Research & reports

Virajita Singh, Alexander Thill, Daniel Handeen · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · United States (Minneapolis)

Project Sweetie Pie (PSP) is a non-profit organization in North Minneapolis, United States, that addresses food insecurity by establishing community gardens. To date, PSP has started over 25 gardens, providing fresh produce to citizens. The Camden Greenhouse planning project engaged the community to understand needs and generate ideas for creating a food hub in Camden and North Minneapolis.

Zhongqi Cheng, Anna Paltseva, Ireyena Li, Tatiana Morin, Hermine Huot, Sara Perl Egendorf, Zulema Su, Roxanne Yolanda, Kishan Singh, Leda Lee, Michael Grinshtein, Ying Liu, Kayo Green, Win Wai, Bushra Wazed, Richard K. Shaw · Soil Science · United States (New York City)

This study analyzed trace metal concentrations (Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb) in 1,652 soil samples from 904 gardens in New York City. It found that many soils exceeded New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Soil Cleanup Objective (SCO) limits for Pb, Cr, As, and Cd. Specifically, about 21% of community garden samples and 71% of home garden samples exceeded SCO limits for Pb and As, and less than 3% of all samples met criteria for unrestricted use.

Walter Belik · Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional · Brazil

This article discusses the use of the Food and Nutritional Security concept in Brazil's Fome Zero Project and its implementation through various programs initiated in the past decade. It concludes by calling attention to the need to improve programs related to supply, food and nutritional education, and urban agriculture to enable the functioning of an integrated Food and Nutritional Security system.

Carlos Antônio Gonçalves da Costa, José Thyago Aires Souza, Daniel Duarte Pereira · polemica · Brazil (Gurjão)

This study portrayed and analyzed the inclusion of an environmental education project using a school garden as a tool in Gurjão municipality, Brazil. The research demonstrated that the school garden facilitated learning based on various areas of knowledge and fostered conscious and critical citizens regarding environmental issues. It highlighted that the school garden can serve as an open-air laboratory to be utilized across all disciplines.

José Luis Rocha · Envío: publicación mensual del Instituto Histórico Centroamericano · United States (Los Angeles)

This article discusses three Central American migrant organizations: CARECEN in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Casa de Maryland in Washington, and the Dolores Huerta Community Garden in Los Angeles. Despite varying sizes and profiles, all grew from the grassroots, challenging the state through civil disobedience and peaceful resistance, thereby complicating anti-immigrant powers in the United States.

Jennifer Haney, Michael A. J. Ferguson, Elyzabeth W. Engle, Kathleen M. Wood, Kyle Olcott, A. E. Luloff, James Finley · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United States (Pennsylvania)

This study aimed to define "community" in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) by interviewing 97 members and four operators from four CSA farms in central Pennsylvania. Respondents were highly satisfied with CSA products and services, but satisfaction scores varied significantly across farms. These differences indicated that member-defined attributes of a CSA community varied, with farm management practices and personal interactions affecting members' perceptions of community.

Rania Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed · USF Scholarship Repository (University of San Francisco) · United States (San Francisco)

This research analyzes San Francisco's 2014 Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone (UAIZ) Act, a tax incentive for using undeveloped private properties for urban agriculture. It employs GIS analysis to examine urban agriculture on private lands in relation to low-income populations, producing a vacant land inventory. Findings reveal opportunities and challenges, but the UAIZ is in its very beginning phase of implementation.

Felipe de Jesús Cruz Celis, María Sánchez Zarate, Martha Lis Garrido Cardona · · Mexico

This study surveyed 384 residents in Ixtepec, Juchitan, Tehuantepec, and Salina Cruz in the Istmo Oaxaqueño, Mexico, regarding urban agriculture and tomato consumption. Findings indicate that 73.06% of respondents buy Saladet tomatoes, and 84.87% purchase 1 to 2 kg per week. Additionally, 79.34% buy tomatoes in the local market, and 54.98% state that price is the main characteristic they seek when buying.

Taina Tremblay · Western CEDAR (Western Washington University) · United States

This research outlines the intent to examine the correlation between access to healthy, organic food and poverty, and the increasing problem of food insecurity in the United States. Urban agriculture and urban gardening are considered as solutions to food instabilities in poverty-stricken areas. The study aims to uncover reasons for the lack of access to healthy food and to discover solutions for promoting better food access and eating habits.

Elena Broaddus, Liana S. Przygocki, Peter J. Winch · Children Youth and Environments · United States (Baltimore)

A year-long case study examined six eleventh- and twelfth-grade students participating in a farm-based youth internship program in Baltimore, Maryland. Using Self-Determination Theory as an analytical framework, program components that promoted participants' engagement by meeting their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness were identified. The findings indicate specific strategies that urban agriculture programs can use to more effectively engage youth.

Maria José Pereira Tavares, Ana Paula Maia Espíndola Rodrigues, Reginaldo Ferreira de Lima Júnior, Pedro José Santos Carneiro Cruz · Encontro Regional Nordeste I 2015 · Brazil (João Pessoa)

The "Praticas Integrais da Promocao da Saude e Nutricao na Atencao Basica – PINAB" University Extension Program, active since 2007 in João Pessoa, Brazil, uses popular education methodology to promote health and food security. The "Horta Popular Boa Esperanca" community garden, a key initiative, provides weekly educational activities like cultivation and harvesting, fostering collective work and social mobilization. The program's actions create a collective space for learning and integration between the community, health services, and university, contributing to health promotion and environmental care.

Eleni Papaoikonomou, Matías Ginieis · Revista Internacional de Organizaciones · United States (New York City)

This study conducts an empirical comparison between two local food systems: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Manhattan, New York, and Responsible Consumption Cooperatives in Catalonia, Spain. Using a qualitative methodology, the research identifies and explores the practices and narratives established between producers and consumers, which are also defined by the orientation and raison d’être of the local system. The study aims to empirically verify romanticized discourses about local food systems.

Bryanna Sherman · · United States

This literature review comprehensively studied local food system efforts in Watauga County, United States, examining how local food is integrated into the landscape. The review analyzed benchmarks for success and failure, and the recognized impact of local food on community life. It determined the social, environmental, and economic reasons for continuing to produce quality food for community benefits, noting strong community readiness and support for local agriculture in Watauga County.

N. Claire Napawan · Landscape Journal · United States (San Francisco)

This paper evaluated five case studies of communally-managed urban farms in San Francisco to determine their ability to operate dualistically as areas for food production and public space. Using a case-study methodology, it compared the spatial characteristics of these farms against the spatial criteria for successful public space. The study identified both conflicts and compatibilities in the spatial considerations for both functions.

Benjamin Shepard · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · United States (New York City)

This paper describes a guerilla gardening action that took place in August 2012 at a vacant lot at 181 Stanton Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Activists dismantled a fence, cleaned the lot, and planted flowers, transforming it into a community space. Within weeks, community support led to the passage of a resolution supporting a green-thumb lease for the garden, named Siempre Verde.

Faith Rusk · · United States

This resource provides information for UDC students on urban agriculture as a social movement that combines traditional farming with the lifestyle of an urban dweller.

Karinna Vernaza · · United States

This paper describes a semester-long, community-based service learning project at Gannon University's First-Year Seminar in Engineering, utilizing the university's community garden. Projects included designing a rainwater collection system and vertical planters to engage first-year students in the engineering design process. Students' self-reported data indicated increased appreciation for engineering design and understanding of societal engineering solutions.

Gabriel Gonçalves Ribeiro Silva, André Maciel da Silva, Antônio Fernandes Nascimento · Periódico Eletrônico Fórum Ambiental da Alta Paulista. · Brazil

This study describes the development of a didactic strategy to approach environmental themes in fundamental teaching II, presenting a teaching sequence involving the construction of a terrarium in a 7th-grade classroom in Brazil for teaching environmental education and ecology concepts. Students built a terrarium, visited the school garden, and deepened discussions through a video. Based on student evaluations, the practice was effective not only for teaching formal concepts but also for the civic formation of students, who perceived themselves as agents of environmental transformation.

Renan Yamashita Ferreira · · Brazil (Criciúma)

This article reports on the survey, registration, diagnosis, and restoration of urban public green spaces in Criciuma/SC, Brazil. Green spaces created in urban allotment processes were demarcated on maps, and a diagnosis describing vegetation, degradation factors, and necessary improvement actions was elaborated. Actions such as tree planting, organic matter input, fencing, and removal of invasive species and waste were carried out in some areas. Engaging the local community is recommended to aid recovery, and intrusion problems should be restrained with prompt inspection, which is more efficient with community surveillance.

Ana Paula Louzada, Ernesto Grillo Rabello, Yan Menezes Oliveira · Revista Interinstitucional Artes de Educar · Brazil

This study documents the collective construction experience of an agroecological garden by psychology students at the Federal University of Espírito Santo. The paper emphasizes the relevance of this practice in producing integral health and critiques the current context of Integrated World Capitalism, which separates humans from nature.

Jenna Banning · ScholarWorks -A service of University of Vermont Libraries (University of Vermont) · United States

This study analyzed three years of student surveys collected before and after one year of participation in the American Heart Association's Teaching Gardens program. While improvements were indicated in preferences, food systems learning, social norms, and gardening skills for the experimental group, none of these changes over time were statistically significant. At post-test, significant differences were found across all five indices by gender (girls more positive) and by school minority concentration and socioeconomic status (SES), with mixed effects for environmental factors.

Bill Musser · · United States (Iowa)

The 2015 CBHL annual meeting and conference was hosted by Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, from June 16-20, 2015. Held during SSE's 40th anniversary year, the conference theme reflected the growing public interest in creating edible landscapes.

Sebastião Gabriel Chaves Maia · Revista Ouricuri · Brazil (São Paulo)

This case study focuses on understanding the representations of rural environments within urban spaces, emphasizing urban agriculture practices. It applies theoretical assumptions of pluriactivity and multifunctionality from traditional rural agriculture to urban agriculture in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The organization of urban gardens exemplifies the application of rural representation in urban settings, with these activities contributing to local well-being, the local economy, and the conservation of agrobiodiversity.

Jacques Abelman · Kobra (Universitätsbibliothek Kassel) · Brazil (Porto Alegre)

The "Cultivating the City" project attempts to apply landscape architectural thinking to integrate urban agriculture into the city. A proposed network of urban agriculture typologies, emphasizing agroforestry with native species, was developed for Porto Alegre, Brazil. These hypothetical designs aim to serve as a basis for dialogue among potential stakeholders and as catalysts for future projects.

Kynda R. Curtis, K. Eileen Allen, Ruby A. Ward, Curtis, Kynda R., Allen, Karin, Ward, Ruby A. · Journal of food distribution research · United States (Utah)

This study examined the impacts of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program participation on consumer attitudes and behaviors related to food consumption and preparation among CSA members in Utah. Data were collected through pre, post, and monthly surveys, food purchase receipts, and CSA basket contents. Results showed shifts in participant dietary intake and food preparation attitudes and behaviors, including increased fresh produce consumption, decreased grain intake, and fewer meals consumed away from home. Participants also became more interested in cooking and canning/preserving, with increased availability of Vitamin C, Vitamin B, and folic acid.