Research & reports

Kaitlin Hathaway · Digital Showcase Research, Scholarship, & Creative Works (University of Lynchburg) · United States (Lynchburg)

The Lynchburg College Community Garden at Beaver Point, United States, was established in 2016 by students and faculty to teach sustainable agriculture and enrich soil. In spring and summer 2017, projects included donating produce, promoting pollinators, raising chickens, and composting. The abstract also describes a designed rainwater collection and irrigation system.

Angelina Moreira Melo, Daniel Calbino, Alair Ferreira de Freitas · Revista Ciência em Extensão · Brazil (Sete Lagoas)

This experience report analyzed the methodology used by extension agents in implementing the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) model in a community garden in Sete Lagoas, Brazil. Responding to producers' demand regarding production flow problems, CSA was introduced as a fair trade marketing alternative connecting consumers and producers through weekly sales of agroecological product baskets. The methodology focused on constructing participatory methods based on producers' reality and interests, with the autonomy given to subjects being a central point, leading to significant economic, social, and cultural contributions for those involved.

R John Little · OpenSIUC (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) · United States

A research study evaluated fertility requirements for 'Sweet Hungarian' Peppers and 'Savor' Charentais Melons grown in a three-inch extensive green roof medium on the Southern Illinois University campus. Six treatments were applied to peppers and four treatments to melons, each replicated three times. This study contributes to optimizing appropriate fertility treatments for green roof agriculture.

Irma Xánath Bautista-Villalobos, Eduardo Garcı́a-Frapolli, Alba Hernández · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Mexico

This technical experience presents the Participatory Action research process for the Enraizando Espacios urban community garden, established in 2016 in Mexico City's Guerrero neighborhood. The study aimed to recognize the project's impact after one year, resulting in a collective memory and establishing bases for useful sustainability indicators. Key lessons learned include the importance of solidarity and cooperation for the project's success and its transformative power.

Ednaldo Michellon, Jaqueline da Silva Rosa, André Coelho Braga, Victor de Canini Cezar, Tiago Ribeiro da Costa, Wellington Fernandes Pereira · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (Maringá)

The REDIfeira project, part of the University Extension Program in Parana, Brazil, aims to boost the production and commercialization of family agriculture products through monitoring and technical assistance. This work presents the case of the FEPORg – Maringa Organic Products Fair and Region, which was established through community initiative with support from Maringa City Hall, the REDIfeira project, CerAUP, and PPCPO.

Eduardo Vergara Pérez, Alfredo Viuda López, Israel Acuña Galván · Boletín Científico INVESTIGIUM de la Escuela Superior de Tizayuca · Mexico

This study developed a semi-automatic monitoring and control system for a 4.5 m² community garden in an urban area of Mexico, using a mid-range embedded system to control physical growing variables and communicating wirelessly with a server for highly portable data storage, querying and control via a web page, applied to the organopónico (organic-substrate intensive) cultivation technique. The system proved functional for legume and solanaceous crop species, yielding produce within a time frame comparable to commercial growing methods.

André Ruoppolo Biazoti, Guilherme Borducchi, Lana Lim, Mariana Marchesi · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (São Paulo)

A Brazilian paper describes the experience of the Community Garden of the São Paulo Cultural Center (CCSP) as an experimental space for promoting agroecology and citizen involvement in food production. It discusses agroecology as a form of activism in which the collective work and practical learning of volunteers contribute to the transformation of citizens, the strengthening of community ties, and the promotion of closer relations between farmers and consumers.

Jefferson Pietroski Mota, Tamyres Ferri, Souza Manoella Cristina · · Brazil

A narrative account of the Horta Orgânica do CCA (HOCCA) project at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, from its founding to its consolidation. It describes converting neglected shared campus spaces into food-growing areas and spreading ecological-farming knowledge to the university and community through technical and thematic workshops. No quantitative outcome measures are reported.

Maria Júlia Ferreira, Hugo Baesso, José Luis González Geraldo · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

A report on the teaching and learning process during Vegetable Crop Science and Medicinal Plants classes at the Southeast IF MG (Instituto Federal), Campus Muriaé, Brazil, in which second-year students of the Integrated Technological Course in Agroecology implemented an organic, sustainable school garden in the first semester of 2016. Students applied classroom knowledge practically to the fully organic cultivation of vegetables, focusing on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and chives (Allium schoenoprasum). An area of 1,000 m² was subdivided into twelve usable plots of 45 m² each. The techniques and procedures used are described as applicable to any garden pursuing an entirely sustainable way of life without chemical inputs, providing benefits for both the environment and human health.

Maia G. Fitzstevens, Rosalie M. Sharp, Daniel J. Brabander · Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene · United States (Boston)

To support urban agriculture and limit childhood lead exposure from resuspended urban soils, this study measured bulk and bioaccessible lead in five types of compost used in Boston urban gardens. Different feedstocks showed unique geochemical fingerprints; bulk lead in compost was a fraction of that in urban soils, yet the bioaccessible fraction exceeded the IEUBK model's default parameters. Based on the observed bioaccessibility, 170 mg/kg total lead in compost yields the same bioaccessible lead as the model predicts for the 400 mg/kg EPA soil benchmark, so risk assessments should treat compost as an urban matrix.

Monika Egerer, Alessandro Ossola, Brenda B. Lin · BioScience · United States (California central coast)

This study conceptualizes community garden soils within the novel ecosystem framework, arguing that gardeners cultivate novel agroecosystems from their garden beds' soil. On the California central coast, community garden soils may not be influenced by land-use legacies associated with geographic location. Instead, intensive soil reworking by gardeners can wash out legacy signals and decadal chronological trends, leading to soil homogenization that reduces biophysical ties to the underlying earth.

Zilma Borges de Souza, Lya Cynthia Porto de Oliveira, E. C. A. S. S. LIMA, Fábio Bruno Queiroga, Joyce Rodrigues · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (São Paulo)

This research analyzes the development, functions, social practices, and income generation of urban agriculture in Jardim Angela and Jardim Sao Luis, located in the M’Boi Mirim region of São Paulo, Brazil. It maps existing initiatives and prospects opportunities for agroecological food production in private and collective spaces. The study presents partial results from an interdisciplinary project involving three universities.

Jim Leap, Darryl Wong, Orin Martin, Kirstin Yogg Comerchero · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · United States (California)

A guide for small-scale specialty crop growers on organic potato production on California's Central Coast. The region's climate is described as well suited to potatoes, with yields reaching up to 10 tons per acre. It covers mechanized weed management, hilling and harvest equipment, the growth habits of "new" and "creamer" potatoes, recommended varieties, and suitability for direct sales through CSAs, farmers' markets, specialty markets and restaurants.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brown S.L., Chaney R.L., Hettiarachchi G.M. · Journal of Environmental Quality, 45(1):26-36 · United States

A review examining the risk that urban soil lead poses to urban agriculture. It concludes that adding compost, organic matter and phosphorus improves soil properties and reduces both the bioavailability of soil lead and fugitive dust, so urban agriculture is unlikely to raise children's blood lead. The findings support the safety of compost-centred soil management in urban gardens.

· Journal of Sustainable Tourism · United States (Hawai'i)

Analyzes WWOOF organic-farm volunteer tourism in Hawai'i as a form of social movement participation, using a Polanyian political economy framework.

William Kort · UWM Digital Commons (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee) · United States

This study developed a framework for life cycle environmental assessment of urban organic waste utilization in urban agriculture, specifically fruit and vegetable production. Results suggest that a full "urban nutrient cycle" offers significant environmental benefits, including meeting up to 70% of vegetable and 17% of fruit consumption needs in Northern and Eastern U.S. cities, with potential water savings of 10-17% of annual domestic use. Optimizing resource recovery through source separation leads to 1-2% lower wastewater generation and up to 44% greater phosphorus recovery, while overall energy and emissions benefits are 1-2% of a city's annual totals.

Caio Vieira Vasconcelos · · Brazil (Belo Horizonte)

This study presents a case study on water use in urban agriculture in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, focusing on community gardens in the Barreiro region (Vila Pinho and Jardim Produtivo gardens). It describes the physical structure and irrigation operations, and analyzes 2015 water consumption data in comparison with climatic variables. The research identified limitations, threats, positive aspects, opportunities, and potential solutions related to water use in these community gardens.

Araceli Calderón Cisneros · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Mexico (Chiapas)

This qualitative study analyzed the role of family urban agriculture in urban sustainability in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, using open and structured interviews. The visited agricultural systems showed characteristics favoring resilience and sustainability, such as low use of external inputs and recycling of domestic waste. However, a limitation found was that the contribution of own production to family consumption is very low, despite existing food, environmental, and socio-cultural motivations for its continuity.

Galdino Xavier Paula Filho, Gutemberg Armando Diniz Guerra · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (Altamira)

This study analyzed alternative vegetable production systems in nine urban gardens in Altamira, Pará, Brazil, focusing on methods avoiding agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers, and their commercialization in two local open-air markets. Semi-structured interviews and on-site visits revealed that pest and disease control uses natural repellents like pepper, tobacco, neem, and garlic compounds. Fertilization relies on wood sawdust, crop residues (rice and coffee straw), and animal manure. Commercialization is linked to social organization and occurs through producer associations at open-air markets.

Rosicléia Silva, Mauricio Ricardo De Paula Dias, Flávio Sampaio Mendes, Hevelyn Soares das Chagas, Roberta de Fátima Rodrigues Coelho · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

This study evaluated the contribution of urban agriculture to the socioeconomic development of the Areia Branca community in Santa Izabel do Pará, Brazil, by profiling families and understanding the influence of agricultural activity. Through on-site observations and socioeconomic questionnaires, it was found that agriculture is the main source of income for most families, primarily involving leafy vegetable cultivation with family labor. Despite being low-tech, the agriculture is not organic due to the recurrent use of chemical fertilizers.

Christie Elise Liebig · DigitalCommons - CalPoly (California State Polytechnic University) · United States (California)

This graduate internship involved developing a school and community garden at Joseph Kerr Middle School in California, United States. The garden provides hands-on learning for students, who harvest fresh produce and distribute it to families lacking access to fresh produce. Some produce was also donated to a local food bank, emphasizing the program's focus on teaching sustainable practices.