Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
3315 results(65 / 133)
Warehouse Specification Proposition for Urbanis (Urban Farming Company) Using Discrete Event Simulation Method
2020Ali Aqsa, Meditya Wasesa · Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH) · Indonesia
This study aimed to determine warehouse specifications, labor, and rack requirements, along with capital and operational expenditures, for Urbanis, an urban farming company in Indonesia planning to scale up production to 10 tonnes per month by 2021. Using a discrete-event simulation model with a 5x14 meter layout, results showed that two laborers were effectively utilized for each arrival amount, with a maximum of 50 racks. Capital expenditure was estimated at Rp 50,738,000 and operational expenditure at Rp 10,871,337.
EconomicsProductivity, resource efficiency and financial savings: An investigation of the current capabilities and potential of South Australian home food gardens
2020Georgia Csortan, James Ward, Philip Roetman · PLoS ONE · Australia
The productivity, resource efficiency, and potential financial savings of home food gardens in South Australia were investigated. Thirty-four citizen science participants measured and recorded garden inputs and outputs, revealing that smaller gardens were more intensive than larger ones, requiring higher inputs but also yielding higher outputs per unit area. Labor requirements were significantly lower than previously estimated, and it was calculated that 65% of the gardens should break even within five years or less and save money.
DIYEconomicsCommunityAlquimias da Terra: uma experiência de usos das ervas medicinais na faxina ecológica
2020Janaina Henrique dos Santos, Clara Fagundes, Beatriz Barbalho, Nicole Massa · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Global
This report details an experience in ecological, medicinal, and biodegradable cleaning using medicinal herbs, developed by two female urban farmers. The farmers, after training, produced cleaning products for personal use and then for commercialization, aligning with agroecological urban agriculture principles. This initiative promotes income generation and women's autonomy through the use of medicinal plants and agroecological cleaning products.
DIYCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceEstimating effects on emissions of sharing
2020Borgar Aamaas, Robbie M. Andrew · Duo Research Archive (University of Oslo) · Global
This report, part of the SHAR(e)ON project, estimates the effects on emissions of four sharing schemes: community supported agriculture, sharing in local communities, sharing of cabins, and car sharing. The estimates are presented as scenarios or illustrations, not as likely outcomes for emissions.
CSA & TeikeiClimate changeEconomicsThe Concept of Urban Agriculture – Historical Development and Tendencies
2020Madara Dobele, Andra Zvirbule · Rural Sustainability Research · Global
This study aimed to identify the historical development stages of the concept of urban agriculture and its main research tendencies. Using monographic and descriptive analysis, it revealed that the concept has evolved from an initial stage associated with technical solutions for urban planning to provide food, to current diverse directions including the analysis of agriculture's role in urban areas and its place in sustainable development. Researchers adapting definitions to local characteristics creates a risk of limited possibilities for quantitative comparisons between studies.
PolicyEconomicsCommunityVers un systeme alimentaire post-croissance
2020Marie-Soleil L’Allier · Revue Possibles · Global
In recent years, citizen-led agricultural and food innovations, such as urban agriculture, community gardens, collective greenhouses, and food cooperatives, have proliferated. These initiatives operate on a logic distinct from the globalized food system, forming the seeds of a post-growth society that does not depend on economic growth. This study raises the question of how to ensure these social innovations, while holding significant transformative potential, can effectively outline an ecological transition for our food system.
CommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsClimate change13. Black Urban Growers and the Land Question in Cleveland: Externalities of Gentrification
2020Justine Lindemann · New York University Press eBooks · United States (Cleveland)
This chapter explores how gentrification in Cleveland, Ohio, impacts Black urban farmers' and gardeners' access to land in disinvested neighborhoods. It examines the ancillary effects of development on alternative land reuse efforts. The study highlights that despite a seemingly endless supply of vacant lots, gentrification negatively affects land access for these communities.
Equity & displacementCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceEconomicsA Homegrown Solution
2020Andrew Coulter · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Global
This article argues that the medical establishment should consider prescribing diets with a higher ratio of unprocessed plant-based foods to address urban healthcare crises, chronic diseases, and health inequalities. Research indicates that vegetarian diets are associated with decreased mortality, coronary artery disease, and hypertension. Additionally, plant-based diets offer more affordable protein sources compared to meat and seafood.
HealthEconomicsWelfareFood sovereignty & justiceUrban Agriculture and Household Welfare: Evidence from Hossana Town, Ethiopia
2020Abraham Tessema Handalo · Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development · Ethiopia
A study using cross-sectional data from a sample of 176 households in Hossana Town, southern Ethiopia, analysing households' participation in urban agriculture and its effect on household welfare, using descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression, and propensity score matching. Results show that participation in urban agriculture was higher among older and female-headed households and was associated with higher nonfarm earnings compared with non-participation, a difference significant at the 5% level; participating households had significantly fewer family members and significantly lower access to credit, extension services, and improved inputs than non-participants, and participation was also associated with smaller land ownership and lower access to water, both significant at 5%. The binary logistic regression indicated that access to credit, extension services, improved inputs, household size, and access to water (aside from income from other sources) significantly enhanced participation in urban agriculture, while the propensity score matching model showed a significant positive impact of urban agriculture on poverty reduction, measured via consumption expenditure per adult equivalent and per capita asset building. The study concludes that urban agriculture is constrained mainly by access to credit, extension services, improved inputs, household size, and non-farm income.
WelfareCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceThe geography of agriculture participation and food security in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana
2020Hayford Mensah Ayerakwa, Fred Mawunyo Dzanku, Daniel Bruce Sarpong · Agricultural and Food Economics · Ghana
Using a sample of 2,004 households in a small and a medium-sized city in Ghana, this study examined urban households' participation in agriculture by disentangling it according to the geography of production — urban versus rural areas — and its implications for food security. The analysis found no evidence that participation in agriculture in general was related to the food security of urban households in this sample. However, urbanites who produced food in both urban and rural areas had better food security in the medium-sized city.
Limited or null effectFood sovereignty & justicePeri-urban agricultureEconomicsTRANSIÇÃO AGROECOLÓGICA NA HORTA COMUNITÁRIA DO POVOADO SOINHO (TERESINA – PI)
2020Laryssa Mylenna Silva Santos, Maria Elizabete de Oliveira, Darcet Costa Souza, Cristiane Lopes Carneiro d’Albuquerque, Marcus Vinicius Guimarães Clack · Informe Econômico. · Brazil
This paper describes and analyzes the social, economic, and technological aspects of the agroecological transition toward organic certification at the Povoado Soinho Community Garden in Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, outlining the profile of its horticulturists and their production. Teresina's Community Garden Program, created by the municipal agriculture and supply agency (SEMAB), initially aimed to reduce delinquency among socially vulnerable children and adolescents, but later added goals of increasing horticultural output, generating employment and income, and improving farming families' diets. As of 2016, Teresina had 70 production units, five of which were awaiting organic certification from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), including the Povoado Soinho Community Garden, which was undergoing the transition to organic production with support from the rural development secretariat. The analysis found that plots managed by women predominated and showed greater production diversification than those managed by men, and that more than half of plots received help from at least one family member.
CommunityEconomicsOrganic cycleMercantilização & contramovimento: agricultura sustentada pela comunidade (CSA): estudo de caso em Minas Gerais, Brasil
2020Daniele Eckert Matzembacher, Fábio Bittencourt Meira · Organizações & Sociedade · Brazil
A 2020 case study of the CSA (community supported agriculture) organization "CSA Alfa" in Minas Gerais, Brazil, using Karl Polanyi's theoretical framework. It frames CSA as a movement that repositions agricultural production around fair-trade and agroecological principles through short chains linking production and consumption, and finds that market exchange and reciprocity coexist as different regulatory principles within CSA Alfa. Friendship, tolerance, loyalty, and commitment build a communal ethos around food, and the study argues CSA acts as a counter-movement to commodification by strengthening participants' relative autonomy and raising social cohesion among participating groups.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceノウフクJAS（障害者が生産行程に携わった食品の日本農林規格）
2019· 農林水産省 · Japan
Materials on the 2019 Noufuku JAS standard certifying foods and ornamental plants produced with the involvement of people with disabilities, raising trust and brand value for agriculture-welfare products via third-party certification; first certifications issued November 2019.
WelfarePolicyOrganic cycleEconomicsHealthFarm Diversification and Sustainability of Multifunctional Peri-Urban Agriculture: Entrepreneurial Attributes of Advanced Diversification in Japan
2019Yoshida S., Yagi H., Kiminami A., Garrod G. · Sustainability 11(10):2887 · Japan
The study analyzes the sustainability of multifunctional peri-urban agriculture through the lens of farm diversification and farmers' entrepreneurial attributes. It identifies the characteristics of advanced, highly diversified farm businesses and discusses factors supporting the persistence of peri-urban agriculture in Japan.
EconomicsPolicyCommunity低未利用空間の暫定活用 事例集
2019国土交通省 · 国土交通省 都市局 · Japan
A national casebook organising interim uses of low-/under-used land (event space, gardens, greenery) until development advances, including cases like Kawasaki's planned-road 'Kisetsu-no-komichi' and Yokohama's soil-storage reuse.
PolicyCommunityEconomics植物工場における野菜生産の意義とその多様性
2019Kashiwagi J. · 農業経営研究 (Journal of Farm Management Economics) · Japan
Using case studies of a manufacturer (Company G) and a food-service firm (Company T) running fully controlled artificial-light plant factories in Japan's Kanto region, analyzes how inexperienced firms raised productivity, exploring corporate urban vegetable production.
Economics「ブランズ練馬中村南」竣工
2019東急不動産株式会社 · 東急不動産 プレスリリース資料 · Japan
Completion materials for Tokyu Fudosan's Branz Nerima Nakamura Minami condominium, planning resident-only 'Hagukumi Garden', a kitchen lounge, and compost-chair food-waste cycling in partnership with Agrimedia for food education and garden community.
CommunityHealthEconomics世田谷区農業振興計画
2019世田谷区 · 世田谷区 農業振興計画 · Japan
Setagaya's ten-year agricultural promotion plan adopted in 2019, setting basic policies and concrete measures for municipal urban agriculture including citizen farms and contact farms using the Urban Farmland Lease Facilitation Act, agriculture-welfare collaboration and sixth-industry support.
PolicyCommunityFood educationEconomicsScaling out access to land for urban agriculture. Governance hybridities in the Brussels-Capital Region
2019Manganelli A., Moulaert F. · Land Use Policy · Belgium (Brussels)
This paper applies a Hybrid Governance Approach to analyze the Boeren Bruxsel Paysans coalition in the Brussels-Capital Region, revealing how scaling out land access for urban agriculture produces governance tensions across local, regional, and institutional scales.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban agriculture, food security, and development policies in Jakarta: A case study of farming communities at Kalideres – Cengkareng district, West Jakarta
2019Chandra A.J., Diehl J.A. · Land Use Policy · Indonesia (Jakarta)
This study finds that despite urban agriculture occupying approximately 21% of Jakarta's green space, local government policies have failed to recognise its food security potential, leaving farmers with insecure land tenure. The research characterises Jakarta's urban farming as medium to highly commercialised, domestically run small and medium enterprises supplying local markets.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsUrban and Peri-Urban Agriculture, the Dairy Farms of Cairo, Egypt: Existence, Transformations and Possible Futures of Family Farms
2019Daburon A., Alary V., Ali A., El-Srogi M., Tourrand J.F. · Diversity of Family Farming Around the World (Springer) · Egypt (Cairo)
Examines family farms engaged in dairy and market gardening in and around Cairo (population ~20 million), analyzing their role in the city's food supply chain and the transformations they undergo under urbanization pressure. Based on collaborative fieldwork by CIRAD, Ain Shams University, and the Animal Production Research Institute.
EconomicsCommunityPolicyThe sustainability of a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention: a case study from urban Senegal
2019Nordhagen S., Thiam K., Sow S. · Food Security · Senegal (Dakar)
A post-project survey in Dakar found that microgardens were largely abandoned (5% continued use) while poultry activities persisted strongly (75%) due to income-generation potential, suggesting urban nutrition interventions must align with economic incentives to achieve lasting adoption.
HealthEconomicsCommunityFood educationDecentralized community composting feasibility analysis for residential food waste: A Chicago case study
2019Pai S., Ai N., Zheng J. · Sustainable Cities and Society, 50:101683 · United States
Using Chicago as a case study, this analysis assesses the feasibility of decentralized community composting on portions of public parks in terms of cost and greenhouse gas emissions. It finds decentralized composting delivers outreach, landfill diversion and cost-saving benefits, with an estimated net benefit of about $100 per tonne, indicating the financial viability of a city-wide strategy to compost household food waste locally.
Food lossCompostOrganic cycleEconomicsUnderstanding Urban Food Producers’ Intention to Continue Farming in Urban Settings
2019Kumudu P.P. Kopiyawattage, Laura Warner, T. Grady Roberts · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · United States (Columbus)
This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to describe factors influencing the intention of urban food producers in Columbus, one U.S. city, to continue farming in urban settings. It found that perceived complexity can negatively influence attitude and hinder intention, while subjective norms shaped by peer growers and family members may heighten the intention to continue. The findings also revealed personal characteristics, such as education and access to resources, that may enhance perceived behavioral control.
CommunityEconomicsFactors Affecting the Dynamics of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Membership
2019Junhong Chen, Zhifeng Gao, Xuqi Chen, Lisha Zhang · Sustainability · United States
Drawing on a national U.S. survey of 795 respondents, this study analyzed how motivation, perceived barriers, and advertising methods shape consumers' past, current, and future participation in community-supported agriculture (CSA). Younger consumers, higher-income families, and supporters of sustainable agriculture were more likely to renew subscriptions, and members were sensitive to the timing, price, and location of food distribution. The effects of barriers and advertising varied with members' participation status.
EconomicsCommunity