Research & reports

Efrat Eizenberg · · United States

A book chapter on community gardens in New York City, United States, analyzes the formation, boundaries, and shared social visions of the groups that produce them, examining three structural units — garden groups, neighborhood coalitions, and citywide New York City gardeners. It finds that neighborhood coalitions provide the organizing platform for struggles to save gardens, and that group size matters because it translates into funding and political leverage within the community-garden world.

Adriella Camila Gabriela F. da S. Furtado da Silva, Danielle Regina Bento Lessa da Silva, Ana Carolina Damm dos Santos Gomes de Farias, Joyce Alves Carvalho Martins, Caroline Giot Bronner, Mônica de Caldas Rosa dos Anjos · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

A report on the "Cultivando Saúde" (Cultivating Health) program in Brazil examines an effort linking urban agriculture practice to promoting healthy eating habits and productive use of urban space for food production. Using participatory methods, dialogue-promoting activities emphasizing knowledge exchange were carried out over three months, yielding a positive response in the acceptance and adoption of suggested recipes; the practice of growing one's own food was observed both in participants' statements during group sessions and during household visits.

California State Legislature · California State Legislature · United States

California's SB 1383 (2016) targets short-lived climate pollutants, setting statewide goals to cut organic waste disposal by 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025 (both from a 2014 baseline), recover at least 20% of currently disposed edible food for human consumption by 2025, and reduce dairy and livestock methane emissions 40% below 2013 levels by 2030.

Innovation Network · Innovation Network, Inc. · United States

The 2016 edition of Innovation Network's nationwide survey of nonprofit evaluation, running since 2010, with responses from 1,125 US-based 501(c)(3) organisations. The share engaging in any evaluation in the past year reached an all-time high of 92 per cent, and the share receiving evaluation funding from at least one source rose from 66 per cent in 2012 to 92 per cent. Yet the share showing a promising mix of evaluation characteristics and practices held flat at 28 per cent, only 12 per cent of organisations spent 5 per cent or more of their budget on evaluation, and only 8 per cent had evaluation staff, internal or external — both sizeable decreases.

Vera Institute of Justice · Vera Institute of Justice · United States

Published 21 September 2016. The Vera Institute of Justice reports its independent evaluation of ABLE, a programme for 16- to 18-year-olds at New York City's Rikers Island funded through the first US social impact bond. Using a quasi-experimental design comparing a 2013 cohort with people entering jail from 2006 to 2010 and with ineligible 19-year-olds, it tracked recidivism bed days over one year. The change in recidivism for eligible 16- to 18-year-olds was not statistically significant; the programme missed its pre-defined 10 per cent threshold and was discontinued on 31 August 2015.

Fakharzadeh S. · Children, Youth and Environments, 25(3) (Project MUSE) · United States

A qualitative study of Edible Schoolyard New Orleans drawing on interviews and observations to examine how the school-garden program affects children. It illustrates gains in students' food security, environmental knowledge and emotional and social well-being, mapping the intersection of gardens, education and community.

Berezowitz C., Bontrager Yoder A., Schoeller D. · Journal of School Health, 85(8):508-518 · United States

A review examining the academic and dietary effects of school garden programs. It found that garden-based learning does not harm academic performance and may favorably affect science and math achievement as well as fruit and vegetable intake and preferences.

Sharma S.V., Hedberg A.M., Skala K.A., Chuang R.-J., Lewis T. · Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(1):93–110 · United States (Texas)

An 8-week teacher-led PLANT Gardens (Preschoolers Learn About Nutrition Through Gardens) program with 103 Head Start preschoolers in two Harris County, Texas centers. Confirmed feasibility and acceptability and a significant increase in parent-reported willingness to try new fruits and vegetables.

Eizenberg E., Fenster T. · ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies · Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa)

This critical geography study examines how community gardens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa are framed by urban decision-makers and NGOs within neoliberal governance, documenting 50 gardens in Jerusalem and 26 in Tel Aviv-Jaffa established since 2000.

Lowenstein D.M., Matteson K.C., Minor E.S. · Oecologia, 179(3):811-821 · United States

A study measuring wild bee diversity and cucumber pollination (a pollination service) across urban Chicago. Sites with more bee species had better pollination, and even densely populated residential areas supported high bee richness. It demonstrates that growing diverse flowers in urban gardens sustains pollinators and directly benefits urban agricultural yields.

Joshua W. Beniston, Rattan Lal, Kristin L. Mercer · Land Degradation & Development · United States (Youngstown)

In Youngstown, Ohio, this study measured soil and plant responses to organic-matter amendments made from yard wastes and to raised beds on vacant lots where houses had recently been demolished. Two years after application, the amendments significantly improved soil physical, chemical, and biological properties and increased vegetable yields, with a soil quality index comparable to rural agricultural soils. The results indicate urban agriculture can be productive on vacant land and that yard-waste amendments can restore degraded urban soils.

Guillaume Marche · European journal of American studies · United States (San Francisco)

This contribution examines three significantly different community garden projects in San Francisco to ask whether urban gardening leans toward empowering a neighborhood's current residents or toward their displacement amid the city's gentrification, housing shortage, and rising real-estate prices. It questions whether garden projects can have any impact on large-scale socioeconomic phenomena such as the city's changing demographics, and whether they are even intended to address gentrification.

Valerie Calberry, Lori Pivarnik, Ingrid Lofgren · The FASEB Journal · United States (Rhode Island)

An intervention study, part of a Rhode Island Farm to School project overseen by the nonprofit Farm Fresh RI, aimed at improving elementary and middle school students' knowledge and practices around the food safety of school-garden produce. Two lessons on good vs. bad bacteria, hand hygiene, and harvesting/washing were delivered to 115 children aged 5–11, and knowledge scores rose significantly by over 39% (from 5.3±1.8 to 7.4±2.0).

Luke Drake, Laura Lawson · Journal of Extension · United States (New Jersey)

This article uses ethnographic methods to examine how community gardens actually work, focusing on management in New Jersey. It finds that spatial and social contexts shape key issues such as water access, participation, and horticultural techniques, and argues that Extension professionals can support community gardens more effectively—in planning and organization as well as horticultural education—by tailoring advice to these contexts.

Brian Wansink, Andrew S. Hanks, David R. Just · Acta Paediatrica · United States (New York)

Using a before/after tray-waste design, this pilot tested whether a cold-climate high school garden could influence vegetable intake without nutrition education. At an upstate New York high school, adding garden-grown greens to the salad bar raised the share of students selecting salad from 2% to 10% and students ate about two-thirds of what they took, though waste rose from 5.56% to 33.33% per serving.

· Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences · United States

Documents seed exchange networks in the United States (including the Seed Savers Exchange) and their role in food system resilience and heritage crop diversity.

Daftary-Steel S., Herrera H., Porter C. M. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · USA

A reflective essay arguing that the expectation that urban agriculture can simultaneously provide affordable food, job training, and generate profit without sustained outside funding is a myth, criticizing the assumption of financial self-sufficiency.

Reynolds K. · Antipode · New York City, USA

A two-year study of New York City urban agriculture found race- and class-based disparities among practitioners: health-focused efforts were largely white-led while justice-focused efforts were BIPOC-led. Using critical race theory, it argues urban agriculture can perpetuate an inequitable system unless it explicitly confronts these structures.

Ramirez M. M. · Antipode · Seattle, USA

Drawing on two Seattle community food organizations, the article argues that well-meaning 'inclusive' food efforts fail to address underlying power asymmetries and can erase Black food geographies rooted in histories of slavery and dispossession.

Roman-Alcala A. · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · USA

A commentary on the whiteness and privilege pervading urban farming and food justice activism, warning that well-intentioned white activists can re-inscribe white supremacy, and offering practical ways to avoid doing so.

Coplen Amy K., Cuneo Megan · Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development · USA (Portland, Oregon)

Reflective case study of the Portland Multnomah Food Policy Council, established in 2002 and dissolved in 2012 after city agencies deemed it had lost relevance. Documents how weak institutional embedding, unclear mandate, and volunteer-reliance led a nationally celebrated council to fail.

Clayton Megan L., Frattaroli Shannon, Palmer Anne, Pollack Keshia M. · PLOS ONE · USA

Analyses policy activities of US food policy councils and their dependence on partnerships. Shows that councils lacking strong government and stakeholder partnerships achieve little concrete policy change, indicating structural fragility in this widely promoted governance model.

Christopher Bryant, Ghalia Chahine · Geographical Research · Canada (Montreal)

This 2015 case study from the Montreal Region, Canada, analyzed an action research project initiated in 2008 to reduce the vulnerability of peri-urban agriculture. Despite initiatives since the mid-1960s, significant pressures continue to increase the vulnerability of peri-urban farming, with farmland often removed from agricultural reserves. The project in Senneville involved farmers, non-farm actors, and municipal presentations over three years, aiming to integrate conservation and leisure activities.

Sofya Aptekar · Sociological Forum · United States (New York City)

This 2015 ethnographic study, conducted between 2011 and 2013 in a diverse and gentrifying New York City neighborhood, analyzed conflicts within a community garden. It found that disputes among gardeners over aesthetics and conduct reproduced broader gentrification struggles, with privileged gardeners leveraging resources to impose their vision. However, less privileged gardeners, through cross-class and cross-racial relationships, were able to destabilize hierarchies and defend their alternative visions for the public space.

Rose Tardiff · Syracuse University Libraries (Syracuse University) · United States

The Salt City Harvest Farm (SCHF) in Kirkville, NY, is an all-volunteer project with limited capacity and concerns about long-term sustainability, despite providing benefits to New American participants. Research identified challenges and suggested organizational improvements, including clearly defining roles and integrating New Americans into decision-making. The study found that the SCHF would best suit participants' interests by remaining a place for growing their own food rather than transitioning to an incubator model.