Research & reports

Monique Centrone Stefani, Debbie Humphries, Rebecca Kline · The FASEB Journal · United States

This study implemented and evaluated a pilot intervention addressing chronic disease risk factors in a low-income Hispanic population in the United States. The New Haven Farms Fresh Produce Prescription program provided fresh produce, nutrition education, gardening education, and cooking demonstrations weekly over sixteen weeks of the agriculture season. Participants, recruited through a community health center, came weekly to a central urban agriculture site and completed baseline and follow-up assessments of dietary diversity, chronic disease risk, food security, and physical activity. Fifty-one people completed the baseline survey and 40 completed the follow-up survey; preliminary analysis showed approximately 30% had some food insecurity at baseline. The study reports on the development of this complex agriculture-based intervention as a pilot.

Carrie M. Macfarlane · Educational Media Reviews Online · Canada

A 2014 review of the documentary "The Suzuki Diaries: Future City" (2012/2013, 45 min), an episode of the CBC television series "The Nature of Things." The father-daughter hosts David Suzuki and Sarika Cullis-Suzuki travel in a compact Airstream trailer to four cities across southern Canada, covering urban agriculture in Montreal, urban revitalization in Toronto, a shift from a waste crisis to recycling success in Edmonton, and sustainable design and smart city building in Vancouver. The review notes that within the 45-minute runtime, conversations with engineers, designers, agriculturalists, and homeowners may feel too brief for some viewers, but recommends the film for classroom use on urban recycling, agriculture, public transit, green design, and revitalization programs.

Terence O'Connell · Community Development Journal · United States

An interview with Julie Ristau, Co-director, and Alexa Bradley, Program Director, of On the Commons (OTC) — a commons movement strategy center founded in 2001 — was conducted by Tom O'Connell in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 28, 2013. OTC uses workshops, presentations, and direct consultation to bring visibility to the commons movement and support the development of commons-based solutions and leadership, and in the interview both women describe how they came to the idea of the commons through prior community organizing experience.

Emily Corrigan-Kavanagh · · Canada

A pilot study is planned at St. Francis School in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada — one of the few school gardens in the province and a greenhouse program described as a unique example of innovation in health, environment, agriculture, and education. Key informant interviews with parents, teachers, and community leaders involved in or interested in the project are planned, aiming to investigate the program's start and evolution, analyze facilitators and deterrents to keeping it running, identify its benefits, and identify key aspects for maintaining sustainability.

Nadia E. Navarrete-Tindall, Mara S. Aruguete, Yvonne Matthews, Margaret G. Hopper, Veronica Taylor, Jeff Hargrove, Robert Channer · MOspace Institutional Repository (University of Missouri) · United States

A presentation on Lincoln University's Sprouts and Roots Program, combining a farmers market, commercial kitchen, and community garden, was made at the 12th Latinos in the Heartland conference in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2014, and published in the conference's annual proceedings.

Kelsey Knoll, Kerry Mussel, Michelle Radley, Megan Severide, Kalyn Van Horne · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

This report from the UBC Food System Project describes a management plan for a rooftop garden — allocating 166 m² to food crop production — planned for the new Student Union Building at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus, due for completion in 2014. Methods included assessing demand for garden space on campus, setting goals through meetings with stakeholders, reviewing past UBC Food System Project reports, researching the management structures of other community gardens, and developing the plan via cost-benefit analysis. The project found adequate interest in the rooftop garden and set goals including a student focus, peer-to-peer learning, community-building opportunities, promotion of food-system and sustainability issues, enhanced sustainability of the UBC food system, and cost neutrality, and determined that operation would require a coordinator — either a work-study student, a directed-studies student, or a paid position.

L. Fernández, Walter Alejandro Muiño, Pablo Valentín Ermini · Americanae (AECID Library) · Latin America

This ethnobotanical study examines the knowledge, uses and meanings that gardeners in the Zona Norte and Villa Germinal neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina, attach to weeds -- spontaneous plant species growing alongside cultivated crops. It collected and identified 57 weed species, found that roughly half of informants remove weeds without using them while the rest use them mainly as fertiliser and animal feed, that the most frequently cited use in the literature is medicinal, and that Cynodon dactylon ("gramilla") was the species appearing most often in the gardens while also being regarded as a "pest."

Benjamin Shepard · Theory in Action · United States (New York City)

A case study of Time's Up!, a New York City environmental group examined over its 25-year history from 1987 to 2012. Rooted in New York's squatter movement, the group built a DIY approach to environmental activism advocating nonpolluting transportation and sustainable urban living, supporting community gardens and group bike rides, and reclaiming public space through direct action as its guiding principle, linking social networks to community-building outside institutional channels.

Travis P. Marcotte · Journal of Agricultural & Food Information · United States

An article based on a speech by Travis Marcotte, Executive Director of the Intervale Center in Vermont, USA, recounts the Center's innovation and leadership over more than 25 years, spanning agricultural land reclamation, Community Supported Agriculture, riparian restoration, and large-scale composting through to farm incubation, food hubs, and community celebrations of local food. It also describes the Center's response to climate change, environmental healing, and efforts to connect people with good food and the benefits of a healthier food system.

Michelle Anami, Doris Cheung, Lindsey Fox, Briony Martens, Delara Salehi, Natalie Van Veelen, Kelsey Wolfe · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

A student project report produced under the UBC SEEDS program at the University of British Columbia, Canada, dated 2014. The abstract consists only of a disclaimer stating that it presents a student's findings, opinions, conclusions and recommendations, that it is not an official UBC document, and that it may not reflect current UBC activities. No specific study content, methods or findings are given in the abstract.

Nicole M Reese · USF Scholarship Repository (University of San Francisco) · United States (California)

This study assessed the feasibility of rooftop farming in the Small Business Mix Zone of West Oakland, California. The area has more than one million square feet of untapped rooftop space, and selling produce grown there at local farmers markets, produce stands, grocery stores, businesses, and restaurants could generate up to $4 million in revenue. Rooftop production would help the City of Oakland meet its goal of 30% locally sourced food and supply fresh fruits and vegetables to West Oakland, a food desert currently lacking access to them.

Joann Lo · Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis · United States

A first-hand essay by the executive director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) in the United States argues that despite growing interest in sustainable food production and systems — including community gardens, urban agriculture and "slow" food — the broader food movement has not fully integrated the voices and leadership of the workers who bring food from farm to table. It states that food workers, numbering almost 20 million in the U.S. alone, face multiple injustices including low wages, lack of benefits and dangerous working conditions that intersect with the sustainable-food movement's own concerns about food insecurity and access to healthy, affordable food, and recounts the FCWA's history and work from the author's own position.

Cláudia Souza, Paula Simas de Andrade · Sustainability in Debate · Brazil

This piece describes how, under the motto "community and government, a successful partnership," 34-year-old official Sheila Souza dos Santos turned a community garden program into a genuine space for citizenship in Itapoã, a satellite city of Brasília, Brazil. Reviving a community vegetable-production project brought access to healthier food for the community, the school, and the families working in it, and also generated a series of community initiatives involving children, youth, adults, and older people.

Lorelei L. Hanson, Deborah Schrader · · Canada

A participatory action case study examined the development of Edmonton, Canada's urban food policy from 2008 to 2013, using participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, coded and triangulated through a grounded-theory approach. Despite initial progressive changes in municipal policy and promising innovative food-system planning, the research found that Edmonton's city council was ultimately driven largely by a development agenda, following a pattern documented in other urban sustainability initiatives that foreclose political debate and reinforce the status quo.

Nikki Brown · The American Historical Review · United States

A book review discusses Jayne Morris-Crowther's The Political Activities of Detroit's Clubwomen in the 1920s: A Challenge and a Promise, which examines Detroit clubwomen's successes and failures in municipal politics. The book explores the impact of the woman suffrage amendment on key political issues including school reform, community gardens and playgrounds, women as political officeholders, penal reform, crime and public vice, and segregation in public accommodations. The review highlights the book's conclusion that despite redoubled activism, votes and organizing by middle-class clubwomen did not produce as much institutional change as they had envisioned after passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, as the prevalent belief that women were unfit for political office added to widespread sexism in the legislature and women's issues were not taken seriously.

Gabrielle Lhotka · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

A study identifies and classifies localized urban agriculture trends taking place in Vancouver, Canada, by efficiency, viability and long-term potential over a 2040 time frame, based on literature reviews of theory, ideology, concepts and local trends. It finds that urban agriculture within the city of Vancouver is struggling to find a long-term foothold due to issues including overuse/misuse of technology, underfunding or poor budgeting, community attitudes, lack of knowledge about agriculture and food safety, lack of long-term sustained relevance, bureaucratic struggles, and lack of usable space in a growing city. It recommends focusing on strong community involvement through social media and programs, educational programs, movable or adaptable planting spaces, and alternative food assets such as farmers' markets.

Carl McBeath, Jill McDowell, Graham McLeod, Christine M. McMahon, Marnie Melsted, Carrine Thunggawan · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

As part of the UBC Food System Project, this student report examines challenges facing the Land and Food Systems Orchard Garden (LFSOG) at the University of British Columbia, reviewing the faculty's vision statements to develop recommendations on garden management, budgeting, funding and resources; it concludes an organized management plan is needed for the garden to successfully expand. The report is a student project under the UBC SEEDS program and is explicitly noted as not an official UBC document, possibly not reflecting the current status of activities.

Maria Lúcia da Silva Sodré, Aucéia Matos Dourado, Daiane Santos Oliveira, Vanessa Januário Graça · · Brazil

A report on a rural extension project developed around a community garden run by a women's association in Brazil, based on agroecological principles that center on exchanging traditional, technical and scientific knowledge as a means of interaction between the university, advisors and family farmers. The aim was to strengthen social organization and production processes by combining composting and vermiculture practices with technologies such as irrigation systems and cisterns, using theoretical and practical workshops. Results showed that these activities enabled families to increase production and gain access to healthier food; the resulting availability of produce for sale brought increased income and improved living conditions, along with improved soil quality, outcomes the report attributes in part to the organizational capacity of the women involved in the association.

Roberta Fontanive Miyahira, Lilia Zagoa, Marta Citelli dos Reisa, Josely Correa Kourya · Vigilância Sanitária em Debate · Brazil

A practice report on nutrition education at a municipal school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, delivered through establishing a school garden and running workshops to train food handlers among students and staff. The method spread technical and scientific knowledge while also prompting reflection on food's nutritional, sensory, functional and sanitary dimensions. Based on participant reports and the researchers' empirical analysis, the workshops were judged a creative and efficient approach with low cost and low implementation complexity.

Lucy Bradley, Joanna Lelekacs, Caroline Asher, Julieta Sherk · Journal of Extension · United States

An analysis of the landscape elements of 10 professionally designed community gardens in the United States, developed to guide Extension professionals working with garden designers and volunteers. With growing focus on local food, food safety, nutrition and physical health, a range of organizations are establishing community gardens and seeking help from Extension agents and specialists in horticulture, family consumer science and 4-H; the paper notes that while these professionals have expertise in nutrition, health, food safety and food production, they have little training in community garden design, which provides the framework for successful gardens.

Ian Schneier, R. C. Payne, Duong Nguyen, Liam Goodale · Digital WPI · United States

At Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the United States, the Floragenesis project proposed a campus community garden using food waste otherwise neglected from the dining halls to address concerns about freshness and localness. Over time, the composting component was intended to phase out the practice of exporting food waste from the main dining halls. The project focused on construction, productivity, and community garden management, drawing on prior WPI-specific composting feasibility studies. It won Judge's Winner at a 2014 poster presentation.

Amanda Brown, Antonin van der Lely, Camilo Cortes, Eileen Leung, F. Lam, Liz Overton, Muneera Hussain · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

As part of the UBC Food Systems Project, this student report evaluates the effects of campus development at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, on the ability to create and maintain a sustainable food system. The goal was not to promote food self-sufficiency at UBC but to build campus-community awareness and education around food security issues. Through evaluation of the plans guiding UBC's development — the Official Community Plan (OCP) and the Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP) — the report identifies major barriers and opportunities affecting campus food sustainability and proposes amendments to both plans. It resulted in a proposed urban agriculture strategy, "The Edible Campus," comprising six strategic actions: a demonstration garden, designated garden areas, green space and open areas, food production on buildings, waste management systems, and management considerations. The report is explicitly disclaimed as a student project under UBC's SEEDS program, not an official UBC document.

Nathan McClintock, Simpson, Mike, Dillon Mahmoudi, Jacinto Pereira Santos · PDXScholar (Portland State University) · United States

This mixed-method study of residential urban agriculture in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, poses research questions on the scale and scope of the practice, how it varies spatially, and how gardeners' motivations and practices differ along socioeconomic lines. The available abstract states only these research questions; no findings are reported.

Amandine Gatien-Tournat · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Canada

An announcement/review of a book on urban agriculture edited by Eric Duchemin, an associate professor at the Institut des sciences de l'environnement at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), bringing together a multidisciplinary group of 31 contributors — geographers, urban planners, landscape architects, planners, an agronomist, nutritionists, an anthropologist, and a historian. The book is presented as offering a new panorama of urban agriculture, three years after an earlier special issue on the same subject by Duchemin and colleagues (2010). The abstract text is cut off mid-sentence while describing the book's aim, and no further content is given.

Andrew Hanks, Brian Wansink, David R. Just · The FASEB Journal · United States (New York City)

In a small northwestern New York community, a pilot study tested whether adding leafy greens harvested from a student-maintained school garden to the lunch salad bar affected salad selection among 370 high school students. On days when pasta was served as the main dish, the percentage of students taking salad rose from 2% to 10% (p<0.001), a 400% increase, when the salad contained garden-grown leafy greens compared with standard salad days.