A gateway to food and farming
Precisely because it isn't farmland, it connects city dwellers to food and farming
Because the city is far from where food is grown, sowing and harvesting brings home where food comes from. The farm becomes a first point of contact that inserts agriculture into everyday urban life.
475 related cases
Cases where this shows up
Community Food Education with Children's Cafeterias (MAFF)
JPNationwide, Japan
A nationwide effort based on MAFF's case collection of food education advanced by children's cafeterias working with communities and gardens. Local cafeterias link to plots, harvest experiences and nearby farmers so children grow, harvest, cook and eat together. It connects the food cycle, local production-consumption and food-loss reduction with creating safe places for children.
maff.go.jp+1
Setagaya Fureai (Contact) Farms and Family Allotments
JPSetagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Setagaya provides a range of official ways for residents to engage with urban farming: Family Allotments (~10 sqm fully equipped plots), harvest and planting experiences at Fureai farms, a JA farmers market for 'Setagaya-sodachi' produce, and a map of about 110 farm stands.
city.setagaya.lg.jp+1
Hiroshima City Citizen Vegetable Gardens / Mihari Garden (food-and-farming plots)
JPHiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
A network of more than 100 public citizen vegetable gardens across Hiroshima offering beginner-friendly plots plus cultivation classes and harvest festivals. The Mihari garden includes 'food-and-farming plots' where children's groups grow sweet potatoes, serving as a hands-on food-education setting.
haff.city.hiroshima.jp+1
Makiyama Kleingarten
JPOkayama, Okayama, Japan
An Okayama City citizen farm of about 7 hectares and 484 plots that serves as a place to connect with the soil and deepen understanding of farming and food. Year-round events such as the open-air market, farming experiences and a harvest festival make it a community hub linking users and locals.
city.okayama.jp+1
Ichijodani Asakura Mizunoeki Experience Farm
JPFukui, Fukui, Japan
Ichijodani Asakura Mizunoeki, opened by Fukui City as a farming-experience facility in 2010. Through its experience farm and biotope, families and schoolchildren learn about food and farming via rice planting, vegetable growing, and nature observation.
city.fukui.lg.jp+1
Edogawa Komatsuna Urban Farming and School Lunches
JPTokyo (Edogawa), Japan
In Tokyo's Edogawa Ward, said to be the birthplace of komatsuna greens, urban farmers grow the heritage crop on plots dotted through residential neighborhoods and deliver directly to 92 schools, passing local food culture and urban agriculture to children via synchronized school lunches and harvest events.
ja-tokyosmile.or.jp+1
Supporting research
Impact of a School-Based Gardening, Cooking, Nutrition Intervention on Diet Intake and Quality: The TX Sprouts Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized controlled trial across 16 mostly Hispanic, low-income elementary schools in Texas evaluating the TX Sprouts intervention, which embedded gardening, cooking and nutrition lessons. Children in intervention schools significantly increased vegetable intake, showing that garden-centered food education can improve children's dietary quality.
Landry M., van den Berg A., Hoelscher D. et al. · 2021 · Nutrients, 13(9):3081 (MDPI)
Effects of a School-Based Garden Program on Academic Performance: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (TX Sprouts)
A cluster randomized controlled trial in mostly low-income, Hispanic Texas elementary schools testing whether the TX Sprouts garden, nutrition and cooking intervention affected academic performance. It found the program did not harm academic outcomes, showing that garden-based food education can be integrated into instructional time without lowering achievement.
Landry M., Asigbee F., Vandyousefi S. et al. · 2023 · Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 123(3):637-643
Interactions Between Kindergarten Teachers and Children While Raising Plants: Focusing on Personification
Six months of observation in a public kindergarten class (age 5) in Okinawa during plant cultivation in the garden and shared field. Analyses how teachers' personifying talk supports children's empathy and learning about plants—practical insight for kindergarten gardening and food education.
Miyagi R. · 2023 · Journal of Science Education (Japan), 63(3):645–654
農と親しみ江東区の共生社会を考える協議会 活用事例
Grant case study creating a children's farm-contact space in Toyosu, Koto Ward, using urban farmland creation support — a report on ward-council-business collaboration for vacant-land farming, food education and an inclusive community.
農と親しみ江東区の共生社会を考える協議会, 農林水産省 · 2023 · 農林水産省 農山漁村振興交付金事例