Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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2539 results(83 / 102)
School food gardens: fertile ground for education
2014Moira Beery, Rachel Adatia, Orsola Segantin, Chantal-Fleur Skaer · Health Education · South Africa (Johannesburg)
This paper examines the role of organic permaculture food gardens established at two schools in Johannesburg, South Africa, over one year, in addressing food insecurity and environmental sustainability. A nutrition study with 68 children found that these gardens can contribute to children's physical, mental, and emotional health, serving as a resource for teachers and learners. The study notes that practical and cultural challenges must be addressed for sustainability, and its findings, based on a one-year assessment at only two sites, may not be universally applicable.
Food educationFood sovereignty & justiceHealthCommunity학교폭력 대처를 위한 도시농업 적용방안
2014장진, 오충현 · · South Korea
This study examined the application of urban agriculture's therapeutic properties as a measure against school violence in South Korea. A 2014 survey of 77 middle school students in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, found that 68.8% had plant cultivation experience. Reasons for participating in urban agriculture activities included learning about the value of life and plant cultivation, finding peace and achievement, and socializing with friends. The most needed experiential activities were cognitive (41.6%), emotional (40.3%), and behavioral (36.4%).
Food educationHealthCommunityBuilding a Better Office of Sustainability: Promoting Sustainable Change and Educational Outreach at WKU
2014Andrew Salman · TopSCHOLAR (Western Kentucky University) · United States (Bowling Green)
This research documented the transformation of a house in Bowling Green, KY, into a model sustainability home by the WKU Office of Sustainability as a case study. Using LEED Core Concepts, the study assessed the benefits of weatherization, solar energy array installation, and the conversion of the backyard into an edible landscape and community garden to mitigate stormwater flooding. Procedural and institutional barriers to sustainability initiatives were analyzed, and exceptional results, such as the collaborative community gardening organization Project Grow, were described as a model for other institutions.
CommunityClimate changeFood educationInvestigation of an urban farm intervention for a low income Hispanic population with multiple risk factors for diabetes (624.3)
2014Monique Centrone Stefani, Debbie Humphries, Rebecca Kline · The FASEB Journal · United States
This study implemented and evaluated a pilot intervention addressing chronic disease risk factors in a low-income Hispanic population in the United States. The New Haven Farms Fresh Produce Prescription program provided fresh produce, nutrition education, gardening education, and cooking demonstrations weekly over sixteen weeks of the agriculture season. Participants, recruited through a community health center, came weekly to a central urban agriculture site and completed baseline and follow-up assessments of dietary diversity, chronic disease risk, food security, and physical activity. Fifty-one people completed the baseline survey and 40 completed the follow-up survey; preliminary analysis showed approximately 30% had some food insecurity at baseline. The study reports on the development of this complex agriculture-based intervention as a pilot.
HealthWelfareFood educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceDefining, Managing, and Dictating Children’s Bodies: Discourses of “Good” Food and the Politics of “Growing”
2014Lauren Bosc · Jeunesse Young People Texts Cultures · Global
This essay discusses the growing focus on children's bodies within discourses of obesity and examines several recently published Canadian children's picture books on healthy food choices, including "Up We Grow!," "Watch Me Grow! A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City," "The Good Garden," "Potatoes on Rooftops: Farming in the City," "Down to Earth," and "Why Are You Doing That?" Drawing on Deborah Lupton's argument that increased focus on children's body size functions to regulate and manage children generally, the essay reads these picture books within the context of public anxiety surrounding childhood obesity.
Food educationCommunityTheBenefitsandSustainabilityofSchoolGardens:ACaseStudyofSt.FrancisSchoolGreenhouse(HarbourGrace,NL)
2014Emily Corrigan-Kavanagh · · Canada
A pilot study is planned at St. Francis School in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada — one of the few school gardens in the province and a greenhouse program described as a unique example of innovation in health, environment, agriculture, and education. Key informant interviews with parents, teachers, and community leaders involved in or interested in the project are planned, aiming to investigate the program's start and evolution, analyze facilitators and deterrents to keeping it running, identify its benefits, and identify key aspects for maintaining sustainability.
Food educationHealthCommunityBuilding Community with a Farmers Market, Commercial Kitchen and Community Garden The Sprouts and Roots Program at Lincoln University
2014Nadia E. Navarrete-Tindall, Mara S. Aruguete, Yvonne Matthews, Margaret G. Hopper, Veronica Taylor, Jeff Hargrove, Robert Channer · MOspace Institutional Repository (University of Missouri) · United States
A presentation on Lincoln University's Sprouts and Roots Program, combining a farmers market, commercial kitchen, and community garden, was made at the 12th Latinos in the Heartland conference in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2014, and published in the conference's annual proceedings.
CommunityFood educationUrban Farmers’ Adoption of Improved Dry Season Vegetable Production Technologies in in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State, Nigeria
2014FN Nnadi, Ogbonna Okoro Aja, C. D. Nnadi, AO Ani, F. C. Anaeto, UN Akwiwu, Christiana I. Agomuo, C. P. Elei · Journal of Agricultural Extension · Nigeria
A survey of 125 randomly sampled urban farmers in Owerri Municipal Council, Imo State, Nigeria, used a semi-structured questionnaire to assess adoption of improved dry-season vegetable production technologies, analyzed with frequencies, percentages, means and OLS multiple regression. Adopted technologies included improved crop varieties (69.5%), fertilizer use (95.6%), irrigation (88.7%), mulching (62.6%) and seed treatment before planting (59.1%). Reasons for participation were increased household access to vegetables (mean 2.92), income generation (3.42) and employment creation (3.11). Information sources were informal interaction with neighbors and friends (35.7%), extension agents (14.8%), radio (12.5%) and television (11.3%), while constraints were land scarcity (88.7%), lack of irrigation water (70.5%) and poor awareness of dry-season farming (50.6%).
Food educationEconomicsCampus greenscaping : management plan for the first rooftop garden at UBC Vancouver
2014Kelsey Knoll, Kerry Mussel, Michelle Radley, Megan Severide, Kalyn Van Horne · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada
This report from the UBC Food System Project describes a management plan for a rooftop garden — allocating 166 m² to food crop production — planned for the new Student Union Building at the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus, due for completion in 2014. Methods included assessing demand for garden space on campus, setting goals through meetings with stakeholders, reviewing past UBC Food System Project reports, researching the management structures of other community gardens, and developing the plan via cost-benefit analysis. The project found adequate interest in the rooftop garden and set goals including a student focus, peer-to-peer learning, community-building opportunities, promotion of food-system and sustainability issues, enhanced sustainability of the UBC food system, and cost neutrality, and determined that operation would require a coordinator — either a work-study student, a directed-studies student, or a paid position.
CommunityFood educationUrban agriculture at UBC : you bet!
2014Michelle Anami, Doris Cheung, Lindsey Fox, Briony Martens, Delara Salehi, Natalie Van Veelen, Kelsey Wolfe · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada
A student project report produced under the UBC SEEDS program at the University of British Columbia, Canada, dated 2014. The abstract consists only of a disclaimer stating that it presents a student's findings, opinions, conclusions and recommendations, that it is not an official UBC document, and that it may not reflect current UBC activities. No specific study content, methods or findings are given in the abstract.
Food educationCommunity자활능력 증진을 위한 국외 도시농업 사례분석
2014이숙미, Kim In Ho · · Global
Aiming to develop approaches for enhancing the self-support capability of vulnerable groups, this study analyzed foreign cases in which urban agriculture activities were used for self-support. The analysis classified urban agriculture activities into four types depending on participants' level of self-support capability and employment status: a healing type that helps mind and body recover through engagement, a self-consumption type that supports healthy eating and cuts food expenses, a social-relation type built around interaction with the community, and an occupation type providing jobs and income through production activities.
Food sovereignty & justiceCommunityEconomicsWelfareFood educationInquiry-based learning
2014Helena Jedličková · · Europe
A thesis on inquiry-based learning at the Faculty of Education in Brno, Czech Republic, addresses four areas shaping the relationship between people (children) and nature: the concept of activity education in the 21st century, the principles of natural gardens, the topical phenomenon of community gardens, and garden forms associated with educational institutions. Its practical part attempts to unite these four areas into one. The core of the thesis is designing, creating and implementing a garden patch with natural elements at the Biology Department workplace of the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University, funded by the "Natural DVPP" project and the "SEP" innovation project for South Moravian region schools using international field placements and internships (registration number CZ.1.07/1.41/02.0055).
Food educationCommunityPracticing urban agriculture right here : integrating the LFS Garden with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems community : management, resources, and budget
2014Carl McBeath, Jill McDowell, Graham McLeod, Christine M. McMahon, Marnie Melsted, Carrine Thunggawan · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · Canada
As part of the UBC Food System Project, this student report examines challenges facing the Land and Food Systems Orchard Garden (LFSOG) at the University of British Columbia, reviewing the faculty's vision statements to develop recommendations on garden management, budgeting, funding and resources; it concludes an organized management plan is needed for the garden to successfully expand. The report is a student project under the UBC SEEDS program and is explicitly noted as not an official UBC document, possibly not reflecting the current status of activities.
CommunityFood educationPolicyO ambiente escolar como espaço para o desenvolvimento de ações de promoção da alimentação saudável
2014Roberta Fontanive Miyahira, Lilia Zagoa, Marta Citelli dos Reisa, Josely Correa Kourya · Vigilância Sanitária em Debate · Brazil
A practice report on nutrition education at a municipal school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, delivered through establishing a school garden and running workshops to train food handlers among students and staff. The method spread technical and scientific knowledge while also prompting reflection on food's nutritional, sensory, functional and sanitary dimensions. Based on participant reports and the researchers' empirical analysis, the workshops were judged a creative and efficient approach with low cost and low implementation complexity.
Food educationHealthCommunityAVALIAÇÃO MULTICRITERIAL DAS FAZENDAS VERTICAIS CANADENSES COMO MODELOS SUSTENTAVEIS DE AGRICULTURA URBANA
2014Leandro Pessoa Lucena, Francisco José Kliemann Neto, Fernanda Mariano Massuia, Leonardo Donizete Fanti · RAI revista de administração e inovação · Canada
Against the backdrop of demographic projections that global population will reach 9.4 billion within the next 50 years, requiring an additional area of fertile land roughly the size of Brazil that does not exist on the planet, this study evaluated the economic viability of a Canadian vertical farm model as a sustainable urban-rural food production alternative. Using the NCIC method via a participant-observer approach, the study reported the model as economically viable and sustainable, as well as innovative in flattening production chains.
Economic viabilityEconomicsFood educationDigital agricultureLa función cultural de las especies arvenses en los huertos domésticos de dos barrios periféricos de la ciudad de Santa Rosa (La Pampa)
2014Lucía Ferreira Fernández, Walter Alejandro Muiño, Pablo Valentín Ermini · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Argentina
In two peripheral neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, La Pampa province, Argentina — Zona Norte and Villa Germinal — a 2014 ethnobotanical and agroecological study examined home gardeners' knowledge, uses and meanings attached to arvenses, spontaneous plant species growing alongside cultivated crops. Using ethnobotanical data-collection tools, researchers collected and identified 57 species; roughly half of informants said they remove these plants without using them, while the rest use them mainly as fertilizer for their gardens or feed for domestic animals. Published literature cited medicinal preparation as the most frequent use, and Cynodon dactylon ("gramilla"), the species appearing most often in the gardens, was also regarded by informants as a "pest."
CommunityOrganic cycleFood educationFloragenesis: Community Garden Initiative
2014Ian 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.
CompostCommunityFood educationOrganic cycleHealthy Eyes in Schools: An evaluation of a school and community-based intervention to promote eye health in rural Timor-Leste
2014Karen Hobday, Jacqueline Ramke, Rènée du Toit, Sara Pereira · Health Education Journal · Timor-Leste
An intervention under the Healthy Eyes in Schools Project, delivered across four primary schools in Aileu District, Timor-Leste, was evaluated using a descriptive mixed-methods design combining questionnaires and interviews. Local teachers received training and resources to deliver nine lessons on eye health; in two schools this was paired with the creation of school gardens and improvements to water and sanitation. Students in classes 5 and 6 took part: 384 students aged 10-17 (median 12) completed the baseline survey and 237 completed a follow-up. The intervention was associated with improved eye health knowledge and some attitudes and practices, but attitudes about the capabilities of blind children and adults did not change. Teachers' attitudes and support from principals and an international NGO appeared key to successful implementation, while limited coverage of eye health in the existing curriculum, limited parent participation, and limited access to healthy food may have constrained the intervention's effectiveness.
HealthFood educationCommunityLeeds Edible Schools Sustainability Network
2014Timm Bliss, IM Dickinson · Leeds Beckett Repository (Leeds Beckett University) · United Kingdom
This is a descriptive account, not an empirical study, of the Leeds Edible Schools Sustainability Network, an unconstituted, informal group of organizations and academics based in the Leeds district in the UK. It is described as sharing values around wellbeing and sustainability and supporting educational establishments in growing and consuming food on school premises, promoting resilient and healthy practices including outdoor work, and teaching sustainability.
Food educationCommunityClimate changePolicyThe impact of school gardens on student salad selection: a pilot study (808.12)
2014Andrew Hanks, Brian Wansink, David R. Just · The FASEB Journal · United States (New York City)
In a small northwestern New York community, a pilot study tested whether adding leafy greens harvested from a student-maintained school garden to the lunch salad bar affected salad selection among 370 high school students. On days when pasta was served as the main dish, the percentage of students taking salad rose from 2% to 10% (p<0.001), a 400% increase, when the salad contained garden-grown leafy greens compared with standard salad days.
Food educationHealthCommunityProyecto L’Hort 2.0 una herramienta innovadora que contribuye al desarrollo de competencias básicas: una experiencia interdisciplinar
2014Amparo Hurtado Soler, Ana María Botella Nicolás, José Cantó Doménech, Valentín Gavidia Catalán · · Spain
Framing the school garden as an educational resource that helps students approach the natural environment and develop basic skills through interdisciplinary experiences, the L'Hort 2.0 project in Spain built a virtual environment based on the school garden to manage ICT content linking activities outside the classroom with course guides. It proceeded through an active, collaborative methodology in three phases: preparing and designing the web environment across six thematic areas, developing educational materials, and evaluating their usefulness in the classroom and effectiveness in the learning process. The project reports high student involvement in the learning process and improved assessment results that better reflected the skills students had attained.
Food educationCommunityFORMAÇÃO DO PEDAGOGO E ENSINO DE CIÊNCIAS: A HORTA ESCOLAR COMO ESPAÇO PARA DIÁLOGOS SOBRE EDUCAÇÃO AMBIENTAL
2014Vilmar Malacarne, Kely Cristina Enisweler · Educere et Educare · Brazil
A theoretical study (Educere et Educare, 2014), drawing on Delizoicov and Angotti (2000), Bizzo (2002), Ducatti-Silva (2005), and Ovigli and Bertucci (2009), examined how school gardens can support science teaching within early-elementary teacher education in Brazil. The paper argues gardens let teachers address topics such as pesticide contamination, growth cycles, soil characteristics, irrigation, and healthy eating. It concludes that school gardens are a useful tool for teachers, enabling science teaching and learning and deepening environmental education content, though the analysis is presented as a literature-based reflection rather than an empirical outcome measurement.
Food educationCommunity„Akcje specjalne” – założenia i realizacja w Polsce centralnej w latach 1933–1939.
2014Elżbiata Słabińska · Res Gestae · Poland
In 1930s central Poland, national policy to mitigate the effects of unemployment was expanded into so-called "special actions" providing full or partial employment support, comprising efforts to create bases for independent livelihoods, social and educational assistance, and support for employing white-collar workers. These were coordinated by the Labour Fund (Fundusz Pracy) together with national and local authorities and numerous economic and socio-cultural organizations. Allotment gardens and vocational training drew considerable interest among the unemployed. The paper concludes that although these were innovative measures, they were introduced too late to produce visible effects before the end of the interwar period.
PolicyWelfareFood educationCommunityPerceived Outcomes of a Community-based Urban Agriculture and Nutrition Education Program: A Case Study of Common Good City Farm’s Green Tomorrows Program in Washington, D.C.
2014Alexander Trutko · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · United States
A case study of the Common Good City Farm's Green Tomorrows program, a community-based urban agriculture and nutrition education program for residents of Washington, D.C., which aims to increase participants' food security, their ability to grow crops in urban locations, and their knowledge of nutrition, food preparation, and food budgeting. The study sought to understand how effectively the program achieved its intended goals and outcomes through semi-structured interviews with program staff and recent regular participants, in order to (1) identify similarities and differences between staff- and participant-stated program goals, (2) determine key program impacts, and (3) generate programmatic recommendations. Participants reported that the program's food distribution increased their consumption of produce, contributing to improved food security, along with greater knowledge of agricultural methods and healthy eating and an improved ability to prepare and shop for healthy food after completing the program. Overall, the Green Tomorrows program's outcomes aligned with staff and participant expectations and were reported to positively influence participants' food security, nutrition knowledge, food preparation, and food-budgeting skills.
Food educationHealthWelfareCommunityStudy on service philosophy and content innovation of science popularization of urban agriculture
2014Chen Sheng-we · · Global
A discussion piece positions the popularization of urban agriculture science as a key measure for shifting traditional agriculture toward modern agriculture and accelerating urbanization and new countryside construction. It identifies making urban agriculture research results benefit the public as a pressing problem in current popularization efforts, and examines service philosophy and content innovation to improve service quality and content based on the practical work involved and its shortcomings. No empirical data is presented.
Food educationPolicy