Research & reports

Duncan Hilchey · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

This 2015 editorial for the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development introduces the issue's articles, describing them as addressing barriers and limitations of local and regional food initiatives while also presenting opportunities and strategies. It highlights pieces including John Ikerd's proposed 'Food Ethic,' a viewpoint on local food, food democracy and food hubs, a paper on the limits of urban agriculture to deliver food, job training and income without outside funding, a study of municipal ordinances governing backyard slaughter, and an analysis of how farmers' market ownership structures affect market conduct.

Lydia G. Marquez‐Bravo, Dean B. Briggs, Hannah A. Shayler, Murray B. McBride, Donna Lopp, Edie B. Stone, Gretchen Ferenz, Kenneth G. Bogdan, R. G. Mitchell, Henry M. Spliethoff · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · United States (New York City)

A study analyzed 69 soil samples from 20 community gardens in New York City for 23 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and black carbon, sampling both non-growing areas and vegetable-growing beds, including beds with and without visible PAH sources, at each garden. The sum of the US EPA's 16 priority PAHs reached up to 150 mg/kg, with a median of 5.4 mg/kg and mean of 14.2 mg/kg, similar to levels previously reported for urban areas in the northeastern United States. Isomer ratios indicated petroleum, coal and wood combustion as the main sources, and PAH concentrations were significantly and positively associated with black carbon and modeled air PAH concentrations, suggesting a link between historical atmospheric deposition and current soil PAH levels. Median PAH concentration in non-bed areas (7.4 mg/kg) was higher than in beds from the same gardens (4.0 mg/kg) and significantly higher than in beds without visible PAH sources (3.5 mg/kg); beds in gardens with records of soil amendments had 58% lower median PAH concentration than beds in gardens without such records, suggesting that gardening practices in beds without visible sources contribute to reducing soil PAH concentrations.

Ashley Tryba · · United States

A paper on community gardens and urban farms in underserved and gentrifying areas of redevelopment in the United States combines case studies, interviews, quantitative analysis of land values, comparative analysis of vacant land policies, urban archival news documents and photographs, and empirical models of urban land use and food distribution. It states that urban agricultural programs rarely alleviate the pressures of food insecurity on a large scale, while showing that community food gardens function as an oasis from the food insecurity, violence and sexual harassment that urban areas often pose. The qualitative data support existing literature indicating that, if maintained, community agricultural projects produce social, economic, environmental and physical health benefits, and the paper argues that with government support, these small grassroots programs can have larger societal impacts.

Matthew Northrop, Brooks C. Wingo, Jamy D. Ard · The Qualitative Report · United States

A qualitative study assessing why community gardeners participate at Jones Valley Urban Farm in Birmingham, Alabama, and the potential impacts of participation on members' health, community and diet. Twenty active gardeners across four focus groups reported prior experience, cost savings, taste, sustainability concerns and access to fresh, organic food as reasons for participating, and reported sharing, community development, mental health, personal pride, perceived health benefits and newfound food variety as impacts of their involvement.

Ricardo da Silva Claudio, Souto de Sousa J uacute nior Francisco, Ismael de Souza Francisco, da Silva Dias Nildo, Nogueira de Sousa Neto Osvaldo, Cruz Portela Jeane, Cl aacute udia Medeiros Souza Ana, Christina Nascimento Porto Vania · African Journal of Agricultural Research · Brazil

A participatory action-research project in a community garden in Bom Jesus, Campo Grande, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, tested irrigating organic vegetables (coriander, chive, tomato, rocket) with reject brine from a water desalination/treatment station. All species irrigated with the saline waste water showed yield losses of 25.30% to 26.7% compared with conventional fresh-water irrigation, though some biomass was still produced, and the project changed residents' views on disposing of and reusing the saline waste.

Christiane Gasparini Araújo Costa, Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Silvana Maria Ribeiro, Marcia Fernanda de Sousa Salandini, Cláudia Maria Bógus · Ciência & Saúde Coletiva · Brazil

A qualitative cross-sectional study in Embu das Artes, State of São Paulo, Brazil, examined community gardening activity within Primary Healthcare Units (PHUs) as a health promotion (HP) practice and assessed how far its therapeutic dimension aligns it with complementary and integrative practices (CIP). Analysis identified core themes of health concept, health outcomes, return to traditional habits, and reorientation of health services, and found the garden activities closely linked to HP action fields such as creating healthier environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills, and building autonomy and empowerment.

Steven J. Zuiker, Kyle Wright · Interactive Learning Environments · United States

A design-based research study following one enactment of the Connected Gardening project, in which a fourth-grade class in the United States organized and refined a school garden plot using observations of the physical environment alongside data from a networked digital probe. Through qualitative analysis, it characterizes the interplay among individuals, materials and activities, and among an ecosystem, a garden and graphical representations of environmental indicators, framing these cyber-physical systems as supporting participatory culture inside and beyond the classroom.

Sherine Brown-Fraser, I.T. Forrester, Randolph Rowel, A. D. Richardson, Ashley Nicole Spence · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · United States

Morgan State University's Nutritional Sciences Program describes the principles and practices used to develop a student-led, community-engaged Community Organic Vegetable Garden in Baltimore, Maryland. Garden participation increased four-fold, a variety of crops were grown, and agricultural knowledge increased, alongside improved landscaping and social interaction; a survey found the garden positively influenced participants' fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and environmental awareness.

Simona C. Kwon, Catlin Rideout, Shilpa Patel, Pedro Arista, Edward Tepporn, Jesse Lipman, Sarah Kunkel, Daniel Q. Le, Kathy Ko Chin, Chau Trinh‐Shevrin · Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved · United States

Against a backdrop of high chronic-disease risk factor burden among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) in the United States, the STRIVE Program funded four AANHPI community-based organizations (CBOs) to implement culturally adapted community gardens and farmers' markets aimed at increasing access to healthy foods. Key informant interviews were conducted with CBO staff to understand implementation processes and lessons learned; this abstract does not report specific outcome measures.

Nicholas Siewell, Madhavappallil Thomas · · United States (California)

A needs-assessment study followed by the establishment of a community garden in a neighborhood in Bakersfield, California (2015), collected survey and focus-group data from residents and garden participants to examine the garden's impact. Findings showed strong support for the garden and reported benefits to participants' physical and mental health, social capacities, and spiritual well-being at both the individual and neighborhood level. The authors present the project as an example of how university-community engagement initiatives can function as a macro-practice intervention framework for students, practitioners, and community leaders.

René Tijerino · · Mexico

CASA UNAM, a multidisciplinary university project from Mexico's UNAM, was installed at Ciudad Universitaria after winning an award at an international competition held the previous year in Versailles, France; among its recognitions, it won the right to be installed beside the Universum Butterfly House at the Museum of Sciences. The structure consists of three modular living units adjacent to an urban garden that includes a medicinal-plants section, to be monitored for 12 months and open to the thousands of visitors Universum receives annually. Built as a modular, lightweight, customizable construction system with photovoltaic panels for power generation and a system for efficient wastewater disposal, it is presented as a strategy for making use of unused urban spaces in high-density areas of Mexico City such as the Vicente Guerrero housing complex in Iztapalapa. The project involved a multidisciplinary team from the schools of architecture and engineering, the Institutes of Engineering and Biology, the National School of Social Work, and the faculties of Chemistry and Arts and Design, which had won first place in the Engineering and Construction category at Solar Decathlon Europe 2014.

Nancy Victorin-Vangerud · Digital Commons - Hamline (Hamline University) · United States

This is a course description for a first-year seminar at Hamline University, United States. Drawing on the vision of Will Allen, founder of the Milwaukee urban agriculture organization Growing Power, the course has students explore collaborations across diverse communities, religions and cultures in the Twin Cities, participate in the fall harvest at neighborhood community gardens, and reflect on how food production intersects with social, economic and environmental issues.

Josefa Ivanara de sá Araújo, Daniel Pereira dos Santos, Ednaldo Barbosa Pereira, Aline Carla de Medeiros, Patrício Borges Maracajá · Informativo Técnico do Semiárido · Brazil

This is an internship report from the IFPB Sousa campus's farm school (Unit II) in São Gonçalo, Sousa municipality, Paraíba, Brazil, a region classified as BSh (hot semi-arid) under the Köppen system where evaporation exceeds precipitation, mean annual rainfall is 654 mm (concentrated January-June), mean temperature is 28°C and mean humidity is 64%. In beds measuring 1 m by 5 m, lettuce (spaced 0.25 x 0.20 m), chives (0.25 x 0.15 m), coriander (0.15 x 0.05 m) and bell pepper (0.8 x 0.50 m) were grown, with productivity measured by harvest weight for chives and coriander and by count for pepper and lettuce. Coriander proved the most important crop over the trial period, followed by pepper; chives and lettuce were less prominent but were noted as important in food preparation.

Mélissa Jean · Refugee Survey Quarterly · United States

A qualitative study using participant observation and in-depth interviews examined the role of farming activities in the place-making processes of 30 refugees participating in a local urban farming program in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, after resettlement. Seventeen of the participants, from Burundi, Sudan, Bhutan, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad and Cuba, took part in in-depth interviews, which showed farming activities embodying both assimilation and resistance post-transition, leading to the conclusion that continued access to agricultural activity carries material and emotional benefits for refugees with agrarian backgrounds.

Paul Goeringer, Ashley Newhall, Sarah Everhart · University Libraries (University of Maryland) · United States

A sample Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) contract, developed by the University of Maryland's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Agriculture Law Education Initiative, provides a template to help CSA operators draft their own written contracts; it is a practical legal document rather than a research paper.

Alberto Henrique Ricordi · ScholarSpace (University of Hawaii at Manoa) · United States

This doctorate research project developed a site-specific participatory design method and site plan for Ka Mala Lani, the school garden of Blanche Pope Elementary School in Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaii, treating the landscape rather than building retrofits as the framework for addressing on-site environmental issues. The design proposals incorporate shelter (hale), stormwater management and a trellis garden by the cafeteria, rainwater harvesting for self-sufficiency, and stormwater management framed as healing.

Andrea D. Isogai, Erin Alexiuk, Holly Gardner, Daniel D. McCarthy, Vicky Edwards, Leonard J. S. Tsuji, Nicole Spiegelaar · The International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic Social and Cultural Context · Canada

This article by authors Andrea D. Isogai, Erin Alexiuk, Holly Gardner, Daniel McCarthy, Vicky Edwards, Leonard J. S. Tsuji and Nicole Spiegelaar was published in The International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic, Social, and Cultural Context. No further details of the study's content are given in the available abstract.

Susan Wyche, Kirk Surry · University of Hawaii Press eBooks · United States

A chapter recounts the work of Alice Waters, founder and chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, who established the Edible Schoolyard Project in 1995, helping to launch a national movement of school gardens amid growing interest in organic food, personal health, and sustainable living. Her roughly one-acre garden and kitchen classroom became a model for thousands of subsequent gardens, including those across Hawaiʻi and other Pacific islands. These gardens included medicinal herbs alongside food crops, once serving as the era's pharmacies. The chapter also notes that school gardens became a sign of patriotism during World Wars I and II, when growing food for local consumption allowed large farms to focus on crops for troops abroad.

Melanie Clark · Educational Media Reviews Online · United States

This is a review of Growing Cities, a 2013 documentary film (92 minutes) directed by Dan Susman and produced by Susman, Andrew Monbouquette, and Dana Altman. The film follows the two filmmakers' journey from their hometown of Omaha across the United States—to San Francisco, Detroit, New York, New Orleans, and Austin—surveying urban farms, noting that U.S. urban farming culture traces to World War II Victory Gardens, when 40 percent of the country's vegetables were produced in home and community gardens; it profiles New York's rooftop farms as adaptive reuse, a Detroit farm in an area where healthy food is hard to obtain, farms employing people who would otherwise struggle to find work, and a New Orleans farm functioning as a program for at-risk youth, closing with the filmmakers' own mobile garden project and the message to "grow where you are."

CBC News · CBC News · Canada

This 2 October 2015 CBC News article reports that Common Roots Urban Farm, in its fourth year on the site of the former Queen Elizabeth High School in Halifax (obtained through a land swap with the former Capital Health Authority), offers 175 community garden plots and a 'nibble garden' open to anyone, and grows food for the Parker Street Food Bank. Facing a funding shortfall as traditional revenue streams dried up, the farm launched a fundraising drive—including a contemplative guided walk and a 1 November harvest party—aiming to raise $8,000 CAD by the end of October.

Nicholas Leonard · Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law · United States (Detroit)

This article argues that Detroit could use the Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act to incentivize community-based urban agriculture on abandoned properties. It contends that many cities where urban farming has flourished are riddled with brownfields, and that leveraging brownfield policy could promote urban agriculture as a cost-effective revitalization tool while protecting farmers and food from toxic contamination, giving Detroit a viable strategy to reverse blight.

Bruno Monardo, Anna Laura Palazzo · Advanced Engineering Forum · United States (San Diego)

This article discusses how urban agriculture is being used across US cities—shaped by 'food deserts' that limit access to fresh, local, healthy food—to give new perspectives to blighted post-crisis neighborhoods and address social distress linked to migration. Focusing on the New Roots Community Farm in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, it highlights the farm's potential to combine social inclusion with physical and economic redevelopment.

Laura B. DeLind · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Lansing)

Using Urbandale Farm in Lansing, Michigan as a case, this paper critically reflects on how urban agriculture can inadvertently rationalize the displacement and continued inequity of urban neighbors rather than reinforce place-making and neighborhood empowerment. It questions the movement's underlying assumptions and beneficiaries and suggests how UA might be reconfigured to shed its neoliberal tendencies.

Nevin Cohen, Kristin Reynolds · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (New York)

Drawing on the two-year "Five Borough Farm" study of urban agriculture projects in New York City, this paper examines the resource needs of urban farms and gardens in terms of viability and equity. It documents that resource needs extend beyond land, soil and money to include government support and networks of practitioners, nonprofits and philanthropies, and that significant disparities in access to resources make the city's urban agriculture system unequal. The paper concludes with strategies to align resource needs with urban agriculture goals in New York and other cities.

· Journal of Sustainable Tourism · United States

Analyzes the locations and motivations of WWOOF volunteer-tourism host farms in the US, finding host distributions are spatially skewed toward the west coast and Appalachia.