tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/community-gardens-4354/articlesCommunity gardens – The Conversation2024-01-22T13:11:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2215372024-01-22T13:11:22Z2024-01-22T13:11:22ZUrban agriculture isn’t as climate-friendly as it seems, but these best practices can transform gardens and city farms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570382/original/file-20240119-29-d52zd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2035%2C1358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recycling construction materials and water can make urban agriculture more sustainable.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/52760659431">Lauren Moore/USDA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban agriculture is expected to be an important feature of 21st century sustainability and can have many benefits for communities and cities, including providing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-022-00859-4">fresh produce</a> in neighborhoods with few other options. </p>
<p>Among those benefits, growing food in backyards, community gardens or urban farms can shrink the distance fruits and vegetables have to travel between producers and consumers – what’s known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00531-w">the “food mile” problem</a>. With transportation’s greenhouse gas emissions eliminated, it’s a small leap to assume that urban agriculture is a simple climate solution.</p>
<p>But is urban agriculture really as climate-friendly as many people think?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pBxU-2sAAAAJ&hl=en">Our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5VCGc9kAAAAJ&hl=en">team of</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rSS0xmMAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> partnered with individual gardeners, community garden volunteers and urban farm managers at 73 sites across five countries in North America and Europe to test this assumption. </p>
<p>We found that urban agriculture, while it has many community benefits, isn’t always better for the climate than conventional agriculture over the life cycle, even with transportation factored in. In fact, on average, the urban agriculture sites we studied were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-023-00023-3">six times more carbon intensive</a> per serving of fruit or vegetables than conventional farming.</p>
<p>However, we also found several practices that stood out for how effectively they can make fruits and vegetables grown in cities more climate-friendly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young man kneels down with an older farmer in a hat to tend vegetables growing behind a row of brownstone homes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570457/original/file-20240120-21-u7h9ur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community gardens like Baltimore’s Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm provide a wide range of benefits to the community, including providing fresh produce in areas with few places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and having a positive impact on young people’s lives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/51337806809">Preston Keres/USDA/FPAC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What makes urban ag more carbon-intensive?</h2>
<p>Most research on urban agriculture has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac1a39">focused on a single type</a> of urban farming, often high-tech projects, such as aquaponic tanks, rooftop greenhouses or vertical farms. Electricity consumption often means the food grown in these high-tech environments has a big carbon footprint.</p>
<p>We looked instead at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac1a39">life cycle emissions</a> of more common low-tech urban agriculture – the kind found in urban backyards, vacant lots and urban farms.</p>
<p>Our study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-023-00023-3">published Jan. 22, 2024</a>, modeled carbon emissions from farming activities like watering and fertilizing crops and from building and maintaining the farms. Surprisingly, from a life cycle emissions perspective, the most common source at these sites turned out to be infrastructure. From raised beds to sheds and concrete pathways, this gardening infrastructure means more carbon emissions per serving of produce than the average wide-open fields on conventional farms.</p>
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<img alt="People work in a garden with a rain barrel in front of them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570458/original/file-20240120-16-pmcpjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Capturing rainwater from gutters to feed gardens can cut the need for fresh water supplies. Water pumping, treatment and transportation in pipes all require energy use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpcaphotos/31795954978">Minnesota Pollution Control Agency</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, among the 73 sites in cities including New York, London and Paris, 17 had lower emissions than conventional farms. By exploring what set these sites apart, we identified some best practices for shrinking the carbon footprint of urban food production.</p>
<h2>1) Make use of recycled materials, including food waste and water</h2>
<p>Using old building materials for constructing farm infrastructure, such as raised beds, can cut out the climate impacts of new lumber, cement and glass, among other materials. We found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-023-00023-3">upcycling building materials</a> could cut a site’s emissions 50% or more.</p>
<p>On average, our sites used compost to replace 95% of synthetic nutrients. Using <a href="https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home">food waste as compost</a> can avoid both the methane emissions from food scraps buried in landfills and the need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-015-0348-4">synthetic fertilizers</a> made from fossil fuels. We found that careful compost management could cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 40%.</p>
<p><iframe id="cdWs8" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cdWs8/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Capturing <a href="https://greenportal.wca.ca.gov/strategies/water-capture">rainwater or using greywater</a> from shower drains or sinks can reduce the need for pumping water, water treatment and water distribution. Yet we found that few sites used those techniques for most of their water.</p>
<h2>2) Grow crops that are carbon-intensive when grown by conventional methods</h2>
<p>Tomatoes are a great example of crops that can cut emissions when grown with low-tech urban agriculture. Commercially, they are often grown in large-scale greenhouses that can be <a href="https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/fakulteterne/teknik/nyt_fra_det_tekniske_fakultet/tomater-fra-varme-lande-bedre-for-klimaet">particularly energy-intensive</a>. Asparagus and other produce that must be <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/airfreight/asparagus-moves-worldwide-from-lax">transported by airplane</a> because they spoil quickly are another example with a large carbon footprint.</p>
<p><iframe id="wu0oj" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wu0oj/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>By growing these crops instead of buying them in stores, low-tech urban growers can reduce their net carbon impact.</p>
<h2>3) Keep urban gardens going long term</h2>
<p>Cities are constantly changing, and community gardens can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su2082499">vulnerable to development pressures</a>. But if urban agriculture sites can remain in place for many years, they can avoid the need for new infrastructure and keep providing other benefits to their communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with hoe stands in front of the community farm with play equipment to one side and buildings in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570383/original/file-20240119-27145-g0di1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taqwa Community Farm in the Bronx, New York, has provided space to grow fresh vegetables for the community for over three decades. The farm composts food waste to create its own natural fertilizer, reducing its costs and climate impact.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/52196085319/">Preston Keres/USDA/FPAC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Urban agriculture sites provide ecosystem services and social benefits, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-022-00859-4">fresh produce</a>, community building and education. Urban farms also create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-022-00859-4">homes for bees and urban wildlife</a>, while offering some <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.826437">protection from the urban heat island effect</a>. </p>
<p>The practice of growing food in cities is <a href="https://www.contrivedatuminsights.com/product-report/urban-farming-market-248549/">expected to continue expanding</a> in the coming years, and many cities are looking to it as a key tool for climate adaptation and environmental justice. </p>
<p>We believe that with careful site design and improved land use policy, urban farmers and gardeners can boost their benefit both to people nearby and the planet as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Goldstein receives funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Hawes and Joshua Newell do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study of dozens of city gardens and urban farms across the US and Europe found several ways to boost their benefits, not just for their neighborhoods, but for the planet.Jason Hawes, Ph.D. Candidate in Resource Policy and Behavior, University of MichiganBenjamin Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Systems, University of MichiganJoshua Newell, Professor of Environment and Sustainability, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157422024-01-15T13:55:39Z2024-01-15T13:55:39ZHealthy food is hard to come by in Cape Town’s poorer areas: how community gardens can fix that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563626/original/file-20231205-29-mmm1zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community gardens can be a boon for residents.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nattrass/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1950, as part of the Group Areas Act, South Africa’s apartheid government banished people of colour to outlying areas, away from central business districts. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cape-Flats">The Cape Flats</a> are one such area, sprawling to the east of central Cape Town.</p>
<p>Today the legacy of apartheid spatial planning endures. The area is home to several densely populated townships (low-income public housing estates) such as Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Langa. In these communities, there’s limited infrastructure and few transport links to the city’s economic hubs.</p>
<p>One way in which these factors affect residents is that it’s difficult to access nutritious food. Studies reveal that there’s significant <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-014-9217-5">inequality in the distribution</a> of supermarkets. Considerable distances hinder access by the urban poor to high-income areas. Additionally, supermarkets in low-income regions tend to offer less <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-014-9217-5">healthy food options</a> than those in wealthier neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>This lack of access is reflected in levels of food insecurity across the Cape Flats. A <a href="https://www.foodfortransformation.org/full-article/the-state-of-food-security-in-cape-town-and-st-helena-bay.html">recent study</a> highlighted that 45% of households in the township of Gugulethu were food insecure; the figure for Khayelitsha stood at 36%. This was considerably higher than food insecurity levels in wealthier areas of Cape Town.</p>
<p>Urban community gardens present an opportunity to challenge the status quo. Community-centred approaches to urban agriculture have been successful in various parts of the world, including <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-013-0155-8#Sec8">Cuba</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912420300328#sec2">Brazil</a>. Communities in both countries that prioritise local distribution, school feeding schemes and hosting neighbourhood markets have experienced increased food security and improved access to nutritious foods that people not only need but prefer to eat. </p>
<p>Part of my <a href="https://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/11394/9180">PhD</a> explored how urban community gardens could be used to improve access to nutritious food on the Cape Flats. Based <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2427.13224">on my findings</a>, I propose a set of recommendations to encourage the selling of agro-ecologically harvested vegetables and fruits within poorer communities. The aim is to shift from the current system, where produce is primarily sold to commercial outlets, towards a more inclusive and community-centred model that directly benefits the neighbourhoods where the food is grown.</p>
<h2>Gardeners’ stories</h2>
<p>The City of Cape Town, the provincial department of agriculture and civil society groups have supported and promoted urban community gardens in low-income areas as a means to enhance food nutrition and security. Supporting actors help gardeners to develop their skills, as well as providing some of the required equipment. For instance, the <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication/urban-farming">provincial department of agriculture</a> supports community gardens through the provision of borehole drilling, water tanks and irrigation systems. </p>
<p>For my research I visited 34 urban community gardens on the Cape Flats. One, in Khayelitsha, was established in February 2014 and has 11 members who tend to the day to day functioning of the garden. It stood out to me because it fostered such a strong sense of community and because the gardeners adapted to challenges as they arose.</p>
<p>The soil was initially poor, so the original team of 12 worked to improve its quality, using compost and manure. As the garden evolved, they decided to divide the space, allowing each individual to have their own set of plots. This structural change enhanced their harvest, enabling members to work at their own pace with a higher output. Typically the produce is sold by intermediaries who liaise with hotels and restaurants on the gardeners’ behalf. This was the case for most of the community gardens I studied: most of their harvests were sold to commercial outlets.</p>
<p>This current model is fundamentally flawed. It means that nutritious food produced in and by a community isn’t used to feed that community. Instead it is siphoned out to wealthier neighbourhoods and more commercial outlets. </p>
<p>One reason for this seems to be people’s perceptions of the quality of produce from community gardens. One garden’s co-founder told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The frustration that we had in the past is that people who understand that the food must be safe and nutritious is people from outside, the white or suburban people, you know, so to them there is a demand for this kind of produce. Which is a different story in our communities – here where they look down on the produce coming from the backyard and gardens and that is where we want to do a lot of education and mobilising to make sure that the produce stays locally.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Collaboration is central</h2>
<p>I agree that such education and mobilisation is key. It dovetails with the major recommendation that emerged from my study: harvested produce from urban community gardens should be distributed through various channels – not just sold to commercial outlets. The food should be directed into local markets, community food kitchens, school feeding programmes, and directly to residents.</p>
<p>This ensures that urban community gardens directly contribute to the well-being and food security of the communities in which they exist.</p>
<p>Implementing this approach requires a collaborative effort from various stakeholders, including local governments, community organisations, and residents. It involves reshaping existing marketing strategies and policies to align with the historical and socio-economic conditions of Cape Town’s low-income areas. It also requires research to understand local consumer perspectives, dietary habits, and challenges in accessing healthy, sustainable food.</p>
<p>This can all be done. In Brazil, one approach to ensuring that agricultural produce from small-scale farmers reaches those who need food is to <a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/publications/school-feeding-in-south-africa-what-we-know-what-we-dont-know-what-we-need-to-know-what-we-need-to-do/">link poorer farmers with the school feeding market</a>. The <a href="https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2023/03/24/government-recreates-the-food-acquisition-program-prioritizing-women-and-indigenous-producers">Food Acquisition Programme</a> was initiated in 2003; it involved the government purchasing agricultural produce from impoverished farmers at set prices, storing these commodities, and subsequently distributing them to schools, crèches and NGOs. The programme is still running today. </p>
<h2>Food justice for all</h2>
<p>Through sustainable practices and community engagement it is possible to nurture a future in which food justice becomes a reality on the Cape Flats. <a href="https://foodprint.org/issues/food-justice/">Food justice</a> is the belief that everyone should have equal access to nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food. It emphasises addressing social, economic and environmental factors that contribute to disparities in food access and promoting fairness in the food system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Community-centred approaches to urban agriculture have been successful in various parts of the world.Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira, Researcher, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2081442023-07-18T07:34:37Z2023-07-18T07:34:37ZMalnutrition in South Africa: how one community wants resources to be spent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535329/original/file-20230703-269585-e1naed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Proposed solutions to malnutrition included providing school breakfast. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard van der Spuy/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa has persistently high rates of <a href="https://ci.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/content_migration/health_uct_ac_za/533/files/CG2020_ch1_slow%2520violence%2520of%2520malnutrition.pdf">hunger and malnutrition</a> among mothers and children. More than a quarter – <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=213">27%</a> – of children under five are stunted and <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=219">61%</a> of children are iron-deficient. <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=332">Sixty-nine percent</a> of women of reproductive age are overweight or obese, and 31% are iron-deficient.</p>
<p>These figures paint a worrying picture. They suggest gaps in the country’s <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf">evidence-based</a> nutrition policies and services. </p>
<p>One way to accelerate progress on malnutrition is through engaging with the people who are directly affected by policies. </p>
<p>South Africa’s health system strategy does include <a href="https://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/depthealthstrategicplanfinal2020-21to2024-25-1.pdf">public consultation</a>. But public participation is mostly limited to public meetings once a policy has already been drafted. This leaves little opportunity for substantial revisions. The lack of meaningful public engagement is also evident in how funds for mother and child nutrition are allocated. <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742018000300016">Decisions are left to policy makers</a> and there’s little input from people on the ground. </p>
<p>Only by understanding what communities consider important can policies respond to the actual needs of individuals.</p>
<p>We are a group of social scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand who have been exploring approaches for public engagement. We designed a study that puts communities into the shoes of policy makers. We asked community members which programmes they would prioritise if they were given a limited health budget.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-023-15761-1#ref-CR14">respondents</a> in Soweto, an urban township in South Africa with constrained resources, didn’t focus much on health system programmes. They put more emphasis on the underlying causes of malnutrition. To help mothers and children be well nourished they proposed: providing school breakfast; paid maternity leave; improved food safety; and establishing community gardens and clubs.</p>
<p>This article presents one approach for public engagement. We suggest policy makers, researchers and funders consider programmes that communities view as essential for improving mother-and-child nutrition.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>To engage communities, we modified an exercise called <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-023-15761-1#ref-CR14">CHAT (Choosing All Together)</a>. CHAT is a simulation exercise, something like a board game. It offers a practical way to involve the public in making healthcare decisions. It seeks to show not only which programmes people prioritise, using a limited budget, but the values (assumptions, beliefs or perspectives) those priorities are based on.</p>
<p>Our research team modified CHAT specifically for the context of Soweto. Members of the community were invited to select a package of programmes they saw as priorities to improve mother-and-child nutrition. Fifty-four adult men and women volunteered to part take in the exercise. As with policy makers in real life, they had to make difficult decisions around what to include in their package of programmes, what to leave out (given a limited budget), and why. The volunteers had to discuss and debate their choices to convince one another why one programme would be better for the community than another.</p>
<p>Participants worked together in small groups and they could select from 14 programmes. Five programmes were “nutrition-specific” (directly influenced the immediate causes of malnutrition) and delivered through the healthcare system (pregnancy supplements). Nine programmes were “nutrition-sensitive” (addressed the underlying causes of nutrition), and accessed in non-health sectors (extended paid maternity leave).</p>
<h2>The outcomes</h2>
<p>Community members’ top three priorities were:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the provision of school breakfast </p></li>
<li><p>extending paid maternity leave to six months and to those in informal employment </p></li>
<li><p>ensuring that food sold by street vendors and served in schools and creches was prepared in a safe and hygienic way. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Affordable healthy food, help in finding jobs, and community gardens were other programmes the participants considered important to improve their community’s mother-and-child nutrition.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think community gardens can help everyone. To be able to, if you want to, grow vegetables and sell them to people, to be able to get money and teach children and other older people to do gardening.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The community’s choices reflect the values of fairness, equity, social justice and children’s well-being. Participants showed a willingness to consider other viewpoints and reflect on the consequences of their choices for the entire community. </p>
<p>Programmes that would interrupt the intergenerational cycle of poverty were important. These included freeing up disposable income by growing more of their own food, enhancing their self-reliance overall – which could also uplift the neediest among them – and reducing their dependence on social welfare.</p>
<p>In the South African context of astronomical rates of unemployment (<a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15407">more than 60%</a> among young adults), solutions like establishing community gardens represented paths to livelihoods, socio-economic empowerment, and supporting the neediest in the community. </p>
<h2>Translating public engagement into action</h2>
<p>Public engagement is entrenched in the constitution and in various policy documents. But there are gaps. Even where public engagement has occurred it has had very little impact on policy making.</p>
<p>For South Africa to uphold its <a href="https://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/depthealthstrategicplanfinal2020-21to2024-25-1.pdf">commitment</a> to equity in healthcare, engaging the public on ethical and social values should be part of a systematic process of setting priorities in government.</p>
<p>Addressing malnutrition will also require coordinated actions across many sectors. Our findings show that not all potential solutions (such as community gardens and extended maternity leave) would fall to the already overburdened health system. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nutritionsociety.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/National-Food-and-Nutrition-Security-Plan-2018-2023.pdf">South African National Food and Nutrition Security Plan 2018-2023</a> already has cross-sectoral coordination as an objective, via the establishment of a multisectoral advisory council to oversee alignment of policies, and coordinate and implement programmes. Integrating public engagement, through using tools like CHAT, could complement such efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208144/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agnes Erzse receives funding from the SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, PRICELESS, University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Johannesburg South Africa (23108).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aviva Tugendhaft receives funding from The SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, PRICELESS, University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Johannesburg South Africa (23108).</span></em></p>Failing to understand what communities consider important greatly diminishes the responsiveness of policies to the actual needs of individuals.Agnes Erzse, Researcher, SAMRC/Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science- PRICELESS SA, University of the WitwatersrandAviva Tugendhaft, Senior Researcher, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, PRICELESS SA, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits School of Public Health, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1828322022-08-04T19:31:41Z2022-08-04T19:31:41ZCommunity and school gardens don’t magically sprout bountiful benefits<p>While it is widely understood that <a href="https://www.perlego.com/book/1620745/learning-gardens-and-sustainability-education-bringing-life-to-schools-and-schools-to-life-pdf?">community and</a> and school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/2047-2382-3-20">gardening have innumerable health, well-being and educational benefits</a>, it’s important to realize these benefits don’t <a href="https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-88-number-4/herarticle/beyond-magic-carrots">magically </a>appear when gardens take root.</p>
<p>Over the past six years, I’ve worked closely with educators, community workers, activists and community members in <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/indigenous/land-and-peoples/learn-about-land-and-peoples-tiohtiake-montreal">Tio’tia:ke/Montréal</a> as we created, funded and sustained gardens and garden teams at schools and community organizations. </p>
<p>We set up adult education internships to provide practical gardening and teaching support to explore the extent to which gardens act as forums where people address social and environmental justice. Some participants experienced barriers to employment, food insecurity and homelessness.</p>
<p>This research and community work demonstrated how critical it is to advocate for broader social, urban and educational structural changes to support community garden work — and to understand the importance of having realistic expectations about what people can accomplish in and through gardens. </p>
<h2>Who do benefits reach?</h2>
<p>In Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, community gardening unfolds in many different ways that might include gardening efforts at community-based organizations and city-run gardens. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-community-gardens-1.5351635">significant wait lists</a> to access a garden plot in the city, exacerbated by community gardens being historically <a href="https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/9880vx03d">more accessible to property-owning individuals</a>. </p>
<p>According to the mayor of Montréal, “<a href="http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=5977,43117560&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&id=32606">for many people, community gardens are more than just a hobby. They allow them to feed their families and to obtain fresh produce at a low cost</a>.” </p>
<p>Such statements obscure more complex issues <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/impacts-green-gentrification-homelessness-urban-greening-and-displacement-parc-extension">around who controls and accesses community gardens and deeper entrenched social inequities relating to land rights</a> in a capitalist <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619868110">settler-colonial society</a> that privileges ownership, whiteness and hierarchical modes of relating.</p>
<h2>Relationship to food insecurity</h2>
<p>My findings contest claims that suggest community gardening <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/video-how-community-gardens-can-increase-food-security/">is inherently an activity</a> that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10900-011-9522-z">reduces under-served communities’ food insecurity</a>. </p>
<p>Reflecting on my efforts to grow food for organizations that work with people experiencing food insecurity, as part of a project called “Gardening for Food Security,” I cannot claim gardening helped to alleviate the concerns of people experiencing food insecurity in any quantifiable way. </p>
<p>This is despite producing an immense amount of food harvested on a weekly/bi-weekly basis from late June to early November in 2018 and 2019. </p>
<p>Although the gardens were thriving, the organization never reduced their food order to Montréal’s largest food bank. This may be because while participants ate from the garden harvest, their reliance upon it did not reduce their need for other food. The Gardening for Food Security project did, however, modestly support a food bank and a once-a-week meal service.</p>
<h2>Mixed effects for communities, individuals</h2>
<p>As we gardened and invested in gardens for different social, educational and environmental reasons in rapidly gentrifying neighbourhoods, we contributed to increasing land values in a process described as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00860.x">green gentrification</a>. </p>
<p>Despite these critical observations, some benefits of the project included: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>offering relevant paid employment for young adults experiencing barriers to employment, food insecurity and homelessness; </p></li>
<li><p>providing mentorship and opportunities for under-served young adults and students to express themselves (through art, photography, <a href="https://internationalcellphilmfestival.com/2018/11/13/congratulations-to-this-years-winners/">music, film</a>, gardening); </p></li>
<li><p>facilitating partnerships between schools and organizations with mandates of social and environmental justice for mutual benefit; </p></li>
<li><p>acquiring prolonged financial, learning and human resource support to educators, learners, community workers and community members, while developing ethical relationships and collaborating to accomplish shared objectives. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The latter three types of benefits are difficult to quantify to funders. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TeaipZkaWrc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video created in collaboration with some ‘Gardening for Food Security’ team members with music by one team member, Sven ‘7ven’ Creese.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Problems with schools gardens</h2>
<p>Gardening as part of environmental education is not <a href="https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2005.3.3.5">mandatory core curriculum in Québec</a>. School gardening often occurs outside of formal class time, during lunch hour or after school. Taken together, organizing gardening experiences for students within most public schools adds additional labour to already overworked and under-supported educators. </p>
<p>For gardening to be relevant and add educational value for both teachers and learners, gardens need to be incorporated into each core curricular area (French, English, Math and so on) and not only used before or after school hours and during lunchtime. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-community-gardens-plant-the-seeds-of-change-to-address-global-warming-134776">School-community gardens plant the seeds of change to address global warming</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many of my teacher collaborators stated that they are fully committed and interested in creating garden-based learning experiences for their students. But securing permissions translates to administrative labour. This can detract from arranging other important aspects of garden creation like establishing funding, building relationships with collaborators or drawing curricular connections and so on. </p>
<h2>Small community change</h2>
<p>Tio’tia:ke/Montréal, like many Canadian cities, has a long winter and a short intense summer. For school gardens to work, the planning and administrative labour and permissions for a spring garden need to happen early in the school year to account for inevitable delays. </p>
<p>If educators or outside parties wish to support school gardens with funding and labour, I strongly recommend that students lead the creation, development and importantly the evaluation of the garden as a project.</p>
<p>When gardens are prematurely <a href="https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-88.4.516">celebrated for producing anticipated outcomes</a> such as health and well-being and food security, without a larger acknowledgement of how these complex issues are affected by systemic barriers, much can be lost. </p>
<p>This includes the well-being of teachers who invest immense labour in something they believe in with limited institutional support, and affordable spaces for people to live who get dispossessed of their homes, communities and networks through green gentrification.</p>
<h2>No easy solutions</h2>
<p>There are no easy solutions to the social and environmental problems of school, community gardening or greening.</p>
<p>Often, teachers and community members want and need a garden, but they are more in need of: financial support, teaching support, human resource support, more time, fewer students, curricular freedom, relevant professional development and land that isn’t part of a bigger capitalist system of private ownership or tied up in red tape. </p>
<p>Even small community change takes time and needs ongoing collective effort. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story originally published Aug. 4, 2022. The earlier story said gardens were reserved for property-owning individuals instead of more accessible to them.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mitchell McLarnon receives funding from Employment and Social Development Canada</span></em></p>Gardens require huge labour, and outcomes like health, well-being or food security are affected by systemic barriers people face in cities and schools.Mitchell McLarnon, Assistant Professor, Adult Education, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1645472021-08-13T01:05:48Z2021-08-13T01:05:48Z3 ways community gardens often exclude migrants and refugees — and how to turn this around<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414075/original/file-20210802-49975-97b1vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C3648%2C2708&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With millions of Australians enduring lockdown yet again, you may be seeking solace in gardening. For migrants and refugees in Australia, gardening can be particularly meaningful when shared in community spaces. </p>
<p>But community gardens aren’t always sites of inclusion. In our recently <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-48277-0_96-1">published research</a>, my colleagues and I highlight the ways migrants and refugees are excluded from community gardens — and how to change this. </p>
<p>When community gardens are socially inclusive, everyone benefits. Culturally diverse community gardens can not only deepen cross-cultural <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2019.1641073?casa_token=Mgzpmh83-JwAAAAA%3AK-NOTxrx9chkagVq2JcgupDsflHx02IMboRBUVCVGkObJJduUTRuQ-tHTX4DrzvWfYQD4J7_MjosZSE">social connections</a>, they can even help develop the skills to adapt to change and crisis, such as from climate change. </p>
<h2>The benefits of community gardens</h2>
<p>Waiting lists to join community gardens are extremely long in many parts of Australia, with <a href="https://rushallgarden.wordpress.com/join-us/online-membership-form/">some gardens</a> requiring up to an eight-year wait. <a href="https://www.communitygarden.org.au/2021/03/the-pandemic-gardening-survey-report/">Advocacy groups</a> consistently call for more sites and greater financial support to meet this demand.</p>
<p>There are good reasons for their growing popularity. Improved mental and physical <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1943">health and wellbeing</a> regularly tops the list of their positive impacts, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/35/4/790/5542617?casa_token=cc_ZH_fDjnoAAAAA:nN68eS95sQg4zKphYdJUbFLNaydNJuhm9aqrkVgZXrAbdcgidNiZWTQbBRN2s1PVtindjjv6ovuO-s8">as they promote</a> more exercise, greater access to nutritious food, strengthen community connections, and more.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The food grown in community gardens can also help improve food security. During lockdown, these sites have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-15/community-garden-feeding-community-food-insecurity-covid-19/12983260">been vital</a> to meet the everyday needs of many suffering from financial hardship. </p>
<p>For refugees and migrants, communal gardening sites can be therapeutic, safe spaces. </p>
<p>When immersed in <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/ipp-ipp0000061.pdf">supportive communities</a> that share a commitment to productive gardening, migrants and refugees can improve their self-efficacy. The ability to grow <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1747-0080.12143?casa_token=PCvjMCvDF4EAAAAA:kdGSD8ILQ7h7mvp8KIbiLLDJogJcbZ8ALs5QByVPdZtiiGsMcTaUP4glksXtnomMyTlDt6pfj0EoidmJUQ">culturally familiar foods</a> can also maintain their <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-06/refugee-community-garden-growing-rare-vegetables-in-adelaide/12217592">connections to homelands</a>, easing the resettlement and migration process. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men crouching in a community garden" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414076/original/file-20210802-54447-1jaxuoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Communal gardens should be safe spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is why it’s so important to improve these opportunities and remove any barriers excluding these gardeners. <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-48277-0_96-1">Our research</a> reviewed worldwide studies of community gardens, and found common barriers to refugee and migrant participation revolve around three key areas:</p>
<h2>1. Physical and material features of gardens</h2>
<p>This includes high membership fees, inability to easily travel to gardens and insecure land tenure. </p>
<p>Site design that limits gardeners’ autonomy and ability to grow familiar foods is also a problem. This can happen where there’s communal, rather than individual, plot cultivation, putting pressure on new gardeners to grow foods already well known to existing gardeners. </p>
<p>Another barrier is a lack of available <a href="https://www.ugain.online/fileadmin/docs/UGAIN_SummaryReport_English.pdf">space and small plot sizes</a>, which can make it harder to grow culturally important crops, such as maize. </p>
<h2>2. Garden management styles</h2>
<p>Inclusive practices are often not embedded into information sharing and decision making, such as not translating information. </p>
<p>For example, community gardens often rely on formal management meetings, but these may not take into account different <a href="https://sustain.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/2014-02_Vancouver%20Inclusive%20Community%20Gardens_Lowcock.pdf">languages</a>, cultural traditions and unequal power relations.</p>
<p>Relying on community gardens for food security can also be a big problem for refugees and migrants, especially for new arrivals. This can lead to gardens replacing more holistic <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/open-space-with-weeds-becomes-community-garden-for-refugees-20210623-p583fg.html">social support programs</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/running-out-of-things-to-do-in-isolation-get-back-in-the-garden-with-these-ideas-from-4-experts-134229">Running out of things to do in isolation? Get back in the garden with these ideas from 4 experts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Privileging particular values and aesthetics</h2>
<p>The way we care for gardens and ideas about how a productive garden should look, are often shaped by whatever <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/socf.12152?casa_token=fA-iaw_LtAcAAAAA:dgITUWe_D-HXy2pPLwzXZEHlBXWOYlaY-DKnG4jh6ZMKzkuLnkT1BaPApus5qpQhlBgTF5UOvsJ_asPxMQ">cultural norm</a> is dominant. Uniform, neatly mulched raised beds, free of weeds and overhanging vegetation, are often favoured by risk averse councils. </p>
<p>Migrant and refugee gardening styles can be at odds with accepted expectations and values like these. Many are used to cultivating directly into the soil and prefer to grow a wide variety of plants together that may not look neat, but can <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/6092ACCA9354BA31AE13964439B31975/S1742170514000180a.pdf/urban-home-gardens-in-the-global-north-a-mixed-methods-study-of-ethnic-and-migrant-home-gardens-in-chicago-il.pdf">increase biodiversity</a>. They may also leave more space between crops to improve yield.</p>
<p>This means these familiar, productive and <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=b8w_DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Beyond+the+Kale:+Urban+Agriculture+and+Social+Justice+Activism+in+New+York+Cit&ots=SLngOwPrK9&sig=PboOU8xePYN-358kce8NaMgRx-Y#v=onepage&q=Beyond%20the%20Kale%3A%20Urban%20Agriculture%20and%20Social%20Justice%20Activism%20in%20New%20York%20Cit&f=false">culturally appropriate</a> ways of gardening for refugees and migrants can be devalued and excluded, along with their skills and knowledge.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Muslim woman tends to garden" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414074/original/file-20210802-56168-1xjyaz0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Volunteer groups managing community gardens should be give more resources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The good news is we can make community gardens more socially inclusive places. To do this, there needs to be more investment from governments and local councils in resources (including land and financial support) for the largely volunteer groups developing and managing these sites. </p>
<p>These resources need to assist migrants and refugees to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>develop social and ecological connections that engender a sense of belonging </p></li>
<li><p>contribute to the design and management of gardens in culturally and linguistically inclusive ways</p></li>
<li><p>make choices about how to tend their plots that enable some connection to their homeland</p></li>
<li><p>engage with other garden members from all backgrounds to share knowledge and lessons</p></li>
<li><p>not have to rely on the garden as a primary source of food or income generation. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Gardens are better when migrants and refugees are included</h2>
<p>Community gardens are currently <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/residents/home-neighbourhood/gardens-and-green-spaces/Pages/community-gardens-compost-hubs.aspx">off limits</a> to many under lockdown. When we return to COVID-normal, the lessons from socially inclusive gardens could help communities better prepare for future disruption, particularly from climate change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-veggie-gardening-to-op-shopping-migrants-are-the-quiet-environmentalists-155473">From veggie gardening to op-shopping, migrants are the quiet environmentalists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Resettlement in a different country involves ongoing adjustments to new social, ecological and climate conditions. We can all learn from migrant and refugee skills, knowledge, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-veggie-gardening-to-op-shopping-migrants-are-the-quiet-environmentalists-155473">the ways they adapt</a>, as adjustment to unfamiliar environments often comes with careful <a href="https://journal.ep.liu.se/index.php/valuationstudies/article/view/760">tinkering</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13549839.2019.1637832?casa_token=_RJWn2QeA3AAAAAA%3AQ4jMAdOlvC2BLgLv-UT94b35yLFRTs0u65Eef8gkh7P-wKBqh7LjDe6t6MO7jy4st6fHHvQHWn1JJs8">trial and error</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to food gardens, past research has shown this experimentation can lead to boosting <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13604813.2013.765652">biodiversity</a> and expanding diets, due to the variety of crops grown. One example is the introduction of maize to produce maize flour in many gardens throughout Australia. This is a diet staple for many <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/amazing-maize/13396494">African nations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bok Choi in soil" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414277/original/file-20210803-19-1jg6g5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The desire to grow foods from the homeland can lead to gardening techniques that can sustain future changes in climate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The desire to grow culturally relevant foods means tinkering with soil and growing conditions, as well as the plants themselves. This enables the plants to adapt to unfamiliar conditions, which will become increasingly variable <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074301671730116X?casa_token=eHYUVk_ue6IAAAAA:RQbV_4rmv9WzNzBxugSfBrJRYLW5HrWBX6R2ZdjxwSj2W7Dm6XvKnMUPfSBGwCWJ245zqcjrmy06">under climate change</a>. Learning how to grow tropical plants in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074301671730116X?casa_token=secrY6RL1I8AAAAA:SvJs6TX_XHJRXb67tpc4Hl2614e0gDj29XPUWADjgPnFnbru5ml3k2IHCmI34nOWyaEBbf_mV697#bbib12">frosty parts of Victoria</a> or on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13604813.2013.765652">marginal soils</a> are a couple of good examples.</p>
<p>What’s more, gardeners from diverse backgrounds can increase a community’s repertoire of safe, low-tech cultivation and pest management techniques. This includes how to make the most of the waste from culturally familiar foods, such as <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0073859">Japanese gardeners’ use of tofu residue</a> as a soil conditioner. </p>
<p>Not only will bringing together culturally diverse community members foster more meaningful connections, but also it will strengthen our shared ability to adapt to the uncertainty of a changing climate.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge Jessica Abramovic and Cathy Hope who helped compile the research upon which this article is based.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethaney Turner has previously received funding from the Australian Capital Territory(ACT) Government for research into community gardens and local food strategies in the ACT and surrounding regions. Her family has a plot in a local community garden administered by Canberra Organic Growers Society.</span></em></p>When community gardens are socially inclusive, everyone benefits. The knowledge, skills and experimentation of migrant and refugee gardeners makes them more resilient and biodiverse.Bethaney Turner, Associate Professor, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1565682021-05-18T20:05:44Z2021-05-18T20:05:44ZSchool gardens and kitchens could grow with Ontario’s proposed food literacy act<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400660/original/file-20210513-19-1ii5xqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=94%2C65%2C4645%2C2980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Food literacy includes understanding where food comes from and knowing how to plan, select, prepare and eat healthy meals. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As some essential services like <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ontario-community-gardens-essential-1.5545115">community gardens</a> re-open and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/may-long-weekend-mixed-weather-still-ok-for-gardening-1.2645535">people start planting again</a>, our connections to food are top of mind. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has shone light on many issues in our “<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-perils-of-our-just-enough-just-in-time-food-system-133724">just enough, just in time</a>” food system. Stories about <a href="https://theconversation.com/100-days-of-coronavirus-has-sent-shock-waves-through-the-food-system-140386">meat-packing</a> workers and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/covid-19-hamilton-1.5985299">migrant labourers</a> facing COVID-19 work hazards and other injustices have put a spotlight on the precarity of a globalized food system. </p>
<p>Some seed retailers have reported growing demand amid an apparent <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/05/964043089/suppliers-field-growing-demand-for-seeds-from-pandemic-gardeners">pandemic resurgence in gardening</a>, while some local farms reported <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/covid-19-farm-gate-sales-booming-customers-looking-for-fresh-local-safe-1.5535723">increased sales</a>. Awareness of where our food comes from and all the issues this implies will be important for building a more resilient post-pandemic food system.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3148/cjdpr-2015-010">Food literacy</a> includes knowing how to plan, select, prepare and eat healthy meals as well as being aware of and engaged in food systems. <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-216">Ontario’s Food Literacy for Students Act</a> (Bill 216) aims to make food literacy mandatory for all Ontario students in grades 1-12 to “ensure that students are given opportunities to grow food, prepare food and learn about local foods.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A teacher and kids at a garden." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401416/original/file-20210518-13-17bqedh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Learning to plant seedlings could be part of core school curriculum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>First of its kind in Canada</h2>
<p>Bill 216 is the <a href="https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/kingston-developed-private-members-bill-would-be-first-in-canada-to-mandate-food-literacy-education">first of its kind in Canada</a>. The <a href="https://www.quintenews.com/2020/12/11/mpp-kramp-leading-the-charge-on-food-literacy/">private member bill</a> was proposed in October 2020 and has <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-216/status">passed its first and second reading</a>, but has not yet gone to committee. Canada currently lags behind some other countries in teaching and funding food literacy. Japan, for example, has a <a href="http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server../APJCN/17/s1/180.pdf">food education law</a> that emphasizes food and cooking skills.</p>
<p>Many young people today are graduating high school without <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=5727">essential food skills</a> to cook or grow food, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/175174414X14006746101916">lack knowledge about our food systems,</a> where food comes from, how it was produced and the broader systems that move and regulate it. This is because this type of food-related education is <a href="https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/370/355">not mandatory</a>.</p>
<p>A lack of food literacy or skills can lead people to be <a href="https://nutritionconnections.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Food-Literacy-Programming-in-Ontario-Report-Final.pdf">more reliant on highly processed ready-made foods</a> which, if consumed regularly, can increase risk of developing chronic disease. But food skills alone can’t compensate for having
inadequate income or <a href="https://farmworktofeedcanada.ca/covid-19-intensifies-food-insecurity-for-canadians-in-urban-food-deserts/">facing food insecurity due to constrained choices</a> in the foods that are available where one lives.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-build-a-better-canada-after-covid-19-transform-cerb-into-a-basic-annual-income-program-140683">How to build a better Canada after COVID-19: Transform CERB into a basic annual income program</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Chronic disease is a burden on our health-care system. It costs Ontario <a href="https://www.ccohealth.ca/sites/CCOHealth/files/assets/BurdenCDReport.pdf">$10.5 billion annually</a> and disproportionately affects <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/science-research-data/understanding-report-key-health-inequalities-canada.html">those facing health inequities</a>, such as people with lower socio-economic status, Indigenous peoples, sexual and racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants and people living with physical or mental impairments.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Fresh produce seen on a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401327/original/file-20210518-19-1ep0s4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ontario’s proposed bill aims to integrate opportunities to learn about local foods into school curriculum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Awareness of food systems and policies — sometimes known as <a href="https://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/news-from-agriculture-and-agri-food-canada/agri-info/being-agri-literate-canadian-agricultural-literacy-month-celebrates-its-10th-anniversary/?id=1615472324023">agricultural literacy</a> — is important for everyone since these systems and policies affect our environment, economy and the people working within them. These systems and policies also influence the foods that are produced or available to us locally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4">in turn affecting our health</a> and cultural food practices.</p>
<p>As such, awareness and recognition of a diversity of cultures and food practices will be <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/doi/10.1525/elementa.428/114467">critical for food literacy in schools in order to decolonize food systems and related education</a>. This is especially important in a country like Canada, where contemporary food policy and food experiences <a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-the-plains-continues-with-the-acquittal-of-gerald-stanley-91628">emerge from ongoing legacies of colonization</a> (including <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941673/">residential schools</a>) and Eurocentric and racist and <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/pandemic-border/permanently-temporary-the-problem-with-canadas-immigration-policy">exclusionary policies of immigration</a>. </p>
<p>In Canada, policies that dictate how food is produced, distributed and consumed have <a href="https://canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/article/view/413">adversely affected and under-valued Indigenous cultural practices, and cultural practices of communities deemed “other” by Eurocentric norms</a>. </p>
<p>Educating students about food systems could help the next generation to envision and build a more equitable and resilient food systems and advocate for the foods and food justice issues relevant to diverse cultures and communities. Food literacy education could help empower students and communities to be engaged in policy decisions affecting food, choosing what they eat, how it is produced, processed and distributed — all of which affects community <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/ca9733en/ca9733en.pdf">food security</a>. </p>
<h2>Kitchens and gardens</h2>
<p><a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ955704">Learning through hands-on experiences</a>, especially with food in kitchens and gardens, is a way for students to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-017-9815-7">develop skills and solidify their knowledge</a>. </p>
<p>This type of approach reinforces knowledge when learning about food <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ955704">and food systems</a>. Learning hands-on skills in a kitchen has shown to <a href="https://www.odph.ca/upload/editor/LDCP-Food-Skills-Report-WEB-FINAL.pdf">improve one’s confidence in their ability to cook, which can increase the likelihood of cooking and preparing</a> meals from scratch.</p>
<p>But schools often do not have infrastructure such as kitchens and gardens, and most teachers do not have the training <a href="https://arrellfoodinstitute.ca/spotlight/school-food-and-nutrition/">to lead cooking and gardening lessons</a>. Investment in kitchens and gardens by governments is essential to make hands-on food literacy education possible. In 2014, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/education-28981684">the United Kingdom committed the equivalent of more than $295 million for school kitchens and dining facilities</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-community-gardens-plant-the-seeds-of-change-to-address-global-warming-134776">School-community gardens plant the seeds of change to address global warming</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 2020, the Coalition for Healthy School Food called on the federal government for a one-time investment of $200 million in a dedicated <a href="https://www.healthyschoolfood.ca/post/letter-to-the-prime-minister">school food fund</a> for infrastructure and equipment, such as kitchens and cafeterias, greenhouses, appliances and tools, and pilot projects. </p>
<p>This could enhance existing programs and expand programming across the country. In the meantime, some <a href="https://www.growingchefs.ca/restaurants">innovative projects with local chefs and restaurants</a> provide some evidence that this type of hands on learning is possible.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A school kitchen facility." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401415/original/file-20210518-13-1k1uiqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Investment in school kitchens and gardens by governments is essential to make hands-on food literacy education possible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Connections to a national school food program</h2>
<p>Many of the infrastructural changes that would result from Bill 216 could also support a national school food program. They could also help to teach about the new <a href="https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/">Canadian Food Guide</a>, Indigenous and diverse cultural food practices since food programs would benefit from kitchen and garden facilities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-pledges-a-canadian-school-food-program-but-recipe-requires-funding-112789">Federal budget pledges a Canadian school food program but recipe requires funding</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Earlier this year in February, the federal Minister of Agriculture launched an <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/02/24/advisory-council-set-to-shape-canadas-food-policy.html">advisory council</a> for <a href="https://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/about-our-department/key-departmental-initiatives/food-policy/the-food-policy-for-canada/?id=1597863791042">Canada’s food policy</a>. The council first met in early March, and soon we should hear how it will <a href="https://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/about-our-department/key-departmental-initiatives/food-policy/the-food-policy-for-canada/?id=1597863791042#aarea">advise on implementing the four priority action areas</a> the federal government announced in the 2019 budget: these areas include investing “in projects that increase access to food, with the potential to provide social, health, environmental and economic benefits,” and engaging with “<a href="https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/plan/chap-04-en.html#Introducing-a-Food-Policy-for-Canada">provinces, territories and key stakeholder groups to work toward the creation of a national school food program</a>.” Another priority is addressing Indigenous food insecurity and providing support for “strong Indigenous food systems.” These priorities can and need to be reflected in food literacy and school food initiatives.</p>
<p>However, the program is <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-pledges-a-canadian-school-food-program-but-recipe-requires-funding-112789">yet to be funded</a>. Canadians who signed a <a href="https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-1957">House of Commons e-petition 1957</a> presented to the House in May 2019 calling for a national school food program are eager to hear more about next steps and how this could dovetail with Bill 216. </p>
<p>Given that food literacy is an essential knowledge and skill set, a food literacy act in Ontario and other provinces is long overdue. The proposed act adds to the potential right now to make <a href="https://arrellfoodinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SchoolFoodNutrition_Final_RS.pdf">comprehensive and integrated school food programs</a> possible. </p>
<p>What are we waiting for?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alicia Martin receives funding from the Social Sciences Research and Humanities Council. She is a member of the Canadian Association for Food Studies' School Food Working Group, which is a member of the Coalition for Healthy School Food.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amberley T. Ruetz receives funding from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). She is a member of the Canadian Association for Food Studies' School Food Working Group, which is a member of the Coalition for Healthy School Food.</span></em></p>Ontario’s proposed Food Literacy Act for Students, a first in Canada, would mean students in grades 1-12 have opportunities to grow food and prepare food and learn about local foods.Alicia Martin, PhD Student, Geography, University of GuelphAmberley T. Ruetz, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography and Arrell Food Scholar, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1518212021-01-11T13:13:18Z2021-01-11T13:13:18Z18 million US children are at risk of hunger: How is the problem being addressed and what more can be done?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376213/original/file-20201221-21-596juh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=138%2C1169%2C4055%2C2823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite help from the government and charities, the number of food-insecure kids is rising.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-and-children-wearing-protective-face-masks-carry-food-news-photo/1209343192"> NurPhoto/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: The economic crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has increased the number of <a href="https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/54-million-people-america-face-food-insecurity-during-pandemic-it-could-have-dire-consequences-their">Americans who can’t always get enough to eat</a>, including children. The Conversation U.S. asked four experts to explain how common child hunger is and what’s being done to address it.</em></p>
<h2>1. How big a problem is child hunger in the US?</h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AfhawtoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Heather Eicher-Miller</a>, associate professor of nutrition science at Purdue University:</strong> <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/11578">Hunger has two very different meanings</a>. It can describe that uncomfortable feeling you get after not eating in a while. It’s also a long-term physical state.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375973/original/file-20201218-13-59dqpg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Heather Eicher-Miller.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/nutr/directory/faculty/eicher-miller_heather.html">Purdue University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People who experience long-term hunger aren’t just uncomfortable. They can feel weakness or pain and run an elevated risk of illnesses, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-0397">asthma</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.27886">iron-deficiency anemia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.111.142059">poor bone health</a>.</p>
<p>Hunger can of course arise when someone doesn’t eat enough, but it’s also a result of <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx">food insecurity</a> – what happens when you lack the money or other means of accessing enough of the right kinds or amounts of food.</p>
<p>Whereas hunger is a physical condition, food insecurity is an economic and social situation. </p>
<p><strong><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KzTH1ZEAAAAJ&hl=en">David Himmelgreen</a>, professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida:</strong> Food insecurity and child hunger have both skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were an estimated <a href="https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/76390399?faodatalab=2020-12-15-1">50 million food-insecure Americans</a> by the end of 2020, up sharply from <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx">35 million in 2019</a>, the last year for which official data is available.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a man" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375982/original/file-20201218-15-df6u1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">David Himmelgreen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.usf.edu/engagement/faculty/feature-stories/dr-david-dimmelgreen-research.aspx">University of South Florida</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger organization, estimated in 2019 that there were 12.5 million U.S. children – <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2019-05/2017-map-the-meal-gap-child-food-insecurity_0.pdf">1 in 6</a> – at risk of hunger. With growth in the number of <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">American workers unemployed</a> and <a href="https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/news-internal/coronavirus-forecasting-poverty-estimates">children living in poverty</a>, a team of researchers determined in July 2020 that 18 million children – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaa069">1 in 4</a> – were experiencing food insecurity at least sometimes, a few months into the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hAc_w0MAAAAJ&hl=en">Kecia Johnson</a>, assistant professor of sociology at Mississippi State University:</strong> Children who <a href="https://www.charities.org/child-hunger">experience hunger</a> are more likely to be sick, to recuperate from illness more slowly and to be hospitalized more frequently.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375983/original/file-20201218-15-12kc7lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kecia Johnson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sociology.msstate.edu/people/kecia-johnson/">Mississippi State University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among other things, being food insecure increases the potential for <a href="https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity">obesity, heart disease and diabetes</a>, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fjspn.12177">including for children</a>. And food-insecure children are at least twice as likely as other kids to have a variety of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0645">health problems</a>, such as anemia, asthma and anxiety.</p>
<p>Food-insecure kids can also have <a href="https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity">more trouble at school</a> than other children and become more likely to experience social isolation. </p>
<h2>2. What’s being done about the problem?</h2>
<p><strong><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6mrjiJYAAAAJ&hl=en">Diana Cuy Castellanos</a>, assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition at the University of Dayton:</strong> Some <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/usda-foods">15 federal programs</a> assist Americans who need help getting enough nutritious food to eat. The programs cover different populations including the elderly, people with low incomes, infants and children, and Native American communities, as well as areas where there is need for emergency relief due to disasters.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375978/original/file-20201218-23-zyshug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diana Cuy Castellanos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://udayton.edu/directory/education/hss/cuy_castellanos.php">University of Dayton</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The largest is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/snap-benefits-cost-a-total-of-85-6b-in-the-2020-fiscal-year-amid-heightened-us-poverty-and-unemployment-148077">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, known more commonly as SNAP. It provides assistance for the purchase of food based on income and cost US$85.6 billion in the latest fiscal year. Following the passage of a bipartisan relief package in December, most families of four can currently get <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/temporary-increase-maximum-allotments-due-covid-19-revised-12282020">$782 in monthly assistance</a> through SNAP.</p>
<p>Many people still call these benefits “food stamps,” but now, instead of receiving vouchers to purchase food, people receive a card that looks like a credit card with their food allowance on it.</p>
<p>The government also runs the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/wic-program/">Women, Infants and Children</a> program, which provides nutritional aid for low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women and women with at least one child age 5 or under. In addition, there are the School Breakfast and Lunch programs as well as the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/summer-food-service-program">Summer Food Service Program</a>, which funds free healthy meals and snacks to children and teens in low-income areas when school is not in session.</p>
<p>Many of these programs target specific segments of the population, such as children and the elderly. All have something in common: They are designed to help low-income families afford food so as to free up more of their limited income on other needs, such as housing and transportation.</p>
<p><iframe id="ei2YW" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ei2YW/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Himmelgreen:</strong> While federal nutrition programs have helped reduce the severity of food insecurity and child hunger, only a limited number of Americans who don’t get enough to eat can take advantage of them. To get SNAP in Florida, for example, people may not have more than a total of either $2,001 or $3,001 – depending on their age and disabilities – in their savings and checking accounts. Other states have similar but different restrictions, making it hard to estimate the number of Americans who need help but can’t get it. Hence, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-hunger-coronavirus-pandemic-4c7f1705c6d8ef5bac241e6cc8e331bb">millions more people than ever</a> are relying on drive-through food pantries during the pandemic.</p>
<p><strong>Johnson:</strong> There are some 60,000 food pantries, meal programs and food banks, according to <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/press-room/soaring-demand-plummeting-supply">Feeding America</a>, serving about 40 million people yearly. Feeding America and its affiliated food banks and pantries also run <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-can-take-a-village-to-feed-hungry-kids-in-schools-110862">food pantries in schools</a> and <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/hunger-relief-programs/backpack-program">backpack programs</a>, which provide students with easily prepared foods, like boxed macaroni and cheese and canned beans, to take home, throughout the country. </p>
<p>For example, an elementary school in <a href="https://feedingthefuturems.wixsite.com/ffms">Holmes County, Mississippi</a>, has supplied participating families with food and other supplies since 2019.</p>
<p><strong>Eicher-Miller:</strong> Nutrition education is another way to address food insecurity and help reduce the number of children who go hungry. For example, the federal government offers nutrition education to individuals and families who receive SNAP benefits through the <a href="https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education program</a>, or SNAP-Ed. It provides comprehensive nutrition education regarding how to get the most nutrition per food dollar to many of the people who get SNAP benefits and may be having trouble serving their families healthy meals on a limited budget.</p>
<p>The government supports SNAP-Ed in locations like food pantries, community centers and food assistance offices. Its practical budgeting advice, <a href="https://civileats.com/2020/10/20/nutrition-education-is-helping-low-income-families-eat-healthier/">cooking classes</a> and nutrition information make families with children <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuz013">less likely to experience food insecurity</a>, according to a study by my team. When people get the hang of buying the healthiest foods they can on a tight budget, their kids are less likely to go hungry.</p>
<p>I think of nutrition education as a gift that keeps giving in the sense that once someone has the knowledge they can keep using it to stay food secure into the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C449%2C4872%2C3158&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small child holds a big umbrella while their mom in a mask holds a box that says 'vegetables.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C449%2C4872%2C3158&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375988/original/file-20201218-13-abb0jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demand for food donations is on the rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-carry-food-donated-by-volunteers-from-the-baltimore-news-photo/1229967484">Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. What are some of the more promising innovations?</h2>
<p><strong>Cuy Castellanos:</strong> Food insecurity is a complex problem for many reasons, including the limited access millions of people have to the <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/">fresh fruits and vegetables everyone should eat</a>.</p>
<p>That’s why I’m excited to see people starting to grow their own food in low-income communities with <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/45014/30940_err140.pdf">few grocery stores or opportunities to buy produce</a>, from <a href="https://www.calwellness.org/stories/transforming-food-deserts-a-food-justice-tour-of-south-los-angeles/">Los Angeles</a> to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/building-oasis-philadelphia-food-desert">Philadelphia</a>. <a href="https://www.missionofmary.org/">Nonprofits</a> and families are growing food on their own property or are using vacant lots or land on school or church grounds.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.homefull.org/homefull-solutions/urban-agriculture-2/">groups</a> such as <a href="https://www.homefull.org/2010/05/gettysburg-gateway-micro-farm/">Homefull</a> and <a href="https://www.missionofmary.org">Mission of Mary Farms</a> in Dayton, Ohio, have even begun to build greenhouses to extend the growing season and producing root vegetables and leafy greens as well as raising chickens.</p>
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<p><strong>Johnson:</strong> A new community garden is also making a difference in the small majority-Black town of <a href="http://extension.msstate.edu/news/feature-photo/2019/4-h-club-members-pick-produce-community-garden">Maben in rural Mississippi</a>, where there’s nowhere to buy vegetables. Starting in 2019, local leaders approved the conversion of a former school athletic field into a community garden. Once volunteers from a farmers cooperative had cleared and plowed the field, other volunteers planted and harvested crops of tomatoes, purple hull peas, okra and watermelons. The gardeners distributed this first wave of produce primarily to elderly people in Maben who used to have family gardens and give away their own homegrown food in years past.</p>
<p><strong>Himmelgreen:</strong> Many innovative programs across the country are aiming to reduce food insecurity and improve the health of low-income Americans. </p>
<p>At “<a href="https://www.endhungerinamerica.org/getting-started/client-choice-food-pantries/">client food choice</a>” food pantries, clients don’t just pick up boxes of free, nutritious items. Instead, they get to choose the foods they want and get <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-app-that-nudges-people-to-eat-their-veggies-only-works-when-its-introduced-with-a-human-touch-106228">recipes and other kinds of nutrition education</a>. There are also <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-hospital-that-prescribes-free-nutritious-food-to-families-who-need-more-than-medical-care-151457">food prescription programs</a> based in hospitals and medical clinics, where patients are screened for food insecurity and, if eligible, enrolled in SNAP and given help connecting with food pantries either on site or nearby.</p>
<p>A growing number of nonprofits also refer people to school-based food pantries, which operate in <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-can-take-a-village-to-feed-hungry-kids-in-schools-110862">K-12 public schools</a> and on <a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemic-threatens-food-security-for-many-college-students-146823">college campuses</a> and the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F21551197.2015.1038463">meals-on-wheels programs</a> that assist people who are homebound.</p>
<p>I believe these programs need to be scaled up or replicated whenever possible in areas where there is a high level of food insecurity and child hunger but a lack of nonprofit help available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Eicher-Miller receives or has received funding for work related to this article from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Federal Office of Rural Health, and Purdue University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Himmelgreen has worked with Feeding Tampa Bay since 2015 and currently serves on its board. He has conducted funded research and evaluations on topics ranging from adolescent and older adult food insecurity and health to mobile food pantry program services.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diana Cuy Castellanos receives funding from the University of Dayton to evaluate the impact of Mission of Mary Farm and Homefull gardens on local residents dietary intake. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kecia Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An estimated 1 in 4 US children have trouble getting enough to eat at least sometimes. We asked four scholars for their insights..Heather Eicher-Miller, Associate Professor of Nutrition Science, Purdue UniversityDavid Himmelgreen, Professor of Anthropology, University of South FloridaDiana Cuy Castellanos, Assistant Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition, University of DaytonKecia Johnson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Mississippi State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441332020-08-26T10:51:27Z2020-08-26T10:51:27ZUrban farming: four reasons it should flourish post-pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354835/original/file-20200826-14-14m0w2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7951%2C5304&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bearded-millennial-harvesting-beets-urban-communal-386999431">Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52544317">flying off shelves</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/10/interest-in-allotments-soars-in-england-during-coronavirus-pandemic">allotment waiting lists</a> are swelling, with one council receiving a 300% increase in applications. Fear of food shortages will have motivated some, but others with more time on their hands at home will have been tempted by the chance to relieve stress doing a wholesome family activity.</p>
<p>The seeds of enthusiasm for home-grown food may have been sown, but sustaining this is essential. Urban farming has <a href="http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/rurbanrevolution/">much to offer</a> in the wake of the pandemic. It could help communities boost the resilience of their fresh fruit and vegetable supplies, improve the health of residents and help them lead more sustainable lifestyles.</p>
<p>Here are four reasons why food growing should become a perennial feature in our gardens, towns and cities after COVID-19. </p>
<h2>1. Growing greener towns and cities</h2>
<p>More than half of the global population lives in urban areas, and this is expected to <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">rise to 68% by 2050</a>. For the UK, this is even higher – nine out of 10 people are expected to live in towns and cities by this time.</p>
<p>Weaving food growing into the fabric of urban life could bring greenery and wildlife closer to home. The COVID-19 lockdown helped reawaken interest in growing at home, but <a href="https://www.citymetric.com/business/one-eight-uk-homes-have-no-garden-ethnic-minorities-and-manual-workers-worst-affected-5102">one in eight</a> UK households have no access to a garden. Thankfully, the opportunities for urban farming extend beyond these: rooftops, walls – and even underground spaces, such as abandoned tunnels or <a href="http://growing-underground.com/">air raid shelters</a>, offer a range of options for expanding food production in cities while creatively redeveloping the urban environment. </p>
<p>Edible rooftops, walls and verges can also help reduce flood risk, provide natural cooling for buildings and streets, and help reduce air pollution.</p>
<h2>2. Resilient food supplies</h2>
<p>Diversifying where and how we grow our food helps spread the risk of disruption to food supplies.</p>
<p>The UK’s reliance on imports has been growing in <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldeucom/129/12907.htm">recent decades</a>. Currently, 84% of fruit and 46% of vegetables consumed in the UK are <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901689/hort-report-17jul20.pdf">imported</a>. Brexit and COVID-19 could threaten the steady supply, while the problems created by climate change, such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02508060.2018.1515569">water scarcity</a>, risk disrupting imports of food from abroad.</p>
<p>Growing fruit and vegetables in towns and cities would help resist these shocks. The <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/601a4dd9-b996-4c49-bc22-8f49bfd06ea0">harvest labour shortages</a> seen during the pandemic might not have been felt as keenly if urban farms were growing food right where people live. </p>
<p>Vertical and underground crops are more resilient to extreme weather or pests, indoor growing environments are easier to control than those in the field, and temperature and humidity is more stable underground. The high start-up costs and energy bills for this type of farming has meant that indoor farms currently produce a small number of high-value crops, such as leafy greens and herbs. But as the technology matures, the diversity of produce grown indoors will expand.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vertical-farms-offer-a-bright-future-for-hungry-cities-26934">Vertical farms offer a bright future for hungry cities</a>
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<h2>3. Healthier lives</h2>
<p>Getting out into <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/21/1/45/646436">nature</a> and <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/7/e036923.abstract">gardening</a> can improve your mental health and physical fitness. <a href="http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/rurbanrevolution/files/2020/05/RurbanSummary_Task1a.pdf">Our research</a> suggests that getting involved in urban food growing, or just being exposed to it in our daily lives, may also lead to healthier diets.</p>
<p>Urban growers may be driven to make healthier food choices for a whole range of reasons. They have greater access to fresh fruit and vegetables and getting outdoors and into nature can help reduce stress, making people less likely to make <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.22402">unhealthy food choices</a>. Our study suggested that urban food growing can also help change attitudes towards food, so that people place more value in produce that’s sustainable, healthy and ethically sourced.</p>
<h2>4. Healthier ecosystems</h2>
<p>While urbanisation is regarded as one of the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26140827#:%7E:text=A%20dataset%2C%20described%20as%20the,similar%20areas%20of%20undeveloped%20land.">biggest threats</a> to biodiversity, growing food in towns and cities <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-allotments-offer-urban-oases-for-bees-and-butterflies-142529">has been shown</a> to boost the abundance and diversity of wildlife, as well as protect their habitats. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0769-y">A recent study</a> found that community gardens and allotments act as hotspots for pollinating insects, because they tend to contain a diverse range of fruiting and native plants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A white butterfly rests on the yellow flower of a courgette." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354828/original/file-20200826-7028-yxgyej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vegetables, like this courgette, can produce flowers for pollinators to enjoy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/white-butterfly-on-yellow-flower-courgette-1478888366">Natakim/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>If designed and implemented properly, allotments and community gardens can really benefit biodiversity. Not only should barren spaces be converted into green and productive plots, it’s also important that there are connections between these environments to help wildlife move between them. </p>
<p>Canals and cycle paths can act as these wildlife corridors. As we begin to diversify the spaces used to grow food, particularly those on our rooftops and underground, an exciting challenge will be finding novel ways of connecting them for wildlife. Green bridges have been <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:x-GPnGc9mdcJ:publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/6296975990325248+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk">shown</a> to help wildlife cross busy roads – perhaps similar crossings could link rooftop gardens.</p>
<p>All these reasons and more should compel us to scale up food production in towns in cities. COVID-19 has given us cause to reevaluate how important local urban green spaces are to us, and what we want from our high streets, parks and pavements. Judging by the garden centre sales, allotment lists and social media, many people have decided they want more fruit and veggies in those spaces. The opportunity is there for urban planners and developers to consider what bringing farming to urban landscapes could offer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Davies receives funding from the UK Research and Innovation Council and the European Commission. The research described here was funded under the Global Food Security’s ‘Resilience of the UK Food System Programme’, with support from BBSRC, ESRC, NERC and The Scottish Government (BB/S01425X/1).</span></em></p>Nurturing enthusiasm for growing food closer to home could benefit people, wildlife and the global food system.Dan Evans, Senior Research Associate in Physical Geography, Lancaster UniversityJess Davies, Chair Professor in Sustainability, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1315382020-07-10T12:21:12Z2020-07-10T12:21:12ZIn changing urban neighborhoods, new food offerings can set the table for gentrification<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344352/original/file-20200626-104484-1i5ywam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4249%2C2816&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents of Denver's Five Points neighborhood protest in 2017 outside a coffee shop that posted a sign celebrating gentrification.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/denver-gentrification?family=editorial&groupbyevent=true&phrase=Denver,%20gentrification,&sort=best#license">Patrick Traylor/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When new residents and businesses move into low-income neighborhoods, they often deny that they are displacing current residents. In a striking exception, a coffee shop in Denver’s rapidly changing Five Points area <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/us/denver-cafe-gentrification.html">posted a sign</a> in 2017 that read “ink! Coffee. Happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014” on one side, and “Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a cortado” on the other side. </p>
<p>The sign struck nerves and spurred protests because it illustrated something about urban residents’ experiences of gentrification – changes that occur in moderately priced neighborhoods when more upscale residents and businesses move in.</p>
<p>Gentrification fundamentally revolves around <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Gentrification-1st-Edition/Lees-Slater-Wyly/p/book/9780415950374">who gets to – or has to – live in particular places</a>. But the economics of housing changes cannot be separated from cultural shifts. </p>
<p>When the type of food sold in an area changes, it provides a focal point for identifying gentrification. And it can lead residents to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s0034-759020180308">push back</a>. As co-editors of “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479834433/a-recipe-for-gentrification/">A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City</a>” and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=p3jvlSAAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alison_Alkon">our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IgPUlV8AAAAJ&hl=en">own</a> right, we’ve identified many ways that food and gentrification are linked in cities across North America. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346666/original/file-20200709-34-10di05b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food offerings signal gentrification in this 2014 scene in South Brooklyn, NY, formerly a low-income Latino neighborhood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/as-the-rapid-gentrification-of-williamsburg-brooklyn-news-photo/539611626?adppopup=true">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Eateries exploit the rent gap</h2>
<p>While gentrification mainly results from large-scale developments recruited by city governments, well-intended small businesses and nonprofits can also play a role, particularly at early stages. Food businesses are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6040.2009.01269.x">among the first to change</a> in historically disinvested low-income communities and communities of color. </p>
<p>Because they operate on narrow profit margins, restaurants and cafes are especially likely to exploit the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1987.tb00171.x">rent gap</a>” – the disparity between current rent prices and perceived future earnings – that exists in these locales. They prepare neighborhoods for development, because food is a ubiquitous commodity and cultural cue. </p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>In today’s food-focused popular culture, cafes like ink! Coffee and upscale grocery stores like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12299">Whole Foods</a> have become essential tools local boosters use to brand neighborhoods as hip, creative places ripe for new <a href="https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3962">investment</a>. Even restaurateurs act as small-scale developers. They add to the <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo25879831.html">cultural capital</a> of their new neighborhoods, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691165493/masters-of-craft">create cool new jobs</a> and drive up adjacent land values and housing costs. Whiter, wealthier and more educated customers participate in this process using social media platforms like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540515611203">Yelp</a> to craft changing tastes.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L-d59oQU5sQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In East Austin, the activist group Defend Our Hoodz protests a cafe for cat lovers built where a pinata shop was suddenly torn down in 2018. The cafe closed shortly afterward.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Seeking wealthy white buyers</h2>
<p>A similar dynamic is at play at farmers’ markets and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9875-3">community gardens</a>. Realtors and other urban boosters promote these spaces to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/gentrification-and-the-urban-garden">attract newcomers</a>.</p>
<p>For example, since the 1980s, the largely white and middle-class managers of Seattle’s network of <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/programs-and-services/p-patch-community-gardening">community gardens</a> have ensured gardeners continued access to increasingly valuable land by convincing city officials that gardens are useful amenities to attract upscale residents. </p>
<p>Going even further, Denver’s <a href="https://liveatspark.com/">S Park</a> development, completed in 2018, is also known as Sustainability Park. Its developers built a solar community garden and capital-intensive hydroponic vertical farm as amenities for the project’s pricey condominiums and townhomes. </p>
<p>The project sits on former public housing land in a historic African American community. This location also once supported grassroots urban agriculture initiatives. Both long-term residents and urban farmers now <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S0895-993520190000026011/full/html">struggle to maintain access to land</a> as the pace of development accelerates.</p>
<h2>Pricier hot dogs send a disturbing message</h2>
<p>Examining food reveals that gentrification is also about neighborhood culture, especially as new and old residents struggle to assert <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12088">competing senses of race, ethnicity and place</a>. </p>
<p>Long-term New Orleans residents have described seeing their unique foodways commodified and <a href="https://grist.org/food/what-kalegate-taught-us-about-new-orleans-and-food/">redefined</a> as newcomers increasingly dominate local food and urban agriculture scenes. In San Diego, restaurateurs offer upscale versions of regional dishes, such as the infamous <a href="https://barriodogg.com/">Tijuana hot dog</a>, but with ingredients and price points designed to appeal to highbrow white tastes. These culinary trends signal to longstanding communities of color that their neighborhoods are no longer for them, creating a cultural disconnection and displacement that can precede their physical eviction.</p>
<p>Emphasizing the cultural dynamics of gentrification highlights its <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469651507/black-food-geographies/">racialized nature</a>. Rent gaps result from depressed property values that reflect decades of <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Color-of-Law/">racial segregation, racist redlining and urban renewal policies</a> and <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/color-credit">discriminatory mortgage lending practices</a> against people of color.</p>
<p>Gentrification not only pushes communities of color out of their neighborhoods, but shifts the character of an area until it feels like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087410393472">a place for more affluent white people</a>. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6040.2009.01269.x">changing foodscape</a> is key to this process, even when people of color are still present.</p>
<p>Access to culturally relevant foods diminishes as businesses that once catered to longstanding communities close, or new businesses <a href="https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/foodgentrification-and-culinary-rebranding-of-traditional-foods">co-opt traditional foods</a> to attract newcomers. Food becomes both a marker of to whom the neighborhood now belongs, while also ironically acknowledging to whom it used to belong.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346668/original/file-20200709-46-rrm96o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Members of the Brooklyn Anti-Gentrification Network march against gentrification, racism and police violence outside a Whole Foods Market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-picketing-at-whole-foods-market-members-of-the-news-photo/1170119274?adppopup=true">Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Activists resist change with food</h2>
<p>Communities can also use food to resist physical and cultural displacement. As one example, <a href="http://csuinc.org/">Community Services Unlimited</a>, a nonprofit that <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520287457/more-than-just-food">emerged out of the Black Panther Party</a>, is constructing a grocery store and wellness center in South Los Angeles. This facility will increase access to healthy food and jobs and assert the Black community’s continued presence in the face of displacement pressures. </p>
<p>In Chicago’s Humboldt Park, Puerto Rican activists work to preserve local food businesses in order to maintain their claim to the neighborhood. They also have developed an <a href="https://prcc-chgo.org/category/health/urban-agriculture-initiative/">urban agriculture initiative</a> to promote food security and cultural resilience. </p>
<p>Cities can back activists with new <a href="https://www.cunyurbanfoodpolicy.org/news/2018/3/27/feeding-or-starving-gentrification-the-role-of-food-policy">food policies</a>. Political leaders can support cooperative food businesses, mandate community benefits agreements for new food retail, encourage agricultural land trusts, prevent paving of urban farms and invest in local food business improvements for long-term residents. </p>
<p>Preventing displacement will also require new and creative <a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/gentrification-and-neighborhood-revitalization-whats-difference">housing</a> policies at local and state levels, such as inclusionary housing and zoning requirements, housing trust funds and real estate transfer taxes that fund affordable housing. </p>
<p>Although food is a flashpoint for gentrification, cities can use it strategically to bring gentrifiers and long-term residents together around a fertile movement for equitable and inclusive cities where diverse communities can thrive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hip food offerings can signal that a neighborhood is gentrifying – especially when they repackage traditional foods for wealthy white eaters.Joshua Sbicca, Associate Professor of Sociology, Colorado State UniversityAlison Alkon, Associate Professor of Sociology and Food Studies, University of the PacificYuki Kato, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1353042020-04-16T02:14:06Z2020-04-16T02:14:06ZSupermarket shelves stripped bare? History can teach us to ‘make do’ with food<p>Recent COVID-19 induced panic buying has raised concerns about food security for many Australians. </p>
<p>While there’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2020/mar/19/dont-panic-australia-the-coronavirus-doesnt-mean-well-run-out-of-food">plenty of food available</a>, many Australians have seen supermarkets stripped bare of essentials in recent weeks. For some it can be hard to find basic items like rice or canned foods. </p>
<p>This is especially true for many of our most vulnerable citizens, from the elderly to those in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-21/coronavirus-panic-buying-threatens-food-shortage-in-nt-community/12071414">remote Indigenous communities</a>. What’s more, rising job losses and higher food prices means many people will be out-priced, <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/our-food-supply-has-problems-with-equity-not-quantity">increasing</a> the number of those experiencing food insecurity in coming months.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-time-of-panic-buying-could-yet-bring-us-together-133753">How a time of panic buying could yet bring us together</a>
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<p>But scarcity and food system vulnerabilities are not new experiences. Wars, the great depression, the global financial crisis and natural disasters such as fires and floods have exposed the fallibilities of our food system.</p>
<p>In times of crisis and disaster “food preferences” are the first to go and “making do” – for those who can – becomes the name of the game.</p>
<p>And while right now there really is no reason to stock up on food supplies from supermarkets, the sight of empty shelves has led some Australians to look for alternative ways to feed themselves and their families. We can turn to past experiences to identify approaches, skills and resources. </p>
<p>In fact, doing so can help us prepare to respond to <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1043921">future instability</a> in food access expected to be brought about through the impacts of climate change. Looking to the past can help build the knowledge and skills necessary to strengthen future household and community resilience.</p>
<h2>Changing diets</h2>
<p>Having enough food available doesn’t mean everyone will have equal access, nor does it mean all of us will be able to eat typical diets. </p>
<p>The United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organisation <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-al936e.pdf">defines</a> food security as requiring “physical and economic” access for “all people at all times”. It not only requires access to “sufficient, safe and nutritious food”, but also access to foods that meet our “dietary requirements and food preferences”. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-creative-with-less-recipe-lessons-from-the-australian-womens-weekly-during-wartime-133792">Getting creative with less. Recipe lessons from the Australian Women's Weekly during wartime</a>
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<p>Recent low yields of drought-impacted crops such as rice means <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/panic-buying-eats-into-drought-hit-rice-pasta-supply-20200318-p54bea">supplies were limited</a> even prior to the shortages created by panic buying. </p>
<p>Canneries are <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/spc-ardmona-running-out-of-tomatoes-to-can-20200331-p54fj5">halting production</a> on some of their standard lines as they struggle to access ingredients to keep up with unprecedented demand. </p>
<p>And measures introduced to support vulnerable groups such as meal delivery and “<a href="https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/community/news/basics-box">Basics Boxes</a>” are currently unable to cater to diverse tastes and needs. </p>
<p>It’s likely, for those of us without special dietary needs, our everyday food habits will have to change. </p>
<h2>Grow your own</h2>
<p>Many Australians have turned to home food growing during COVID-19, with edible plants in nurseries quickly <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/coronavirus-panic-buying-of-edible-plants-at-nurseries/12082988">selling out</a> of stock. </p>
<p>Growing your own is the most typical historical response to unstable food access. Limited supply during World War I led governments to <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/homefront/victory_gardens">encourage</a> home and community food production. “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/the-return-of-the-world-war-victory-garden/12085190">Dig for Victory</a>” campaigns were rolled out in the US and Canada, extending to the UK and Australia in World War II. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/35NpLveVZDg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This video from 1941 explains how to prepare an area for growing veg, and why not having space is no excuse.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The benefits of having more <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-time-to-resurrect-the-wartime-grow-your-own-campaign-66337">localised food systems</a> are also regularly revealed during extreme weather events. </p>
<p>Food access in Australia heavily relies on supply chains powered by trucks travelling vast distances. When roads are blocked – such as in the recent bushfires and the 2011 Queensland floods – food access is threatened unless you or your neighbours are growing your own.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-democracy-why-eating-is-unavoidably-political-43474">Food democracy: why eating is unavoidably political</a>
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<h2>Community gardens</h2>
<p>Food gardening typically requires time, the willingness to be attentive to plant needs, as well as outside space with adequate sun. Not everyone has the infrastructure, knowledge or inclination to do this. </p>
<p>People can turn to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549839.2019.1637832?journalCode=cloe20">communal gardening</a> instead, such as The Happiness Garden in Canberra. Community gardens have historically been great ways of up-skilling and learning with others, but social distancing measures makes this challenging. It’s also important to be wary of soil safety depending on previous uses of the land, particularly if you live in the inner city. </p>
<p>Still, there’s a wealth of <a href="https://www.canberraenvironment.org/local-food">information available</a> online, so connecting with local gardening groups, swapping socially distant tips within your suburb, or setting up <a href="https://www.sgaonline.org.au/local-food-and-harvest-swaps/">food-sharing points</a> with neighbours are great options for now. </p>
<h2>Urban foraging</h2>
<p>Food foraging and hunting of feral animals have supplemented mainstream food supplies during past economic instability. Weeds such as dandelions and feral rabbits were regular additions to meals during the Great Depression. </p>
<p>For urban dwellers, hunting for wild rabbits is probably not a realistic option, but <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2011/02/rabbits-from-pest-to-plate/">urban food foraging</a> has experienced a resurgence. Recent rain means dandelions, purslane and nettles are rampant right now and, with the right preparation, they can be eaten in salads, soups and stir fries. </p>
<p>Expert <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2016-05-12/edible-weeds-and-how-you-can-use-them/7406004">guidance</a> is also available online to help you avoid picking anything poisonous.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327622/original/file-20200414-117562-1b9azsn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Edible weeds collected near the author’s home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hugo Potter</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Start now to create good habits</h2>
<p>Eliminating waste by being frugal and creative is key to making do in <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-creative-with-less-recipe-lessons-from-the-australian-womens-weekly-during-wartime-133792">times of scarcity</a>. </p>
<p>Knowing how best to <a href="https://www.growinghome.com.au/dirt-to-dinner-guides/fowlers-vacola-bottling/">store and preserve</a> food (if you have limited fridge and freezer space consider bottling or <a href="https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/quick-kimchi-pickled-cabbage-garlic-chilli/93895225-5c53-4c35-84b0-482f052a26c1">fermentation</a>); using whole foods (<a href="https://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/news/2019/09/learn-embrace-your-vegetable-waste%E2%80%99-national-nutrition-week-2019">why peel</a> carrots, potatoes and pumpkins?); and knowing substitution tricks (such as swapping eggs for <a href="https://blogs.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/cook/sago-plum-pudding/">sago</a>), are important food skills in uncertain times.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-tips-for-eating-locally-and-cutting-the-energy-used-to-produce-your-food-67060">10 tips for eating locally and cutting the energy used to produce your food</a>
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<p>This ability to adapt to uncertainty is critical to developing resilient communities. </p>
<p>As we look towards a future likely to be punctuated by more extreme weather events, environmental degradation and economic instability, we need robust national food security policy and local urban food systems planning that can meet the protracted challenges threatening our planetary health. </p>
<p>Right now is the perfect time for us to start experimenting with what we can do in our own homes and neighbourhoods to help secure our food futures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethaney Turner has received funding from the ACT Government for research into local food systems and community gardens in the ACT. She also has a plot in a community garden managed by the Canberra Organic Growers Society.</span></em></p>The sight of empty shelves has led some Australians to look for alternative ways to feed themselves and their families. This is what history can teach us.Bethaney Turner, Associate Professor, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218412019-09-02T11:23:00Z2019-09-02T11:23:00ZAnxiety and depression: why doctors are prescribing gardening rather than drugs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290108/original/file-20190829-106498-4do2qb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gardening gives people the chance to reconnect and relax. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-female-gardener-inspecting-freshly-1048778132?src=-1-15">Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Spending time in outdoors, taking time out of the everyday to surround yourself with greenery and living things can be one of life’s great joys – and recent research also suggest it’s good for your body and your brain. </p>
<p>Scientists have found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/spending-two-hours-a-week-in-nature-is-linked-to-better-health-and-well-being-118653">spending two hours a week in nature</a> is linked to better health and well-being. It’s maybe not entirely surprising then that some patients are increasingly being prescribed time in nature and community gardening projects as part of “<a href="https://www.bma.org.uk/news/2019/july/natures-remedy-doctors-in-shetland-give-green-prescriptions">green prescriptions</a>” by <a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/2019/01/army-of-workers-to-support-family-doctors/">the NHS</a>. In Shetland for example, islanders with depression and anxiety may be given “nature pescriptions”, with doctors there recommending walks and activities that allow people to connect with the outdoors.</p>
<p>Social prescriptions – non-medical treatments which have health benefits – are already used across the NHS to tackle anxiety, loneliness and depression. They often involve the referral of patients to a community or voluntary organisation, where they can carry out activities which help to meet their social and emotional needs, and increasingly doctors are opting for community gardening – as this also has the added benefit of involving time spent in nature – even in highly built up areas.</p>
<p>And the evidence base for such treatments is growing – with research indicating that social prescribing can help to <a href="https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/927254">improve patient’s anxiety levels</a> and general health. Findings also seem to suggest that social prescribing schemes can lead to a <a href="https://www4.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/ourexpertise/evaluation-rotherham-social-prescribing-pilot">reduction in the use of NHS services</a>. </p>
<h2>The benefits of gardening</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335516301401?via%3Dihub">Research</a> shows that gardening can directly improve people’s well-being.
And that taking part in community gardening can also encourage people to adopt healthier behaviours. It may be, for example, that neighbourhood projects can be reached on foot or by bicycle – prompting people to take up more active transport options in their daily lives. Eating the produce from a community garden may also help people to form the habit of eating fresh, locally grown food.</p>
<p>Growing food is often the driving force behind community gardening projects, whether purely for the consumption of the gardeners or for local distribution or sale. Unlike growing on individual allotments or private gardens, community gardening requires an element of cooperation and collective planning. Working together towards shared goals can create a real sense of community. And in a garden, a feeling of connection may develop, not just with other people, but with the living world as a whole.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290115/original/file-20190829-106517-wdilae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Community gardens offer space and solace for local people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/colorful-bench-community-garden-536665321?src=-1-89">Karin Bredenberg/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Gardens also play a significant role in conserving biodiversity, by developing wildlife pockets and corridors across towns and cities – an idea encouraged by the RSPB’s <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/">Giving Nature a Home</a> programme. The inclusion of even a small pond in a garden can provide a home for <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-defence-of-great-crested-newts-why-these-elusive-amphibians-are-worth-the-worry-77288">important species</a> such as amphibians. Gardens can also help to mitigate <a href="http://www.myclimatechangegarden.com/blog/how-your-garden-can-help-beat-climate-change">climate change</a>. Their vegetation captures carbon and can improve air quality. Tree and shrub roots in the soil absorb water, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-garden-could-help-stop-your-city-flooding-42473">reducing flood risk</a>.</p>
<p>So because people’s relationships with the living world affects their behaviours towards it, taking part in community gardening could also make people old and young more environmentally conscious and responsible. By connecting people to nature, it may be that community gardens can also help to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-018-0542-9">transform society</a> – allowing towns and cities to move towards more sustainable futures.</p>
<h2>Community connections</h2>
<p>This process of using plants and gardens to improve health is known as <a href="https://www.thrive.org.uk/how-we-help/what-we-do/social-therapeutic-horticulture">social and therapeutic horticulture</a>. On top of promoting physical and mental health benefits, social and therapeutic horticulture <a href="https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/Health_well-being_and_social_inclusion_therapeutic_horticulture_in_the_UK/9579929">has also been shown</a> to help improve people’s communication and thinking skills.</p>
<p>At Hull University’s <a href="https://www.hull.ac.uk/work-with-us/research/groups/centre-for-systems-studies.aspx">Centre for Systems Studies</a> we want to understand more about the ways community gardening can boost well-being for people, societies and the living world. So we are working with the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rainbowgardenhull/">Rainbow Community Garden</a> in Hull, which also has links with local schools, social services, mental health teams and veteran’s association, to observe activities and interactions over the course of a year. We are also interviewing staff and volunteers about their experiences, looking at how people’s well-being changes as they participate in the project.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287965/original/file-20190814-136190-pd95w2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A corner of the Rainbow Community Garden in north Hull.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Although no one intervention is right for everyone, community gardens do have wide appeal and potential. But such projects tend to be run by charitable organisations – often relying on grant funding to employ staff and provide equipment. And at a time when funding gaps mean that <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/lga-responds-park-funding-announcement">local councils are struggling</a> to preserve public parks and gardens, it seems that despite all the positives that can be gained by such spaces, the future of many community gardening groups could be uncertain.</p>
<p>This would clearly be a massive loss, as individual well-being, societal well-being and the living world are all inextricably linked. John Donne was correct when he said “<a href="https://web.cs.dal.ca/%7Ejohnston/poetry/island.html">no man is an island</a>”. Community gardens can bring together diverse groups of people and it’s possible to make these spaces widely inclusive and accessible. Raised beds and paved pathways, for example, can improve access for wheelchair users, while a complex sensory experience can be created using scents and sounds as well as visual stimuli. We hope that our research will help to highlight the importance of these places and the many benefits they can bring for people, society and the living world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvonne Black received funding from Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Wellcome, to explore Health and Wellbeing in the City of Hull through an arts project. </span></em></p>How gardening can make you happier and healthier.Yvonne Black, PhD Researcher in Systems Science, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/967072018-07-24T01:56:39Z2018-07-24T01:56:39ZGardening improves the health of social housing residents and provides a sense of purpose<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228672/original/file-20180721-142411-mjf8l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gardens bring people together.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/qgHGDbbSNm8">Elaine Casap/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Studies indicate spending time in nature <a href="https://zodml.org/sites/default/files/%5BAndrew_Dannenberg%2C_Howard_Frumkin%2C_Richard_Jackso.pdf">brings physical, mental and social benefits</a>. These include stress reduction, improved mood, accelerated healing, attention restoration, productivity and heightened imagination and creativity. </p>
<p>Increased urbanisation has made it <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111212204">more difficult to connect with nature</a>. And members of lower socioeconomic and minority ethnic groups, people over 65 and those living with disability are less likely to visit green spaces. This could be due to inaccessible facilities and safety fears. </p>
<p>A gardening program for disadvantaged groups, running in New South Wales since 1999, has aimed to overcome the inequity in access to green spaces. Called <a href="https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/learn/community-greening?viewmode=0">Community Greening</a>, the program has reached almost 100,000 participants and established 627 community and youth-led gardens across the state.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-is-in-gardening-is-good-for-you-65251">The science is in: gardening is good for you</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Our <a href="http://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:46369">independent evaluation</a> explored the program’s <a href="http://handle.westernsydney.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:46369">impact on new participants and communities in social housing</a> by tracking six new garden sites in 2017. Around 85% of participants told us the program had a positive effect on their health and 91% said it benefited their community. And 73% said they were exercising more and 61% were eating better. One participant said engaging in the program even helped them quit smoking.</p>
<p>These insights have advanced our understanding of how community gardening improves the mental and physical health of Australians living in social housing communities in our cities. </p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>Trends towards <a href="http://www.hphpcentral.com/article/urban-planning-and-the-importance-of-green-space-in-cities-to-human-and-environmental-health">urbanisation and loss of green space</a> have sparked concerns about population health and well-being. This has led to a growing body of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08111140601035200">research on the impact of community gardens</a> on children and adults.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/learn/community-greening?viewmode=0">Community Greening</a> program is supported by the <a href="https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/">Royal Botanic Garden</a> Sydney in partnership with Housing New South Wales. Anecdotal feedback gathered by the botanic garden over the past two decades has shown gardening improves well-being and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.586025">cohesion</a>, fosters a <a href="https://permaculturenews.org/2013/06/05/wellbeing-gardening-gardening-for-the-body-mind-spirit/">sense of belonging, reduces stress</a> and enhances life skills.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V-feCm1FDF8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Community Greening provides gardens for people in social housing.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on this understanding, Community Greening aims to:</p>
<ul>
<li>improve physical and mental health</li>
<li>reduce anti-social behaviour</li>
<li>build community cohesion</li>
<li>tackle economic disadvantage</li>
<li>promote understanding of native food plants</li>
<li>conserve the environment</li>
<li>provide skills training to enable future employment opportunities</li>
<li>share expert knowledge of the garden.</li>
</ul>
<p>Our <a href="http://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:46369">research investigated</a> these outcomes in participants, and whether they changed during the course of the program. We collected data using questionnaires over seven months (before and after participation). We also conducted focus group interviews with participants and open-ended questionnaires with staff working at the community sites.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/social-housing-protects-against-homelessness-but-other-benefits-are-less-clear-97446">Social housing protects against homelessness – but other benefits are less clear</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Of the 23 people who completed both questionnaires before and afterwards, 14 were female and nine were male. They had an average age of 59, ranging from 29-83. Fifteen participants were born in Australia while the rest came from Fiji, Iran, Poland, New Zealand, Philippines, Chile, Afghanistan and Mauritius. One participant identified as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and five people (22%) reported English was not their first language. </p>
<p>Initially, 27% reported they had never gardened prior to the program. At the post-test questionnaire, the frequency of attendance improved for many of them. Over 40% gardened once a week and 22% every day.</p>
<h2>Gardening benefits</h2>
<p>Overall, we found participants felt a sense of agency, community pride and achievement. The gardening program helped encourage change and community development. Some were happy to learn a new hobby.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228673/original/file-20180721-142405-1snyawc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community Greening participants found a lot of benefits to gardening.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Research infographic/Screenshot</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gardening also served as an opportunity to socialise with neighbours. In previous years within some social housing communities, it was commonplace for residents to simply stay inside their units without interacting with anyone. </p>
<p>Many participants said they saw a marked improvement in their health and well-being. One participant remarked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I suffer with a lot of health problems, and a lot of times I’ve been sitting at home, been depressed and not been happy about my illness, and since I’ve become more involved with the garden it helped me to not worry about my health so much like I used to and it actually improved my eating habits. It has changed my life positively. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself anymore…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some described the gardening experience as calming and cathartic – especially those who suffered from depression and anxiety. Some spoke of the positive aspect of having something to do each day and their feelings of achievement. </p>
<p>Another participant said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Going outside gives me not only physical exercise, but it provides a certain amount of joy in that you’re seeing the benefit of your hard work coming through in healthy plants. Whether it’s vegetables or a conifer, you’re seeing it grow and you’re seeing the benefit…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Additional improvements in social health included a genuine enthusiasm for working in a team, with increased co-operation and social cohesion between staff and tenants. The housing managers and social workers work alongside tenants helping to foster trust, co-operation, social collaboration and healthy relationships.</p>
<p>More importantly, this research has provided validation that Community Greening has aligned with contemporary social-housing priorities. These include supporting health and well-being, nurturing a sense of community, enhancing safety and developing a sense of place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tonia Gray received funding from the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust to conduct this independent study.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Tracey received funding from the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust to conduct this independent study.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kumara Ward received funding from the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust to conduct this independent study.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Son Truong received funding from the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust to conduct this independent study.</span></em></p>Community gardening improves people’s health, and our new study has found it does wonders for disadvantaged groups living in social housing.Tonia Gray, Associate Professor, Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney UniversityDanielle Tracey, Associate Professor, Adult and Postgraduate Education, Western Sydney UniversityKumara Ward, Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, Western Sydney UniversitySon Truong, Senior Lecturer, Secondary Education, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/966392018-06-25T19:56:42Z2018-06-25T19:56:42ZWorking with nature can help us build greener cities instead of urban slums<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224354/original/file-20180622-26558-1aykrte.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Garden roofs (like these in Chengdu, in China's Sichuan province) need maintenance and community involvement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Australian cities grow and transform, we need to ensure we are not building the slums of the future by making buildings so tall and tight they turn our streets into stark canyons. Sydney’s Wolli Creek, where <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/more-than-just-the-end-of-a-train-line-wolli-creek-emerges-as-one-of-sydneys-densest-areas-20170220-gucqgq">buildings dominate</a> and tower over a transport hub, is an example of where this is happening. It is now considered one of the city’s densest areas.</p>
<p>Dense, high buildings limit the space available for urban greenery and, unfortunately, the current development boom privileges concrete and glass over vegetation. A more strategic approach to urban growth can ensure our cities maintain adequate green space and become low-carbon, efficient and affordable.</p>
<p>It’s also vital the community and individuals are enthusiastic drivers of such change, with shared ownership of it. Imaginative projects – at times described as <a href="http://helsinkiacupuncture.blogspot.com.au/">urban acupuncture</a> – can all play a role. This is where small-scale interventions (like green balconies) are applied to transform the larger urban context, improve the environment and make the city liveable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Going up or out</h2>
<p>Whether you go <em>up</em> (higher) or <em>out</em> (more), or both, there are always challenges and opportunities.</p>
<p>The drawback in going <em>out</em> is that we start creeping into our remaining open space, including important biodiversity hotspots. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224356/original/file-20180622-26573-itnp2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney’s Wolli Creek is considered one of the city’s densest areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Going out can also encroach on agricultural land. Farmers around the Sydney basin produced up <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydneys-vegetable-basin-losing-ground-to-urban-sprawl-20160205-gmmg1v.html">to 20% of the area’s fresh food needs</a> in 2011. But researchers have predicted urban sprawl and rising land prices will lead this to drop to 6% by 2031, losing both produce and jobs. </p>
<p>Going <em>up</em> is an approach driven by proximity to transport, utilities and employment, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. Major upward developments, like Wolli Creek, are logically being located around transport nodes. But these then become dense and concentrated areas, putting growing pressure on open space and community facilities. </p>
<h2>Community projects</h2>
<p>Community consultation is key before any major project and redevelopment, as genuine dialogue supports shared ownership of the outcomes. Existing community projects must be celebrated. Having an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-wellbeing-a-guide-to-community-centred-approaches">engaged and empowered community</a> leads to a healthier, happier population.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-garden-five-creative-ways-city-dwellers-can-still-grow-their-own-46311">No garden? Five creative ways city dwellers can still grow their own</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Sydney, new precincts like <a href="http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Waterloo">Waterloo</a> are ambitious and have good intentions. These areas aim to deliver new homes, shops, major transport services, community facilities, parks and open spaces over the next 20 years – and they’re located close to the urban centre.</p>
<p>Waterloo already has <a href="https://www.dosomethingnearyou.com.au/2017/organisation/waterloo-community-gardens-661008">three community gardens</a>, which bring together public housing residents through growing and sharing fresh produce. This approach is important to continue and initiate new projects.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224365/original/file-20180622-26570-1sxnnsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Green roofs can become community gardens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Around the world there have also been successes with <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2013/10/five-different-examples-of-urban-agriculture-from-around-the-world/">city farming</a> where the community grows and sells agricultural produce locally. In skyscraper Singapore, they are farming vertically at <a href="http://skygreens.appsfly.com/">Sky Greens</a>, providing an alternative to importing food for this densely peopled city-state.</p>
<p>Green roofs are another alternative where communities can grow flowers and vegetables while providing training and jobs. A good example is the <a href="https://www.uncommonground.com/roof-top-farm">Uncommon Ground</a> rooftop farm in Chicago.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-are-lagging-behind-in-greening-up-their-buildings-97088">Australian cities are lagging behind in greening up their buildings</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Australia, the <a href="https://thegrounds.com.au/">Grounds</a> is a former pie factory in the industrial heart of Sydney’s Alexandria. In 2012, the site began to metamorphose into a cafe, restaurant, bakery, organic mini-farm and more. This is a successful example of how a little greenery has turned a bleak post-industrial site into an enjoyable destination, where young and old from far and wide come to enjoy the plants, animals and coffee. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224366/original/file-20180622-26555-h2khyt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Grounds in Sydney’s Alexandria was transformed from an industrial site into an enjoyable destination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/herry/30840859105/in/photolist-NRxd8e-NP1nUy-NZireD-NP1pww-NRxbtT-NP1krC-NZisW6-NRx6M8-HcgmPW-HchYBf-NRx7jF-NP1p3q-NP1pAQ-NW4C53-NZiqec-NP1jkj">Herry Lawford/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A domestic garden, a green balcony or a green wall can all play a role – but these need ongoing care and attention, which means individuals and engaged communities must drive the enthusiasm.</p>
<h2>Nature in the city</h2>
<p>So, for a start, let’s not build fast and furiously without grasping the place as a whole and making the most of what is already there. This means preserving mature trees and shrubs, leaving open space unpaved and protecting areas of deep soil for future planting. </p>
<p>Maintaining, enhancing and creating urban green space not only fulfils the requirements for urban acupuncture, but – to mix medical metaphors – provides a kind of urban vaccination against the emergence of slums, where nothing can grow and depression sets in. </p>
<p>We can combine building development with what Stefan Boeri Architects have described as “<a href="https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/project/vertical-forest/">vertical densification of nature within the city</a>” to achieve a new kind of urban nature – nature <em>in</em> the city to transform the nature <em>of</em> the city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Osmond receives funding from the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, where he is a project lead on microclimates.</span></em></p>Dense, high buildings limit the space available for urban greenery. But imaginative projects that involve the community can ensure nature and the city go hand in hand.Paul Osmond, Senior Lecturer and Director, Sustainable Built Environment program, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/761192017-05-31T02:09:25Z2017-05-31T02:09:25ZWhat rural, coastal Puerto Ricans can teach us about thriving in times of crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171529/original/file-20170530-23707-vm9jgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man fishing from a dock in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Puerto Ricans are searching for solutions to the island’s worst economic and social crisis in a long time. </p>
<p>An unprecedented debt level is creating widespread uncertainty about employment and the state’s ability to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/us/puerto-rico-insolvency-business-owners-anxiety.html?action=click&contentCollection=DealBook&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article">provide basic services</a>. This crisis is not going away <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt-bankruptcy.html">anytime soon</a>, but solutions may be closer than we think.</p>
<p>As cultural anthropologists, we have spent more than a decade studying how people’s everyday lives relate to <a href="http://athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/handle/10724/23117">larger social and economic processes</a> and have documented the <a href="http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/AAI3180227/">negative effects</a> of inequality. In doing so, we have also witnessed people in Puerto Rico who “refuse to play by the rules” of capitalism. Some <a href="http://www.ram-wan.net/restrepo/modernidad/the%20otherwise%20modern-trouillot.pdf">scholars</a> have even argued that <a href="http://libreriaisla.com/el-arte-de-bregar-ensayos-2113.html">Caribbean peoples are experts</a> at living with and resisting the negative effects of modern capitalism because it was there that one form of capitalism was <a href="http://sidneymintz.net/caribbean.php">first tested</a>. Beginning in the 18th century, Caribbean sugar plantations were <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066212">early models for factory labor management and capitalist trade</a> with the European metropolis.</p>
<p>People on the rural coasts of Puerto Rico are forging good lives without necessarily accumulating material wealth and climbing the socioeconomic ladder. Examining the lives of those who have been “left behind” by the mainstream economy may provide examples of how to live well in troubled times.</p>
<h2>Diversity in times of instability</h2>
<p>Working in a salaried full-time job with a single employer can be a good strategy for survival in times of abundance and stability. However, it comes at the expense of reduced flexibility and resiliency under <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Evolution_in_Changing_Environments.html?id=EsNMDQEACAAJ">conditions of scarcity and uncertainty</a>. People who are poor and live in rural areas, such as many coastal Puerto Ricans, have long relied on <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220389808422553">diverse</a> <a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1563_reg.html">livelihoods</a> and <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Occupational_Multiplicity_in_Rural_Jamai.html?id=rMWNoAEACAAJ">income streams</a> to adapt to prolonged scarcity and uncertainty.</p>
<p>Puerto Ricans occasionally combine formal and informal labor with taking advantage of benefits offered by the state. Take Juana, a single mother and lifelong resident of Arroyo, Puerto Rico whom we interviewed for a <a href="http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/contentgroups/center_international_human_rights/PR%20Self%20Determination%20Conference%20(Final)%204-12-16.pdf">2016 study</a>. Because our interviews are usually carried out under agreement of confidentiality, we use pseudonyms instead of interviewee names.</p>
<p>Until retiring, Juana worked on and off as a temporary clerk in a local hospital. When she was out of work, she babysat children of working mothers in her community. Now, Juana often barters produce from her small fruit and vegetable garden with neighbors for their labor: for example, a mechanic who fixes her car. One of her nephews, whom she babysat as a kid, is a spearfisher who provides a few fish or a lobster for Juana’s fridge. Juana said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I do not want or need for anything. I often have more than I know what to do with.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171163/original/file-20170526-6380-1ug8qpx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public art depicts the cultural importance of fishing for a coastal town in Puerto Rico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hilda Lloréns</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Central to these arrangements is investment in community relationships by <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Moral_Economy_of_the_Peasant.html?id=qu5KUdN_rDkC">gift-giving, bartering and sharing expertise</a>.</p>
<p>In our work, we have documented repeated instances in which people <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2012.01532.x/abstract">gave away valuable goods</a>, like fresh fish or shellfish, instead of holding on to them or selling them to accrue wealth. <a href="https://app.box.com/s/65t6moiyoxebzr7r68k0">A recent study</a> found that more than 90 percent of fishers around Puerto Rico’s southeast coast routinely separate part of their catch for giving to family, friends or neighbors in need. They choose to invest in community <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Gift/">relationships and solidarity</a>. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=b5WDDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=keeps+no+accounts+because+it+implies+a+relation+of+permanent+mutual+commitment&source=bl&ots=18LhUi6RQm&sig=eSvQ_JGlSHwAZwMquF_B2h1OSFg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj37NS5k6zTAhUBH2MKHasVAR0Q6AEIJDAA#v=onepage&q=keeps%20no%20accounts%20because%20it%20implies%20a%20relation%20of%20permanent%20mutual%20commitment&f=false">kind of reciprocity</a> occurs in communities where people recognize that their well-being depends on that of others, rather than on undependable labor markets.</p>
<h2>Leaning on community</h2>
<p>In Puerto Rico, as in other places such as New England, fishers tend to have relatively low incomes but <a href="http://www.humanecologyreview.org/pastissues/her152/pollnacpoggie.pdf?q=poggie">high cultural significance</a> in their communities. Fishers hold an iconic image as independent workers who engage in an adventurous and arduous lifestyle to provide for their communities.</p>
<p>A fisher from Salinas, Puerto Rico explained that he wanted to provide an honorable occupation for his grandson and grandnephew.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Who will employ these kids if I do not? I hardly ever pay to fix my boat, my engine, or my nets. People fix them for me, because I bring them food. Many times I give fish away for free or on credit, and I also provide employment for community members.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These communities often have centers that organize initiatives for residents such as community gardening, solar power, home improvement workshops and summer camps for about 100 children. In 2016, Carmen, the current president of a community board in Salinas, Puerto Rico, told us about their summer camp: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We charge a monthly five dollar fee per child. We recruit volunteers to offer workshops for the children. We get free breakfast and lunch through the Department of Education. Otherwise, we fund the camp with our own money and donations from local businesses. Members of the community board of directors and parents help staff the camp.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When we asked why she felt that hosting the children’s summer camp is important, Carmen answered: “We are a ‘poor’ community, but when we pool our time and resources we are able to offer the children a good summer camp and teach them good values.”</p>
<h2>Lessons from the margins</h2>
<p>The idea with <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.3998/jar.0521004.0071.201">these examples</a> is not to glamorize poverty or lack of access to income. Instead, our work points out that people have exercised their agency in such situations by learning to outmaneuver “the game” by changing the rules and goals so that they stand a better chance to win. </p>
<p>People living in the hinterlands of the modernizing world have long realized the undependable nature of working in industries such as pharmaceutical, energy and corporate tourism, where jobs come and go with economic cycles. Local workers are often the last hired, the first fired and have the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/ae.1992.19.1.02a00040/full">lowest-paying, more hazardous jobs</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is time to look to people who have been deemed outcasts or “backwards” – Caribbean rural fishers and farmers, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Estuarys-Gift-Atlantic-Cultural-Biography/dp/0271019514">mid-Atlantic fishers and pine tar harvesters</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/us/beyond-coal-imagining-appalachias-future.html?_r=0">Appalachian farmers and coal workers</a> – to understand how they have created rich lives in the margins of the mainstream economy. Perhaps we can apply their strategies for our own survival in these turbulent times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76119/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos G. García-Quijano has received research funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Sea Grant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilda Lloréns does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At society’s margins, people without access to the mainstream job economy are able to carve out lives rich in other resources and community.Carlos G. García-Quijano, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Marine Affairs, University of Rhode IslandHilda Lloréns, Faculty in Anthropology, University of Rhode IslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652512016-09-25T19:30:36Z2016-09-25T19:30:36ZThe science is in: gardening is good for you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138166/original/image-20160919-17029-2dn60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Time spent weeding, potting and pruning can be as good for the gardener as it is for the garden.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>As the weather warms and days lengthen, your attention may be turning to that forgotten patch of your backyard. This week we’ve asked our experts to share the science behind gardening. So grab a trowel and your green thumbs, and dig in.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>“That’s all very well put,” says Candide, in the final line of Voltaire’s novel of the same name, “but we must go and work our garden.”</p>
<p>I studied this text at high school before I became a gardener and professional horticulturist. We were taught that Candide’s gardening imperative was metaphorical not literal; a command for finding an authentic vocation, not a call to take up trowels and secateurs. </p>
<p>In fact, Voltaire himself really believed that active gardening was a great way to stay sane, healthy and free from stress. That was 300 years ago.</p>
<p>As it turns out, the science suggests he was right.</p>
<h2>The science of therapeutic horticulture</h2>
<p>Gardens and landscapes have long been designed as sanctuaries and retreats from the stresses of life – from great urban green spaces such as Central Park in New York to the humblest suburban backyard. But beyond the passive enjoyment of a garden or of being in nature more generally, researchers have also studied the role of actively caring for plants as a therapeutic and educational tool.</p>
<p>“Therapeutic horticulture” and “horticultural therapy” have become recognised treatments for stress and depression, which have served as a healing aid in settings ranging from prisons and mental health treatment facilities to schools and hospitals. </p>
<h2>Gardening and school</h2>
<p>Studies of school gardening programs – which usually centre on growing food – show that students who have worked on designing, creating and maintaining gardens develop more positive attitudes about health, nutrition and the <a href="http://www.kohalacenter.org/HISGN/pdf/HPP_2011_MMR_Sample1.pdf">consumption</a> of <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/61a8bb123ec000d6a6348aeb950645fa/1?pq-origsite=gscholar">vegetables</a>.</p>
<p>They also <a href="http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/15/3/439.short">score better</a> on science <a href="http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/syllabi/435/Articles/Klemmer.pdf">achievement</a>, have better attitudes about school, and improve their <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15330150701318828">interpersonal skills</a> and <a href="https://food-hub.org/files/resources/Blair_The%20Child%20in%20the%20Garden_J.%20Environ%20Educ_2009.pdf">classroom behaviour</a>. </p>
<p>Research on students confirms that gardening leads to higher levels of self-esteem and responsibility. Research suggests that incorporating gardening into a <a href="http://kohalacenter.org/HISGN/pdf/Thechildinthegarden.pdf">school setting</a> can boost group cohesiveness.</p>
<h2>Gardening and mental health</h2>
<p>Tailored gardening programs have been shown to increase quality of life for people with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J004v16n01_02">chronic mental illnesses</a>, including <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J004v16n01_02">anxiety and depression</a>.</p>
<p>Another study on the use of therapeutic horticulture for patients with clinical depression sought to understand why gardening programs were effective in lessening patient experience of depression. They found that structured gardening activities gave patients existential purpose. Put simply, it <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/01612840.2010.528168">gave their lives meaning</a>.</p>
<p>In jails and corrective programs, horticultural therapy programs have been used to give inmates positive, purposeful activities that lessen aggression and hostility during and after incarceration. </p>
<p>In one detailed study from a San Francisco program, involvement in therapeutic horticulture was particularly effective in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J076v26n03_10">improving psychosocial functioning</a> across prison populations (although the benefits were not necessarily sustained after release.)</p>
<p>Gardening has been shown to help improve the lives of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jacqueline_Atkinson/publication/265575473_AN_EVALUATION_OF_THE_GARDENING_LEAVE_PROJECT_FOR_EX-MILITARY_PERSONNEL_WITH_PTSD_AND_OTHER_COMBAT_RELATED_MENTAL_HEALTH_PROBLEMS/links/55094b960cf26ff55f852b50.pdf">military veterans</a> and <a href="http://www.joe.org/joe/2007june/iw5p.shtml">homeless people</a>. Various therapeutic horticulture <a href="https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/2930">programs</a> have been used to help people with learning difficulties, asylum seekers, refugees and victims of torture.</p>
<h2>Gardening and older people</h2>
<p>As populations in the West age, hands-on gardening programs have been used for older people in nursing homes and related facilities. </p>
<p>A systematic review of 22 studies of gardening programs for older adults found that gardening was a powerful <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01924788.2013.784942">health-promoting activity</a> across diverse populations.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://journals.lww.com/jcrjournal/Abstract/2005/09000/Effects_of_Horticultural_Therapy_on_Mood_and_Heart.8.aspx">study</a> sought to understand if patients recovering from heart attack might benefit from a horticultural therapy program. It concluded:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Our] findings indicate that horticultural therapy improves mood state, suggesting that it may be a useful tool in reducing stress. Therefore, to the extent that stress contributes to coronary heart disease, these findings support the role of horticultural therapy as an effective component of cardiac rehabilitation.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yvir4sm2G7Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Horticulturist and nurse Steven Wells talks about his work at Austin Health.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the literature on the positive effects of gardening, reflecting both qualitative and quantitative studies, is large, most of these studies are from overseas. </p>
<p>Investment in horticultural therapy programs in Australia is piecemeal. That said, there are some standout success stories such as the <a href="https://www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au/">Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation</a> and the work of nurse <a href="https://www.anmfvic.asn.au/membership/member-profiles/steven-wells">Steven Wells at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre</a> and beyond.</p>
<p>Finally, without professionally trained horticulturists none of these programs – in Australia or internationally – can take place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A growing body of research literature suggests time spent gardening is as good for the gardener as it is for the garden.Chris Williams, Lecturer in urban horticulture, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/463112016-03-29T09:26:58Z2016-03-29T09:26:58ZNo garden? Five creative ways city dwellers can still grow their own<p>With more people than ever living in cities, how do we reconcile our need for fresh fruit and vegetables with the challenges of life in an urban environment where the time and space for gardening are limited?</p>
<p>Thankfully, there are many ways to grow your own fresh produce in the city, which go beyond the traditional solution of the allotment. Here are just five:</p>
<h2>1. Create your own window farm</h2>
<p>Here’s proof that you can grow food in the smallest and most urban of settings. Window farming allows you to grow plants vertically inside your house or flat with the roots resting in water with added nutrients, a system called hydroponics. There’s no need for outdoor space or even any soil. </p>
<p>These “farms” can be as complex or simple as you like and there are now more than 45,000 window farmers around the world <a href="http://our.windowfarms.org/">collaborating</a> to find new ways of growing food. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111522/original/image-20160215-8211-1fk6zh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Save space by going soil-free.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/25031050@N06/4575272044/">Jon Kalish</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Guerrilla gardening</h2>
<p>At its most basic, <a href="http://www.guerrillagardening.org/">guerrilla gardening</a> involves the cultivation of land that you have no legal right to use. As such, it’s about much more than growing fruit and veg, since projects tend to have broader aims to do with reclaiming public space and transforming derelict or neglected parts of the urban landscape. </p>
<p>At its best, it is a creative and inspiring example of <a href="https://theconversation.com/look-out-behind-the-bus-stop-here-come-guerrilla-gardeners-digging-up-an-urban-revolution-29225">direct action</a>. Think of “seed bombs” used to transform a demolition site into a haven for pollinating insects, or lavender and sunflowers being added to a traffic island under cover of night.</p>
<h2>3. Join a community garden</h2>
<p>Unlike allotments, community gardens are focused on doing things together with others. They’re perfect for people who don’t have the time or skills required to work an allotment on their own, and the the camaraderie of working together and learning from more experienced gardeners provides huge social benefits beyond the food they produce. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93163/original/image-20150827-381-1hrxva2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gardens Community Garden in Haringey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/communitiesuk/4839980259">DCLG</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Community-supported agriculture</h2>
<p>So-called “CSA” projects are still relatively new in the UK but the idea behind them is simple: to create a direct connection between farmers and consumers and take back control of the food system from supermarkets and large corporations. Some schemes are similar to existing veg box delivery services where you simply pay to sign up and receive regular vegetable deliveries in return. </p>
<p>However, others allow you to be much more than just a “consumer” as you spend time working on the farm in exchange for produce. In this way, you can get some fresh air and exercise while learning new skills and meeting like-minded people. From the farmer’s perspective this also means a guaranteed market and extra help on the farm. Interested? You can find your local scheme <a href="http://www.communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk/">here</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93166/original/image-20150827-372-1y0rdwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can be a ‘producer’ as well as a consumer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=B8sOyxD8YeiTRO9Ze0ynZA&searchterm=community%20garden&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=138371300">www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Urban foraging</h2>
<p>Do you like the idea of finding your own food but you’re not keen on gardening? No problem. If you know where to look, urban areas also offer plenty of opportunities to find good food for free. </p>
<p>Parks, cemeteries and neglected canal towpaths often offer lots of edible species, from the relatively common blackberry and elderberry to more unusual tasty treats that you can use to spice up your meals. For example, hedge garlic – or <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/fi-bird/jack-by-the-hedge-a-readi_b_7048814.html">Jack by the hedge</a> – can be a fantastic addition to salads, while hawthorn berries and crab apples can make a fabulous jam.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/116038/original/image-20160322-32312-1a48hif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Found in shady urban wastelands, ‘Jack by the hedge’ is delicious in salads.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Saltmarsh</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, you need to be careful about <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-five-of-the-uks-most-poisonous-plants-33970">possible contamination or misidentification</a> but, if you’re unsure, why not see if your city has a forage walk that you can join? That way, you can learn first-hand about what’s safe to eat. </p>
<p>Shops, supermarkets and restaurants also throw out lots of perfectly edible food every day. An increasing number of people are foraging in bins for bread, tinned beans or even beer. This hunt for ready-made food is known as “skipping” or “dumpster diving”. Like many of the other methods described here, it’s not just a means of feeding yourself but a political act that highlights the wastefulness of the global food system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Whittle is a member of The Green Party. This article does not reflect the views of the research councils or other public funders.</span></em></p>Essential reading for green-fingered urbanites and guerrilla gardeners.Rebecca Whittle, Lecturer, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/500942015-11-17T14:38:43Z2015-11-17T14:38:43ZWhy gardening is good for your mind as well as your body<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102053/original/image-20151116-4964-du3qvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://data.worldbank.org/topic/urban-development">More than half</a> the planet’s population now live in cities, with limited access to the natural world. For Europe and Latin America, the figure is more than 70%. Yet contact with nature has numerous benefits for both our <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-456.pdf">physical and mental health</a>.</p>
<p>Gardening is an opportunity for everyone to experience this kind of regular contact with nature, even if they live in built-up areas. For those without a garden of their own, allotments or community gardens are a highly valuable resource. Demand for allotments <a href="http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmenvtra/560/56008.htm">is increasing</a> and in some locations waiting times have reached as much as <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207151/Gardeners-Camden-face-40-year-waiting-list-allotment-Londoners-flock-grab-slice-countryside.html">40 years</a>.</p>
<p>But gardens shouldn’t just be a luxury for suburban dwellers. A growing body of evidence shows that they can make a significant <a href="http://www.sustainweb.org/resources/files/reports/GrowingHealth_BenefitsReport.pdf">contribution to our health and well-being</a>, not just as a way to get some physical exercise but also to improve our mental state. There is even some limited evidence that gardening might play a role in <a href="http://www.sustainweb.org/resources/files/reports/GrowingHealth_BenefitsReport.pdf">helping people to cope</a> with serious health problems such as cancer. This builds a strong case for governments and housebuilders to do more to provide gardens and allotments to as many people as possible.</p>
<h2>Getting physical</h2>
<p>Any type of gardening, whether it is in a home or allotment garden, is an opportunity for <a href="http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/18/4/639.full.pdf+html">physical activity</a>. Gardening is typically seen as <a href="http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/18/4/639.full.pdf">moderate intensity</a> exercise equivalent to playing <a href="http://www.juststand.org/portals/3/literature/compendium-of-physical-activities.pdf">doubles tennis or walking at a speed of 3.5mph</a>, and so carries similar fitness benefits. A survey of 269 people that my colleagues and I <a href="http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/10/18/pubmed.fdv146.full.pdf">recently conducted</a> into allotment gardening found a correlation between gardeners and a lower body mass index. We also found a greater percentage of non-gardeners were classified as overweight. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102058/original/image-20151116-4976-14se7h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workout.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gardening is also linked to better diets. Home and allotment gardens have long been important for domestic food production, but gardening can also encourage people to eat more healthily and act as an educational resource on nutritious food. In fact, children who take part in gardening and grow their own food have a greater preference for, and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19559139">increased consumption</a> of, fruit and vegetables. </p>
<h2>Mood enhancer</h2>
<p>Perhaps less obvious is the positive impact gardening can have on your mental health. Research has shown that gardeners generally have <a href="http://www.ehjournal.net/content/9/1/74">greater life satisfaction</a>, <a href="http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/10/18/pubmed.fdv146.full?sid=1be645d2-a2e9-47f3-8a85-dd105734e3d2">enhanced self-esteem and fewer feelings of depression and fatigue</a> than non-gardeners.</p>
<p>But more than this, the act of gardening can specifically improve people’s moods. Asking gardeners about their mood before and after a session on their allotment, participants in our survey reported gardening improved self-esteem and reduce feelings of tension, depression and anger. We saw these benefits no matter how long participants had spent on their allotment in the particular session, in the last seven days or how long they had been gardening for in total.</p>
<p>Other research suggests that gardening can increase <a href="http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/18/4/639.abstract">life satisfaction</a>, and both reduce and promote recovery from stress. In fact, gardening leads to greater reductions in stress following a stress test than either <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20522508">reading indoors</a> or an <a href="http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/21/5/577.abstract">indoor exercise class</a>.</p>
<p>This last point suggests that the mental benefits of gardening may be more than just a side-effect of the physical exercise involved. One possible reason for this is that gardening, particularly on allotments, can involve social interaction and becoming part of a community. Gardeners often share their knowledge, skills and experiences with each other and by doing so develop relationships and <a href="http://www.greenexercise.org/pdf/Improving%20health%20and%20well-being%20independently%20of%20GDP.pdf">support networks</a>. People with strong social networks have an <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316">increased life expectancy</a>, greater resilience to stressful life events and fewer visits to the doctor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102061/original/image-20151116-4947-losoqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nice petunias.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gardening also provides essential opportunities for contact with nature, which alone has numerous benefits for our mental health. Spending time outdoors in a natural environment helps us to feel <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611003665">less stressed</a>, reduces the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987044/">symptoms of depression</a>, and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032712002005">enhances our concentration and attention</a> by allowing us to recover from mental fatigue.</p>
<p>All this evidence shows there’s a strong relationship between gardening and health, but we only know for sure that there is correlation, not causation. This means we can’t say that gardening alone is a direct cause of any improvements in health and well-being. We also need to directly examine the immediate effects of gardening on people who have never previously taken part or are suffering from mental and physical ill health.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, there is still enough evidence backing the benefits of gardening to make a case for encouraging more people to take part and for authorities to provide more gardening opportunities through community gardens or allotments. This could have a substantial impact on the health and well-being of the nation and reduce the health costs associated with conditions such as mental illness, obesity and loneliness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carly Wood works for the University of Westminster. </span></em></p>Gardening can tackle stress, low self-esteem and depression.Carly Wood, Lecturer in Nutrition and Exercise Science, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/394622015-04-03T10:13:04Z2015-04-03T10:13:04ZWhy all cities should have a Department of Food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76674/original/image-20150331-1229-1dwu2h5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Food to table, Chicago style. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/crfsproject/6964501008/in/photolist-bBqTvA-9Zv5TX-83HaAM-9ZxXyA-9ZxXXJ-aArKeJ-aAp2wg-aAp2pT-aArKHu-aAp2kR-aArKph-aAp2yZ-aArKtS-aArKjy-aArKzN-aArKyh-aArKhw-aAp2az-aAp2CK-aAp2h4-d9GCMk-8c9dnX-2NdiVd-7krcgU-8x5S8g-87KVs9-94ejk1-4cFhFW-cvhhDY-csUpZG-csUfxY-csUge9-csUkeh-csUjKL-csU6Mu-csU2pQ-csUqFu-csUnKA-csUhnC-csUeYy-csUto7-csUaDS-csU7sm-csUdQy-csU4Vf-csUy3y-csUd5L-csU3hQ-csUbDL-csU6cq">crfsproject</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the United States, we live in a nation where hunger and obesity go hand in hand. More than 17 million US households struggle to put food on the table, and when they do, it’s often high in fat and sugar because healthy options are scarce in low-income neighborhoods. </p>
<p>These problems are well known. They’re frequently in the news. But what’s missing from the conversation is a discussion of how they came to be.</p>
<p>The dearth of grocery stores and other sources of fresh food in underserved communities is not a product of happenstance, but the result, in part, of poor urban and regional planning.</p>
<p>More than 38,000 local governments — counties, cities, villages, towns and townships — exist in the United States, and their operations impact the lives of more than 319 million Americans on a daily basis. These entities are entrusted with a broad set of responsibilities: They ensure public safety; they regulate economic activity; they have departments that deliver water, education, transportation, green space (parks) and social services.</p>
<p>Yet, local governments pay little systemic attention to the one resource most essential for all Americans’ well-being: food. </p>
<h2>Local food policy</h2>
<p>In a 2014 survey of planners and other elected officials who are members of the <a href="https://www.planning.org/">American Planning Association</a>, the University at Buffalo and partners found abysmally low levels of engagement by local governments in the realm of food. Just 13 percent of 1,169 respondents working for these governments named food systems planning as a significant priority in their work. A full 50 percent said their engagement was non-existent or minimal.</p>
<p>This disturbing lapse contributes to a bevy of food-related problems, from disparities in food access among consumers to financial struggles among farmers, many of whom hold two jobs to make ends meet.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76678/original/image-20150331-1229-yva2x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Michigan Municipal League estimates there are over 300 farmers markets in the state now.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/michigancommunities/14993659057/in/photolist-oQWqt4-oXUiUA-cfdCeL-gEjzHH-8ZVt5S-75KA99-8CppcT-oXPbhR-bYDdvh-9MSfiS-2YEGmr-5vfQMu-4WNDJc-93gMAA-5vfQG5-pm5nCu-nHRq76-oUhUnH-5FMVxp-nrDTzb-2xP4oX-bMRQkV-oXMrfJ-3oSuDg-6DbGmo-dYdDKg-6k2V3i-p8dhbo-6pHoF2-cp1mXd-oXN3Bn-cfdzv9-2EaprY-byx3Ad-pfve3u-pbhC5F-dYdDDT-oSRCbS-4MZrFs-oRx2Wf-pfvdNb-8ZVtb1-pbNW4R-oQTwmy-66mPJJ-a4U96N-8gxAiJ-cE4zcw-doGygB-doGGk3">Michigan Municipal League</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It doesn’t have to be that way. Last month, a project launched to help eight communities across the US to connect family farmers to consumers who lack access to healthy food. Called <a href="http://growingfoodconnections.org/">Growing Food Connections</a>, it’s a federally funded project I lead along with the American Farmland Trust and other partners. The targeted regions will be urban and rural, ranging from the Kansas City metro area to two sparsely populated areas of New Mexico. Local governments will play an important role in each.</p>
<p>The project will do research around how local governments can remove public policy barriers to locally grown food and foster connections between family farmers and underserved community residents. We plan to provide policy recommendations to improve local food security by encouraging sustainable and economically viable food production. </p>
<h2>Blocking farmers markets?</h2>
<p>But making improvements in eight forward-thinking communities is not enough. </p>
<p>Across the country, we need to incorporate food into the way we plan and organize the places we live. For this, we need officials in local government who are dedicated full-time to addressing the problem.</p>
<p>That’s because the food system is complicated: It includes physical components such as land for farming; facilities for storage, butchering and retail; and transportation networks for distributing food. It also includes natural resources such as soil, water, sunshine and pollinators, and human resources like entrepreneurs and a trained workforce of farmers, farmworkers, butchers, processors and chefs. </p>
<p>Today, in many communities, this infrastructure is in a state of disrepair. Zoning codes that dictate where food businesses can locate are often incredibly antiquated, some dating back to the 1950s. Some prohibit people from growing food on their own front yards. Others ban farmers’ markets in residential neighborhoods, making it difficult for people without cars to reach healthy food destinations. Many additional problems persist.</p>
<h1>Urban planners and food</h1>
<p>So how would food systems planners in local government address these concerns?</p>
<p>They would perform a pulse-taking function, tracking problems as well as missed opportunities. They would ensure that land use and transportation plans protect assets such as farmland. They would help bring amenities like farmers’ markets and community gardens to neighborhoods that need them. They would rewrite outdated zoning codes. They would assist in creating stronger regional supply chains of farmers, processors, distributors and consumers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76677/original/image-20150331-1259-gxh4df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seattle’s P-Patch is one of the forward-looking city policies aimed at encouraging municipal gardening.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/viriyincy/4380421329/in/photolist-frVP3Q-pceim6-6nVFSZ-6nZRQ1-6nZRm1-6nZSKG-6nVHc4-6nZTbw-6nVHvR-93jpAc-dNkujj-4Fp21-dNeURv-4FoYv-7F5NDF-dNkuam-dNeUUR-dNkunL-dNeUJv-bExsnW">Oran Viriyincy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Baltimore, Maryland and Seattle, Washington are cities where thoughtful planning is already taking place. Both have staff focused on developing purposeful food policy. Both also have food policy councils — advisory groups of committed, volunteer residents — who advocate for improvements.</p>
<p>This allocation of resources has paid dividends. In Seattle, the city runs <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/">P-Patch</a>, one of the largest municipal community gardening programs in the country. The city provides staff and financial support for the project, which enabled residents to grow food and donate 29,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to food banks and programs in 2014.</p>
<p>Recognizing the value, Seattle’s voters included US$2 million in a 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy for P-Patch community garden development, and the city’s comprehensive plan encourages community gardens as a land use.</p>
<h2>Bringing food production back</h2>
<p>One great irony is that local government agencies, such as departments of planning and economic development, have continually shaped communities’ food infrastructure, albeit with little awareness that they are doing so.</p>
<p>Local governments create land use plans that place prime farmland in the path of development. They regulate access to water for food growers. They tax food businesses. They enforce outdated zoning codes. And they do it all with little or no systemic understanding of their communities’ food infrastructure — and certainly with no departments of food.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76676/original/image-20150331-1240-1o9hkgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Earthworks Urban Farm in Detroit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/detroitunspun/5167842154">detroitunspun</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These modern failures of local planning have precedent in the City Beautiful movement of the early 1900s. During that era, planners designed cities for grandeur rather than quotidian functions such as growing and harvesting food.</p>
<p>A preoccupation with auto-centric development further degraded food infrastructure from the mid-century onwards. In 1965, for example, the city of Buffalo, New York sold the century-old Washington Market, where vendors hawked poultry, dairy, fruits and vegetables from 400 stalls, to a bank. The buyer razed the market to create a parking lot that remains there today. </p>
<p>Fortunately for Buffalo, city officials and planners are now supporting grassroots efforts to rebuild food infrastructure through innovative public policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samina Raja receives funding from The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2012-68004-19894 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.</span></em></p>Urban and regional planners need to play a bigger role in bringing healthy food to cities and towns. One research project aims to change that.Samina Raja, Associate Professor Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104852013-01-01T20:37:06Z2013-01-01T20:37:06ZNot all community gardens are environmental equals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18125/original/62d2jpxb-1354145672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community gardens are becoming a viable urban source of food.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">stc4blues/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Food safety, availability and affordability are now global issues. Rapid urbanisation has increased demand for food in cities, where most people now live. Growing demand for food has been met by growth in industrial agriculture. Ultimately, this has led to a disconnection between urban residents and where their <a href="http://oae.sagepub.com/content/23/3/291.abstract">food comes from</a>. </p>
<p>Community gardens have more recently become a popular <a href="http://theconversation.com/grow-your-own-making-australian-cities-more-food-secure-8021">source of urban food</a>, and many researchers, policy-makers and activists believe that community gardens are now part of an <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549839.2011.569537">alternative food system</a>. </p>
<p>Although much of the academic literature suggests that community gardens are an effective and environmentally sound way of producing food in cities, this claim has not been substantiated.</p>
<p>Very little is known about how people actually garden in community gardens. The term “community garden” has been widely used to refer to any type of garden, independent of gardening practices or the philosophy informing garden development, thus putting all the gardens in the same basket.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866712000830">A recent study identified</a> sixty-five academic papers describing original research on community gardens, mostly documenting the social benefits of gardens, such as health promotion and education, community building and resilience. </p>
<p>But what has so far been <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549839.2011.569537">neglected by researchers</a> is the environmental benefits of community gardens. These include the effective management of soil nutrients, sunlight, rainfall and biological resources, factors that are essential for their long-term viability.</p>
<p>How community gardeners add nutrients to the soil (fertilisers vs. compost), control pests (pesticides vs. companion planting/crop rotation) and use existing resources (tap water vs. collecting rain water in tanks) are important aspects of urban ecology that warrant closer scrutiny.</p>
<p>This is because different gardening practises can be both environmentally beneficial (composting or locally sourcing plants and materials), or environmentally harmful (through use of synthetic chemical pesticides or limited plant diversity). </p>
<h2>Local research in Queensland</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/427737/Guitart-2011-FINAL-HONOURS-THESIS-1.pdf">Our study examined</a> 50 community gardens in two of the most rapidly urbanising cities in Australia - Brisbane and the Gold Coast, South East Queensland. South East Queensland is Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan region, with its urban population expected to grow from 2.8 million in 2006, to <a href="http://www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/resources/plan/SEQIPP/seqipp-seq.pdf">4.4 million people by 2031</a>. </p>
<p>The main purpose of the study was to obtain a clearer picture of how the general characteristics of community gardens might shape long-term garden viability, and how garden managers’ motivations affect gardening practises, with a view to informing policy on future community garden development.</p>
<p>Garden managers were surveyed about who runs the gardens, their motivations, the cultural background of members, their gardening philosophy, their facilities, and their gardening practices (such as soil improvement, water and energy usage). </p>
<p>The gardens examined were either run by schools or by a range of not-for-profit organisations. Garden managers’ primary motivations for establishing these gardens were education, community building and sustainability. </p>
<p>State and local government provided land and other resource for nearly all gardens, with gardens collectively occupying 57,000 square metres of land. Gardens in general, but school gardens in particular, were surprisingly culturally diverse, with members from many national backgrounds. </p>
<p>Almost half of the garden managers reported <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture">Permaculture</a> as the driving gardening philosophy. Most did not use any chemicals, but seven gardens reported using synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. The ones that didn’t use chemicals used alternative strategies for nutrient soil improvement and pest control such as homemade compost, mushroom compost, blood and bone, worm castings, companion planting, planting in season and climate, and crop rotation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18124/original/cjxzn8ww-1354145086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Permaculture is a system of agriculture that is designed to be environmentally sustainable, often by planting different crops together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">niallmcnulty/Flickr</span></span>
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<p>Only half of these gardens, mostly the Permaculture ones, actually recognised that it was important to maintain healthy soils in order to grow healthy vegetables. Permaculture gardens used lower-impact gardening practises than non-permaculture gardens. </p>
<p>We found that the gardens are in fact very different, and that many are not at all environmentally sound.</p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the long-term viability of urban food systems is dependent not only upon social factors such as motivations and governance, but also upon environmental and ecological factors, such as the type of gardening practises used and the types of plants grown in these gardens.</p>
<p>Governments should be aware of these differences in gardening practises, because when it comes to community gardens, one size doesn’t fit all. Promoting community gardening as a health intervention and and providing security of tenure by allocating land for gardens is an important function of government.</p>
<p>But policy-makers must also become more attuned to the environmental impacts of gardening practises. They should promote Permaculture community gardens for their environmental, as well as social benefits. </p>
<p>Permaculture integrates landscapes, ecological processes and people, it has enormous potential to provide sustainable food. Applying these principles and techniques can enhance human well-being and promote ecological resilience. A big advantage is that Permaculture is a well-established design system that is easy to follow. </p>
<p>Permaculture community gardens can green cities, feed people and foster healthy ecosystems. So don’t be a couch potato, put on your gloves, grab a hat and head to your nearest Permaculture community garden for a dose of happiness, good health and delicious veggies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniela Guitart is affiliated with the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility at Griffith University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Pickering receives funding from the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility for her research on climate change in the Australian Alps, and from the Queensland Government for part of her research on social attitudes to protected areas.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Byrne has previously received funding from the US National Park Service and the Western National Park Association</span></em></p>Food safety, availability and affordability are now global issues. Rapid urbanisation has increased demand for food in cities, where most people now live. Growing demand for food has been met by growth…Daniela Guitart, Researcher, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Griffith UniversityCatherine Pickering, Associate Professor, Griffith UniversityJason Byrne, Senior Lecturer - Environmental Planning, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.