni Suharini · International Journal of Research and Review · Indonesia

A study examining the implementation of urban farming to achieve Sustainable Development Goals in the Sampangan sub-district of Semarang City, Indonesia. Focusing on the Puspitasari Women Farming Group and Mina Garden Spirit Farming Group under the city's "Ayo Nandur" (Let's Garden) program, using purposive sampling with observation, interviews, documentation and questionnaires, the study found that urban farming — applying environmentally friendly use of yards — contributed to fulfilling family nutrition, increasing income, and improving welfare through community participation, while strengthening the groups into independent organizations.

Noémi Gonda, Péter József Bori · Geoforum · Europe

A study using the case of Hungary examined how agricultural initiatives such as Community Supported Agriculture, permaculture, and small-scale and regenerative farming relate to sustainable rural politics under an authoritarian regime. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in Hungary, it identifies three rural pillars sustaining the Hungarian authoritarian regime — unequal land relations, agricultural subsidies, and agricultural commodity sales — and proposes emancipatory alliances, counter-knowledge claims, and emancipatory subjectivities as potential rural pillars of sustainable democracy in response.

Arini Putri Hanifa, Eka Triana Yuniarsih, Retna Qomariah, Nurmalinda, Yopi Saleh, Yati Haryati, Indarti Puji Lestari, Susi Lesmayati · IntechOpen eBooks · Indonesia

A book chapter discusses the urban farming movement in Indonesia across five topics: trends in yard utilization and food provision policy, the importance of urban farming in society, community perception and involvement, the pandemic's impact on household food security and supply chains, and government strategy for sustaining participatory urban farming. In the Indonesian context, urban farming is defined as cultivating food crops, vegetables, fruit, herbs, and medicinal or ornamental plants combined with fish and poultry, on home yards, office yards, school gardens and communal gardens. It concludes that the sustainability of urban farming still requires government assistance and intervention plus private-sector involvement through corporate social responsibility, and that government must support both policy and physical infrastructure to build business partnership networks between producers and market actors.

Meike Rombach, David Dean · Frontiers in Horticulture · Global

A study on urban food foraging examines key factors determining consumers' willingness to try foraged food, spend time and effort on it, accept risk, and commit to food foraging. A conceptual model — in which general perceptions of nature, food foraging, and COVID-19 shape three specific attitudes toward food foraging, which in turn drive four behavioral intentions — was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Results show the strongest drivers of willingness to try are approval of responsible foraging activities and individual benefits of foraging. For willingness to spend extra time and effort, all predictors had some impact. For willingness to accept risk, approval of responsible foraging activities and societal benefits were influential. For commitment to food foraging, individual and societal benefits were the most important drivers.

Sabine O’Hara · · United States

A book chapter introduces the people behind new urban agriculture and food systems innovations emerging in cities across the United States. These innovators come from all walks of life, and the ways they envision and implement more decentralized urban and peri-urban food systems are as varied as the people themselves. Their stories raise questions about which food systems innovations are most likely to create win-win outcomes of improved food security and improved sustainability. A transformation of the conventional food system is already under way, even in cities with less than optimal growing conditions, but much more remains to be done.

J. Meyer, Markus Hassler · Sustainability · Germany

A qualitative study applied the "leverage points" concept, which holds that rethinking how knowledge is produced and used within systems is a key lever for transformation toward sustainability, to community-supported agriculture (CSA), an application not previously made. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at 22 CSA farms in Germany to gather detailed insight into the production and flow of knowledge among stakeholders and to analyze the degree to which these CSAs hold potential to leverage transformational change toward sustainability. The data indicate that CSAs bear substantial potential to leverage sustainability transformation with regard to rethinking agriculture, with a highly cooperative, participatory and transparent structure identified as the characteristic that allows the creation and exchange of information to flourish.

Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, Juergen Breuste, Ayaz Ahmad, Asad Aziz, Ali Aldosari · Sustainability · Global

A study of how urbanization affects urban agriculture and food security in the megacity of Lahore, Pakistan. Regression and statistical analysis used food consumption and food quality as independent variables and local residents' monthly income as the dependent variable, yielding a food security assessment with R = 0.857 and adjusted R² = 0.728. The results show extensive change in food security and land use driven by urbanization, large-scale loss of agricultural land, and biodiversity loss, as natural land is converted to built-up areas that threaten food security.

Najma Abdullahi, Erika F. Werner, Patrick M. Vivier, Blythe Berger, Lauren Schlichting · PubMed · United States

A study using Rhode Island birth certificate data from 2015–2016 to evaluate whether proximity to food sources, rather than density, is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk. Proximity analysis measured the distance from each pregnant person's home address to the nearest fast food restaurant, supermarket, and farmers market/community garden, and multivariable logistic regression tested the association between distance and GDM risk. Of 20,129 births meeting inclusion criteria, 7.2% (1,447) involved GDM. Distance to food sources varied by insurance type, education and race/ethnicity, but in the adjusted model there was no statistically significant association between distance to any food source and GDM.

Tithi Sanyal, Geoffrey Thün, Fabian Neuhaus, Natalie Robertson · Architecture_MPS · United States

An essay arguing that American urban dwellers cohabited with livestock in ecologically diverse cities until the nineteenth century, until late-nineteenth-century urban livestock policies and industrial agricultural transformation displaced livestock to urban fringes and rural areas, shaping present-day food access and food justice issues. Detroit passed its Urban Agriculture Ordinance in 2013, formalizing decades of community-driven urban agricultural practice. Using Detroit as a case, the piece presents a speculative urban design proposal - the Riverbend Farming Cooperative, a courtyard-based cooperative farm incorporating permaculture and animal husbandry within a former residential superblock - to examine the possibilities and challenges of urban development models built around cohabiting with livestock.

Gabriela Rigote, Alessandra Xavier Bueno, Marco Akerman · Saúde e Sociedade · Brazil (São Paulo)

A qualitative study of seven women urban farmers in the eastern zone of São Paulo, Brazil, describing and analyzing everyday cooking practices and their relationship to the food system. Using narrated body maps - a creative visual research method in which participants drew their own body outlines - the study generated visual and oral data on the meanings of cooking, analyzed thematically. It found that cooking functions as a connector from field to table, mutually reinforcing urban and peri-urban agriculture practices, and serves as a tool promoting biopsychosocial wellbeing tied to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Daniel Kelly · Agriculture and Human Values · New Zealand

This case study examines volunteer engagement at Farm X, an urban farm with a strong volunteer culture in Tāmaki-Makaurau Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, drawing on extended researcher participation and 11 in-depth interviews with volunteers and project coordinators. Engagement was helped by strong leadership, learning by doing, socializing around plants, and a sense of contributing to a movement. It was hindered by time scarcity, economic hurdles, and struggles over direction. Building on McClintock's (2014) account of the hybrid and contradictory nature of urban agriculture as a tool for social change, the paper identifies two trade-offs in both farm management and movement-building at Farm X: focused leadership versus volunteer agency, and asking more versus less of volunteers.

Н.А. БУЛХОВ, С.Л. МОИСЕЕНКО, Н.П. Малышева · Экономика и предпринимательство · Europe

This article examines raising the level of food security in a Russian region through the development of urban agriculture, using the Bryansk region as its example. It considers the mechanism for ensuring food security and identifies its key elements at the present stage, reviews approaches to assessing food security levels, and substantiates possible and significant criteria for such assessment. Using the methodology of D. G. Olovyannikov, it calculated the influence of a proposed measure on the food security level of the Bryansk region, though the abstract does not report the specific resulting figures.

Lara Houston, Sara Heitlinger, Ruth Catlow, Alex Taylor · Bristol University Press eBooks · United Kingdom

This piece asks under what technoscientific conditions food scarcity might be understood as contingent on heterogeneous actors, and how the possibility of food abundance might be approached as a reparative project revaluing those manifold relations, framing blockchain as an infrastructure offering both productive imaginaries and challenges to such work. A series of workshops critically experimented with these possibilities and challenges, working with diverse participants — community growers, organizers, artists and technologists — who used playful methods to act out fictional scenarios set in 2025, a speculative future in which all of London had been transformed into a city farm. For the organizations and participants involved, reparation meant working in the aftermath of social and environmental collapse to bring into being more-than-human value systems that radically decentered human knowledge and experience.

Susana Moreira Padrão · Interagir pensando a extensão · Brazil

An essay reflecting on the potential of agroecological agriculture in Brazil within the context of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its likely economic and social consequences. It presents economic and social indicators of rising unemployment and poverty, arguing that social inequality is likely to worsen in this scenario, with an immediate impact on rising food insecurity and hunger. Examples such as the Agroecological Fair at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), collective and community gardens in favelas, and productive backyards are cited as showing that actions reaching the most vulnerable population are possible to implement. The essay argues that agroecology and urban agriculture contribute effectively to promoting food and nutritional security and health, aiming at the human right to adequate food and population involvement in agroecology-based food cultivation, in pursuit of food autonomy.

Xiaoya Yuan · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This is a book review, not original research, covering Justin Sean Myers' Growing Gardens, Building Power: Food Justice and Urban Agriculture in Brooklyn. The reviewed book documents the emergence and development of urban agriculture in East New York, presenting a detailed account of a community's collective effort to confront its racialized history of segregation and disinvestment while fighting for food sovereignty and social justice.

Katie Jane Tollan, Mike Ross, Ocean Mercier, Bianca Elkington, Rebecca Kiddle, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Amanda Thomas, Jennie Smeaton · MAI Journal A New Zealand Journal of Indigenous Scholarship · New Zealand

This study analyzed 40 public entries submitted to the 2017 Imagining Decolonised Cities (IDC) competition in Porirua, New Zealand, organized by Ngāti Toa Rangatira, to explore how participants understood decolonization enacted in an urban setting. It identified two overarching themes linked to Corntassel's theory of sustainable self-determination: food security, expressed through designs for community gardens, seafood harvesting stations, and larger food transportation systems, and "re-storytelling," centering Māori identities and stories.