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2. Commercial urban agriculture in Florida: a qualitative needs assessment
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Campbell, Catherine G. (author), DeLong, Alia N. (author), and Diaz, John M. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-12-19
- Published:
- England: Cambridge University Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12833
- Journal Title:
- Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 8pgs, The global trend of urbanization coupled with an increasing awareness of the importance of food systems resilience, has led to an increasing interest in urban agriculture to sustainably feed the rapidly growing urban population and mitigate against food supply chain disruptions. While home and community gardens have been long studied, there has been relatively little empirical research focused specifically on commercial urban agriculture (CUA) operations. The purpose of this study was to characterize commercial urban farms, and to identify their primary barriers to business development and expansion, their perceptions of future opportunities, and their specific informational needs. Because CUA has received relatively less attention in previous empirical research, a qualitative approach was used for this needs assessment to collect rich, contextualized information to help differentiate the specific barriers, opportunities and needs of CUA operations as opposed to their rural counterparts. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 29) of CUA producers in Florida. These interviews revealed that CUA operations face many of the same barriers that are common to establishing and growing small farms, with additional barriers due to local government regulations and tensions associated with farming on land that is not traditionally used for agriculture. Despite these difficulties, CUA operators believe their urban location is a key benefit to their operation and they see a variety of opportunities for future business and market expansion.
3. How will we eat and produce in the cities of the future? From edible insects to vertical farming - a study on the perception and acceptability of new approaches
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Specht, Kathrin (author), Zoll, Felix (author), Schumann, Henrike (author), Bela, Julia (author), Kachel, Julia (author), and Robischon, Marcel (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 99 Document Number: D10870
- Journal Title:
- Sustainability
- Journal Title Details:
- 11(16)
- Notes:
- Via online. 27 pages., Global challenges such as climate change, increasing urbanization and a lack of transparency of food chains, have led to the development of innovative urban food production approaches, such as rooftop greenhouses, vertical farms, indoor farms, aquaponics as well as production sites for edible insects or micro-algae. Those approaches are still at an early stage of development and partly unknown among the public. The aim of our study was to identify the perception of sustainability, social acceptability and ethical aspects of these new approaches and products in urban food production. We conducted 19 qualitative expert interviews and applied qualitative content analysis. Our results revealed that major perceived benefits are educational effects, revaluation of city districts, efficient resource use, exploitation of new protein sources or strengthening of local economies. Major perceived conflicts concern negative side-effects, legal constraints or high investment costs. The extracted acceptance factors deal significantly with the “unknown”. A lack of understanding of the new approaches, uncertainty about their benefits, concerns about health risks, a lack of familiarity with the food products, and ethical doubts about animal welfare represent possible barriers. We conclude that adaptation of the unsuitable regulatory framework, which discourages investors, is an important first step to foster dissemination of the urban food production approaches.
4. Welfare implications of home gardens among rural households: evidence from Ingquza Hill local municipality, South Africa
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Nontu, Y. (author) and Taruvinga, A. (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-05-07
- Published:
- South Africa: South African Society of Agricultural Extension (SASAE)
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12934
- Journal Title:
- South African Journal of Agricultural Extension
- Journal Title Details:
- V.51, N.1
- Notes:
- 16 pages, Food insecurity is widely recognised as a global issue that requires immediate attention using multifaceted approaches. There is a generalised consensus about the positive role of home gardens in improving household income and food security. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support the above nexus worth exploring to enhance evidence of based programming. Therefore, this study used cross-sectional survey data from Ingquza Hill local municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (n = 200) to estimate the correlation between participation in home gardening, household food security, and household income. Results revealed that income from home garden sales was the least source of income for most households in the study area, contributing an average of 10.4% to total household income. An insignificant negative correlation was confirmed between home gardens and household food insecurity access score, suggesting that home gardens fall short of addressing household food security. A positive linear significant correlation was also confirmed between home garden participation and household income. The study concludes that home gardens designed for cash crop production may have a better food security premise than those intended for home food consumption and the sale of surplus.
5. “We need a better system” Maryland crop growers’ perspectives on reducing food loss through donation
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ceryes, Caitlin A. (author), Heley, Kathryn (author), Edwards, Danielle M. (author), Gao-Rittenberg, Chergai (author), Seifu, Leah (author), Sohail, Saifra Khan (author), and Neff, Roni A. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-06-30
- Published:
- USA: Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12953
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
- Journal Title Details:
- V.12, N.4
- Notes:
- 18 pages, The donation of unharvested or unsold crops to rescue organizations has been promoted as a strategy to improve healthy food access for food insecure households while reducing production-level food loss and waste (FLW). In this study, we aimed to assess the motivations, barriers, and facilitators for crop donation as a FLW reduction strategy among Maryland farmers. We interviewed 18 Maryland-based food producers (nine frequent crop donors and nine infrequent, by self-report) in 2016 – 2017, soliciting their perspectives on crop donation motivators, process feasibility, and interventions aimed at increasing crop donation. The interviews were thematically coded. All respondents were aware of crop donation as an option, and most expressed interest in reducing FLW by diverting crop surpluses for human consumption. While financial barriers represented one aspect influencing donation decisions, respondents also cited convenience, process knowledge, and liability as key considerations. In contrast to frequent donors, many of whom considered donation a moral imperative, some infrequent donors questioned the expectation that they would donate crops without compensation. Both frequent and infrequent donors were aware of pro-donation tax incentives, and infrequent donors reported being unlikely to use them. This research demonstrates that crop donation motivations, barriers, and facilitators can be diverse. Given the existence of crop surpluses and their potential benefits as emergency food, our results suggest that multiple interventions and policies may contribute to incentivizing and facilitating crop donation (or enabling the purchase of surplus crops) rather than one-size-fits-all approaches. Our findings also highlight a need to prioritize crop recovery methods that enhance growers’ financial stability.