Park, Sin-Ae (author), Cho, Moon-Kyoung (author), Yoo, Mung Hwa (author), Kim, Soo-Yun (author), Im, Eun-Ae (author), Song, Jong-Eun (author), Lee, Jin-Cheol (author), Jun, In Gun (author), and Konkuk University
Heavenly Brain Reactivation Institute
Horticultural Therapy Rehabilitation and Education Center
Agricultural Technology Service Center of Incheon
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2016-12
Published:
South Korea: American Society for Horticultural Science
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10450
8 pages., Via online journal., The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of a horticultural activity program on the emotional intelligence, prosocial behavior, and scientific investigation abilities and attitudes of kindergarteners. A total of 336 children aged 5 to 7 years in public and private kindergartens and day care centers in Incheon, South Korea, participated in a 24-session horticultural activity program. This program included indoor and outdoor activities such as planting seeds, transplanting plants, making and applying eco-friendly fertilizer, watering, harvesting, using plants to make crafts, and cooking with produce. It was designed to improve the emotional intelligence, prosocial behavior, and scientific investigation abilities and attitudes of kindergarteners. Each session lasted an average of 50 minutes and was held once per week. The results of the study showed that the 24-session horticultural activity program improved the emotional intelligence, prosocial behavior, and scientific investigation abilities and attitudes of the children (P < 0.05). Satisfaction with the program was very high among both the children and their teachers and parents. Future studies should consider exploring the effects of horticultural activity programs on children in different age groups.
"The issue of place, like conservation and pollution in the 1960s, is not a new idea at all. But it is an idea poised to explode onto the public consciousness in ways that help transform debates about a whole range of issues. Anyone joining this burgeoning movement to improve public places discovers the key issue is not urban planning or transportation priorities but love. Places we love become places that we hang out."
8 pages., Via online journal., With growing interest in food system solutions to address poor health outcomes related to preventable chronic diseases, organizations and researchers are examining the value of community gardens as interventions to promote individual and community health. Research suggests that participation in community gardens improves access to fresh, healthy foods and increases fruit and vegetable consumption. In addition to these physical benefits, research also documents a variety of social and communal benefits, by expanding social capital, stabilizing neighborhoods, and cultivating relationships. Unfortunately, most of these studies focus on a specific case, cross case, or intervention studies within a geographically specific locale. Learning lessons from successful community garden programs can be difficult because community gardens often rely on the synergy of a complex network of support agencies that assist in various technical and educational capacities. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the use of a framework for program development and evaluation that stakeholders, including extension, can adopt to show program outcomes. The framework used a Delphi approach with a diverse panel of community garden stakeholders to reach consensus about program outcomes. The study demonstrated that the panel could reach consensus on a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes.
5 pages, The main objective of this study was to find out how small farmers were affected by urbanization.
The study was conducted during 2020 in 2 barangays (districts ). Cagayan de Ore (CDO) City specifically canitoan and pagatpat, Philippines. There were 12 and 11 farmers in Canitoan and Pagatpat, respectively who participated the focus group discussion (FGD). Majority of them was
considered as small farmers due to the size of their farm which was less than 1 hectare. Around
70 hectares of agricultural land in Canitoan were transformed into a private housing subdivision.
Qualitative approach was employed using FGD and farmers were organized and interviewed as
a group. Data revealed that agricultural lands had been converted into residential or commercial
purposes. CDO agriculture area was decreased from 91.5 to 81.89%. Urbanization affected the farmer in term of displacement, income source, decrease economic status and negative motivation for agriculture. In conclusion, urbanization in CDO which brought progressive economic development had negatively affected the lives of some small farmers. We suggested proper policies to find alternatives for the farmers so that they could continue to produce food in the surroundings of the city and thus made city and rural areas more resilient in food supplies and also water regeneration.
5 pages., Via online journal., Food security is a growing global concern. To meet the needs of an ever-growing population, food production practices will need to evolve to maximize food quantity and quality. Controlled-environment food production has increased significantly in the United States over the past 5 years, and a component of that production includes hydroponic food crops. In an effort to better prepare a workforce with knowledge of hydroponic crop production, a new course was added to an existing greenhouse curriculum. A service-learning project was integrated in the course that allowed students to experience both growing crops hydroponically and volunteering at a local food bank with a free meal program. Self-assessment showed a significant increase in student confidence in understanding food security by the end of the course. There was also a significant knowledge gained in defining terminology, factors, and the impact of food security in a community. The three guided reflections students completed during the course identified four common themes relative to the course content and service-learning project including the following: community benefits, value of volunteering, local and global effects of food insecurity, and personal growth.
16 pages., Farmers do not make/maximize profits when they stop at the production level only. To make more profits, they need to add value to their products. This paper examines the roles of ICTs in promoting agricultural value chain among women farmers who reside in the urban fringes of Imo State. The specific objectives were to identify value chain information needs of women farmers; ascertain ICT devices used by the women farmers and determine perceived roles of ICTs in promoting agricultural value chain. A total of 250 women farmers were randomly selected and interviewed using questionnaire complimented with oral discussion. Date collected were analyzed using descriptive tools such as percentages, mean and standard deviation. Results showed that respondents need agricultural value chain information on production and storage as shown by 98% response, marketing/business development (100%), financial services (98.8%), processing/packaging (88%), transportation/trading/distribution (93.6%). The following information devices/sources played vital roles –radio (84%), mobile phones (100%), television (62%), newspaper/magazines (55.4%), extension agents (49.6%) among others. On the roles of information sources/devices in value chain promotion, ICT device/sources provide information on time of planting, availability of seeds/input, reducing time of business transactions, financial services provision and market prices among roles.