Research & reports

Kevin Camm · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · United States

This report examines the Urban Agriculture Day (UAD) program, run by Virginia Cooperative Extension for fifth-grade students in Lynchburg City Schools, Virginia, which provided hands-on agricultural education meeting several requirements of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL). Using Rogers's (2003) diffusion of innovation theory as a framework, the report examines how teachers perceived the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of UAD for teaching SOL content.

Kynda R. Curtis, Voravee Chakreeyarat, J. Dominique Gumirakiza · Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) · United States

Describes the origin of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in the United States in the 1980s, in which consumers pay farmers in advance for a season's share of farm products and farmers commit to supplying a sufficient quantity, quality and variety of produce. The abstract provided contains only this background description of the CSA concept, with no reported survey data, sample or findings on consumer preferences.

Loran Mary Luehr, Sylvia B. Smith · Journal of Student Research · United States

A study examined the effectiveness of a four-week interactive food sustainability education program covering local foods, gardening, recycling, and world hunger, delivered to 85 elementary-age students at two schools in southern Illinois. Using a within-subjects repeated-measures design with pre- and post-program surveys analyzed in PASW (Version 18.0) and a significance level of p<0.10 given the exploratory design, the program was found most effective with fourth graders, who showed significant change across all four measured areas: understanding world hunger, effects on their surroundings, understanding of community supported agriculture (CSA), and awareness of stores carrying more local foods. Eighth graders showed significant change in two areas (effects on their surroundings and CSA understanding), and sixth graders showed significantly higher scores only in CSA understanding. The paper reports positive results for the youngest age group while flagging the more limited results among sixth and eighth graders as warranting further research.

Euclides Reuter de Oliveira, Luiz Menini Neto · Revista Brasileira de Plantas Medicinais · Brazil

An ethnobotanical survey in the Manejo settlement of Lima Duarte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, interviewed residents about medicinal plants they cultivate or use. Across 41 household visits, residents cited 100 different medicinal plant species, mostly grown in home yards along with some native to the region; specimens were deposited in the CESJ herbarium at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. The most frequently cited species included Mentha sp., Lippia alba, and Foeniculum vulgare, used mainly for colds, stomach ailments, menstrual cramps, uterine infections, intestinal worms, kidney problems, and anxiety/stress, with leaves the most-used plant part and infusion teas the most common preparation. The study suggests that establishing a community garden in the settlement could help valorize medicinal plant knowledge, particularly its transmission to younger generations.

Melissa Cater, Janet Fox, Bobby Fletcher · Journal of Extension · United States

A process evaluation of Louisiana's 4-H Seeds of Service School Gardens program, a K-12 Learn and Serve grant initiative, described curriculum implementation fidelity, program reach, use of garden produce and materials, and teacher characteristics. Eighty-seven percent of participating classrooms planted vegetable gardens using the Junior Master Gardener curriculum, and the evaluation found that school gardens can be effective in supporting classroom curriculum.

Bellon M. R., Hodson D., Hellin J. · PNAS 108(33):13432-13437 · Mexico

Assesses farmer-based traditional maize seed systems in Mexico and their vulnerability to climate change, with implications for maintaining and adapting landrace diversity in situ.

Corrigan M. P. · Applied Geography 31(4):1232-1241 · United States

Qualitative study of Baltimore community gardens via interviews and observation. Gardens contributed to individual, household and community food security but needed added support through education, policy and funding.

Litt J. S., Soobader M.-J., Turbin M. S., Hale J. W., Buchenau M., Marshall J. A. · American Journal of Public Health 101(8):1466-1473 · United States

Denver survey finding community gardeners ate fruits and vegetables 5.7 times daily versus 4.6 for home gardeners and 3.9 for non-gardeners, with social involvement and neighborhood aesthetics also shaping intake.

White M. M. · Environmental Practice 13(4):406-417 · United States

Case study of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, framing farming as resistance to structural food insecurity and a site of community building, culturally relevant food education, and political agency.

Monica M. White · Race/Ethnicity Multidisciplinary Global Contexts · United States (Detroit)

This article analyzes the experience of black women activists in Detroit who engage in urban agriculture as a form of resistance. They use urban gardening to reassess cultural roots, reclaim personal power, and build a sense of community. The study examines their efforts to transform vacant land into a community-based food system and safe, green spaces, challenging racial and class-based barriers to healthy food access.

Efrat Eizenberg · Antipode · United States (New York City)

This paper analyzes community gardens in New York City as an urban space argued to function as the commons in a neoliberal city. It unpacks this space according to three Lefebvrian moments: material space, representations of space, and lived space. Engaging alternative conceptualizations of social relations in the urban space, it complicates and explicates the notion of the commons and its actually existing manifestations.

Lucy Jarosz · Gender Place & Culture · United States

This article examines the motivations of women farmers involved in community supported agriculture (CSA) in a US metropolitan region, based on interviews. It argues that these women's motivations reflect an ethics of care, centering their work on nourishing themselves and others. Their choices are shaped by the urban context, race, and middle-class status, expressing self-care and a post-capitalist politics that challenges neoliberal subject formation.

Melea Press, Eric J. Arnould · Journal of Consumer Culture · United States

This study examines how Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs gained legitimacy as a market form in the United States, using a socio-historical lens. It argues that American pastoralist ideology, linking historical agrarian ideals with modern CSAs, helped integrate them into the mainstream. The research suggests that the Internet further aided this legitimation by fostering personal commercial communications and de-massification, reinforcing egalitarian principles and community perceptions central to pastoralist ideology while masking cultural contradictions.

Robert Emmett · ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment · United States (Los Angeles)

The South Central Farm in Los Angeles, a 14-acre community garden cultivated by hundreds of residents for over a decade, was a significant site against environmental racism. However, urban development ultimately led to its destruction. As of this writing, satellite images show the former lush gardens replaced by a scraped, vacant field, highlighting the impermanence of such community-led green spaces in the face of dominant urban development narratives.

Ácacio Figueirêdo Neto, Silvana Belém de Oliveira, Marcos Santos Lima, Mariana Rocha Amorim, Raquel Mota Figueiredo · Revista Semiárido De Visu · Brazil (Petrolina)

This study evaluated the effect of organic compost on the cultivation of "Brasília" carrots and their post-harvest characteristics in a community garden in Petrolina, Brazil. Experiments used compost made from 40% cured goat manure and 60% plant residues. Carrots were harvested 92 days after sowing and analyzed for moisture, soluble solids, titratable acidity, carotenoids, and pulp firmness. Statistical analysis showed significant differences in key physicochemical characteristics between treatments, suggesting organic compost is a promising tool for maintaining carrot quality and nutritional content post-harvest.

Chris Szczygiel · eCommons (Cornell University) · United States (Buffalo)

Greening vacant lots is one of the most cost-effective ways for the city of Buffalo to improve its neighborhoods. A program to clean up, green up, and maintain vacant lots can combat blight, raise property values and tax revenue, lower crime rates, and improve residents' quality of life. Greening lots can provide various community benefits, including jobs, educational opportunities, and a local source of fresh, nutritious food.

Elizabeth S Schuering · Digital Commons-DePaul (DePaul University) · United States (Cleveland)

This paper examines urban agriculture as a strategy for managing vacant land in Cleveland, Ohio, a shrinking city facing population loss and economic decline. The study analyzed Cleveland's urban agriculture movement and municipal policies, including eighteen interviews with local policy experts. Findings indicate that the municipal government supports urban agriculture as a tool for the city's revitalization efforts.

Pedro Paulo Videiro Rosa · Revista Geográfica de América Central · Brazil

This paper provides a preliminary analysis of a document by FAO and Brazil's MDS, which identified and characterized urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) initiatives in Brazilian Metropolitan Regions. The article relates this document to existing Brazilian legislation and public policies, discussing the refunctionalization of urban spaces to integrate economic, sociocultural, and environmental factors. It also reports on contemporary UPA experiences aligned with agroecology principles and discusses the definition of urban agriculture to identify bottlenecks in its promotion.

Michelle Melissa Althaus Ottmann, Nilce Nazareno da Fonte, Nério Aparecido Cardoso, Mailane Raizer da Cruz · Revista Acadêmica Ciência Animal · Brazil (Curitiba)

This exploratory study characterized urban agriculture (UA) practiced in the backyards of Favela do Parolin and the Fanny and Lindóia neighborhoods in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Data was collected through interviews, observational visits, and questionnaires with public school students. The research found that UA in these communities' backyards is still underexplored, especially its potential for food production and social interaction, indicating a need for collective organization.

Joyce Rain Anderson · Journal of international women's studies · United States (Bridgewater)

A project in Bridgewater, United States, is creating an Indigenous garden at the BSU community gardens, involving the construction of a traditional wetu dwelling and the cultivation of a "three-sisters" and medicinal garden. Local Native participants are constructing and tending the garden, and will be instructed in ancestral ways. The initiative aims to support and advance Native culture, allowing students and community members to learn about traditional gardening and dwelling construction from a Native perspective.

Michele DuRivage · School for International Training Digital Collections (School for International Training) · United States (New York)

This thesis project developed original garden-based lesson plans to teach literacy to fourth-grade ESL students. A field study conducted during the spring semester of 2009 at Increase Miller Elementary School in Westchester County, New York, showed that using nature as inspiration, students produced imaginative writing pieces, demonstrating growth in their literacy skills.

Maura Neves Coutinho, Heloísa Soares de Moura Costa · Revista Geografias · Brazil (Belo Horizonte)

This article discusses urban agriculture (UA) concepts and practices, focusing on initiatives in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, by both residents and local government. It considers UA's potential for ecological, productive, and inclusive cities, but notes the difficulty of secure access to urban land. The discussion on UA is still fragile and faces challenges in becoming an effective social policy.

Maura Neves Coutinho, Heloísa Soares de Moura Costa · Anais ENANPUR · Brazil (Belo Horizonte)

This paper discusses urban agriculture (AU) practices occurring in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, both through informal and spontaneous initiatives by residents in peripheral neighborhoods and as an object of public intervention by the local government for specific purposes. The study concludes that secure access to urban land for maintaining AU practices is difficult, and the discussion on AU remains fragile, facing challenges for its implementation as a social policy impacting urban policies.

Daniel Roehr, Isabel Kunigk · Berkeley Planning Journal · Canada (Metro Vancouver)

This article focuses on the role landscape architects and planners can take in creating urban food production landscapes, within the context of Metro Vancouver. Significant constraints to expansion exist due to geographical limitations, a steadily growing population, and large low-density residential areas. It is suggested that successful future food production strategies can be achieved by integrating urban agriculture into a wider city planning context and transcending the creation of community gardens.

Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · United States (Los Angeles)

This sociological study explores the diverse gardens of Los Angeles, including public parks, private residential gardens, a botanical garden, and urban community gardens. It aims to understand the meaning of engaging with these gardens, laboring in them, and being associated with them in both imagination and practice. The study posits that gardens serve as windows revealing the changing social and cultural landscape of Los Angeles.