Research & reports

Marcos José de Abreu, Renato Barretto Barbosa Trivella, Letícia Oliveira de Melo, gisa Garcia, Alexandre Cordeiro, Óscar José Rover · · Brazil (Santa Catarina)

The Vida Nova community garden, established in 2009 in Jardim Janaina, Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, Brazil, serves women from rural and urban areas facing food and social insecurity. This project aimed to disseminate participatory agroecological methodologies in urban agriculture. It resulted in a 36-page educational booklet and a course, leading to group strengthening, increased community gardens, and diversified cultivation in the neighborhood.

Chris Zimmerman · Soil Horizons · United States

A narrative article profiling the work of soil scientist Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh of the University of Southern Maine, investigating lead contamination in urban soils in Portland, Maine. It traces the concern to the Great Fire of 1866, whose lead paint ash was spread across the city and used as landfill to extend the Portland peninsula, compounded by the city's historical ties to lead-producing industries. The article states that, across US cities generally, lead paint and leaded gasoline are the primary sources of soil lead contamination, and that this contamination is becoming a concern as urban gardening expands.

Nicholas F. Reed · Stanford law & policy review · United States (California)

This legal note centers on California Assembly Bill 551 (AB 551), introduced on February 20, 2013 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, which would create incentives for owners of undeveloped urban residential property to lease their land for agricultural use or the creation of urban green space. It positions AB 551 as a potential "Williamson Act for cities," in contrast to the 1965 California Land Conservation Act (the Williamson Act), which was intended to protect rural agricultural land from urban development; AB 551 would instead let local governments encourage commercial agriculture where urban development is infeasible or has stalled. The author reviews the social, economic, and environmental benefits attributed to urban agriculture, legal barriers such as property tax and zoning codes, and the history of differential tax programs protecting agricultural land, before explaining the rationale for the AB 551 proposal.

André Ganzarolli Martins, Ana Paula Tridapalli de Almeira · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil

A report on nearly two years of small-scale agroecological seed production through a community garden project on the central campus of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil. Seeds were cultivated within small agroecological and agroforestry systems, producing carrots, lettuce, sunflower, beans, green manure crops and others; harvest and storage details are described as crucial steps requiring special attention. The report states that seed production was fundamental to sustaining the plantings and, through donations, supported other urban agriculture and agroecology initiatives.

Nicholas A. Read · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · United States

A field-trial study conducted in the United States, where small-scale urban agriculture has become more prevalent due to the availability of abandoned property and demand for locally grown produce. Weed suppression is described as a major concern for urban growers, with mulch valued as an inexpensive, readily available control method. Black plastic mulch, the industry standard, is impermeable and difficult to remove and dispose of; newspaper end-rolls (unprinted remains from newspaper printing) are proposed as an alternative that is permeable and biodegradable but have a high C:N ratio that can reduce soil fertility and crop growth. Because plant residue alone requires large quantities for adequate weed suppression, combining newspaper with plant residues is proposed as a way to achieve adequate suppression with less material and a lower C:N ratio. The study's objective was to compare two continuous sheet mulches — newspaper and black plastic — with and without an underlying particulate mulch of killed cover crop, in field trials conducted in 2011 and 2012 measuring soil moisture, soil temperature, weed growth, weed removal cost, and collard (Brassica oleracea) performance in a low-input production system. The abstract does not report specific results.

Joshua Birky, Elizabeth Strom · Urban Geography · United States

A review of historical and contemporary literature on the U.S. community garden movement, combined with surveys of participants in three distinctive community gardens, compares today's movement with its predecessors. It concludes that a greater diversity of gardeners and gardening motivations, combined with changing views on urban land use, will make community gardens a more lasting feature of city neighborhoods.

Gina M. Bacigalupi · San José State University ScholarWorks (San Jose State University) · United States (California)

An online survey of more than 400 members of the California State University East Bay Concord Campus community (California, United States), conducted in 2013, measured stakeholder interest and willingness to contribute money, time and labor to a proposed educational farm at this non-land-grant public urban university. Support was high across all stakeholder groups, but students and those holding multiple campus roles reported greater interest than faculty and staff, while administrators reported the lowest likelihood of participating. Younger respondents and women anticipated greater interaction than older or male respondents; by income, middle-income respondents anticipated the largest financial contributions, while both the highest- and lowest-income groups anticipated the smallest contributions.

David DyckFehderau, Nicholas L. Holt, Geoff D.C. Ball, Noreen D. Willows · PubMed · Canada

A study in Alexander First Nation, central Alberta, Canada, used asset mapping with children to understand how community factors shape the lifestyle behaviors of First Nations children living on reserve, who are estimated to be 4.5 times more likely to be obese than Canadian children generally. Participants were a convenience sample of two high school students working at the local health centre and seven grade six children, who used maps, photographs and a town tour to identify 25 activity- or food-related places and spaces. Breakfast, lunch and snack foods (such as chocolate bars and potato crisps) were obtained at school, food and snacks at cultural gatherings, and snacks at the local store, with healthy food choices found to be limited; only two locations beyond the town site were identified for physical activity, and youth recommended building a leisure centre, selling healthier food at the local store, and developing a community garden and berry farm.

Liangtao Li, Weller Lorraine, Yuanyuan Tao, Zhenrong Yu, Li, Liangtao, Weller, Lorraine, Tao, Yuanyuan, Yu, Zhenrong · · United States (California)

A field survey of 14 community gardens in Los Angeles, United States, examined how the diversity and distribution pattern of urban vegetation varieties relates to gardeners' ethnic background and construction mode. A total of 439 plant varieties were identified, showing that community gardens function as an important species pool for the urban ecosystem and maintain rich native taxa resources, that the plants grown are mainly edible and play a significant role in protecting ethnic and regional native culture, and that the landscape structure and function of the vegetation are shaped by ethnic background and construction mode. The findings are discussed for their implications for urban green space planning and leisure agriculture in China.

Ashley S. Harms, DeAnn Presley, Ganga M. Hettiarachchi, Stephen Thien · Journal of Extension · United States

As participation in urban agriculture grows across the United States, potential soil contaminants in urban environments present challenges. A study assessed the educational needs of urban gardeners and farmers throughout the US regarding soil contamination. The results indicate that urban gardeners and farmers need and want information and guidance on best management practices for safely growing food crops on mildly contaminated urban soils.

Tim Glaza · ISU Red - Research and eData (Illinois State University) · United States

It has been a persistent challenge for community-based, small-to-medium-scale fruit and vegetable farmers to meet high demand for locally sourced food. Such producers have relied mainly on farm stands, farmers' markets, and community-supported agriculture (CSAs) to meet demand, but despite substantial growth in the number of farmers' markets and CSA subscriptions, a gap remains between community-based food producers and institutional, wholesale, and retail buyers. Regional food hubs are presented as a potentially critical piece for filling this gap. The Edible Economy Project, in partnership with Heartland Community College, worked on a regional food hub network project in central Illinois aimed at creating a more efficient and vibrant community-based food system. Per the USDA definition cited, a regional food hub is a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products, primarily from local and regional producers, to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand; food hubs are described as helping buyers and farmers connect and transact more efficiently. This piece places the community-based food system within the broader green economy and uses a case study approach to explain how a community with diverse stakeholders may develop a food hub.

Iris T. Stewart, Elizabeth K. Purner, Patricia D. Guzm ́n · Children Youth and Environments · United States (California)

In Santa Clara County (SCC), located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Region and marked by high income disparities and an ethnically diverse population, this study used surveys and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine links between the presence and use of school gardens and the socioeconomic and ethnic composition of surrounding neighborhoods. Statistical analysis found that school gardens in SCC are more likely to exist in economically stronger and ethnically less-diverse neighborhoods, showing that garden provision is not equitably distributed. School gardens can be maintained with relatively modest resources — a coordinator, planting area, small budget, and school-community support — yet securing these resources can itself be a significant barrier for some schools. Because natural play areas suited to environmental exploration were not typically found at SCC schools, the study suggests school gardens can play an important role in reconnecting children with the natural world.

Renee Raiden Boyer, Ben Chapman · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · United States

This practical guide outlines recommended agricultural practices for food safety in school and community gardens, covering topics such as food safety, site selection, pesticides and fertilizers, handwashing, water and irrigation, composting, garden design and animals, sanitation and tools, a sample community garden layout, an FAQ, and a glossary.

Susan L. Johnson · Planning for higher education · United States

This article discusses urban agriculture on the campus of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in the United States, centered on the MUSC Urban Farm. Against a backdrop of rising chronic disease and obesity, it describes community gardens as improving nutritional status and increasing physical activity, community engagement, safety and local economic strength while providing environmental benefits, citing a study by Zick et al. (2013) in the American Journal of Public Health that found community garden participants had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) than non-participants. The MUSC Urban Farm is presented as a living classroom where students, faculty, staff and the community explore the connection between food and health.

Rebecca J. McLain, Patrick T. Hurley, Marla R. Emery, Melissa R. Poe · Local Environment · United States

Drawing on an integrated urban political ecology and human-plant geographies framework, researchers examined foraging for wild food across Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Foraging is a vibrant, ongoing practice among diverse urban residents, yet regulations, planning practices, and the attitudes of conservation practitioners frame it as out of place in urban landscapes and something to be discouraged.

Filipe Ribeiro Cardoso Porto, Jacionira Coêlho Silva · Americanae (AECID Library) · Brazil

This study describes the ethnobotanical practices of horticulturists and consumers surrounding chili pepper (malagueta pepper, Capsicum frutescens L.), cultivated at the Vila Poti municipal community garden in southeastern Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. Information gathered on pepper production reported various purposes and methods of medicinal use of different plant parts, applied for ailments otherwise treated with industrial pharmacological medication. The study characterizes these as traditional knowledge with anthropological elements that go beyond systematized science, functioning as an identity marker of the human-environment relationship in cultural production.

A. Bryan Endres, Rachel Armstrong · Food Studies An Interdisciplinary Journal · United States

A legal analysis (Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2013) of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the United States—where CSA participation more than doubled between 2004 and 2009—examines "volunteer-for-food" arrangements and unpaid internships that many CSA farms offer in exchange for labor. It finds that these arrangements do not align cleanly with federal and state employment laws governing minimum wage and workers' compensation, creating a mismatch between the community-participation model embedded in CSAs and the legal regimes that govern them. The paper identifies potential points of flexibility within existing law, explores mechanisms for farmers to avoid regulatory liability, and concludes with policy recommendations to eliminate regulations it characterizes as scale-inappropriate for CSA expansion.

Jacqueline M. Swank, David E. Swank · Journal of school counseling · United States

Addressing the challenge school counselors face in delivering a comprehensive, developmental school counseling program to large numbers of students, this paper (2013, United States) presents a creative use of a garden program to foster student development through integration with the natural environment. It describes activities and metaphors tied to five garden stages within the program — planning, preparing, planting, maintaining, and harvesting — identifies which American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2004) student standards each garden activity addresses, and discusses the implications and practical considerations for school counselors.

Sandy Campbell · The Deakin Review of Children s Literature · Canada

This is a review of Hadley Dyer's "Potatoes on Rooftops: Farming in the City" (Annick Press, Toronto, 2012). Although marketed by the publisher for grades 4–7, the reviewer finds the actual reading level higher — Tenth Grade on the Coleman-Liau Index and 9.2 on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test. Despite a children's-book design, the content is dense and textbook-like, moving from an introduction on food and the need for urban agriculture through small- and larger-scale urban agriculture examples to related social and political movements, with a glossary, resource list, and index. The Toronto-based author received Ontario Arts Council funding, but the review notes little Canadian content, with the book's apparent market being the United States; it cites international examples including Africa, Japan, and Scotland but says little about the practicalities of urban gardening in Canada, where growing conditions differ sharply by region (e.g., Florida vs. Edmonton). The review rates the book 3 out of 4 stars, recommending it for high school and public libraries and noting it is most useful for teen and adult readers.

Seanna Berry · SMARTech Repository (Georgia Institute of Technology) · United States

A report on Atlanta, Georgia's local food system reviews the rationale for food systems planning, surveys mechanisms other cities and regions use to enhance the supply and consumption of locally grown food, and describes Atlanta's current efforts in this area. Building on goals that city officials and food advocates have set over the preceding five years toward a more localized and vibrant food system, it recommends strategic directions to help the city improve its efforts and overcome identified barriers.

Michael Dubnewick, Karen M. Fox, D. Jean Clandinin · Leisure/Loisir · Canada

This autobiographical narrative inquiry follows one author's (Michael's) lived experience of gardening with his family's gardens and two community gardens, Heritage and Eco, in Edmonton, Canada. Using narrative inquiry methodology, the authors present institutional, community and personal narratives from Michael's gardening experience to illustrate gardening as a leisure practice shaped by multiple, sometimes paradoxical, contexts of people, cultures and communities.

Carlos Alexandre Rodrigues Pereira, Juliana Valéria de Melo, André Luís Teixeira Fernandes · BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE - Revista de Agricultura · Brazil

A study of Santa Fé, a community about 30 km from the city center of Uberaba in Minas Gerais, Brazil, home to roughly 200 families as of 2011, examined how the transition from rural to urban status affected local livestock and farming activity. A socio-environmental survey using a semi-structured questionnaire, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, was conducted from 15 August 2009 to 19 January 2010. It found that only 33% of interviewed families practiced agropecuária (farming/livestock), and these households reported difficulties accessing markets, technical support, infrastructure, and incentive or financing policies. The study concludes that national agricultural policy does not formally recognize urban farming activity or offer it means of incentive or support, making the activity's development constrained primarily by this political-structural factor.

Lawrence B. de Graaf · Journal of American History · United States (California)

A book review of Post-ghetto, edited by Josh Sides and comprising ten essays by fourteen authors, examines South Los Angeles's (formerly South Central) long history of poverty, gangs, and violence, and changes since the 1992 riots, including a proliferation of nonprofit service providers and a declining crime rate. Three of the essays focus on "food justice" — the idea that everyone deserves healthy food — arguing this goal could be reached through more supermarkets, improved local stores, community gardens, and campaigns against liquor and junk food stores. Other chapters cover the absence of large retail and malls, art, black politics, the rising status of blacks in unions, and policy for keeping youth out of gangs.

Marc Christiansen, Natalie Marie Marquardt, Katie Picchione, Thomas Sullivan · Digital WPI · United States

In Worcester, Massachusetts, an urban farmers' group called "The Shop" built a greenhouse for year-round produce, but it became too cold to sustain plant growth during winter. Drawing on the group's composting experience, a project examined using biogas -- methane from anaerobic digestion of organic waste -- to heat the greenhouse, calculating the energy needed to heat the space and the expected energy yield from different available substrates using data from case studies and other sources. The results verified biogas as a viable way to heat the greenhouse at The Shop.

Vanessa Aparecida Camargo, Maria Christina de Mello Amorozo, Marcos Aparecido Pizano · Cadernos de Agroecologia · Brazil (São Paulo)

A study of urban agriculture in Charqueada, São Paulo state, Brazil, georeferenced all 97 cultivated vacant lots in the urban area; 77 were selected for farmer questionnaires characterizing the population and the lots, and a subsample of 30 lots was surveyed in detail for all crops via a guided walkthrough. Results showed 80% of farmers were men over age 50 with low income, though the activity was not essential to their subsistence. Among 75 types of food plants cultivated, cassava (mandioca) was present in over 90% of lots, with a preference for crops requiring little investment. The activity was practiced informally, motivated by a desire to grow plants, without any public or private support.