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2. Food production and resource use of urban farms and gardens: a five-country study
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Dorr, Erica (author), Hawes, Jason K. (author), Goldstein, Benjamin (author), Fargue-Lelièvre, Agnèsa (author), Fox-Kämper, Runrid Cohen, (author), Specht, Kathrind (author), Fedeńczak, Konstancja (author), Caputo, Silvio (author), Cohen, Nevin (author), Poniży, Lidiae (author), Schoen, Victoria (author), Górecki, Tomaszi (author), Newell, Joshua P. (author), Jean-Soro, Liliane (author), and Grard, Baptiste (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-02-01
- Published:
- United States: Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12838
- Journal Title:
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 17pgs, There is a lack of data on resources used and food produced at urban farms. This hampers attempts to quantify the environmental impacts of urban agriculture or craft policies for sustainable food production in cities. To address this gap, we used a citizen science approach to collect data from 72 urban agriculture sites, representing three types of spaces (urban farms, collective gardens, individual gardens), in five countries (France, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, and United States). We answered three key questions about urban agriculture with this unprecedented dataset: (1) What are its land, water, nutrient, and energy demands? (2) How productive is it relative to conventional agriculture and across types of farms? and (3) What are its contributions to local biodiversity? We found that participant farms used dozens of inputs, most of which were organic (e.g., manure for fertilizers). Farms required on average 71.6 L of irrigation water, 5.5 L of compost, and 0.53 m2 of land per kilogram of harvested food. Irrigation was lower in individual gardens and higher in sites using drip irrigation. While extremely variable, yields at well-managed urban farms can exceed those of conventional counterparts. Although farm type did not predict yield, our cluster analysis demonstrated that individually managed leisure gardens had lower yields than other farms and gardens. Farms in our sample contributed significantly to local biodiversity, with an average of 20 different crops per farm not including ornamental plants. Aside from clarifying important trends in resource use at urban farms using a robust and open dataset, this study also raises numerous questions about how crop selection and growing practices influence the environmental impacts of growing food in cities. We conclude with a research agenda to tackle these and other pressing questions on resource use at urban farms.
3. Means and ways of engaging, communicating and preserving local soil knowledge of smallholder farmers in central Vietnam
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Huynh, Ha T. N. (author), Lobry de Bruyn, Lisa A. (author), Knox, Oliver G. G. (author), and Hoang, Hoa T. T. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-03-03
- Published:
- USA: Springer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12624
- Journal Title:
- Agriculture and Human Values
- Journal Title Details:
- V. 39
- Notes:
- 24 pgs, Increasing interest in farmers’ local soil knowledge (LSK) and soil management practice as a way to promote sustainable agriculture and soil conservation needs a reliable means to connect to it. This study sought to examine if Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) and farmer workshops were suitable means to engage, communicate and preserve farmers’ LSK in two mountainous communes of Central Vietnam. Twenty-four farmers with reasonable or comprehensive LSK from previously studied communes were selected for the efficacy of VSA and farmer workshops for integrating LSK into a well-accepted soil assessment tool (VSA). In field sites chosen by the farmers, VSA was independently executed by both farmers and scientists at the same time. Close congruence of VSA scores between the two groups highlighted that farmers could competently undertake VSA. Farmers’ VSA score was compared with their perception of field’s soil quality. For the majority of farmers’ perception of soil quality was consistent to their VSA score (62.5%), while the remainder perceived their soil quality was lower than their VSA score. For most farmers their assessment of soil quality using VSA valued their LSK, and the two measures were well aligned. Soil colour and presence or vulnerability to erosion were common soil characteristics mentioned by farmers and affected the final VSA score. Farmers’ participation in VSA and workshops strengthen farmers’ confidence in their LSK and provided guidance on the impact of their soil management on soil improvement and conservation.
4. Regenerative ag: the No. 1 food trend of 2020: America's conservation ag movement
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Karst, Tom (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-01-06
- Published:
- International
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 202 Document Number: D12081
- Journal Title:
- Packer
- Notes:
- Online from publisher. 4 pages., "Building trust in food begins with empowering farmers through one of the largest and most diverse conservation- and sustainability-focused pulic-private partnerships in our nation's history."