2pgs, Aggregators are agricultural businesses or cooperatives of growers that consolidate and distribute agricultural products. They typically support regional growers of diverse sizes and experience, and sell products to local or regional markets. The consolidation of multiple farms’ products can help supply fresh product for distributors and other wholesale customers and is not limited by grower size.
Crider, Margaux S. (author), Vick, K.C. (author), Young, Jeffery A. (author), Breazeale, Nicole D. (author), Jones, Kenneth R. (author), and Zimmerman, Julie N. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2025-02-15
Published:
USA: Extension Journal, Inc.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 209 Document Number: D13542
20 pages, Extension’s evolving role in urban food production will require intensive reflexivity and ongoing collaboration. Extension educators around the country have already made progress in engaging with both the social and horticultural sides of urban agriculture. Designed appropriately, urban food systems hold the potential for healthy food access, community and environmental resilience, and economic prosperity (Rangarajan & Riordan 2019). Moving forward, we offer recommendations for Extension staff to apply within their institutions and beyond. Specifically, we urge Extension to prioritize the following: 1) mediate the rural/urban dichotomy, 2) tackle structural and institutional power dynamics, and 3) intensify strategies for community resilience.
Dawson, Julie C. (author) and Morales, Alfonso (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2016
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08841
Notes:
Pages 3-10 in Dawson, Julie C. and Morales, Alfonso (eds.), Cities of farmers: urban agricultural practices and processes. United States: University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. 333 pages.
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.
USA: Food Systems Development Project of the Center for Transformative Action, an affiliate of Cornell Un, New Leaf Associates, Inc. Ithaca, NY 14850 USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 164 Document Number: D08211
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Authors examine ways in which club theory can help provide an alternative approach to recognizing and overcoming market failure in agricultural and food value chains.
