Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
2066 results(53 / 83)
2016 Statewide List of CSA Farms and Organizers Serving Iowa
2016Savanna M. Lyons, Alice Topaloff · Iowa State University Digital Repository (Iowa State University) · United States (Iowa)
This directory lists 79 community supported agriculture (CSA) enterprises serving Iowa. These enterprises are shown by county and the 20 regions within ISU Extension and Outreach.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityAgricultura urbana e desenvolvimento socioeconômico da comunidade Areia Branca, Município de Santa Izabel do Pará, Pará
2016Rosicléia Silva, Mauricio Ricardo De Paula Dias, Flávio Sampaio Mendes, Hevelyn Soares das Chagas, Roberta de Fátima Rodrigues Coelho · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil
This study evaluated the contribution of urban agriculture to the socioeconomic development of the Areia Branca community in Santa Izabel do Pará, Brazil, by profiling families and understanding the influence of agricultural activity. Through on-site observations and socioeconomic questionnaires, it was found that agriculture is the main source of income for most families, primarily involving leafy vegetable cultivation with family labor. Despite being low-tech, the agriculture is not organic due to the recurrent use of chemical fertilizers.
CommunityEconomicsOrganic cyclePeri-urban agricultureReverberações sociais e territoriais decorrentes de horta comunitária na perspectiva do planejamento urbano saudável
2016Dra. Ana Maria Girotti Sperandio, Mg. Arq.Adriana Aparecida Carneiro Rosa, Carolina Guida Cardoso do Carmo, rq. Danielle Pereira Montrezor · ARQUISUR Revista · Brazil (Conchal)
A Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) was conducted on a community garden project in Conchal, São Paulo, Brazil, implemented through a public-community alliance. The study, involving residents with plots in the garden, observed positive impacts such as improved quality of life for participants, enhanced social integration and participation, and an increased sense of belonging to the neighborhood. This type of urban intervention was concluded to have the potential for positive reverberations on directly involved users, the urban territory, and their relationship.
CommunityHealthPolicyThe Impacts of a School Garden Program on Urban Middle School Youth
2016Dennis W. Duncan, Ashley Collins, Nicholas E. Fuhrman, D. A. Knauft, David Berle · Journal of Agricultural Education · United States
This study used a quantitative questionnaire to assess the impacts of an urban school garden program on 31 middle school students enrolled in an agriscience connections course in the United States. Data analysis revealed that the cultivation aspect of the program had the greatest positive outcome on urban middle school youth. Students with a family garden showed greater interest in participating, and culinary activities were highly enjoyed, with over 60% agreement on all related items.
Food educationCommunityHealthScaling impact from grassroots social innovation: a conceptual network-based model
2016Annika Voltan · International Journal of Work Innovation · Canada (Nova Scotia)
This paper develops a conceptual network-based model for scaling grassroots social innovations. It reviews existing theoretical work on social innovation and entrepreneurship, constructing a model with four main elements: the role of agency, relationship density, relationship diversity, and network structure. The model is applied to a case study of nine community-supported agriculture (CSA) food producers in Nova Scotia, Canada, with findings supporting the particular importance of relationship diversity and network structures for scaling social innovations.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsChallenge brings communities together to improve health: Fifty cities, counties receive funding
2016Natalie McGill · The Nation's health · United States
In 2016, in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States, where some residents lived in areas with limited access to grocery stores offering fresh produce, staff at DeKalb County Community Gardens initiated an effort to bring food directly to the people. This initiative aimed to improve residents' health.
CommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceGraduate Internship in Agricultural Education: Joseph Kerr Middle School
2016Christie Elise Liebig · DigitalCommons - CalPoly (California State Polytechnic University) · United States (California)
This graduate internship involved developing a school and community garden at Joseph Kerr Middle School in California, United States. The garden provides hands-on learning for students, who harvest fresh produce and distribute it to families lacking access to fresh produce. Some produce was also donated to a local food bank, emphasizing the program's focus on teaching sustainable practices.
Food educationCommunityWelfareOrganic cycleLinking Food Insecure Patients With Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
2016Daniel Orlins Trigg · ScholarWorks -A service of University of Vermont Libraries (University of Vermont) · United States
This study investigated food insecurity screening among clinicians in Vermont, where 76% of residents experience some level of food insecurity. It found that physicians and physician assistants prefer using an established two-item screen for food insecurity. However, these clinicians tend to underestimate the actual prevalence of food insecurity in their practice communities.
Limited or null effectCSA & TeikeiHealthWelfareReappearance of the Public: Placemaking, Minoritization and Resistance in Detroit
2016Alesia Montgomery · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · United States (Detroit)
A case study of downtown Detroit theorizes that the history of clashes between racial capitalism and social movements in public space reappears in the contradictory design of market-driven placemaking. This placemaking subordinates the black urban poor, even while incorporating black entrepreneurs and culture. Consequently, it suppresses the ability of African Americans to shape public space, despite the return of the white middle class to central cities.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsInventing Eco-Cycle
2016Sandy Smith‐Nonini · Anthropology in Action · United States
This article discusses lessons learned from Eco-Cycle, a social enterprise supporting sustainability education in central North Carolina, U.S.A., since 2011. Eco-Cycle faced the challenge that many social justice-oriented green initiatives emulating urban agriculture models are grant-dependent in early years and achieve economic sustainability with difficulty. However, this non-profit co-op of upcycler crafters and vintage vendors grew from the production and marketing of upcycled rain barrels, pursuing economic sustainability through a social enterprise approach.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityPolicyIdentifying opportunities and hurdles for food security: a critical examination of the City of Edmonton's food and agriculture strategy
2016Lorelei L. Hanson, Deborah Schrader · Interdisciplinary Environmental Review · Canada (Edmonton)
This case study critically examined the development of a food and urban agriculture strategy in Edmonton, Canada, using survey data and semi-structured interviews with citizens and stakeholders. It explored the transformative potential of local urban food initiatives and identified hurdles in moving beyond maintaining the status quo. The study aimed to identify leverage points for long-term local food system transformation within conceptualizations of sustainability.
Governance failurePolicyFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityA Story of Urban Farming and the Cultivation of Community and the Human Spirit
2016Matthew M. Mars · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Canada (Vancouver)
Michael Ableman's book "Street Farm" tells the story of how an urban farm transformed vacant lots in Vancouver, Canada's Low Tracks neighborhood into sites for food production, partial community restoration, and nurturing the human spirit. The narrative reveals a tenuous balance between the promises of urban farming and the harsh realities of addiction, hunger, homelessness, and violence often characterizing inner-city conditions. Urban agriculture is presented as a means to sustainably produce food for a city while also feeding the souls of disenfranchised individuals and communities.
Equity & displacementCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceDon’t Panic, It’s Organic*: Supporting Sustainable Agriculture and Hunger Relief Efforts at McQuade Library
2016Catherine Wong, Kathryn Geoffrion Scannell · University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) · United States
McQuade Library partnered with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation to become a distributor of local foods, providing fresh produce to Merrimack College and the surrounding community. The library collaborated with Farmer Dave’s CSA, recruiting over fifty members to facilitate weekly food drop-offs for twenty weeks. Unclaimed food shares were distributed to a nearby food pantry, senior center, and an emergency shelter, supporting sustainable agriculture and hunger relief efforts.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceFood Justice and Sustainability: A New Revolution
2016Patrizia Longo · Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia · United States (Lafayette, California)
This paper documents the history of Urban Farmers, a grassroots organization in Lafayette, California, that addresses poverty and sustainability through a community-development approach to food security. The organization's project focuses on localizing the food system and fostering community development.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityWelfareEconomicsFactores que influyen en la práctica de la horticultura periurbana: caso de una ciudad en el estado de Veracruz, México Factors influencing the practice of peri-urban horticulture: study case of a city in the state of Veracruz, México
2016Marco Antonio Toral Juárez, Catalino Jorge López Collado, Felipe Gallardo-López · · Mexico (Veracruz)
This study identified cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors influencing women's disposition to practice home horticulture and the financial profits of container vegetable production. Using non-probabilistic sampling, 114 women were selected in the peri-urban zone of Cardel City, Veracruz, Mexico, and interviewed with a Likert scale survey. The disposition to practice peri-urban horticulture was favorable, and four out of six containers had a positive cost/benefit ratio. Multiple factors affect this disposition, while the environmental factor determines which vegetables can grow.
Peri-urban agricultureEconomicsCommunityDIYA NEW VISION FOR AN OLD INSTITUTION: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES FOR URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AGRICULTURE AT THE WALTHAM EXPERIMENT STATION
2016Kevin C. Hartzell · ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · United States (Massachusetts)
The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Waltham Experiment Station in Waltham, Massachusetts, is slated for redevelopment as a model for multi-use urban agriculture production, research, and education. This project will focus on educational and research categories within the theme of cultural ecosystem services. The aim is to strengthen urban and peri-urban agriculture activities through this new vision for extension.
Urban–rural linkageFood educationCommunityPolicyImplementação de horta urbana em alojamento universitário: sustentabilidade e formação para a cidadania
2016Gabriel Rezende Marques, Maria Regina de Miranda Souza, Leo Rinaldo de Arantes Lazzerini, Cláudia Lúcia de Oliveira Pinto · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (Viçosa)
This study described and evaluated the implementation and adoption of an urban garden by socioeconomically vulnerable students residing in the Federal University of Viçosa dormitory in Viçosa, Brazil, and how the experience influenced their quality of life, civic education, perception, and interest in agroecology. It was found that the use of urban agriculture from an agroecological perspective is an alternative for improving the quality of life in residences and for expanding agroecological knowledge.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cycleWelfareThe Black Bear Food Guild: Student-Run Community Supported Agriculture From Roots to Fruition
2016Sara L. Lyons · DigitalCommons (California Polytechnic State University) · United States
The University of Maine Black Bear Food Guild is an entirely student-run Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation that offers student learning and work opportunities. Despite providing various benefits, the Black Bear Food Guild requires financial support to expand its program and ensure its sustained success, indicating a critical need for funding to maintain its future viability.
Economic viabilityCSA & TeikeiCommunityFood educationEconomicsMedia Frames and Shifting Places of Environmental (In)Justice: A Qualitative Historical Geographic Information System Method
2016Bethany B. Cutts, Danqi Fang, Kaitlyn Hornik, Jonathan London, Kirsten Schwarz, Mary L. Cadenasso · Environmental Justice · United States (California)
This study introduced a Qualitative Historical Geographic Information System (QHGIS) method to investigate how newspapers reflect changing meanings of place in relation to environmental burden and benefit. Applying QHGIS to urban gardening and soil lead issues reported in Sacramento, California, the method revealed the distribution of public narratives of environmental concern across the city, the politics embedded in location names, place name-changes, and how locations serve as framing devices for environmental concerns.
Contamination & food safetyCommunityHealthPolicySchool Garden—Plastic Wading Pool Hydroponics
2016Edmund L. Thralls · EDIS · United States
This 4-page fact sheet, published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture in October 2015, provides instructions for creating a hydroponic garden using a plastic wading pool. It details the materials, tools, and construction steps required to grow various crops in a liquid nutrient solution. The publication aims to engage youth in food systems through hydroponics in school garden settings.
Food educationDIYUrban farming in the North American metropolis: Rethinking work and distance in alternative food networks
2016Diana Mincytė, Karin Dobernig · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · North America
This article examines manual work in urban farming within alternative food networks in the Northeastern United States, based on ethnographic fieldwork and 40 interviews. The analysis reveals that while manual work counters alienation, it also reproduces consumer society institutions and reinforces neoliberal values like productivity and self-improvement. Urban farms function as "experiential production" sites, where the farming experience is continuously commodified despite re-embedding in community and environment.
Economic viabilityCommunityEconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceAgricultura urbana como crítica e alternativa: Práticas comunicativas em torno da alimentação no contexto de crises socioambientais || Urban Agriculture as Criticism and Alternative: Communication Practices around Food in the Context of Social and Environmental Crises
2016Thaís Cristina Schneider, Paulo André Niederle, Myrian Regina Del Vecchio-de Lima · Razón y Palabra · Brazil
This article analyzes urban agriculture from a communication perspective, focusing on how practitioners and non-practitioners understand its critical and alternative role regarding the modern food system. The study of Quinta da Videira in southern Brazil found that while urban agriculture is used to counter conventional food production and associated lifestyles, there are also resistances to integrating agricultural practices into the urban environment.
Governance failureFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityClimate changeUrban–rural linkageHorta comunitária como lócus propagador do conhecimento agroecológico
2016Glorinha Correa Neta, Francisneide de Sousa Lourenço, Naiana Marinho de Souza, J. N. de P. Lourenço, Rainielly Barbosa Soares · · Brazil
This work reports on an experience in the Nova Esperanca community in Brasileirinho, Brazil, with a project focused on a community garden as a propagator of agroecological knowledge. The project aimed to develop activities for vegetable cultivation using agroecological practices. Through tools like Venn diagrams and seasonal calendars, the study observed the difficulties the community faced in planting the Erapakatupa garden.
CommunityFood educationOrganic cycleHORTAS URBANAS DE MARINGÁ (PR): ESTUDO SOCIOECONÔMICO DOS PRODUTORES E PERCEPTIVO DOS TRANSEUNTES
2016Ricardo Massulo Albertín, Daniel Augusto, Boaventura Almeida Mubai, Bruno Luiz Domingos De Angelis, Márcia da Silva, Frederico Fonseca da Silva, Fábio Angeoletto · Boletim de Geografia · Brazil (Maringá)
This study aimed to diagnose the socioeconomic aspects of vegetable producers and identify the perception of passersby around urban gardens (community gardens) in Maringá (PR), as a means to mitigate negative social impacts like food insecurity caused by urbanization. A case study was conducted in five community gardens in the northern zone of Maringá, Paraná State. Results showed that the activities within these gardens and public sector involvement characterized them as public policies for promoting quality of life, rather than mere government policies. Questionnaire responses from passersby evidenced that the public policy for creating and consolidating urban gardens in Maringá promoted quality of life. The community garden project was found to have significant socioeconomic, landscape, and sentimental value for both producers and passersby, with producers opting for diverse production, self-consumption, and vegetable sales.
CommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceAppropriating a People’s Movement: The Relationship Between Community Gardens and Gentrification in New York City | Appropriating a People’s Movement: The Relationship Between Community Gardens and Gentrification in New York City
2016Lal, Prita · Academic Commons (Stony Brook University) · United States (New York City)
This dissertation studies the relationship between community gardens and gentrification in New York City. It argues that low-income people's efforts in revitalizing their blighted neighborhoods by building community gardens in the 1970s and 1980s contributed to gentrification in the 1990s and beyond. The research points out that real estate developers preyed on people's efforts, and the people subsidized the city's revitalization. It concludes that while gardeners did not cause gentrification, their efforts played a significant role in the process, and stronger policy protections for gardens are needed as city policies permitted gentrification.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justice