Research & reports

Ranjan Datta · Cogent Education · Global

Community garden activities play a significant role in bridging formal and informal learning, especially in urban children's science and environmental education, by promoting relational methods that integrate food security, social interactions, community development, environmental activism, and cultural integration. An auto-ethnographic study revealed that community garden-based practices adhere to forms of agency such as embracing diversity, sharing power, and trust building as part of everyday learning.

Yong Hyun Kim, Keùn Huh, Moo Ryong Huh · Journal of people, plants, and environment · South Korea

A survey of 275 visitors was conducted at a horticultural exhibition held on the campus of G University in J city, South Gyeongsang Province, from May 2-4, 2016, to analyze satisfaction and revisit intention. Satisfaction with the flower plants section (83.7%) and docent service (78.2%) were highest, and satisfaction with activity experience showed the strongest positive correlation with overall satisfaction (0.659) and revisit intention (0.519).

Renée Johnson · University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) · United States

This report provides background information on various types of operations involved in the U.S. local and regional food system. These include direct-to-consumer marketing, farmers' markets, farm-to-school programs, community-supported agriculture, community gardens, and school gardens. The report also highlights available resources within existing federal programs administered by the USDA and other agencies.

Leila A. Graves, Harrison Hughes, Meena M. Balgopal · Journal of Agricultural Education · Global

This case study examined the implementation of a horticulture-based curriculum by two 3rd grade teachers and two STEM coordinators. While one STEM coordinator found the curriculum addressed academic science standards and provided relevant inquiry activities, the other STEM coordinator and teachers believed garden plants did not address science standards and only supported enrichment. This highlights a divergence in perception regarding the curriculum's alignment with academic standards.

Sheri L. Johnson, Dalila Cardona, J. H. C. Davis, Benjamin Gramling, Chelsea Hamilton, Ray G. Hoffmann, Sabrina J. Ruis, Douglas J. Soldat, Steve Ventura, Yan Ke · Progress in community health partnerships · Global

This study used community-based participatory research to explore backyard gardening practices and soil lead concentrations in urban neighborhoods. Interviews with 20 adult gardeners revealed perceived benefits but few initial concerns about lead exposure, despite children's active involvement. Soil lead concentrations from 17 residential properties ranged from 7 to 3,234 mg kg-1, significantly higher than commercial soils (6 to 13 mg kg-1), indicating a contamination risk.

Francesca Ostuzzi, Peter Conradie, Lieven De Couvreur, Jan Detand, Jelle Saldien · The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning · Global

This case study explored opportunities for 47 Industrial Design Engineering students to share open-ended urban gardening design solutions during a two-week intensive course, using Instructables.com. Open sharing of local solutions triggered global discussions and reported instances of re-appropriation. However, the study also showed difficulty in keeping students engaged in global discussions, with online activity dropping to near silence after a few weeks, and challenges in tracking re-appropriation cycles.

Colin Cox, Jessica A. Hoffman, Mariya Shiyko, Catherine Wirth · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · United States

A study in the United States evaluated the effect of text message reminders on farm share pickup rates among Head Start parents participating in a subsidized community supported agriculture program. While pickup rates were high for both text messaging and no text messaging groups, with 96% vs 92% within two days and 69% vs 62% on the day of delivery, no statistically significant differences were found between the groups. The study's ability to isolate the effects of text messages was limited because program coordinators used multiple methods to promote parent participation.

Fabrizio Valpreda, Ilaria Zonda · Sensors · Global

This study presents Grüt, a gardening sensor kit for children, aiming to change children's attitudes towards food and reduce waste by increasing their knowledge about food production and consumption. The project combines real and virtual reality, connecting plants to the Internet of Things via sensors and an app. User testing was executed with Dutch children in Amsterdam.

Hollis J. Laird · D-Scholarship@Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) · Global

This paper reviews the effects and evaluation methods of garden-based nutrition education programs, noting their positive impacts on children, including increased knowledge, preference, and consumption of fruits and vegetables, and increased self-efficacy. It identifies a lack of standardized evaluation methods for these programs as a limitation. The paper also describes the evaluation of the Enright Community Garden's nutrition education component for children.

Byoung-Chan Moon, Yong-tack Kim, Hyoung-seon Lim · Journal of the Korean society of earth science education · South Korea

This study investigated the application of a school garden for creative experience activities in elementary school learning programs, involving 27 fifth and sixth-grade students. A 10-unit lesson program focusing on "rocks in the school garden" was developed and applied. Results showed that the school garden is a valuable teaching/learning field, fostering students' awareness of real-life relevance, affirmative participation, and interest in learning, with most students expressing satisfaction.

Richard Almenius · · United Kingdom

A 2016 urban planning thesis on London, United Kingdom. It states that London imports 80 percent of its food, much of it from abroad over long distances ("food miles"), raising sustainability concerns and contributing to road freight congestion and pollution in the inner city. The thesis proposes redeveloping the brownfield land of Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London — near the Millennium Dome, the Thames, and underground access — by combining rooftop and courtyard urban farming with large-scale food production in a converted former industrial building, presented as a pilot project for a sustainable way of living in London beyond meeting housing needs alone.

Atika Krisnawati · · Indonesia

A descriptive qualitative study of the Elok Mekar Sari farmer group in Semolowaru, Surabaya, Indonesia, examining a model of community empowerment through the concept of urban farming. Surabaya's city government, through its Agriculture Office, launched the urban farming concept for densely built areas lacking large vacant land, and it has spread to 31 districts across the city, including Semolowaru; data were collected via interviews, observation and documentation using purposive sampling and analyzed using the CIPOO (context-input-process-output-outcome) approach. The results show that some elements of the CIPOO approach had not yet been fulfilled, while institutional, management, organizational and empowerment-content aspects were running well, as evidenced by an established work program; the input-process and output-outcome stages were good, evidenced by increased productivity, but the group faced problems of limited human resources and limited production space. As a change agent, the group was assessed to be at "empowerment stage II" — functioning as a partner/companion in implementing community assistance programs, evidenced by continuing empowerment activities and partnerships with both government and private-sector actors.

Carolin Retzlaff‐Fürst · Universal Journal of Educational Research · Global

At the University of Rostock's educational garden in Germany, second-semester pre-service teacher students were interviewed and tested about their subjective well-being in connection with garden activities, as part of an argument that school gardens can support health education not only in lower grades but also in 11th and 12th grade. The study found that garden activities had highly positive effects on the students' self-esteem.

Krystyna Pudelska, Kamila Rojek · Teka Komisji Architektury Urbanistyki i Studiów Krajobrazowych · Poland

This case study examines the historic school and its adjoining park in the village of Sobieszyn, Ułęż County, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, established at the end of the nineteenth century under the will of Count Kajetan Kanty Kicki. Located away from the village center on the slope of the Świnka, a tributary of the Wieprz River, the site continues to operate today as the Kajetan Kicki Agriculture School.

Thenral Mangadu, Michael P. Kelly, Max C. E. Orezzoli, Rebecca Gallegos, Pracheta Matharasi · Health Promotion International · United States

In the US–Mexico border region — El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces and Anthony, New Mexico, areas with high obesity rates — three pilot community gardens funded through the local Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) initiative were implemented by two local governmental organizations and one community-based organization (2016). A built environment marked by an arid desert climate, lack of access to healthy foods, barriers to physical activity, and cultural and community norms that deter healthy eating and sustainable food production contributes to obesity-related health disparities in these minority communities. A mixed-methods evaluation (n=223) examined the implementation process, immediate outcomes and best practices of implementing and sustaining the gardens. Beyond nutrition-related outcomes, potential psychosocial outcomes from participating in the community and school garden projects were observed. Best practices identified concerned (i) assessing community norms related to growing food, (ii) increasing access to land and water for community and school gardening, and (iii) enhancing social support for gardening.

Sin-Ae Park, A-Young Lee, Geung‐Joo Lee, Daesik Kim, Wan Soon Kim, Candice A. Shoemaker, Ki-Cheol Son · 원예과학기술지 · Global

A literature review aiming to identify research trends and characteristics of horticultural activity interventions. Searching databases including Web of Science, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Academic Search Premier, the Research Information Sharing Service, and the Korean National Assembly Digital Library, the authors identified 14,414 journal articles published before April 2014 and selected 509 for review. Participants aged 8 to 64 were the most commonly studied, and interventions usually combined activities such as outdoor gardening, indoor planting, and crafts with live, artificial, or pressed flowers. Short-to-medium programs of 11-20 sessions were most frequent, typically lasting 60-120 minutes per session. Most studies focused on psychological or emotional effects such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression, and the authors call for further research analyzing methodology, specific outcomes, and the strengths or weaknesses of existing studies.

Sin-Ae Park, A-Young Lee, Geung‐Joo Lee, Daesik Kim, Wan Soon Kim, Candice A. Shoemaker, Ki-Cheol Son · Horticultural Science and Technology · Global

A literature review on the outcomes of horticultural activity interventions — gardening activity, gardening programs, allotment gardens, urban agriculture, horticultural therapy — searched databases including Web of Science and ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, initially identifying 14,414 journal articles published before April 2014 and selecting 509 for review. Studies most often targeted people aged 8 to 64, short-to-medium term programs of 11-20 sessions were most frequent, medium-duration interventions of over 60 to 120 minutes were common, and most studies focused on psychological or emotional effects such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression.

Moon Byoung Chan, 김용택, 임형선 · Journal of the Korean society of earth science education · South Korea

A program in South Korea developed ten lesson units centered on 'rocks in the school garden,' combining inquiry, debate and cooperative activities, and applied them to 27 fifth- and sixth-grade elementary students in classroom and school-garden settings. Students engaged actively in learning, debate and cooperation because the garden was a familiar environment, recognized that classroom knowledge related to their own lives, and reported interest because the garden setting could be reshaped by their own ideas; most students expressed satisfaction afterward and some suggested additional garden-based programs.

Tylar Setser · Journal of Small Business Strategy · United States

A report by a FoodCorps Member in Mississippi, USA, describes responsibilities including grant writing, school garden development, and educational outreach, coordinating with local farmers and local District Nutrition Directors to source local produce into school cafeterias. It describes benefits for children including learning to describe healthy choices, identifying new fruits and vegetables, and being introduced to different nutritious recipes and food preparations. Building on the author's experience and that of colleagues, it provides teachers with information for securing fresh, local produce on behalf of children's health and guidelines for creating a "culture of food appreciation."

박은희, 유은하, 한경숙, 장윤아, 정순진, 박동금 · · South Korea

Set against the continued growth of urban agriculture, this study analyzed usage patterns among participants in a functional vegetable garden model provided for urban home gardeners, targeting users who actually grow functional home gardens to identify flaws in product type, quantity, ratio and existing problems. The largest group of users had no prior gardening education experience, while growth education supporting gardening activity reached about half; most respondents said they determine planting timing and methods themselves. Vegetables were the main plant type produced in family gardens, kimchi-related vegetables ranked highest in autumn, current flower/herb amounts were considered generally appropriate, and the most common response favored a vegetable:medicinal:flower-herb ratio of 60.5:21.2:18.3.

吴卫元, 张喜春 · 高等农业教育 · China (Beijing)

An institutional case report from Beijing University of Agriculture describing its "3+1" talent-training model (three years of foundational study plus one year of practice), developed to align with Beijing's urban agriculture sector. It describes integrating theory with practice and building school-enterprise cooperation, plus a multi-tier practical teaching platform. The university reports resulting improvements in students' professional and research abilities, higher enrollment and employment rates, and improved public reputation, based on the institution's own account.

Luz Andrea Tautiva Merchán, Fabián Enrique Martínez Camelo · · Colombia

A brochure describing demonstration and training modules on urban and peri-urban agriculture - organic food production systems for limited spaces - that Colombia's agricultural research corporation Corpoica has established and run at its research centers since 2006. It describes the institutional program itself and does not present empirical outcome data.

Ryan McWilliams · ScholarWorks-UA (University of Alaska Fairbanks) · United States

A thesis presented to the faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage in partial fulfillment of the Master of Public Health degree, concerning the development of a Community Garden Practice Guide to support community gardening in Alaska. This abstract consists only of title-page information and provides no further content detail.

Stefanie Schneider, Jennifer R. Pharr, Timothy J. Bungum · Health Behavior and Policy Review · Global

This systematic review searched Web of Knowledge and SCOPUS in April 2015 and examined 14 studies on the impact of garden-based interventions on nutritional knowledge, fruit and vegetable consumption, taste preferences, physical activity, and math/science achievement; 11 studies covered dietary outcomes, 2 examined physical activity, and 2 assessed math and science achievement. Findings indicate that school gardening programs that include a nutritional component are more likely to increase participants' nutritional knowledge, fruit and vegetable consumption, and range of taste preferences. The review concludes that combining an educational curriculum with gardening activities is an effective strategy for improving attitudes toward healthy food and healthy dietary behaviors.

Laura Genello, Jillian P. Fry, J. Adam Frederick, Ximin Li, David C. Love · European Journal of Health and Biology Education · United States

An online survey of 100 respondents in the United States characterized the use of aquaponics (combined aquaculture and hydroponics) in education. Thirty-six percent worked at primary or secondary schools, 53% at colleges or universities, and 11% at vocational or trade schools. Respondents and their institutions engaged an estimated 12,320 to 50,250 participants per year, with a typical school investing $1,000-$4,999 in its aquaponics facility in the prior year and a combined total of $1.4 to $6.6 million invested across all academic institutions. Continued collaboration, technical support and training from universities and aquaculture education and research centers were identified as needed.