Food Gardens Research Articles

Exploring Conventional Economic Viability as a Potential Barrier to Scalable Urban Agriculture: Examples from Two Divergent Development Contexts

Urban Agriculture (UA) is the widespread practice of food production within available city space using non-commercial, commercial and hybrid production technologies. The economic viability of UA remains a concern among UA practitioners. To investigate UA’s viability; land, labour and distribution cost are analyzed, and margin and benefit–cost ratio (BCR) under vacant lot, rooftop/backyard and discretionary labour UA are calculated. We present a straightforward approach to gauge the economic viability of UA taking examples from 40 distinct locations of two divergent development contexts of Adelaide, South Australia and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. UA seems potentially viable by selecting high-value crops in Adelaide but showed little chance of viability under low-value crop scenarios in both contexts. The high cost of land is shown to be the primary driver of cost for UA. Labour cost appears to be a critical difference between the two cities, being an important constraint for the economic viability in Adelaide, where the wage rate is high. To improve economic viability, the respective governments and planners should consider better ways to avail subsidised land through policy intervention and volunteer or subsidised labour arrangement mechanisms. Home food gardens accessing available land and labour as a discretionary/spare time activity with zero distribution cost may represent the best way to produce food without exceeding market costs in cities.

Home-grown food: How do urban form, socio-economic status, and ethnicity influence food gardens in Montreal?

• We map residential food gardens at the lot level in the metropolitan area of Montreal, using visual interpretation of images. • We find nearly 7,500 gardens with important spatial clusters, representing 5%–13% of residential lots. • The number of gardens is significantly associated with urban form variables (density, single-family houses). • The number of gardens is higher in zones with more low-income households, more children, and fewer university degree holders. • Gardens are more numerous in zones with higher concentrations of Southern European and South Asian immigrants . • Policy of residential urban agriculture should be adaptive to this diversity of gardeners .

What makes a house a home? Nest box use by West European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is influenced by nest box placement, resource provisioning and site-based factors.

Artificial refuges provided by householders and/or conservation practitioners potentially represent one mechanism for mitigating declines in the availability of natural nest sites used for resting, breeding and hibernating in urban areas. The effectiveness of such refuges for different species is, however, not always known. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of UK householders to identify factors associated with the use of ground-level nest boxes for West European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), a species of conservation concern. Overall, the percentage of boxes used at least once varied with season and type of use: summer day nesting (35.5–81.3%), breeding (7.2–28.2%), winter day nesting (20.1–66.5%) and hibernation (21.7–58.6%). The length of time the box had been deployed, the availability of artificial food and front garden to back garden access significantly increased the likelihood that a nest box had been used for all four nesting types, whereas other factors related to placement within the garden (e.g., in a sheltered location, on hardstanding such as paving, distance from the house) and resource provisioning (bedding) affected only some nesting behaviours. The factors most strongly associated with nest box use were the provisioning of food and bedding. These data suggest, therefore, that householders can adopt simple practices to increase the likelihood of their nest box being used. However, one significant limitation evident within these data is that, for welfare reasons, householders do not routinely monitor whether their box has been used. Consequently, future studies need to adopt strategies which enable householders to monitor their boxes continuously. Ultimately, such studies should compare the survival rates and reproductive success of hedgehogs within artificial refuges versus more natural nest sites, and whether these are affected by, for example, the impact of nest box design and placement on predation risk and internal microclimate.

From pre-service science teacher towards transformative intellectual: pre-service science teachers address food insecurity in South Africa

ABSTRACT Teacher training requires teachers to learn not only the academic content they must teach but to learn how to teach. In the modern world where changes are constant and the teaching demands are many, pre-service teachers must learn skills but they must also learn certain attitudes and beliefs that will allow them to be successful and effective in their profession. This study investigated the changes reported by pre-service science teachers after they completed a food gardening project as part of their teacher training. Qualitative data were collected through the use of focused group interviews, individual interviews, and written journal entries. Data were analysed using a critical pedagogy theoretical framework. Teachers reported significant changes in their attitudes and beliefs after their gardening experiences. They reflected on their new-found understanding that they could change the way they teach and that their teaching could have an effect on their students and their communities.

Partisipasi Anggota Kelompok Wanita Tani (KWT) Dalam Kegiatan Pekarangan Pangan Lestari Mendukung Ketahanan Pangan Rumah Tangga Di Kabupaten Gunungkidul DI Yogyakarta

ABSTRACTThe conversion of agricultural land that was still happening caused a decrease in land for food production. Decrease in food production could reduce food availability so that it became a threat to food resilience. The Ministry of Agriculture in 2020 launched the Sustainable Food Garden or Pekarangan Pangan Lestari (P2L) activity which aimed to increased availability, accessibility, and utilization of food. The success of P2L activities was determined by the participation of farmer women’s group members or Kelompok Wanita Tani (KWT) members in these activities. The objectives of the study were to: (1) Describing the participation of farmer women’s group members in P2L activities, and (2) Describing the effect of farmer women’s group members participation in P2L activities on household food resilience.This research was carried out with 6 KWT samples of beneficiaries of P2L activities in 2020 in Gunungkidul Regency which were taken by stratified cluster sampling. Primary data collection was done by direct interviews using a questionnaire to 138 respondents from KWT members taken by random sampling from 6 KWT samples. Data analysis had been done by using descriptive statistic and simple linear regression.The results showed that KWT members often and very often participated of attendance, but KWT members never and rarely participated of money and new ideas in P2L activities. The results of simple linear regression analysis showed that the participation of KWT members had a significant effect on household food resilience, namely the more often the participation of KWT members in P2L activities, the household food resilience of KWT members increases.

Learning from the Dirt: Initiating university food gardens as a cross-disciplinary tertiary teaching tool

Food gardens are an underdeveloped resource for teaching and research in Australian universities. While some campuses have food or botanical gardens, outside the biological or physical sciences food growing is not routinely incorporated into mainstream curricula. This article investigates why and how we might change this. It examines universities’ traditional reliance on classroom-based, non-experiential learning, which preferences reading and writing over doing, particularly doing anything outdoors. Questions are raised about the implications of this approach for environmental education and graduate environmental literacy. The article then explores the example that United States campus food gardens provide other universities, as well as the process of creating food gardens for teaching and research at a high-density campus in Sydney, Australia. The article ends by postulating lessons students and staff might learn about food systems, sustainability and green cities, when food growing is incorporated into teaching and research. The article aims to inspire academic staff, particularly outside the biological sciences, to instigate campus food gardens to increase graduate environmental literacy.

Practical reflection and benefits of making a food garden at home during Covid-19 pandemic

The partial lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia pushed people to work from and spend more time at home. During this unprecedented time, many people pursued new hobbies in gardening, which proved to enhance physical and mental health. With anxieties regarding food insecurity, food gardens became a new urban trend. With a relatively tiny space available, it is possible to make an urban food garden in the front yard of a house using various cultivation techniques to maximize space. However, the implementation of food gardens in urban houses is quite challenging due to limited space. Then, we reflect on the practical process and personal benefits gained from developing a tiny food garden at home. The tiny food garden could produce a variety of vegetables and herbs, such as the spinach family, lettuce, Asian greens, the tomato family, eggplants, the basil family, mint, rosemary, moringas, and butterfly-pea flowers. It may support a household with few amounts of fresh emergency food in the worst scenario during the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides, developing a tiny food garden at home may also provide co-benefits such as enhanced subjective well-being, increased appreciation of food and the environment, motivating others to start gardening at home, and great personal satisfactions of consuming home-grown food. With all these socio-ecological co-benefits, home food garden must be integrated as a strategy to achieve urban sustainability and increase household food resilience.

Barriers and enablers for private residential urban food gardening: The case of the City of Hobart, Australia

Home food gardening is an important component of urban agriculture and sustainable food systems. However, globally there has been limited research into the barriers and enablers to home food gardening in cities. This study used an exploratory approach, utilising a questionnaire survey of households, and in-depth interviews with gardening experts, to assess barriers and enablers to home food gardening in the City of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Overall, nine themes were identified that were common across both survey and interview data. These were time, cost, space, knowledge, ownership, soil, wildlife and pests, mobility, support and access, and community. Barriers vary depending on individual circumstances and are often compounding. Our results indicate that while many households are now growing food, or are interested in growing food, there are limitations on the percentage of food intake that households can grow at home. Key factors to growing more food include control over property, available land, and gardening experience and know-how. Our findings highlight the need for policy, programs, and resources, especially at the level of local governments, that can contribute to an increase in the amount of local, home grown food in cities.

The invasive tree Piper aduncum alters soil microbiota and nutrient content in fallow land following small scale slash-and-burn farming in tropical lowland forest in Papua New Guinea

Piper aduncum, a tree species native to the Neotropics, has been introduced to other tropical regions and successfully invades secondary forest in fallow land after small scale slash-and-burn agriculture in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, the effect of P. aduncum invasion on soil chemical properties as well as soil biota remains poorly understood. To fill this knowledge gap, we compared soil chemistry, soil microbiota and soil fauna between sites invaded by P. aduncum and sites with secondary native vegetation, where P. aduncum absent. Soils under P. aduncum had significantly lower P content at 0–5 cm depth, lower NO3− at 5–10 cm depth and lower N and C content at both depths compared to soil under secondary vegetation where P. aduncum absent. Sites invaded by P. aduncum also harbored lower microbial biomass measured by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, especially at 5–10 cm depth. The composition of microbial communities, based on PLFA and amplicon sequencing methods, also differed between soils invaded and uninvaded by P. aduncum, while soil macrofauna did not show any significant difference in the density of various faunal groups between invaded and uninvaded sites. Furthermore, we studied soil chemistry and foliar nitrogen in food gardens established after clearing of secondary vegetation in sites where P. aduncum had been experimentally excluded for five years. These gardens did not differ in soil chemistry compared to the control gardens where P. aduncum was not cleared. However, P. aduncum removal was associated with a higher N content in the leaves of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), but not bananas (Musa spp.). Our results suggest that P. aduncum has negative effect on soil microbiota and may slowdown nutrient turnover and availability as well as growth of plants on invaded soil. This finding requires further attention and may have practical implication for food gardening in tropical rainforests.

Surveys of community garden affiliates and soils in Houston, Texas.

Although urban community food gardens have the capacity to strengthen and support neighborhoods in need, the benefits of such operations must be considered in tandem with the potential risks associated with urban environmental contamination. Therefore, research is needed to characterize existing community gardens in urban areas. In the present study, a survey of Houston, TX, community gardeners (N = 20) was conducted to better understand their risk-based knowledge and perceptions, current gardening practices, and willingness to implement risk mitigation measures. Soil samples collected from the beds (N = 22) and surrounding grounds (N = 24) of existing community garden sites in Houston, TX, were screened for trace and heavy metals using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The survey indicated that community gardeners had few concerns with regard to potential soilborne hazards and were generally willing to use diverse strategies to reduce potential hazards related to garden soil contamination. Ground and garden bed soil collected from community gardens were found to have excess concentrations of arsenic compared to federal health screening limits. The information provided here provides insight into possible discordance between community gardening risk perception and contamination risk that could be addressed through outreach, engagement, and remediation approaches.

ANALISIS PRODUKTIVITAS KELOMPOK WANITA TANI (KWT) DI KABUPATEN KLUNGKUNG

Currently, a number of Women Farmers Groups (KWT) in Klungkung Regency have long developed the Sustainable Food Garden (P2L) program. The P2L program was initiated by the central government. Since its launch, Klungkung Regency now has 6 KWTs developing the program. The objectives to be achieved in this study are: 1) to analyze the direct influence of the variables of education, age, and number of dependent children on the working hours of the Women Farmers Group in Klungkung Regency; 2) analyze the direct effect of education, age, number of dependent children and working hours on the productivity of the Women Farmers Group in Klungkung Regency; and 3) analyzing the indirect effect of education, age, number of dependent children on productivity through the working hours of the Women Farmers Group in Klungkung Regency. The sampling technique used is proportional random sampling. The analytical technique used in this research is Path Analysis. The results of this study are: 1) education, age, and number of dependent children have a positive effect on the outpouring of working hours for women farmers groups in Klungkung Regency; 2) age and number of dependents have no effect, while education and working hours have a positive effect on the productivity of women's farmer groups in Klungkung Regency; and 3) working hours as an intervening variable the effect of education, age and number of dependent children on the productivity of women farmers groups in Klungkung Regency. The implication of this research is that increasing education, age, and number of dependents will increase working hours, and increasing education and hours will increase productivity, while age and number of dependents have no significant effect on KWT productivity in Klungkung Regency. Working hours as an intervening variable. Keywords: Women Farmers Group, education, age, number of dependent children, working hours, productivity

Mediating antiretroviral treatment for HIV during COVID-19: lessons from implementation in Gomba District, Uganda

Initial and subsequent waves of COVID-19 in Uganda disrupted the delivery of HIV care. In rural areas, village health teams and organisations on the ground had to develop strategies to ensure that people living with HIV could continue their treatment. It was necessary to take evolving circumstances into account, including dealing with movement restrictions, constrained access to food and stigma due to anonymity being lost as a result of a shift from health facility-based services to community-level support. Uganda has a long history of community-driven response to HIV, although health systems and response programming have become more centralised through government and donors to address political commitments to HIV treatment and other targets. The delivery system for antiretroviral therapy was vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions and related circumstances. To understand the continuum of challenges, and to inform ongoing and future support of treatment for people living with HIV, interviews were conducted with HIV organisation implementers, health workers, village health team members and people living with HIV. It was found that stigma was a central challenge, which led to nuanced adaptations for delivering antiretroviral treatment. There is a need to strengthen support to households of people living with HIV through improving community capacity to manage crises through improving household food gardens and savings, as well as capacity to organise and interact with support systems such as the village health teams. In communities, there is a need to evoke dialogue on stigma and to support community leadership on pressing issues that affect communities as a whole and their vulnerable groups. There are opportunities to reawaken the grassroots civic response systems that were evident in Uganda’s early response to HIV yet were lacking in the COVID-19 context.

Energy recovery from food waste and garden and park waste: Anaerobic co-digestion versus hydrothermal treatment and anaerobic co-digestion

The feasibilities of the anaerobic co-digestion of two of the most relevant biowastes, food waste and garden and park waste, were evaluated and compared with the hydrothermal treatment of each waste and the anaerobic co-digestion of raw biowastes with the process water generated. The effects on the process stability and energy recovery were also analyzed. Anaerobic digestion was the best option for food waste treatment from an energetic point of view, with 81% recovery of the energy stored in the feedstock, while the highest energy recovery from garden and park waste was obtained for the solid fraction generated from hydrothermal treatment (85.5%). In addition, the anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with 5% of the process water generated from garden and park waste showed a similar energy recovery to that of food waste only (∼80%), thus improving the biological stability of the process.

Home Food Gardening: Benefits and Barriers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Santiago, Chile

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people live in an unprecedented way. This includes severe impacts on people's health and wellbeing such as stress, reduced physical activity and loneliness due to confinement. In parallel, people had to find ways to secure their food, with fresh food especially scarce in some regions due to lockdowns and restricted flow of goods. As in previous massive crises, the practice of home food gardening seemed to have increased during this pandemic. Yet we largely do not know which parts of society took to home food gardening, in which urban setting home food gardening was practiced, and to which extent this practice contributed to people's daily livelihoods during the pandemic. In this case study we explore (a) who practices home food gardening, (b) the garden characteristics, and (c) the main perceived benefits and barriers bound to home food gardening during the pandemic. We set up an online questionnaire targeted at the population of Santiago de Chile, for which we received 305 responses. Our results clearly show that the possibility of being in contact with nature and feeling less stress through practicing home food gardening were the most significant perceived benefits, while lack of or inadequate space to garden and limited knowledge on home food gardening were the main barriers. These findings highlight for the specific context of a metropolitan region in South America that access to gardens and green space could contribute to a just urban society. Likewise, the practice of home food gardening can be a relevant tool to cope with the adverse consequences of the pandemic by informing public initiatives to promote healthier lifestyles during this and future crises contexts and also in the awaited “ordinary” times.

Status Quo of Households’ Backyard Food Gardens in South Africa: The “Drivers”

South Africa is one of the most food-secured countries at the national level but is food insecure at the household level. The disconnect in the food security at the national and at household level in the economy is a result of high food prices that most households cannot afford. One of the strategies of ameliorating food insecurity at the household level is the practice of backyard food gardens. This study identifies farmland size, land tenure system, agriculture-related assistance to households, location of residence of the household, agricultural training offered to households, and monetary grants for households for agriculture purpose as the determinants of households’ backyard food gardens in South Africa. The study used descriptive (horizontal bar chart) and inferential (Pearson’s chi-square) analyses to evaluate the household-level impacts of farmland size, land tenure system, agriculture-related assistance, location of residence, agricultural training, and monetary grants for agriculture purposes of the backyard food gardens in South Africa. The data for the study were sourced from the Statistics South Africa’s General Household Survey for 2019. The findings revealed that farmland size, land tenure system, agriculture-related assistance to households, location of residence of the household, agricultural training offered to households, and monetary grants for households for agriculture purposes are significant to households’ backyard food gardens in South Africa. It is clear that agriculture-related assistance is welcomed by the households but the spread across all dwelling locations is limited; therefore, there is need to spread agriculture-related assistance to all dwelling areas in South Africa. This will increase the drive towards food production in South Africa.

Pollination service delivery is complex: Urban garden crop yields are best explained by local canopy cover and garden scale plant species richness

Abstract Pollination is an important ecosystem service to agriculture, however, the factors influencing pollination in urban food gardens are poorly understood. We investigated how features within urban environments, including floral resources and canopy cover, impacted (a) flower visitation and seed production of a model plant (Brassica rapa) and (b) total yields of produce from urban gardens in Sydney, Australia. Floral visitation to model plants was dominated by a few common species, with honeybees responsible for 53.4% of visitation and native stingless bees and two hoverfly species accounting for another 37.1% of visitors; 28 other species were collectively responsible for less than 10% of visitation. While insect pollinators were abundant, the relationship between floral visitation and model plant reproductive output was weak and not always positive. The pollination success of model plants was only marginally impacted by environmental features, while pollinator visitation had a small negative impact. However, total crop yields across urban gardens were strongly influenced by local canopy cover and garden scale plant species richness. Synthesis and applications. The factors influencing pollination service delivery to urban gardens are complex; pollinator visitation, richness and/or floral resource availability may not always reflect positive, plant reproductive outcomes. Yields of garden crops, whether pollinator dependent or not, were more strongly influenced by surrounding environmental variables, including broad scale measures of canopy cover and local plant diversity, than pollination‐related metrics. This implies policies to support pollinator richness will likely differ to those supporting crop yields in urban gardens and will require assessment and management of external environmental factors.

HUBUNGAN ANTARA KARAKTERISTIK ANGGOTA DAN DINAMIKA KELOMPOK DENGAN EFEKTIVITAS PROGRAM PEKARANGAN PANGAN LESTARI (P2L) PADA KWT MEKAR LESTARI KOTA SALATIGA

<p align="justify"><em>This study aims to analyze the relationship between member characteristics and group dynamics with the effectiveness of a sustainable food garden</em><em> </em><em>program</em><em>. The selection of research locations was conducted deliberately (purposive), namely at KWT Mekar Lestari, Randuacir Subdistrict Argomulyo Salatiga City. This study uses a type of descriptive research quantifiable with survey methods sampling techniques using saturated sampling or census with 30 samples or all KWT Mekar Lestari members. Data collection techniques are carried out using questionnaires, and variable dynamics of groups measured by Likert scale techniques tested validity and reliability. Data analysis techniques used descriptive statistical and Spearman Rank correlation. </em><em>The </em><em>results showed that age, education, and membership status had an insignificant relationship with a</em><em> deficient</em><em> level of</em><em> relationship with the effectiveness of the P2L program. Group dynamics seen from its elements, namely group goals, group structure, group cohesiveness, group atmosphere, and group effectiveness have a significant relationship with the level of a strong relationship with the effectiveness of the P2L program, while group task functions and group coaching and maintenance</em><em> </em><em>have a moderate relationship and significant with the effectiveness of the P2L program. The element of group pressure has a deficient and insignificant relationship with the effectiveness of the P2L program.</em><em></em></p>

Seeds and the city: a review of municipal home food gardening programs in Canada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, home food gardening articles have saturated popular media outlets. Home food gardening is more popular than ever, and community gardens and community greenhouses are at capacity with long waiting lists for plots. Several local governments across the country are also participating in the food gardening craze. This study compares 19 municipal urban home food gardening programs that ran in 2020. These municipalities provided program participants with free gardening supplies and instructions on how to grow food at home. This study reveals a complicated relationship among municipalities, food gardening programs and household and community food security. The study also determines that the social and emotional challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic are somewhat alleviated through gardening. Ultimately, municipalities are limited in their policy capacities to adequately move the needle on food insecurity in Canada.

Food gardens in a Guarani Kaiowá indigenous community: a contribution to thinking ahead

The aim of this study is to contribute to the characterization of the traditional food gardens and livelihood in Guarani Kaiowá peoples and discuss implications for extension services and development projects. The study was carried out in the Panambizinho indigenous territory, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Eleven families in the indigenous community (IC) were visited over one year. Particular characteristics, needs and management of the food gardens are revealed. The discussion covers several topics identified through the field visits, including specificities and pressures faced by ICs in Brazil. Keeping and prospecting for agroecological systems seems a positive strategy because this does not substantially interfere with or change their current way of life. Therefore, agroecological systems are a pathway to sustainable production, food security, health and quality of life in ICs. Implications for extension services and development projects are discussed while contextualizing economic, political and social challenges.

Excess fertility in residential‐scale urban agriculture soils in two western Oregon cities, USA

AbstractSmall‐scale, residential food gardens are arguably the most common form of urban agriculture (UA) in the world. Despite their ubiquity, we know relatively little about the characteristics of UA soils, in general, and of residential food gardens specifically. We thus sampled soils from 27 residential‐scale vegetable gardens in two western Oregon cities to describe the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of residential‐scale UA soils. We distinguished growing sites by bed type: in‐ground beds (IGs) and raised beds (RBs). We assessed the proportion of soils that fell within published recommendations for vegetable production for various soil parameters. We found residential‐scale UA soils frequently exceeded recommended ranges for many fertility parameters. We also found differences in carbon/nitrogen ratio, active carbon, and sulfur, with RBs significantly higher than IGs. The excesses likely are due to routine overapplication of compost, soil amendments, and fertilizers by growers across their intensively managed urban spaces. Such overapplication and excess is likely to be exaggerated in RBs compared with IGs.