Research & reports

Jéssica Moreira Maia Souto · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil

A Brazilian thesis aims to trace the evolution and worldwide spread of urban agriculture (AU), build a framework for identifying its forms, and present a local case from southern Brazil. The interdisciplinary, exploratory, qualitative study combines a PRISMA-protocol systematic review with a multi-case study in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region. It finds that AU can take multiple formats depending on the domain, people and interests involved, and that in the municipality of Porto Alegre certain categories are more used than others because of local support schemes. Part of the studied initiatives were initially community-centered but transformed over time into businesses seeking new market opportunities. The AU-related terms found in the literature were summarized into a framework linking them to their sub-levels.

Benjamin Iuliano, Alexandra Markiewicz, Paul Glaum · Michigan Journal of Sustainability · United States

A paper examining how community gardens have spread amid a decade of increased urban agriculture in American cities, and what effects this has on local ecosystems, with the title indicating a focus on potential effects on native pollinators. It states that socio-economic demographics may influence patterns of garden placement and quality, producing changes in biotic communities that urban ecologists are only beginning to understand. The available abstract breaks off while introducing a researcher hypothesis about increased floral resources, without stating further specific results.

Jason Martinek, Lynn Prosen · Transformations The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy · United States

This interview-format article profiles Lynn Prosen, a science teacher and garden education coordinator at Gill St. Bernard's, a day school in Gladstone, New Jersey, USA, who teaches science from preschool through fourth grade. The school's roughly two-acre garden is divided into four 70 x 80 ft plots — one with raised beds, two dedicated to growing food for the dining hall and farm — alongside a 110-tree apple orchard and beehives for honey production.

Emily Heying, Kendra M. Butkowski · The FASEB Journal · United States

This study surveyed 22 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members receiving weekly vegetable shares in central Minnesota, USA, administering a demographic and anthropometric survey at the season's start and four follow-up surveys on vegetable consumption and food waste, each 10 days after a share pickup. Average BMI was 26.1 ± 4.3 kg/m², average family size was 3.1 ± 1.2 persons, and average distance traveled to pickup was 3.4 ± 5.8 miles; the percentage of vegetables consumed depended on vegetable type and family size but not BMI. Leafy greens were both the most frequently included vegetable and the most frequently discarded; 80% of participants reported increased awareness of food waste from taking part in the study, but only 53% believed their food waste had actually decreased, and awareness showed no correlation with vegetable consumption or discarding behavior.

Kenna McMurray, Kelsey Hall, Roslynn Brain · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States

A 2017 fact sheet from Utah State University explains what community supported agriculture (CSA) is, outlines types of CSA models along with their benefits and barriers, and lists CSAs operating in Utah.

Elizabeth A. Miernicki · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · United States

A study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, that identifies soil contamination as a universal concern in urban agriculture and notes that the long-term benefits of alternative soil management systems such as raised beds have not been explored in the scientific literature. Its stated objective is to determine the effects of six soil management options - direct soil with synthetic fertilizer (DSF), direct soil with organic amendments (DSO), raised-bed mixture with synthetic fertilizer (RBMF), raised-bed mixture with organic amendments (RBMO), raised-bed compost-only with synthetic fertilizer (RBCF), and raised-bed compost-only with organic amendments (RBCO) - on yield of kale, garlic, pepper, cilantro and radish, on soil biological, chemical and physical properties, and on ecosystem services such as water and nutrient retention. Data collected include marketable versus cull yield, soil nutrients and organic matter, soil moisture, weed emergence, infiltration rate and bulk density, but this abstract does not report the comparative results themselves.

Timothy F. LeDoux, B. W. Conz · CABI eBooks · United States

A chapter documenting how the food justice movement in the lower Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, USA, has challenged inequities in the agri-food system alongside broader socio-economic and racial disparities. It examines Holyoke-based Nuestras Raíces and Springfield-based Gardening the Community, two organizations using urban agriculture to alleviate food insecurity and improve food access while reimagining ecological and socio-spatial relationships in a region marked by decades of de-industrialization and neoliberal economic reform. Drawing on urban political ecology, it argues their assertion of a "right to the city" underlies attempts to dismantle institutional racism and socio-economic stratification embedded in both the current food system and the region.

Cat Buxton · · United States

This is an announcement for a free workshop on garden insects, held Thursday, June 22, 2017, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Community Garden at Ratcliffe Park in White River Junction, Vermont. The workshop was led by a garden consultant and sponsored by the Upper Valley Food Co-op.

Libby Christensen, Ryan E. Galt, Alissa Kendall · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (California)

This case study assessed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from five Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operations in the Sacramento Valley, California, collecting input, production and distribution data from each farm and reporting emissions in CO2e per 1 kg of CSA produce at the pickup location. Total emissions varied widely, ranging from 1.72 to 6.69 kg CO2e per kg of produce with an average of 3.94 kg CO2e, and electricity was the largest emissions source, contributing over 70% of total CO2e on average. Despite apparent similarities among the operations in production site, acreage, customer base and practices, there was still substantial variability in total GHG emissions. The study argues that the complexity of production and distribution systems means food systems cannot be reduced to a simple binary of local being better than conventional, or vice versa, though localized production systems that use less electricity (or renewable energy) and efficiently produced compost had lower GHG emissions than those that did not.

Cassandra Lee Hamilton · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

A qualitative descriptive case study of the urban agriculture policy community in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, used Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework and semi-structured interviews with 11 policy actors representing a variety of food system sectors. Policy actors largely understood urban agriculture in similar terms, pointing to its importance for fostering a healthy community, though many recognized their own roles were evolving. Some challenges with partnerships were identified. The policy community overall was found not to be well networked, with most actors not collaborating with each other and often unaware of one another, though collaboration among a few actors suggested the modest formation of a policy coalition. Participants shared a clear desire to work together and agreed that urban agriculture is beneficial for Kelowna and that more opportunities for it should be pursued and promoted.

Stacy M. Philpott, Peter Bichier · Ecological Applications · United States (California)

The influence of local, garden-scale factors (herbaceous and arboreal vegetation abundance and diversity, ground cover) and landscape-scale factors (landscape diversity and surrounding land use) on predation services was examined in 19 urban gardens on the California central coast. Sentinel pests — moth eggs and larvae and pea aphids — were placed on greenhouse-raised plants in open plots versus bagged, predator-exclosure plots. Predation rates were high, with 40% to 90% of prey items removed in open treatments. Predation services varied with local and landscape factors, but significant predictors differed by prey species: predation of eggs and aphids increased with vegetation complexity in gardens, while larval predation declined with vegetation complexity. Smaller gardens experienced higher predation, likely due to greater predator abundance, and several ground cover features influenced predation services. In contrast to patterns in rural agricultural landscapes, aphid predation declined as landscape diversity increased.

Sharla Stolhandske, Terri Evans · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Canada

An ethnographic study examining the emergence and early development of small-scale commercial urban farming in metropolitan Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, capturing growers' lived experience over a five-year period. Commercial urban farming is characterized as a grassroots entrepreneurial activity combining growing and direct marketing of fresh food in urban spaces for urban consumers, transforming underutilized and unproductive land zoned for residential, commercial, or institutional use into intensive food-producing space. Pioneers of this model reported benefits including high job satisfaction, increased health and wellness, and positive environmental contributions, while also facing challenges including lack of land tenure, low financial return, and difficulty earning a living solely from farming activities.

Jorge Luiz de Góes Pereira, Fabrício Darley Paixão Fernandes · Revista Brasileira de Educação do Campo · Brazil

A qualitative case study using field observations and document analysis, conducted from April 8 to June 22, 2016, examined two pedagogical projects — "Community Garden" and "Hands That Make" — at the municipal elementary school Pedra Torta (a Community Agroecological School) in Águia Branca, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The findings show that these projects enable students to perceive multiple dimensions of rural reality and to value rural culture.

Katyelle Rafael, Ariella Andrade Marchioro, Cristiane Maria Colli, Bruna Tiaki Tiyo, Fernanda Ferreira Evangelista, Renata Coltro Bezagio, Ana Lúcia Falavigna-Guilherme · Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · Brazil

This study genotyped Giardia duodenalis in raw-eaten vegetables (crisp lettuce, regular lettuce, kale, chicory, and rocket) sampled from street markets and community vegetable gardens in an urban area of southern Brazil. Researchers analyzed 130 samples from street markets and 130 from community gardens (260 total), washing them in Tween 80 solution, filtering through a cellulose acetate membrane, amplifying the GDH gene by semi-nested PCR, and genotyping positive samples by PCR-RFLP. 7.3% (19/260) of samples tested positive for G. duodenalis, from both street markets (10/130) and community gardens (9/130), including both organic and non-organic products. Assemblage AI predominated, but assemblages B and E, which carry zoonotic potential, were also found. The study concludes this points to a need for investigating commercially sold raw vegetables and establishing stricter quality control.

Melanie Bedore · Social & Cultural Geography · Canada

Drawing on mail-in surveys and interviews with participants in the Good Food Box (GFB) community food program in south-eastern Ontario, Canada, this qualitative study used Foucault's later work to examine socio-spatial relations of care for self and proximate others in food provisioning. GFB participation was found to be predominantly a self-caring act motivated by frugality and physical health; where care for others was expressed, the dominant themes were helping less economically fortunate others, local farmers and family.

Miriam Hermi Zaar · OKARA Geografia em debate · Brazil

Arguing that analyzing territory across multiple scales requires an analytical framework grounded in the dynamic, repeated interweaving of elements and processes that combine into — and clash as — diverse "territorial fragments," this paper examines urban agriculture as a site where city and countryside, urban and rural, and their diverse practices approach, blend and are sometimes confused with one another. Focusing on horticulturists in the Gramorezinho Community in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, as its case, the study shows that historical and spatial singularities — environmental, socioeconomic and administrative — have produced distinct processes that at times align and at other times contradict one another.

Mahbubur Meenar, Alfonso Morales, Leonard Bonarek · Journal of the American Planning Association · United States

As municipalities across the United States gradually recognize urban agriculture as part of planning, land use and zoning ordinances, this study reviews the literature on urban agriculture regulation and examines current regulatory practices in 40 metropolitan and 40 micropolitan municipalities across the four U.S. Census regions. It finds municipalities filling policy vacuums by adopting enabling ordinances (zoning ordinances, land use designations, resolutions), regulations on urban agriculture production (backyard animals, built structures, practitioner responsibility), and fiscal policy instruments (restrictions on sales of agricultural products, tax abatement, urban agriculture fees). The study identifies three principal knowledge gaps: the need for a complete typology of regulatory possibilities, a better understanding of how local, state and federal legislation constrains or enables urban agriculture, and empirical evidence of urban agriculture's economic, social and environmental impacts.

Richard Blaustein · BioScience · United States

Against a backdrop of heightened concern about lead exposure following the lead-contaminated water supply in Flint, Michigan, a review examines prior research on whether sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) can remove lead from urban garden soil through phytoextraction, in which plants draw contaminant metals up into their shoots. Some preliminary studies suggested sunflowers could phytoextract lead, but more extensive research has been disappointing; adding the chelating agent EDTA raises lead's solubility and plant uptake but is expensive and only meaningful combined with other practices such as compost application. Retired USDA scientist Rufus Chaney states that, unlike successful cases such as alpine pennycress extracting cadmium or canola extracting radioactive cesium, no serious study supports significant lead phytoextraction.

John Ikerd · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States

An opinion piece arguing that although some critics view the growing popularity of urban agriculture as a superficial response to concerns about urban food deserts, it could instead become an important part of the U.S. food system, as it already is in much of the rest of the world. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 800 million people worldwide cultivate fruits and vegetables or raise livestock in cities, and the World Watch Institute estimates that urban agriculture produces 15 to 20 percent of the world's food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not yet collect data on urban agriculture, but urban gardens are described as an increasingly important source of fresh produce in some cities, particularly the inner-city areas of older post-industrial cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia, and Camden, New Jersey.

Mariana Cardoso Chrispim, William A. Tarpeh, Delhi Teresa Paiva Salinas, Marcelo Antunes Nolasco · Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development · Brazil

Separately collected urine is presented as an attractive potential fertilizer because of its high nutrient content, low cost, and inherent link between urban wastewater management and peri-urban agriculture. Urine from waterless urinals was applied to corn and lettuce to examine the impact of application rate and frequency on plant growth and soil parameters; in both crops, urine application significantly (p < 0.05) increased growth and leaf production relative to control plants. More frequent applications led to lower soil cation exchange capacity for corn and higher soil nitrogen content for both crops. Preliminary implementation calculations suggest that installing waterless urinals at the University of São Paulo's School of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities campus could save over 1,500 m³ of water and produce 360 m³ of urine annually; these experimental and modeling results are discussed in the context of scaling up urban urine collection, transport, and fertilization in São Paulo, Brazil.

Antônio Cordeiro de Santana, Gisela Romariz Sequeira, Cyntia Meireles de Oliveira, Sérgio Castro Gomes · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil

This study examined how government institutional food-purchasing programs support urban and peri-urban agriculture in Curuçambá, one of the oldest agricultural areas of Ananindeua municipality in Brazil's Belém metropolitan region, based on secondary data plus interviews, direct observation and a questionnaire administered in 2013 to 50 producers of the Cooperativa dos Produtores da Gleba Guajará-Pará. Results showed 48% of production went to the Food Acquisition Program, but the research also found gaps in municipal and state support, particularly technical assistance and promotion, with much production still sold to middlemen because producers lacked real knowledge of prices, scale and markets; the study concludes the institutional market can sustain producer income but should serve as a step toward broader markets for urban and peri-urban family agriculture.

Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Denise Eugênia Pereira Coelho, Cláudia Maria Bógus · DEMETRA Alimentação Nutrição & Saúde · Brazil

A study of three municipal schools in Greater São Paulo, Brazil, examined the dietary impact of children's experience growing food in school gardens, as perceived by parents and educators. In-depth interviews with principals, teachers, and staff, plus semi-structured in-home interviews with parents, gathered responses from 27 individuals — 19 parents and 8 educators. The school garden was found to promote reflection on eating and food through knowledge gained from direct contact with growing food crops, affecting both the children and their families. Concrete effects reported included dietary changes, greater knowledge of food and the food system, increased appreciation of the food produced, and greater motivation to try new vegetables.

Eli Zigas · SPUR · United States

SPUR's May 2017 article reports on four years of implementation of California's Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones law (AB-551). San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose and Santa Clara County had opted into the program, with four parcels across three cities under contract at the time; five more jurisdictions including San Diego, Los Angeles and Long Beach were considering it. The article reports the resulting loss in property tax revenue was minimal, under $7,000 per year in all but one case.

Clendenning J., Dressler W. H., Richards C. · Agriculture and Human Values 33:165-177 · United States

Through interviews with activists in Oakland and New Orleans, analyzes how food justice and food sovereignty have become embedded as concepts, strategies and practices in the rise of US urban food movements.

Algert S., Diekmann L., Renvall M., Gray L. · California Agriculture 70(2):77-82 · United States

Survey of 85 community and 50 home gardeners in San Jose, mostly low-income. Gardeners roughly doubled their vegetable intake to meet dietary guideline servings, with improved household food security.