Research & reports

Dalma Dani-Ördög · Belvedere Meridionale · Global

This paper explores the transformation of peasant work culture in contemporary educational contexts using the theoretical framework of folklorism and heritage-making. Based on qualitative fieldwork at the Gyermekliget Alternative School, it analyzes how agricultural practices are re-contextualized within the institutional setting of a school garden. The findings show that practices originally associated with subsistence farming acquire new pedagogical meanings, particularly in terms of embodied knowledge, sensory experience, and community collaboration. The school garden functions as a mediating space where past practices are reorganized through everyday action rather than being reconstructed.

Buse Aksu Altiparmak · reposiTUm (TU Wien) · Austria (Vienna)

This diploma thesis presents the design for an institute for native plants and seeds at the historic Zukunftshof farm in Rothneusiedl, Vienna. The project involves comprehensively renovating and reorganizing the over one-hundred-year-old, partially used, and dilapidated building stock. The aim is to establish Zukunftshof as a sustainable location for research, conservation, knowledge transfer, and communal use, adapting its spatial structure to current and future requirements.

Ines Sebai, G. Berron Cadenas, C. Furgal, A. Argumedo, T. Delormier · Current Developments in Nutrition · Global

This scoping review explores Indigenous food sovereignty (IFS) as a decolonizing framework grounded in Indigenous cultural, spiritual, and ecological values. By synthesizing existing literature, the review identifies core IFS principles such as community governance, revitalization of traditional practices, and respectful environmental relationships. Examples like community gardens and traditional hunting illustrate how Indigenous communities adapt these principles to foster cultural renewal and sustainability. The findings emphasize the need for policy advocacy and support for Indigenous rights, including land restoration and protection of traditional knowledge.

Dorothee Benkowitz · International explorations in outdoor and environmental education · Global

A book chapter on biodiversity education centered on seeds and plant life cycles. It states that industrial agriculture has reduced genetic diversity through monocultures and patented hybrid varieties, making small farmers dependent on large seed companies. F1 hybrids, while high-yielding, are not seed-proof — saved seed from them does not reproduce the parent traits — and this contributes to genetic erosion, limiting plants' ability to adapt to climate change and disease. The chapter notes that many people lack an in-depth understanding of plant cycles, and that studies show deficits among students specifically in classifying and explaining seeds and their role in a plant's life cycle. Hands-on experiences such as those in school gardens are said to foster better understanding and a sustainable connection to nature. Knowledge of biodiversity and plant cycles is described as crucial for topics such as healthy diets, regionality, and climate adaptation, and integrating this content into education is presented as contributing to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) goals.

· Wikipedia · Global

The 'Forest gardening' URL now redirects to a section within Wikipedia's merged 'Agroforestry' article. Per that section, forest gardening is a low-maintenance, perennial, woodland-modeled food production system practiced since prehistoric times in the tropics; horticulturist Robert Hart coined the term and adapted it for temperate climates in the 1980s. The article states Kerala, India has 'no fewer than three and a half million' forest gardens, citing one 0.12-hectare plot found to contain 23 young coconut palms, 12 cloves, 56 bananas, 49 pineapples, and 30 pepper vines.

Edison Rafael Castro-Hernández, David Santiago Moreno-Castañeda, Mayeli Enríquez-Muñoz, David Alba-Sedano · Revista CS · Colombia (Bogotá)

This article explored reflections on and ways of appropriation of a critical intercultural process approaching the practices and knowledge of Afro-Colombian peoples through the virtual, narrative, and physical resignification of "zoteas" (ancestral community gardens) by Afro-Pacific populations at schools in Bogotá, Colombia. An emerging process was identified through ethnographic recording in an intensive diary and student audiovisual content production, where the articulation of ancestral practices with experimental artistic disciplines like performance shed light on other ancestral knowledge. This intervention connected the process with contemporary expressions of the Afro worldview and allowed for questioning and gradually transforming the organization of time, space, and roles in knowledge construction at school.

Paula Restrepo · · Colombia (Medellín)

As part of the Red de Huerteros Medellín (RHM) collective, urban agriculture in Medellín was mapped to identify its features and problems. A main problem found was a poor or non-existent connection between urban farmers and key organizations like seed keepers. Few urban farmers had knowledge about the ecopolitical implications of the seed business, and even fewer obtained seeds from seed keepers or showed consideration for their labor.

Bárbara Benítez Fernández, Erin Nelson, Anaisa Crespo Morales, Rodobaldo Ortiz Pérez, Rosa Acosta Roca, Regla María Cárdenas Travieso · Frontiers in Sociology · Cuba

A 2023 case study describing two decades of gender-equity work inside Cuba's Project to Strengthen a System of Innovation in Local Agricultural Development (PIAL). The authors note that although Cuba has made significant progress on women's rights and gender equity compared with many countries, women in rural communities and the agricultural sector still face barriers to equal participation and to recognition of the value of their work. PIAL began in 2001 as a participatory plant-breeding initiative to increase the genetic diversity of crops such as maize and beans, then widened its goals to increasing women's participation. Efforts first focused on including women in participatory plant breeding, which let them bring traits they cared about — grain texture, cooking speed, taste — into the selection process; over time women moved into seed bank management, leadership training and small-scale farm-based entrepreneurship. Reported results include economic improvement through diversified livelihoods and social change as women gained recognition as leaders in households and communities. It is a descriptive single-project case study with no control-group measurement of effects.

Ramirez-Villegas J., Khoury C.K., Achicanoy H.A., Diaz M.V., Mendez A.C., Sosa C.C., Kehel Z., Guarino L., Abberton M. · Nature Plants 8:491-499 · Global

A global gap analysis predicting distributions of over 70 landrace groups across 25 crops, finding a mean 63% represented in genebanks and major collecting gaps in South Asia, the Mediterranean, the Andes and Africa.

· Local Environment · Global

Analyzes urban community seed-sharing and seed-swap initiatives as social practices and how they contribute to just transitions to sustainability.

Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo · Journal of Latin American geography · Global

This edited book explores how various displacements lead people to re-engage with plant life, creating meaning and sustaining biodiversity. It examines how gardening, seed saving, and cooking restore social and cultural continuity, connecting past and present. The volume, rooted in anthropology, discusses plant-human engagements in movement ("itineraries") and emplaced efforts of belonging ("sanctuaries").

Wetherill M.S., Bourque E.E., Taniguchi T., Love C.V., Sisk M., Jernigan V.B.B. · Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 53(11):991-995 · Global

Describes the development of a tribally-led garden curriculum for Indigenous preschoolers in the Osage Nation, integrating the traditional Three Sisters planting to teach Native foodways and improve children's vegetable intake and food security.

Vernooy R., Sthapit B., Bessette G. · Development in Practice · Global

Drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, India, and Zimbabwe, examines how community seed banks operationalize farmers' rights through conservation, access, and seed sovereignty at the local level.

Lexi Earl, Pat Thomson · · Global

This chapter explores historical aspects of the current school-gardening movement, showing how gardens were taken up in educational theory by Comenius, Rousseau, Froebel, Pestalozzi, and Montessori, and examining how ideas for children's gardening developed in the late 19th century and how children were viewed as beings to be "cultivated." It discusses how the garden emerged as a further space where children could be civilised -- moulded and shaped into particular kinds of beings -- and analyzes early US school gardens of the 20th century. It analyzes texts produced about and for "children's gardening," focusing on how garden writers sought to encourage gardening and an interest in the natural world.

К. Г. Ткаченко · HORTUS BOTANICUS · Global

Botanical institutions should create and maintain diverse plant collections, including local flora, ethnobotanical knowledge, and carpological collections, for research and education. These collections can inform urban gardening and floristics, but it is crucial to evaluate the invasive potential of introduced species to prevent their spread in the region's flora.

Tieman D., Zhu G., Resende M.F.R., Lin T., Nguyen C., Bies D., Rambla J.L., Beltran K.S.O., Taylor M., Zhang B., Ikeda H., Liu Z., Fisher J., Zemach I., Monforte A., Zamir D., Granell A., Kirst M., Huang S., Klee H. · Science 355(6323):391-394 · Global

Quantified flavor chemicals across 398 modern, heirloom, and wild tomato accessions and linked them to consumer liking. Shows modern cultivars lost allelic diversity governing sugars, acids, and volatiles, explaining reduced flavor versus heirlooms.

Castaneda-Alvarez N.P., Khoury C.K., Achicanoy H.A., Jarvis D.I., Maxted N., Toll J. · Nature Plants · Global

Models the distribution of 1,076 taxa related to 81 crops, finding over 70% are high priority for further collection because they are poorly represented in genebanks relative to their native ranges.

Heraty J.M., Ellstrand N.C. · Economic Botany 70(1):37-48 · Global

Measures maize genetic diversity in home and community gardens kept by immigrant farmers in Southern California, showing transnational seed dispersal sustains landrace diversity beyond recognized centers of diversity.

Khalilnezhad Seyyed Mohammad Reza, Tobias Kai · · Iran

This study explored the dimensions and attributes of productive and agricultural landscapes in six Persian Gardens (Akbariyeh, Rahim Abad, Amir Abad, Bahlgerd, Pahlavanpur, and Shahzadeh) in Iran. Using descriptive-analytical methodology, library research, interviews, and field studies, it showed that fruitful greenery is significantly present, even in governmental gardens, due to the need to provide recreational services for owners and guests. The combination of ornamental and fruit species enhances garden beauty, aims for efficiency, profitability, and self-sufficiency, and medicinal properties are also noted.

Taylor J.R., Lovell S.T. · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 30(1):22-32 · Global

Studies African American, Chinese, and Mexican-origin home gardens in Chicago, finding that ethnic gardeners saving open-pollinated traditional crop seeds preserve agrobiodiversity while reproducing cultural identity and supporting community food systems.

Nadal, Ana, Cerón, Ileana, Cuerva Contreras, Eva, Gabarrell Durany, Xavier, Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro, Pons Valladares, Oriol, Rieradevall Pons, Joan, Sanyé-Mengual, E. · UPCommons institutional repository (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) · Global

This paper discusses the historical relationship between cities and agriculture, noting that agriculture was essential in ancient civilizations. However, in 20th-century modern urban planning, such as Le Corbusier's Chandigarh and Lucio Costa's Brasília, agriculture was largely excluded from major cities.

Jenny Morales Sánchez, Paola Aguilera Rocha · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Colombia (Bogotá)

In Usme locality, Bogotá, Colombia, the Ambiká-Pijao indigenous community, displaced from Tolima, undertook an initiative through the "Ambiká Seeds House of Thought" to recognize ancestral agricultural traditions. This non-conventional education facility hosts children aged 2 months to 5 years to maintain and strengthen their customs and ancestral knowledge. Maize, a native and sacred plant, was planted in soda bottles as an urban agriculture strategy for limited spaces, allowing children to connect with their customs and understand planting as a sacred act in their worldview.

Peano C., Migliorini P., Sottile F. · Ecology and Society · Global

Develops an indicator-based sustainability assessment tool translating Slow Food's 'good, clean, fair' principles into criteria spanning economic, ecological, social, cultural, and quality dimensions, applied to the Slow Food Presidia project.

Kloppenburg J. · The Journal of Peasant Studies · Global

Argues that food sovereignty requires seed sovereignty, examining the Open Source Seed Initiative's attempt to apply open-source legal tools against corporate enclosure and intellectual property rights over plant genetic resources.

Khoury C.K., Bjorkman A.D., Dempewolf H., Ramirez-Villegas J., Guarino L., Struik P.C. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) · Global

Shows national diets grew about 36% more similar over five decades, increasingly reliant on a few major crops, with implications for food security, nutrition, and the value of conserving crop diversity.