Community gardens, as previous research has found are as much about growing the community and the individuals involved, as gardening itself. The study of Green Synergy's community garden initiatives within Lincoln's relatively deprived Abbey Ward provided an exceptional case study in which to review the inter-relationship of impact both at a community and individual level. The social element of community gardening in building connections between social and natural capital is explored, and how community gardens can provide a ‘counter-narrative’ to perceptions of place and individual well-being.

The qualitative research approach which included observation, interviews, a focus group and workshop was designed to reflect the wide scope of the projects and generate both individual and communal reflection on the projects. The themes that emerged open up a further understanding of the multiple dynamics arising from the collaborative creation of ‘green spaces’ in providing bonding and bridging social capital within communities, together with challenging narratives of individual and community capacity. In so doing, it adds to existing research evidence on the diverse community connections, spaces and products that community gardening engenders.

With the advent of confined feeding systems and associated herd size increases, dairy farms have had to import more feed from off the farm, leading to on farm nutrient surpluses. Management-intensive grazing (MIG) is an alternative to confined feeding. Under MIG, the herd is rotated among small paddocks every 12–24 h for efficient conversion of forage into milk using grass pasture to provide most of the herd's nutritional needs. Previous research on MIG reported high concentrations of nitrate under grassed monolith lysimeters and grazed pastures. However, because of the high levels of nitrogen (N) fertilization and ponding of cow urine in lysimeters, these previous studies may have overestimated nitrate leaching losses from MIG systems as practiced in the mid-Atlantic region. To determine the extent of nitrate losses to groundwater under MIG in the mid-Atlantic, we sampled shallow groundwater biweekly for 3 yrs on six watersheds in three Maryland dairy farms, one confined and two MIG-based farms. Transects of nested piezometers and ceramic tipped suction lysimeters were installed in each watershed. Seasonal mean nitrate-N concentrations under the four grazed watersheds were generally lower than under the confined feeding farm watersheds and were generally below the widely used drinking water standard of 10 mg L−1. Average nitrate-N concentrations for all four grazed watersheds were between 4 and 7 mg L−1, while the two confined feeding farm watersheds averaged 7 and 11 mg L−1, indicating that the MIG system did not cause excessive nitrate leaching.

The need to ensure food safety has been recognized in China and the ‘Green Food’ system is used to restrict the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in its certified products. There has been limited study of the environmental impacts associated with the production of green food certified (GFC) products in China. In this study, life cycle assessment was used to evaluate environmental impacts of GFC cucumber cultivated under a greenhouse system in the suburbs of Beijing relative to conventional cultivation (CON), with the aim of identifying the key areas of potential environmental burden in cucumber cultivation. Eight environmental impact categories are considered, including global warming potential, energy depletion (ED), water depletion, acidification potential, aquatic eutrophication (AEU), human toxicity (HT), aquatic eco-toxicity (AET) and soil eco-toxicity (SET). Results showed that the environmental index of the GFC cucumber system was higher than that of the CON cucumber system. SET, EU and ED were identified as the main potential environmental impacts in cucumber systems, largely caused by fertilizer use on the farm. The potentials of HT and AET in GFC cucumber were lower than those in the CON system, mainly due to the reduced use of chemical pesticides. The agricultural input of plastics was the main contributor to energy depletion in both cucumber cultivation systems. Potential approaches to mitigate the environmental impacts of cucumber cultivation include increasing the fertilizer use efficiency, avoiding use of animal manure with high heavy metal content and recycling of plastics under the GFC cultivation system.

Discrete choice models estimated over a large household database, show the impacts of demographics, household behavior, health status, obesity issues and prices on household servings of fruits and vegetables. These impacts are ranked from the most to least effects on daily servings. A major result is the importance of obesity and calorie issues relative to other major demand drivers.

Aroma-Home, an artist-initiated community garden in Villetaneuse, just outside Paris, France, originated as a way to poeticize damaged urban locations by creating small communally-created pockets of unexpected natural beauty. In 2013, Sarah Harper of Friches Théâtre Urbain joined forces with local inhabitants to reclaim public spaces marred by construction and neglect. Together, they began to alter the urban landscape with whimsical plant-based interventions that sprouted up behind construction fences. This guerrilla gardening soon led to the sowing of a community garden that wove together food-growing, story-telling and place-making and fashioned its particular identity through cultural practices around growing, preparing and sharing food of the multi-ethnic participants. The horticultural-culinary conversations became inextricably connected to gardening activities: edible stories involving food memories and horticultural skills that nourished those who prepared and consumed them. This ‘From the Field’ paper looks at how the community garden/art-making processes of Aroma-Home transformed a bleak construction site into a mini-urban agricultural ‘commons’ where imagining, planting and harvesting the garden and its edible stories were all shared.

The rising demand for local, organic bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the northeastern USA may be an economic and agronomic opportunity for organic dairy producers. Bread wheat must produce adequate grain yields and crude protein (CP) levels to be profitable as a food crop and must complement the on-farm production of high-quality dairy feed. A field study evaluated bread wheat and perennial forage performance in five 3-year crop sequences all ending in a perennial legume/grass forage. The sequences differed by wheat type (winter or spring) and the crop prior to wheat: (1) corn silage (Zea mays L.), (2) soybean (Glycine max L.) or (3) one-year-old perennial forage. Wheat sequences were compared with a sequence of two years of corn silage followed by a new perennial forage seeding and with a continuous perennial forage control. Winter wheat spike density, wheat aboveground biomass and nitrogen uptake were always greater than spring wheat. Wheat grain yield and CP were strongly affected by wheat type, with winter wheat having greater yield but lower CP than spring wheat. At one site-year, winter wheat CP was 15 g kg−1 higher following perennial forage than following corn. Only spring wheat met the bread flour industry standard for CP. Newly established perennial forage following wheat had higher yields and legume composition in both years, along with higher projected milk yields in one year, than the continuous perennial forage. Three-year net revenue based on off-farm sales were on average US$ 741 ha−1 higher for sequences with winter wheat than those with spring wheat, and were equal to the perennial forage control. Rotations that included wheat would likely be more competitive if straw were sold or used on the farm, or, if topdressing practices or varietal choice were used to increase grain protein levels of winter wheat.

Perennial grain crops are expected to sequester soil carbon (C) and improve soil health due to their large and extensive root systems. To examine the rate of initial soil C accumulation in a perennial grain crop, we compared soil under perennial intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) with that under annual winter wheat 4 years after the crops were first planted. In addition, we tested the effect of three nitrogen (N) sources on C pools: Low available N (Low N (Organic N); 90 kg N ha−1 poultry litter), moderately available N (Mid N; 90 kg N ha−1 urea) and high available N (High N; 135 kg N ha−1 urea). We measured aboveground C (grain + straw), and coarse and fine root C to a depth of 1 m. Particulate organic matter (POM-C), fractionated by size, was used to indicate labile and more stabilized soil C pools. At harvest, IWG had 1.9 times more straw C and up to 15 times more root C compared with wheat. There were no differences in the size of the large (6 mm–250 µm) or medium (250–53 µm) POM-C fractions between wheat and IWG (P > 0.05) in surface horizons (0–10 cm). Large POM-C under IWG ranged from 3.6 ± 0.3 to 4.0 ± 0.7 g C kg soil−1 across the three N rates, similar to wheat under which large POM-C ranged from 3.6 ± 1.4 to 4.7 ± 0.7 g C kg soil−1. Averaged across N level, medium POM-C was 11.1 ± 0.8 and 11.3 ± 0.7 g C kg soil−1 for IWG and wheat, respectively. Despite IWG's greater above and belowground biomass (to 70 cm), POM-C fractions in IWG and wheat were similar. Post-hoc power analysis revealed that in order to detect differences in the labile C pool at 0–10 cm with an acceptable power (~80%) a 15% difference would be required between wheat and IWG. This demonstrates that on sandy soils with low cation exchange capacity, perennial IWG will need to be in place for longer than 4 years in order to detect an accumulated soil C difference > 15%.

This paper identifies and describes the recent emergence of a new class of private sector intermediaries in fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) supermarket supply chains in China. These intermediaries play key roles that determine the ways in which farm households participate in and the benefits they derive from new retail-led market opportunities associated with the supermarket sector's shift from FFV procurement through wholesale markets towards more direct contracting with farm communities. This paper provides a comprehensive description of 198 FFV supply chain intermediaries working with Walmart China in 2014, including their historical background, infrastructure investments, downstream marketing and upstream sourcing. We find that these actors play an increasingly critical role in the organization of land, labor and production through contracts. Our study provides critical insights for understanding both the trends in vertical coordination of China's developing agricultural sector and the pace of the country's agricultural modernization. Walmart is a leading international supermarket chain with a growing presence in China, and evidence suggests that their supply chain strategies are similar to other large supermarkets in the region. Results are also relevant to understanding current challenges in China related to food safety and quality, a top priority in recent years.

A working group was held during the 2017 National Adaptation Forum to build collaborative capacity on issues related to Tribal agriculture and natural resource management in a changing climate. We developed three synthetic themes from these discussions and dialogue to highlight on-going opportunities, but also demonstrate areas for continued engagement with Tribes related to effective agricultural and natural resource management. We hope this forum demonstrates the critical importance of partnerships, and motivates further coordination and collaboration among Tribes, universities and Federal agencies.

Better management of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers in conventional agricultural systems laid the foundation for feeding the increasing world's population since the Green Revolution. However, excessive reliance on inorganic fertilizer has resulted in environmental degradation issues. Difficulties in soil nutrition management in organic cropping systems often results in lower and variable yields, also raising questions of sustainability. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is thus of key importance to overcome environmental concerns in conventional systems and production limitations in organic systems. The differences in the two farming systems have impacts on crop traits and N cycles, making it difficult to enhance NUE with a single strategy. Different approaches need to be adopted to improve NUE in each system. Extensive efforts have been made to better understand mechanisms to potentially improve NUE in cereal crops under both systems. This review suggests that NUE may be improved through a combination of management practices and breeding strategies specific to the management system. Diversified crop rotations with legumes are effective practices to optimize the N cycle in both conventional and organic systems. Best Management Practices coupled with nitrification inhibitors, controlled release products and split-application practices can reduce N loss in conventional systems. In organic systems, we need to take advantage of available N sources and adapt practices such as no-tillage, cover crops, and catch crops. Utilization of beneficial soil microorganisms is fundamental to optimizing availability of soil N. Estimation of soil organic matter mineralization using prediction models may be useful to enhance NUE if models are calibrated for target environments. Cereal crops are often bred under optimum N conditions and may not perform well under low N conditions. Thus, breeders can integrate genetic and phenotypic information to develop cultivars adapted to specific environments and cultivation practices. The proper choice and integration of strategies can synchronize N demand and supply within a system, resulting in reduced risk of N loss while improving NUE in both conventional and organic systems.

Climate change poses serious threats to agriculture. As a primary staple crop and major contributor to agriculturally derived greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, rice systems are of particular significance to building climate resilience. We report on a participatory assessment of climate resilience in organic and conventional rice systems located in four neighboring villages in Negros Occidental, Philippines. The Philippines is one of the foremost countries impacted by climate change, with an increasing incidence of climate-related disturbances and extensive coastlines, high population density and heavy dependence on agriculture. Using the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Self-evaluation and Holistic Assessment of climate Resilience of farmers and Pastoralists (SHARP) tool, we measured 13 agroecosystem indicators of climate resilience, and assessed the degree to which household, farm, and community mechanisms and outcomes impact adaptation capacity, mitigation potential and vulnerability. We used a participatory approach to situate these indicators in their socio-ecological context, and identify targeted interventions for enhancing climate resilience based on local farmer experiences and socio-ecological conditions. Comparison of climate resilience indicators across organic and conventional rice systems in this region indicated that organic rice systems are more climate resilient than their conventional counterparts. As such, increased policy support for the development of organic rice systems are critically important as an adaptive mechanism to augment food security, mitigate GHG emissions and improve climate resilience in the Philippines.

This study examined the response of forage crops to composted dairy waste (compost) applied at low rates and investigated effects on soil health. The evenness of spreading compost by commercial machinery was also assessed. An experiment was established on a commercial dairy farm with target rates of compost up to 5 t ha−1 applied to a field containing millet [Echinochloa esculenta (A. Braun) H. Scholz] and Pasja leafy turnip (Brassica hybrid). A pot experiment was also conducted to monitor the response of a legume forage crop (vetch; Vicia sativa L.) on three soils with equivalent rates of compost up to 20 t ha−1 with and without ‘additive blends’ comprising gypsum, lime or other soil treatments. Few significant increases in forage biomass were observed with the application of low rates of compost in either the field or pot experiment. In the field experiment, compost had little impact on crop herbage mineral composition, soil chemical attributes or soil fungal and bacterial biomass. However, small but significant increases were observed in gravimetric water content resulting in up to 22.4 mm of additional plant available water calculated in the surface 0.45 m of soil, 2 years after compost was applied in the field at 6 t ha−1 dried (7.2 t ha−1 undried), compared with the nil control. In the pot experiment, where the soil was homogenized and compost incorporated into the soil prior to sowing, there were significant differences in mineral composition in herbage and in soil. A response in biomass yield to compost was only observed on the sandier and lower fertility soil type, and yields only exceeded that of the conventional fertilizer treatment where rates equivalent to 20 t ha−1 were applied. With few yield responses observed, the justification for applying low rates of compost to forage crops and pastures seems uncertain. Our collective experience from the field and the glasshouse suggests that farmers might increase the response to compost by: (i) increasing compost application rates; (ii) applying it prior to sowing a crop; (iii) incorporating the compost into the soil; (iv) applying only to responsive soil types; (v) growing only responsive crops; and (vi) reducing weed burdens in crops following application. Commercial machinery incorporating a centrifugal twin disc mechanism was shown to deliver double the quantity of compost in the area immediately behind the spreader compared with the edges of the spreading swathe. Spatial variability in the delivery of compost could be reduced but not eliminated by increased overlapping, but this might represent a potential 20% increase in spreading costs.

Value chain development (VCD) initiatives within the horticultural and organic sectors in Africa are promising strategies to improve smallholder welfare. Contracting institutional arrangements are a common feature of VCD initiatives and are increasing in number in sub-Saharan Africa as a way to source organic products from smallholder producers. The objective of this study is to better understand men and women's participation in spice producing households that sell under contract and in conventional market chains in the East Usambaras, Tanzania. We draw on New Institutional Economics, political economy and the value chain analysis framework to assess the potential role of contracting to promote gender equity among smallholder organic horticultural producers. We describe intra-household decision making over resources and marketing, access to benefits of contracting, and labor distribution between men and women in contracting and non-contracting households. We then extend the gender analysis to evaluate the role of gender in contracting and conventional value chains operating within the community and district. Using a cross-sectional research design and data collected through 13 focus group discussions, 54 personal interviews and 156 household questionnaires, we show that contracting reduces transaction costs in the chain compared with the conventional trade. However, norms in the wider political economic context give rise to gendered patterns of participation in both household and chain activities in contracting and non-contracting households. Our findings suggest that contracting does not provide significant opportunities for women in married households to participate and benefit based on limited participation in decision-making and access to trainings. Divorced women and widows gain access to contract employment opportunities to earn income. This study highlights the importance of understanding gender relations in the household and community to guide the development of gender equitable VCD initiatives and contracting approaches.

Cotton is an important source of income for smallholder farmers in India, usually grown very intensively. To counteract negative impacts of cotton cultivation in India, such as environmental degradation and financial dependency due to high input costs, organic cotton cultivation is being promoted by non-governmental organizations in the country. This study examines how the conversion to organic cotton cultivation influences the livelihood of smallholder farmers in rural India. Interviews with organic farmers were conducted in Odisha, India, complemented by expert interviews and observations in the field. Results show that farmers profit from organic agriculture, mainly due to soil improvements, through reduced exposure to toxic chemicals and lower input costs, which in turn reduces dependency on money lenders. Organic agriculture enables smallholder farmers in the study region to improve their livelihood by providing access to training and by organizing in groups. Important social impacts identified in this study were capacity building and strengthened communities, through training and institution building. However, a higher workload, due to the higher work intensity of organic farming practices, was also observed, with this impacting women more than men. Environmental conditions and gender aspects still remain challenging.

The rise of Urban Agriculture projects across the UK has led to a surge of interest in their efficacy and resulting social impacts. Real Food Wythenshawe is a Lottery-funded urban food project in the UK that aims to teach the population of Wythenshawe to grow their own food and to cook from scratch. The area, popularly referred to as ‘Europe's largest council estate’, suffers from high levels of deprivation and has been described as a ‘food desert’ due to a perceived lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables (Small World Consulting, 2013). In order to encourage Wythenshawe residents to grow their own food and to increase access to fresh fruit and vegetables, Real Food Wythenshawe aims to transform unused areas of land into growing spaces, such as allotments and community gardens. This paper focuses on research conducted at a community garden in Wythenshawe, established by Real Food Wythenshawe as an example of a ‘meanwhile’ or temporary growing site for people affected by cancer. The research investigated the impact of the growing activities on community garden participants through a series of observations and interviews. The findings suggest that the benefits of the space were multiple and diverse, ranging from increased growing knowledge to therapeutic effects, while there has been minimal effect on participants’ dietary behavior. The organization of the community garden also raises questions over some of the practicalities of temporary urban growing sites and highlights the tensions that can arise between small community growing groups and larger institutions with control over land use. These findings add to a growing body of research that considers the value of growing in the city and reflects on the role of community gardening in deprived urban areas of the UK.

Concerns are growing over the ability of the modern food system to simultaneously achieve food security and environmental sustainability in the face of global change. Yet, the dominant tendency within university settings to conceptualize and address diverse food system challenges as separate, disconnected issues is a key barrier to food system transformation. To address this fragmented approach, educators in North American institutes of higher education have begun new degree programs, specializations and certificates related to food systems. These programs, which we term sustainable food system education (SFSE) programs, have a common goal: to support post-secondary students across a range of disciplines in developing the knowledge, skills and dispositions to effectively address complex challenges in the food system. Graduates of these programs will be able to engage in collective action towards transforming the food system. As educators participating in flagship SFSE programs, we identify common pedagogical themes evident in SFSE programs, including our own. We then propose a signature pedagogy (SP) for sustainable food systems education. Signature pedagogies are conceptual models that identify the primary elements by which professional education in a specific field is designed, structured and implemented. On the basis of our analysis of SFSE programs, we identified systems thinking, multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinarity, use of experiential learning approaches and participation in collective action projects as central themes within a SFSE SP. By making these themes and their function explicit within a pedagogical framework, we seek to spur critical and creative thought regarding challenges of professional education in the field of sustainable food systems. Scholars and practitioners are encouraged to review, critique and implement our framework to advance the dialogue on SFSE theory and practice.

Agricultural expansion contributes to the degradation of biodiverse ecosystems and the services these systems provide. Expansion of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA), on the other hand, may hold promise to both expand the portfolio of ecosystem services (ES) available in built environments, where ES are typically low and to reduce pressure to convert sensitive non-urban, non-agricultural ecosystems to agriculture. However, few data are available to support these hypotheses. Here we review and summarize the research conducted on UPA from 320 peer-reviewed papers published between 2000 and 2014. Specifically, we explored the availability of data regarding UPA's impact on ES and disservices. We also assessed the literature for evidence that UPA can contribute to land sparing. We find that the growth in UPA research over this time period points to the emerging recognition of the potential role that UPA systems play in food production worldwide. However, few studies (n = 15) place UPA in the context of ES, and no studies in our review explicitly quantify the land sparing potential of UPA. Additionally, while few studies (n = 19) quantify production potential of UPA, data that are necessary to accurately quantify the role these systems can play in land sparing, our rough estimates suggest that agricultural extensification into the world's urban environments via UPA could spare an area approximately twice the size of the US state of Massachusetts. Expanding future UPA research to include quantification of ES and functions would shed light on the ecological tradeoffs associated with agricultural production in the built environment. As food demand increases and urban populations continue to grow, it will be critical to better understand the role urban environments can play in global agricultural production and ecosystem preservation.

This paper is concerned with how urban food activists related to the media during 2015, when Bristol was the European Green Capital (EGC), how they represented themselves and how others represented their agenda. Our intention is to inform the debates on urban agriculture (UA) and, more specifically, to contribute to discussions about ‘scaling up’ UA. To achieve this, we adopt a form of analysis that rests on Castells’ insights about contemporary protest movements, the media and the role of communication technologies in constituting social power. By using Bristol, a city with a well-developed and studied urban agriculture movement, we suggest new areas for consideration that focus on the importance of communication in the development of the movement. Our study relied only on publicly available data; newspaper reports about the EGC and a sample of the social media used by the urban food networks in the city. We found that the mass media was mainly concerned with reporting topics other than food and that urban food was not a salient issue in their coverage. The Twitter network we analyzed was a loose constellation of different communities, which shared materials that were mostly concerned with creating a shared, normative picture of urban food. By considering the structure of these forms of media, we can observe the assembly of the forms of communication and their content. The paper concludes that the self-representation of urban food networks at that time reveals a narrow focus of interest. This emphasis may have contributed to the lack of connection within the city between potential allies. Our conclusion supports similar research findings in neighboring communities, which have observed the limited connections of urban food networks to the circuits of power and influence.

Climate change is projected to have severe implications for smallholder agriculture in Africa, with increased temperatures, increased drought and flooding occurrence, and increased rainfall variability. Given these projections, there is a need to identify effective strategies to help rural communities adapt to climatic risks. Yet, relatively little research has examined the politics and social dynamics around knowledge and sources of information about climate-change adaptation with smallholder farming communities. This paper uses a political ecology approach to historically situate rural people's experiences with a changing climate. Using the concept of the co-production of knowledge, we examine how Malawian smallholder farmers learn, perceive, share and apply knowledge about a changing climate, and what sources they draw on for agroecological methods in this context. As well, we pay particular attention to agricultural knowledge flows within and between households. We ask two main questions: Whose knowledge counts in relation to climate-change adaptation? What are the political, social and environmental implications of these knowledge dynamics? We draw upon a long-term action research project on climate-change adaptation that involved focus groups, interviews, observations, surveys, and participatory agroecology experiments with 425 farmers. Our findings are consistent with other studies, which found that agricultural knowledge sources were shaped by gender and other social inequalities, with women more reliant on informal networks than men. Farmers initially ranked extension services as important sources of knowledge about farming and climate change. After farmers carried out participatory agroecological research, they ranked their own observation and informal farmer networks as more important sources of knowledge. Contradictory ideas about climate-change adaptation, linked to various positions of power, gaps of knowledge and social inequalities make it challenging for farmers to know how to act despite observing changes in rainfall. Participatory agroecological approaches influenced adaptation strategies used by smallholder farmers in Malawi, but most still maintained the dominant narrative about climate-change causes, which focused on local deforestation by rural communities. Smallholder farmers in Malawi are responsible for <1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet our results show that the farmers often blame their own rural communities for changes in deforestation and rainfall patterns. Researchers need to consider differences knowledge and power between scientists and farmers and the contradictory narratives at work in communities to foster long-term change.

Agro-ecological service crops (ASC) can increase the vegetation complexity of agroecosystems leading to a positive impact on natural enemies of arthropod pests and on weed control. In this study, two ASC terminations (green manure and roller crimper) and a Mater-Bi-mulched control (MB) were compared in order to describe the effects on pests and beneficial dynamics in an organic vegetable system. The trials were conducted over two consecutive growing seasons in 2014 and 2015. Zucchini were grown as cash crop and barley as ASC. Pests and natural enemies were monitored fortnightly by visual samplings along the whole zucchini-growing season. Zucchini plants showed a faster vegetative growth in MB treatment than in ASC terminations. In both years, MB plots were characterized by higher soil temperature and higher leaf nitrogen concentration resulting in plants more susceptible to Aphis gossypii infestations. In all the experimental plots, natural enemies controlled aphid infestations and no insecticide and sprays were necessary. In conclusion, the tested ASC techniques have been suggested as a tool to mitigate aphid infestation.