Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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4283 results(69 / 172)
La educación informal para la tecnificación de producción agrícola en huertos urbanos
2022Jennifer Catalina Murcia Rodríguez, Adriana Quimbayo Feria · HUMAN REVIEW International Humanities Review / Revista Internacional de Humanidades · Colombia
This article discusses urban agriculture as a practice that enables the production of food — particularly fruit, vegetables and aromatic plants — while helping reduce ecological footprint and improve self-sufficiency. It frames urban agricultural production as a global trend that, in Colombia, helps mitigate environmental pollution and reduce spending on basic foods, against a backdrop of inflation that has raised food prices and reduced the quantities households can afford to buy.
Food educationCommunityClimate changeDo sustainable food system innovations foster inclusiveness and social cohesion? A comparative study
2022Benjamin Hennchen, Martina Schäfer · Frontiers in Sustainability · Global
A comparative study of three food system innovations — citizen shareholder companies, community-supported agriculture, and food co-ops — examining their inclusiveness, degree of member involvement, and quality of experienced connectedness. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data from an online survey, two focus group discussions, and a broad literature search. All three food innovations were found to show a rather low level of inclusiveness, although efforts are being made to overcome barriers to access. The innovations were found to generate social cohesion between different actors along the value-added chain, constituted differently in a more service-oriented versus a community-oriented model. The study concludes these innovations provide momentum toward the dominant food regime by rewarding producers for sustainable practices, establishing stronger producer-consumer relationships, and motivating consumers to assume shared responsibility, and considers the three innovations complementary for food system transitions.
CommunityPolicyEconomicsCSA & TeikeiWelfareInvestigating potential hydrological ecosystem services in urban gardens through soil amendment experiments and hydrologic models
2022Eric J. Chapman, Gaston E. Small, Paliza Shrestha · Urban Ecosystems · Global
A study quantifying leachate and soil moisture from experimental urban garden plots receiving various soil amendments — high and low levels of manure and municipal compost, synthetic fertilizer, and no inputs — over three years. A simple mass-balance hydrologic model was parameterized for high-input municipal-compost and no-compost garden plots plus reference turfgrass plots, and run over three growing seasons under ambient precipitation and three elevated-precipitation scenarios. Soil moisture varied across treatments, with the highest mean levels in manure-compost plots and the lowest in synthetic-fertilizer plots. Soil amendment treatments explained little of the variation in weekly leachate volume, but high municipal compost and synthetic fertilizer had the lowest leachate volumes, while high and low manure compost had slightly higher volumes. Garden plots received 12-16% greater total water inputs than turfgrass plots due to irrigation, but total leachate was 20-30% lower for garden plots across climate scenarios because evapotranspiration was 50-60% higher in garden plots. Differences between high-municipal-compost and no-compost garden plots were small relative to the difference between garden plots and turfgrass overall. The study concludes that garden soil amendments influence water retention, and that the higher water retention, infiltration, and evapotranspiration potential of garden soils relative to turfgrass indicate hydrologic ecosystem services may be an underappreciated benefit of urban gardens.
BiodiversityClimate changeOrganic cycleLeaf mold compost reduces waste, improves soil and microbial properties, and increases tomato productivity
2022Kyle Richardville, Dan Egel, Andrew Flachs, Amit K. Jaiswal, D.J. Perkins, A. W. Thompson, Lori Hoagland · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Global
A two-year field trial tested whether amending degraded urban soils with locally made leaf-mold compost could improve soil chemical and biological properties and support the survival of a plant-growth-promoting, disease-suppressive microbial inoculant (Trichoderma harzianum T-22) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production. Compost-amended plots showed markedly higher active soil organic matter and marketable fruit yield in both years, lower foliar disease severity in year two, and reduced transplant-stress deaths from T-22 inoculation in one cultivar, but the authors caution that all composts must be tested for heavy metals or pathogens and that overapplication can reduce crop health.
CompostOrganic cycleCommunityDIYImplementation of Green Economy Through Integrated Urban Farming as Family Economic Resilience During The Pandemic: Maqasid Sharia Perspective
2022Muhamad Subhi Apriantoro, Indah Noor Rahayuningsih, Sarwanto Sarwanto · IQTISHODUNA Jurnal Ekonomi Islam · Global
Drawing on descriptive field research, this paper addresses how, amid the coronavirus's impact across economic sectors, many individuals struggled to meet basic needs. Urban farming is positioned as one answer to food availability, with food safety, food pricing, and stimulating the local economy as its main concerns; people cultivated short-cycle crops in small pots or used hydroponic methods in their yards. Integrated urban farming is characterized as a type of green economic activity that adheres to the maslahah (public benefit) aim of maqasid sharia. Green economy activity built around integrated urban farming is described as aiming to improve community economic wellbeing and as able to help mitigate the risk of substantial environmental harm, including the pandemic's detrimental impact on macro and micro food security. The paper observes that the green economy concept can be integrated harmoniously with core maqasid sharia values.
EconomicsWelfareCommunityAbout “Landscapes of Care” and how contemporary photography can help to heal a broken planet
2022Pedro Neto · Sophia · Global
This editorial essay introduces the third thematic cycle, "Landscapes of Care," opening volume 7 of the journal Sophia, on contemporary photography and visual practices addressing how architecture, broadly conceived, can help heal a damaged planet. It draws on Elke Krasny's reframing of architecture as a form of caring labor and Wilfried Wang's argument that changes such as the renewal of urban farming, decentralized renewable energy harvesting, and smaller production facilities should reshape conventional zoning, and situates the "landscapes of care" concept — drawn from health geography, the arts, and architecture — as a lens for understanding architecture, city, and territory. The piece is an introductory editorial for the issue's theme and presents no empirical data or case findings.
PolicyCommunityFood sovereignty & justicePRODUCING EGGPLANT BY USING SUSTAINABLE URBAN HORTICULTURE
2022· Egyptian Journal of Applied Science · Egypt
This experiment, conducted at the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt, evaluated eggplant yield and quality in urban substrate culture using three fertilizing sources (nutrient solution, mineral fertilizer, vermi-liquid) combined with two pot volumes (6 and 8 liters of a standard 50:50 peat moss:perlite substrate) across two summer seasons (2019 and 2020). Total fruit number and leaf count were recorded during harvest, along with fruit diameter, length, average fruit weight, and fruit nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content. Chemical nutrient solution produced the highest vegetative growth and yield characteristics, while vermi-liquid produced the lowest; nutrient solution and mineral fertilizer increased fruit N, P, and K content compared with vermi-liquid. Increasing pot volume from 6 to 8 L increased vegetative growth, yield, and N-P-K content. The highest growth, yield, and nutrient content came from chemical nutrient solution combined with 8 L pots, while vermi-liquid with 6 L pots was framed as a more sustainable and economical urban horticulture option for supporting food security during the Covid-19 epidemic.
CommunityHealthCaptura, reproducción y aplicación del hongo Trichoderma
2022Jennifer Paola Borja Llivigañay, Karla Maribel Rocano Bustamante · Universidad Politécnica Salesiana Repositorio Digital (Universidad Politécnica Salesiana) · Global
A student thesis project (Universidad Politécnica Salesiana repository, Ecuador, 2022) by students of the Unidad Educativa Agronómico Salesiano in Paute canton, Azuay province, evaluated the capture, reproduction, and application of the antagonist fungus Trichoderma spp. as a biological control agent against soil fungal pathogens (Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotium, Pythium, Fusarium). Using cooked-rice traps placed in soil holes to capture the fungus, and preparing a liquid formulation from it, the project analyzed the protective benefit against parasitic fungi in lettuce crops between November 2021 and May 2022.
Organic cycleCommunityUrban Agriculture in Thailand: Adoption Factors and Communication Guidelines to Promote Long-Term Practice
2022Sukanya Sereenonchai, Noppol Arunrat · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global
A mixed-methods study (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022) surveyed 325 villagers across 13 communities in seven Thai provinces, combining the Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Health Belief Model with techniques including crosstab analysis, stepwise multiple linear regression, one-way ANOVA, multinomial logistic regression, decision tree analysis, and descriptive content analysis. Attitude, perceived benefits, and perceived readiness significantly and positively influenced adoption of urban agriculture. Among villagers who owned agricultural land, behavioral control and social norms drove continued practice; for other groups, perceived readiness and communication were the key drivers. The study proposes communication guidelines based on the EAST framework (easy, attractive, social, timely) delivered through a Critical Participatory Action Research process.
PolicyDigital agricultureCommunityPrefiguring an alternative economy: Understanding prefigurative organizing and its struggles
2022Simone Schiller-Merkens · Organization · Global
A theoretical paper (2022, no specific region) examines forms of alternative economic organizing — cooperatives, post-growth organizations, common-good organizations, community-supported agriculture, transition towns, and ecovillages — that are described in organization and social-movement studies as "prefigurative," creating imaginaries of an alternative future while demonstrating viability through everyday practice. It argues that existing scholarship often leaves the meaning of prefiguration and its relationship to alternative organizing and anarchism unclear, and develops a definition of prefigurative organizing that distinguishes it from alternative organizing while foregrounding its political nature — its ties to multiple struggles, tensions, and conflicts. The paper then presents a systematic overview of types of struggles around prefigurative organizing with reference to exemplary research, and argues that studying prefigurative organizing requires an alternative praxis within academia itself.
CSA & TeikeiEconomicsCommunityFish Effluent as a Source of Water and Nutrients for Sustainable Urban Agriculture
2022Brunno da Silva Cerozi, Caitlin G. Arlotta, Matthew L. Richardson · Agriculture · Global
A study (2022, Agriculture) examined integrating urban agriculture with aquaculture to reduce water use and cost, competition for water, chemical fertilizer use, and the environmental impact of discharging nutrient-rich agricultural water into fresh and saltwater bodies, noting that urban aquaculture could also directly benefit human health as a local source of lean protein, while few studies had demonstrated the practical feasibility and production advantages of using aquaculture wastewater to fertigate specialty crops in cities. Four spring crops (bok choy, tatsoi, radish, turnip) and two fall crops (pole beans, sugar snap peas) were grown using nutrient-rich fish aquaculture effluent versus well or municipal water to evaluate effects on soil fertility and crop production. The fish effluent raised soil pH and potassium and increased pole bean count by 9.1% (bean mass trended toward significance but was not conclusive); the soils used were relatively nutrient-rich even before the effluent was applied, which may explain the limited impact, and the study suggests differences could be more pronounced in acidic, nutrient-poor soils or with longer-duration fertigation.
Organic cycleEconomicsCommunityCircularity in the Urban Water-Energy-Nutrients-Food nexus
2022M.C.G. Haitsma Mulier, F.H.M. Van de Ven, Paul Kirshen · Energy Nexus · Global
Drawing on case-study water-energy-food (WEF) nexus research at urban farms, which found that two distinct types of "food" are relevant to urban agriculture, this study (2022, no specific region) splits the "food" component of the WEF framework to build a water-energy-nutrients-food (WENF) nexus framework for urban farming. The systematic WENF monitoring, analysis, and evaluation framework aims to support quality data acquisition during case-study research at farm sites, addressing a quantitative data gap on urban agriculture and closed circularity loops; it differentiates stocks of water, energy, nutrients, and food, describes flows within each, and identifies multi-sectoral flows and interdependencies among the four resource stocks to formulate options for circularity in urban farming. The analysis indicates urban systems offer many opportunities for realizing sustainable agriculture in cities because waste management and farming can mutually reinforce each other: local reuse of resources found in urban "waste" could reduce stormwater problems and energy needs for water, nutrient, and food transport, irrigation, and wastewater pumping, while eliminating the need for synthetic soil amendments and unsustainable mineral mining, and reusing resources from urban (waste)water in urban farming could reduce food production's overall negative environmental impact.
Organic cycleEconomicsPolicyClimate changeeducación informal para la tecnificación de producción agrícola en huertos urbanos
2022Jennifer Catalina Murcia Rodríguez, Adriana Quimbayo Feria · HUMAN REVIEW International Humanities Review / Revista Internacional de Humanidades · Colombia
A short piece on urban agriculture in Colombia (2022) states that urban agriculture enables food production, particularly of fruits, vegetables, and aromatic plants, contributing to reduced ecological footprint and self-sufficiency, and that in Colombia it forms part of a worldwide trend used to help mitigate environmental pollution and reduce spending on basic foodstuffs. It notes that inflation has raised the cost of basic foods, and frames urban agriculture as helping reduce the amount of such purchases at the household level.
Food educationCommunityA review on soilless cultivation: The hope of urban agriculture
2022Dipesh Joshi, Anjal Nainabasti, Rita Bhandari, Prakash Awasthi, Dinanath Banjade, Santoshi Malla, Bishesh Subedi · Archives of Agriculture and Environmental Science · Global
This review covers soilless cultivation, in which plants are grown without soil as a rooting medium, including hydroponic, aeroponic, vertical farming, and other systems. It states that in greenhouses and tunnels, about 3.5% of the world's crops are produced using soilless, hydroponic methods. It notes that hydroponic farms can be built in deserts, the Arctic, and other difficult-to-farm places, and that the absence of soil means fewer insects and weeds. Crops grown in soilless systems include vegetables, fruits, flowers, and medicinal plants, using inorganic or organic growth media such as bark, coconut coir, coconut soil, fleece, marc, and peat. The review characterizes soilless culture as a relatively recently developed approach to agricultural development that is nonetheless difficult to put into practice.
Digital agricultureEconomicsClimate changeSelection and optimization of distribution channels for small-scale organic producers of fruits and vegetables
2022Ye. V. Klimov, B. O. Assilov · Problems of AgriMarket · Global
This study identifies and analyzes common sales channels for organic products and the potential for alternative marketing strategies among small-scale organic fruit and vegetable producers in the Almaty region, Kazakhstan, who have transitioned to organic horticulture, drawing on international and Kazakhstani experience. Methods included desk research, industry information from open sources, and a survey of business entities. In Kazakhstan, where organic production has existed for about 20 years and has been dominated by large export-oriented grain producers using indirect trade channels, an emerging domestic eco-products market means small-producer entry requires effective marketing programs and expanded direct-delivery channels. Distribution options examined include an order-based "organic box" scheme, Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA), a centralized U-pick sales platform, organic farmers' markets and sales fairs, shops attached to organic farms, organic restaurants, public procurement, agritourism, and e-commerce. The study concludes that the choice of sales points is an important management decision affecting the economic efficiency of an agricultural enterprise, and that small-scale producers should develop multiple distribution channels that connect them directly with consumers.
EconomicsOrganic cycleCommunityThe Role of Agricultural Institutions in Promoting Community Involvement in Fertigation in Community Gardens
2022Rosmiza Mz, Noorziah Mohd Salleh, Nurin Sahira Che Helmi, Milah Zainal, Jabil Mapjabil, Mohd Nor Mohd Rosmi, Mazdi Marzuki · Journal of Asian Scientific Research · Malaysia
Against the rise of community gardens driven by increasing living costs, growing interest in healthy lifestyles, and limited agricultural land, a quantitative study of 50 residents in Kampung Gali Hilir, Pahang, Malaysia, examined the role of institutions in increasing community involvement in cultivation using fertigation methods. Most respondents, described as agripreneurs, agreed that agricultural institutions play a crucial role in providing information and assistance on fertigation cultivation through courses and training and in supplying agricultural inputs and related programs, and the study identified a need to strengthen institutional approaches to further increase participation in newly introduced methods.
CommunityFood educationPolicyInsights into Circular Horticulture: Knowledge Diffusion, Resource Circulation, One Health Approach, and Greenhouse Technologies
2022Diego Alejandro Salinas Velandia, Felipe A. Perdomo, Stephanie Numa-Vergel, Edwin Villagrán, Pilar Donado-Godoy, Julio Ricardo Galindo Pacheco · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · Global
This study used bibliometric and text-mining analysis of the literature to assess how horticulture is transitioning to the circular economy. It found that circular horticulture is a recent, growing research field whose approach has been fragmented rather than systemic or integrative. Bioeconomy, urban agriculture, recycled nutrients, biochar, fertigation, and desalination emerged as research hotspots, with vegetables and fruits the most-studied crops; resource circulation has focused mainly on biowaste recovery for biofertilizers and substrate substitutes, and on water reuse for hydroponic systems. The One Health approach was found to be scarcely explored and weakly articulated, with the absence of assessment methodologies covering ecosystem, animal, and human health noted as a notable limitation, and science-policy interfaces linking One Health and food systems identified as needing improvement.
Organic cycleEconomicsCommunityUrban Horticulture for Sustainable Food Production and Food Security
2022Ningombam Sushma Devi, Preeti Hatibarua, Ningombam Bijaya Devi, Tadar Jamja, Nangki Tagi, Ruthy Tabing · Ecology Environment and Conservation · Global
This review argues that, amid exponential population growth, expanding urban dwellings, climate change, and limited natural resources, planting fruit and vegetable home gardens and using rooftops and small plots for small-scale vegetable production can provide households with sufficient production and income generation. It states that meeting the food and nutritional needs of growing urban populations requires integrating information-technology tools, breeding crops suited to urban farming, and closing water, waste, and energy loops, and it outlines the significant features of contemporary urban horticulture alongside the traditional practices, technologies, and innovations that support it.
Food educationHealthCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceThe School Food Environment
2022Suzanne Spence, Grace Gardner, Dorota Zarnowiecki, Katie Adolphus, Clare Lawton, Louise Dye, Emma Patterson, Charlotte Evans · · Global
This chapter reviews school-based food policies in England and elsewhere aimed at improving children's diets and reducing childhood obesity, noting that reintroduced school meal standards across the UK have improved the quality of school-provided meals, whereas fewer policies exist for packed lunches, which consequently remain of lower quality than school meals. It also discusses the wider school food environment, including school gardens and programs to increase children's fruit and vegetable consumption, as opportunities to improve children's diets.
Food educationHealthCommunityEdible City—A New Approach for Upscaling Local Food Supply? The Case of Andernach, Germany
2021Artmann M., Sartison K. · Making Green Cities: Concepts, Challenges and Practice (Springer, Cities and Nature series), 173-194 · Global
A case study analyzing the 'Edible City' of Andernach, Germany, as a multifunctional productive green space where citizens can harvest freely in public areas. Drawing on interviews with key initiators, it shows that the project generates multifunctional social, ecological and economic benefits addressing urban challenges such as food security, biodiversity and social cohesion, and examines its potential for upscaling local food supply.
CommunityFood educationWelfareEconomicsBiodiversityDevelopment of a Tribally-led Gardening Curriculum for Indigenous Preschool Children: The FRESH Study
2021Wetherill M.S., Bourque E.E., Taniguchi T., Love C.V., Sisk M., Jernigan V.B.B. · Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 53(11):991-995 · Global
Describes the development of a tribally-led garden curriculum for Indigenous preschoolers in the Osage Nation, integrating the traditional Three Sisters planting to teach Native foodways and improve children's vegetable intake and food security.
Heirloom & landraceFood educationCommunityHealthConsumer attitudes to vertical farming (indoor plant factory with artificial lighting) in China, Singapore, UK, and USA: A multi-method study
2021Ares G., Ha B., Jaeger S. R. · Food Research International 150:110811 · Global
Examines consumer attitudes to vertical farming across the USA, UK, Singapore and China using online surveys and a novel text-highlighting method, contrasting perceived benefits like sustainability with concerns over price and naturalness across markets.
EconomicsGrowing-Service Systems: New Business Models for Modular Urban-Vertical Farming
2021Martin M., Bustamante M. J. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 5:787281 · Sweden
Proposes and analyzes 'growing-service systems'—a product-service-system business model for modular urban-vertical farming—exploring how service-oriented value provision beyond product sales can create new commercial opportunities for the sector.
EconomicsThe global rise of urban rooftop agriculture: A review of worldwide cases
2021Appolloni E., Orsini F., Specht K., Thomaier S., Sanyé-Mengual E., Pennisi G., Gianquinto G. · Journal of Cleaner Production 296:126556 · Global
Systematic review of rooftop agriculture cases worldwide, mapping diverse business forms including commercial and social models, and their integration into urban food policy and planning.
EconomicsPolicyFood security: The role of urban and peri-urban agriculture. A case of Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania
2021Malekela A. A., Nyomora A. M. S. · International Journal of Biosciences (INNSPUB) 18(6):204-214 · Tanzania
This case study in Dar es Salaam finds urban and peri-urban agriculture positively contributes to food security: 84% of crop-producing farmers engaged primarily to obtain food and income, underscoring UPA's role for the urban poor.
WelfareEconomics