Research & reports

Gabriel Rezende Marques, Maria Regina de Miranda Souza, Leo Rinaldo de Arantes Lazzerini, Cláudia Lúcia de Oliveira Pinto · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (Viçosa)

This study described and evaluated the implementation and adoption of an urban garden by socioeconomically vulnerable students residing in the Federal University of Viçosa dormitory in Viçosa, Brazil, and how the experience influenced their quality of life, civic education, perception, and interest in agroecology. It was found that the use of urban agriculture from an agroecological perspective is an alternative for improving the quality of life in residences and for expanding agroecological knowledge.

Glorinha Correa Neta, Francisneide de Sousa Lourenço, Naiana Marinho de Souza, J. N. de P. Lourenço, Rainielly Barbosa Soares · · Brazil

This work reports on an experience in the Nova Esperanca community in Brasileirinho, Brazil, with a project focused on a community garden as a propagator of agroecological knowledge. The project aimed to develop activities for vegetable cultivation using agroecological practices. Through tools like Venn diagrams and seasonal calendars, the study observed the difficulties the community faced in planting the Erapakatupa garden.

Talita Slota Kutz, Fernanda Daniela Bandelero, Jéssica Cardoso, Thiago de Olivera Vargas · · Brazil

This work describes a 16-hour theoretical-practical workshop conducted in a settlement in Peritoro-MA, Brazil, during the "Operacao Velho Monge" of Project Rondon in 2014. The workshop aimed to disseminate agroecological horticulture through the implementation of a pilot community garden project with drip irrigation and composting systems, facilitating learning for both the settlement community and participating students.

John Taylor, Sarah Taylor Lovell, Sam E. Wortman, M.K. Chan · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (Chicago)

In Chicago, semi-structured interviews and plant inventories were conducted with 59 African American, Chinese-origin, and Mexican-origin households regarding ecosystem services and tradeoffs in their home food gardens. A total of 387 plant species were identified; gardens of African American households were rich in ornamental species, while those of Chinese-origin households had a depauperate flora. Shade trees and a developed shrub layer were absent from most gardens, suggesting a tradeoff in ecosystem services favoring food production. Only 9.6% of the inventoried species were native to the Chicago area.

Valerie Chiykowski, Guhan Chendurnathan, Jun S. Lee, Lius Daniel · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

This project at the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building (SUB) aimed to reduce contamination in post-consumer organics bins using visual prompts. While the intervention successfully decreased both the percentage weight and level of contamination, the overall weight of compostable waste also decreased post-intervention. The study suggests considering confounding factors like a sustainability fair during baseline data collection and improved bins, and proposes an infrared sensor-based audio prompt system for future efforts.

Connor J. Fitzmaurice, Brian J. Gareau · Yale University Press eBooks · United States

This 2016 book chapter profiles Scenic View Farm in New England, United States, run by owners John and Katie, surveying the farm's history and characteristics relative to other New England farms and describing its landscape. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, which farms like Scenic View depend on for stable sales, require growing diverse crops to meet consumer demand; flowers enhanced the farm's appearance and yielded consistent profits in years when other crops merely broke even. Among the challenges organic farms face, the chapter describes a tomato blight outbreak that swept the region, which Scenic View's CSA helped the farm weather while maintaining its organic certification. Access to supplemental income is described as critical to the farm's continuation, and the chapter portrays farmers, including some who feel they cannot eschew pesticides entirely, trying to farm as responsibly as their circumstances allow.

Cristian Suzin Magrin, Angélica Ferari Rodrigues · Mostra IFTec em Resumos · Brazil

This report from Brazil describes aquaponics — a system combining fish farming and soil-free hydroponic plant cultivation, in which fish waste nourishes plants that in turn filter the water for the fish — through a literature review and an experimental simulation of an aquaponic setup with a physically separate fish tank and hydroponic unit connected by pumping. It states the system requires no removal of final filtration waste and less complex filtration than aquaculture, has lower pest losses and earlier harvests than soil-based gardens, and operates at low cost, and concludes it is a sustainable, economical food-production approach suited to both household and industrial scale.

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.

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.

Rosangela Medeiros Hespanhol · Confins · Brazil (Natal)

This study analyzed the trajectory of farmers from AMIGS (Association of Friends and Producers of Vegetables Residents of Sitio Gramoré and Adjacencies), a significant vegetable supplier in Natal, Brazil, who have been transitioning from conventional to organic production since 2012. The organization of farmers through the association and partnerships with companies and institutions were crucial for enabling this change, reducing dependence on intermediaries through direct sales at ecological fairs. However, problems related to the individual acquisition of inputs and conflicts with farmers still using conventional systems were observed.

Luciene Rodrigues, Maria Antônia Carniello · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

This study aimed to document the use and agricultural management practices of tuberous plants by residents in urban backyards in Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil, using semi-structured interviews. Nine species were recorded, including Manihot esculenta, with carrot, sweet potato, ginger, and saffron cited for medicinal use (8.3% to 16.6%). Planting followed seasons and lunar phases, and soil fertility was corrected with organic fertilizer and sawdust.

José Tobias Marks Machado, Jeferson Tonin, Evandro Pedro Schneider · SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología · Brazil

This study, conducted in two schools in Cerro Largo - RS, Brazil, during 2013, performed a post-implementation analysis of ecologically based school gardens introduced through a university extension program. Positive results included the proliferation of similar projects. However, significant difficulties were emphasized in integrating the school gardens with disciplinary education, attributed to existing conservatism in the educational context.

Geneviève S. Metson, Elena M. Bennett · PLoS ONE · Canada (Montreal)

This study quantified the role of urban agriculture (UA) in phosphorus (P) cycling in Montreal, Canada, using existing data and surveys of local UA practitioners. In 2012, Montreal imported 3.5 Gg of P in food, with 2.63 Gg accumulating in landfills, 0.36 Gg discharged to local waters, and only 0.09 Gg recycled through composting. UA was found to be only a small sub-system in the city's overall P cycle, contributing just 0.44% of the P consumed as food. Although recycling rates within the UA system are high, the land area dedicated to UA is too small to accommodate all P waste produced on the island.

Angela Y. Y. Kong, Cynthia Rosenzweig, Joshua Arky · HortScience · United States

This study evaluated the effects of organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) inputs on N dynamics within substrate typically used on rooftop farms during an 8-week greenhouse experiment in the United States. Substrate without added N inputs (control) was compared with synthetic fertilizer and three organic N inputs: composted poultry manure, municipal green waste compost, and vermicompost. Few differences in N cycling and yields were found among treatments receiving organic N inputs, despite differences in carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. Crop yields from the synthetic fertilizer and municipal green waste compost treatments were higher than other organic N input treatments. Inorganic N levels in the synthetic fertilizer treatment decreased from 129 mg N/L to 113 mg N/L, while control and organic N input treatments showed nearly 10-fold decreases from 79.5–117.8 mg N/L to 12.8–16.6 mg N/L over 8 weeks. The greatest losses of ammonium and nitrate via leachate were measured from the synthetic fertilizer treatment.

Geneviève S. Metson, Elena M. Bennett · Elementa Science of the Anthropocene · Canada

A study of Montreal, Canada, examining the potential and barriers for phosphorus (P) recycling through organic waste, noting that currently only 6% of P in Montreal's waste is recycled. Combining semi-structured interviews with 19 key stakeholders, participant observation over more than 1.5 years, and document review, the study identified key barriers and facilitators to achieving a high level of organic waste recycling through composting. A provincial law mandating 100% recycling of organic matter was found to have great potential to facilitate increased P recycling, but this potential is inhibited by a lack of shared vision about the roles of government, the private sector, and citizens in producing high-quality compost, along with cultural inertia, lack of knowledge, and lack of infrastructure. Urban agriculture, which benefits from strong citizen support and is both a consumer and producer of compost, could help overcome some of these barriers, but limited access to garden space and training, and diversity in the fertiliser qualities gardeners want, somewhat limit this potential.

Tainã Coelho Quevedo, Anilton Squena de Oliveira, Lauren Machado Gayeski, Marcelo Pereira de Barros · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Brazil

Through Universidade Feevale's participation in Brazil's Projeto Rondon, workshops presented concepts and methodologies for developing community gardens and reusing organic waste and rainwater in two locations in Maranhao state. Three lectures were given and four community gardens, four composters, and two cisterns were built across four municipal schools, training 97 people. Environmental multipliers were trained through active community participation, and alternative cost-reduction techniques were made available for economically disadvantaged regions.

B.M. Mercado-Borrayo, Silke Cram Heydrich, Irma Rosas‐Pérez, Manuel Hernández Quiroz, Claudia Ponce De León Hill · International Journal of Phytoremediation · Mexico

In a natural wetland in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area — a major supplier of crops and flowers whose canals hold high concentrations of organochlorine (OC) and organophosphorus (OP) pesticides — bioaccumulation of these pesticides was studied in water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a plant considered a plague but suggested in the literature to have phytoremediation potential. In vivo bioaccumulation differences for OC pesticides were largely explained by their log Kow, while all OP pesticides showed bioaccumulation regardless of log Kow, and the higher bioaccumulation factors of some accumulated OC pesticides could not be explained by log Kow alone, suggesting passive transport into the plant. Translocation ratios showed water hyacinth to be an accumulating plant with phytoremediation potential for all the organophosphorus pesticides studied and some organochlorine pesticides, and an equation for free water surface wetlands with floating macrophytes showed pesticide removal by the wetland with room for improvement through better management.

Ricardo da Silva Claudio, Souto de Sousa J uacute nior Francisco, Ismael de Souza Francisco, da Silva Dias Nildo, Nogueira de Sousa Neto Osvaldo, Cruz Portela Jeane, Cl aacute udia Medeiros Souza Ana, Christina Nascimento Porto Vania · African Journal of Agricultural Research · Brazil

A participatory action-research project in a community garden in Bom Jesus, Campo Grande, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, tested irrigating organic vegetables (coriander, chive, tomato, rocket) with reject brine from a water desalination/treatment station. All species irrigated with the saline waste water showed yield losses of 25.30% to 26.7% compared with conventional fresh-water irrigation, though some biomass was still produced, and the project changed residents' views on disposing of and reusing the saline waste.

· Journal of Sustainable Tourism · United States

Analyzes the locations and motivations of WWOOF volunteer-tourism host farms in the US, finding host distributions are spatially skewed toward the west coast and Appalachia.

Mary Foran, Nonda Kozas, Daniel Lafranchi · Scholar Commons (Santa Clara University) · United States (California)

The Mission San Jose Well Initiative is a community-based project in Fremont, California, aiming to develop a sustainable irrigation system for a community garden. The system will utilize one of three wells on the Dominican Sisters' Convent property, employing a submersible solar-powered pump to deliver water to a storage tank, which then supplies the garden and other areas via a timer. The project focuses on environmental and water resource design, balancing budget, functionality, and location.

Jessica Chen, Shawn DiPardo, Yuliana Hermanto, Amy Jennermann, Lyviana Mananta, Sharon Lee, Alanna Jean Schroeder · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada

This student project at the University of British Columbia focused on expanding the LFS Garden to enhance organic production, provide food, and offer interdisciplinary learning opportunities. The group reviewed literature and consulted stakeholders to devise a business proposal for the garden's development, covering aspects like management, layout, and educational integration. The project also designed a garden layout and established a garden management committee.

Márcio Aleksandro Daniel, Ednaldo Michellon, Aline Midori Takemura, Jéssica Brasau da Silva, Willian Scanacapra · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

The Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Reference Center (CERAUP) in Brazil implements a school garden project for students aged 6 to 12, funded by MEC/Proext. This project teaches vegetable cultivation and the importance of agroecological foods, fostering teamwork and learning in subjects like mathematics, chemistry, and geography. The project has been ongoing for over a year, with agronomy and pedagogy interns participating under the guidance of agronomists.

L. Fernández, Walter Alejandro Muiño, Pablo Valentín Ermini · Americanae (AECID Library) · Latin America

This ethnobotanical study examines the knowledge, uses and meanings that gardeners in the Zona Norte and Villa Germinal neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina, attach to weeds -- spontaneous plant species growing alongside cultivated crops. It collected and identified 57 weed species, found that roughly half of informants remove weeds without using them while the rest use them mainly as fertiliser and animal feed, that the most frequently cited use in the literature is medicinal, and that Cynodon dactylon ("gramilla") was the species appearing most often in the gardens while also being regarded as a "pest."

Maria Lúcia da Silva Sodré, Aucéia Matos Dourado, Daiane Santos Oliveira, Vanessa Januário Graça · · Brazil

A report on a rural extension project developed around a community garden run by a women's association in Brazil, based on agroecological principles that center on exchanging traditional, technical and scientific knowledge as a means of interaction between the university, advisors and family farmers. The aim was to strengthen social organization and production processes by combining composting and vermiculture practices with technologies such as irrigation systems and cisterns, using theoretical and practical workshops. Results showed that these activities enabled families to increase production and gain access to healthier food; the resulting availability of produce for sale brought increased income and improved living conditions, along with improved soil quality, outcomes the report attributes in part to the organizational capacity of the women involved in the association.

Ian Schneier, R. C. Payne, Duong Nguyen, Liam Goodale · Digital WPI · United States

At Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the United States, the Floragenesis project proposed a campus community garden using food waste otherwise neglected from the dining halls to address concerns about freshness and localness. Over time, the composting component was intended to phase out the practice of exporting food waste from the main dining halls. The project focused on construction, productivity, and community garden management, drawing on prior WPI-specific composting feasibility studies. It won Judge's Winner at a 2014 poster presentation.