Using Social Practice Theory To Assess How Transition Norwich Can Upscale Household Food Gardening In The City Of Norwich

By Dionysios Touliatos
Thesis – Master of Science
School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia University Plain Norwich
© 2011 Dionysios Touliatos
August 2011

Excerpt:

The choice of household gardens

According to Jeffcote (1993) urban household gardens in the UK represent a significant percentage of the total surface of a city, occupying more than ten times the area of protected nature reserves (Loram et al., 2005). The UK is the country with the highest number in private gardens per capita of any nation in Europe (Alfrey et al., 2004: 9) but only 20% of garden owners grew food in 1996 compared to 35% ten years earlier, with lawn and flowers being the dominant theme (MINTEL, 1999). Thus, it can be argued that a significant potential of food production in terms of quantity lies in household gardens.

Considering that the area occupied by gardens could be utilised for growing food instead of lawn and flowers. Household garden food production has the potential to shift both perceptions and practices about food, home and the urban environment (Kortright & Wakefield, 2010) as it provides direct access to fresh and nutritious food, within the household environment, that can be harvested, prepared and fed to family members, often on a daily basis (Marsh, 1998).

The distinct infrastructural advantages of household gardens

Household gardens as the medium for upscaling self provisioned local food production in Norwich present various advantages in comparison to the aforementioned urban agriculture infrastructure types. For example, 100,000 people in the UK are estimated to be on waiting lists for allotments (Hope & Ellis, 2009). In Norwich the waiting list for a plot at the allotments numbers around 700 people (Evening news 24, 2011) indicating the increasing demand for growing food as well as the inability of current allotment arrangements to satisfy it. Additionally, the allotments face the risk of being sold for development purposes (Independent, 2011). While challenges associated with the ownership of the land appear as a barrier for scaling-up urban agriculture through allotments and community gardens (Borrelli, 2008) with private household gardens this is not an issue. Being the ultimate controller of their land; private landowners (Lepczyk, 2004) view their garden as a personal space where they can alter the environment according to their will (Cammack et al., 2011). Garden share schemes offer the potential to overcome barriers arising around rented property (Public engagement, 2010), land scarcity (Blake & Cloutier-Fisher, 2009) and underutilized gardens (Peters et al., 2010: 201).

Read the complete paper here.

An Urban Farming Census – Project Description

By Marc Schutzbank, MSc. Candidate
University of British Columbia
November, 2010
Presented at the Vancouver Urban Farming Forum

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index is at the highest level ever recorded. Wheat crops have failed in Russia and in China due to severe heat and draught. International food access issues are stirring local public and private responses, one of which is urban farming. To ascertain the community impacts of urban farming, I propose the development of an urban farming census to measure the economic, social and environmental outcomes of urban farming.

Vancouver’s Urban Farm Network: A Look into the Economics of Urban Farming. See the large poster here. (Large 5.3 MB

Many cities and municipalities are developing local food strategies that include provisions for local production and distribution of agricultural products. Entrepreneurs are developing businesses in the field of urban agriculture and thousands of gardens are being readied for next season. Yet, despite this interest and growth, there are no data available on specific yields, economic profit, social benefits or environmental impacts of urban farming in North America. I will address this lack of information by conducting a census of urban farms. Using Vancouver, BC as a test case, I will use the census to help elucidate both urban farming practices and their community impact. This tool will be exportable, to assist and encourage better accounting of urban farming in other communities. Measuring the impacts of sustainability initiatives like urban farming, can help decision makers target resources to the most effective programs. Results can drive future sustainability initiatives. I hypothesize that Vancouver’s urban farming promotes a wide range of community benefits; this census will evaluate my hypothesis.

Interest in local food continues to grow. Concerns of food safety and unease with international markets for agriculture are driving more customers to their local farmer’s markets and to their gardens. In 2008, Canadian farmers’ markets supported twenty-eight million shoppers, each spending thirty-two dollars per visit for a total economic impact between two and three billion dollars . In the United States, there has been a 250% increase in the number of farmers markets over the past fifteen years . Local food increasingly finds it way to the dinner table. Vancouver is no different.

Though many local farmers drive into the city from the surrounding areas, produce is readily available from expanding urban farmers. Urban farmers, unlike community gardeners, farm to make a living. They raise produce, grow ornamentals, extract honey, raise chickens and collect eggs to sell in their community. This year, 13 urban farms grew food for their community. Together, urban farmers have built an Urban Farmer’s Network to develop relationships, build community and understand the impacts of their work.

Working with the Urban Farming Network, the City of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia, I have conducted an urban farming census, which provides data on number of financial and social metrics: revenue gained, jobs provided, volunteer hours logged, and social benefits. These metrics, among others, were collected through individual interviews and surveys. In addition, I will be describing and modeling urban farm business operations. This will help give policy makers data to better develop legal frameworks for these programs and make best business practices available to current and future urban famers. Attached you will find my poster and flyer with information from the census.

Urban farmers seek to build our future around a vision of local production. During World War II, Victory Gardens provided 42% of fresh vegetables consumed in the United States. This vision is possible and already happening in Vancouver.

Vegetable Vancouver 2010: An Urban Farming Census. See the two page flyer PDF here. (1.7 MB)

Vancouver’s Urban Farm Network: A Look into the Economics of Urban Farming. See the large poster here. (Large 5.3 MB)

Also see: “Urban Farming by the Numbers” here. Dec 9, 2011

By Eli M. Krispi
California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo
Thesis: Master of City and Regional Planning
June 2011

Abstract:

The objective of this project is to develop land use planning strategies that can be used to preserve and enhance the economic viability of agricultural operations surrounded by suburban development in Santa Barbara County’s Eastern Goleta Valley. This project focuses on two key techniques: buffers between agriculture and other land uses, and agritourism. In the case of buffers, academic literature is examined to determine how effective buffers are at various tasks (filtering runoff, mitigating dust and wind, providing habitat, etc.) and how to construct buffers to maximize their effectiveness.

Land use plans and codes from several California jurisdictions are studied to see how buffers are put to use. Academic literature is then reviewed to discover the benefits and potential drawbacks of agritourism to agricultural operations and the larger area. The zoning codes from the top five agritourism counties in California are evaluated to see how effective they are at facilitating five common agritourism uses; these best practices are then compared to the current zoning in Santa Barbara County. This paper concludes by summarizing the ap- plicability of the literature and case studies to Eastern Goleta Valley, and proposes a new zoning designation and other policies to help maintain the urban agriculture operations. This new zoning designation includes a 30-foot minimum width for buffers and a three- tier categorization of land uses capable of promoting agritourism.

Read the complete paper here.

While the long term role and significance of urban food production in feeding the global population is unclear, understanding its myriad benefits and positive impacts locally and globally is imperative.

Thesis by Helena K. Farrell
Master Of Landscape Architecture
University of Massachusetts – Amherst
February, 2011
106 pages

Abstract

Modern, conventional food systems vulnerable to declining fossil fuel resources are a 21st century plight demanding rapid transition to regenerative agricultural practices. Urban agriculture is currently responding; expanding and diversifying from recent and historic roots worldwide to help meet the needs of contemporary urban dwellers and ameliorate the aftereffects of industrial agriculture.

Urban Agriculture is comprised of many different styles, practices, and modes of production. From traditional to state-of-the-art, they result in a range of landscape typologies occurring around the globe. The tremendous variety creates the need for better articulation and more accurate distinctions between actual urban farm systems. In order to understand their respective advantages and disadvantages, and the differences and similarities of disparate modes of production, a comprehensive method is needed that allows for comparative analysis and assessment.

The evaluative framework developed for this research is a tool for evaluating urban farm systems with a current and comprehensive set of criteria and metrics. It can be used to inform and inspire urban planners, designers, policymakers and community members seeking to maximize the potential of existing projects or successfully customize urban agriculture in new locations.

While the long term role and significance of urban food production in feeding the global population is unclear, understanding its myriad benefits and positive impacts locally and globally is imperative.

Read the complete paper here. (Very large download, 37 MB.)

This study shows that Cleveland city can meet up to 100% of its fresh produce need.

By Sharanbir S. Grewala and Parwinder S. Grewal
Center for Urban Environment and Economic Development, The Ohio State University,
Wooster, OH 44691, USA
Available online 20 July 2011
Cost of paper at Science Direct $19.95

Abstract

Modern cities almost exclusively rely on the import of resources to meet their daily basic needs. Food and other essential materials and goods are transported from long-distances, often across continents, which results in the emission of harmful greenhouse gasses. As more people now live in cities than rural areas and all future population growth is expected to occur in cities, the potential for local self-reliance in food for a typical post-industrial North American city was determined.

Given current policies and bylaws and available area, crop yields, and human intake, three distinct scenarios were developed to determine the potential level of food self-reliance for the City of Cleveland, which has been plagued with home foreclosures and resulting vacant land, lack of access to healthy food, hunger, and obesity particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Scenario I, which utilizes 80% of every vacant lot, can generate between 22% and 48% of Cleveland’s demand for fresh produce (vegetables and fruits) depending on the vegetable production practice used (conventional gardening, intensive gardening, or hydroponics), 25% of both poultry and shell eggs, and 100% of honey. Scenario II, which uses 80% of every vacant lot and 9% of every occupied residential lot, can generate between 31% and 68% of the needed fresh produce, 94% of both poultry and shell eggs, and 100% of honey. Finally, scenario III, which adds 62% of every industrial and commercial rooftop in addition to the land area used in scenario II, can meet between 46% and 100% of Cleveland’s fresh produce need, and 94% of poultry and shell eggs and 100% of honey. The three scenarios can attain overall levels of self-reliance between 4.2% and 17.7% by weight and 1.8% and 7.3% by expenditure in total food and beverage consumption, compared to the current level of 0.1% self-reliance in total food and beverage by expenditure. The analysis also reveals that the enhanced food self-reliance would result in $29 M to $115 M being retained in Cleveland annually depending upon the scenario employed. This study provides support to the hypothesis that significant levels of local self-reliance in food, the most basic need, is possible in post-industrial North American cities.

It is concluded that while high levels of local self-reliance would require an active role of city governments and planners, public commitment, financial investment, and labor, the benefits to human health, the local and global environment, and the local economy and community may outweigh the cost.

Highlights

Cities depend on the import of food from distant places to meet their daily needs.
Post-industrial cities are accumulating vacant land due to sprawl and home foreclosures.
Urban food production is increasing seen as a tool to address food access and insecurity.
This study shows that Cleveland city can meet up to 100% of its fresh produce need.
This level of food self-reliance can prevent up to $115 M in annual economic leakage.
Keywords: Globalization; Local self-reliance; Urban agriculture; Urban food production; Post-industrial cities

Purchase paper here.

The Australian Community Gardening Movement And Repertoires For Change

By Claire Nettle
Bachelor of Environmental Studies Master of Applied Science (Social Ecology)
Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
School of History and Politics, University of Adelaide, December 2010
359 pages

Abstract:

There has been a resurgence of community gardening activity in Australia over the past decade. This coincides with increasing concern about food security, urban sustainability, social isolation and the preservation of community space. Community gardening has been adopted by divergent actors, from health agencies looking to increase fruit and vegetable consumption to radical social movements seeking symbols of non-capitalist social and spatial relations. This thesis contributes to a systematic research account of the Australian community gardening movement by considering community gardening as a site of collective social action.

Drawing on a tradition of activist research, the analysis focuses on ethnographic case studies of three key organisations within the Australian community gardening movement. These case studies portray community gardening activity at three scales: a garden, an organisation supporting and promoting community gardening at a city-wide level, and the national community gardening organisation.

Drawing on social movement theory, the thesis investigates the ways community gardeners in these organisations approach environmental and social justice issues and considers the relationships between community gardening and wider movements. In particular, the thesis considers the political logic of community gardeners’ collective practices, revealing the specific methods community gardeners use to enact social change. It then considers whether community gardening can be seen as a form of political praxis. The thesis shows that community gardening is used strategically and intentionally as a performance to make collective claims. In some contexts and to the extent to which it is so used, it argues that community gardening can be understood as a social movement practice. Finally, the thesis contends that community gardeners’ strategies are part of a repertoire of collective action, which offers both a contribution to existing understandings of collective action and a critique of current conceptualisations of activism.

The thesis foregrounds community garden organisers’ analyses of the change they wish to see, the tactics they choose, and the role ‘constructive’ and prefigurative repertoires play in movements for change. In doing so it makes a unique contribution to the existing literature on both community gardening and environmental social movements.

See the complete paper here.

Understanding the recent trend in food production activities within the limits of a developed nation’s capital

By Peter de Lange
Master thesis in the program Environment and Resource Management
University Amsterdam
Aug. 21, 2011
69 pages

Abstract

Urban agriculture, the practice of growing food inside a city, can play a significant role in a cities food system, especially in feeding the urban poor. Its presence varies greatly across regions, however, and it is predominantly seen in Asia and Africa, where it is often practiced out of necessity, in order to feed families or gain much needed additional income.

Urban agriculture is not confined to developing countries, however, and, in recent years, is becoming increasingly popular in cities across the United States and Europe. One such city is Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, where especially community gardens have sprouted up in the last three years.

This trend cannot be expected to be driven by the same motives that drive urban agriculture elsewhere, as food is readily, and for most citizens affordably, available in supermarkets. As such, the current research was conducted to understand the current developments, and based on these findings give implications of what can be expected of food production in Amsterdam in the future.

In order to do this, interviews were conducted with urban farmers and allotment gardeners, policy documents were studied and literature on urban agriculture was read. This research revealed that the food production activities found in Amsterdam can be divided in six categories: allotment gardens, beekeeping, community gardens, restaurant gardens, school gardens and water gardens.

The interviews revealed that food production is often not the main purpose of the activity. Instead, improving social cohesion in a neighbourhood and educating others (children and adults) about growing food are the main motives for practicing urban agriculture. When growing food is the main aim, it is done with the intention to practice sustainable food production. In several cases, gardeners tried to adhere to the principles of permaculture in order to achieve this. Economic necessity was never mentioned as a motive. Quite to the contrary, several gardeners mentioned that buying vegetables in the supermarket is cheaper than growing them.

As a result of these motives, and maybe also because most urban farmers in Amsterdam have little experience with growing food, hardly any intensive production systems were found. Most food is simply grown in the soil, or in raised beds where the soil is too polluted, and methods to increase use of the vertical space, which are typical of urban agriculture elsewhere, were hardly encountered.

The municipality was found to be an active supporter of urban agriculture. Most initiatives had some form of help from either the central municipality or one of the city districts when starting up or with maintenance. The municipality does this mainly to stimulate citizen initiatives that improve local neighbourhoods, but also to promote local, sustainable, food production and to strengthen the ties between the city and its rural hinterlands.

The economic crisis played a role as well, as it creates space (particularly vacant lots) and causes people to reassess the sustainability of our current food production system.

All things considered, the recent trend appears to be the result of a combination of increased initiative from concerned citizens and a supportive municipality. Because food production in Amsterdam is economically unattractive, it cannot be expected to make a large contribution to the local food system unless economic circumstances change. It can, however, contribute to social cohesion in neighbourhoods and stimulate people to think about the food they eat, which might result in healthier, and perhaps even more sustainable, food consumption.

Read the complete paper here.

Urban agriculture functions as a catalyst for larger food system transformations.

By the Urban Design Lab
The Earth Institute and Columb1a University
Prepared by Kubi Ackerman
Project Team:
Richard Plunz, Urban Design Lab, Columbia University
Michael Conard, Urban Design Lab, Columbia University
Ruth Katz, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
Sarah Brennan, Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, Columbia University Patricia Culligan, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University
2011, 112 pages

Excerpt:

Key findings in brief

• Urban agriculture can play a critical role as productive green urban infrastructure. There is significant potential for urban agriculture to provide critical environmental services to the city through stormwater runoff mitigation, soil remediation, and energy use reduction. At a time when municipalities are straining to address complex infrastructural challenges with limited budgets, productive urban green spaces will be increasingly important in their capacity to function as a cost-effective form of small scale, distributed green infrastructure.

• Urban agriculture can play an important role in community development. The benefits of urban agriculture are not limited to the provision of food, with many advocates citing community empowerment, environmental justice, public health, and education and training as primary goals. Urban agriculture can be a means of transforming underutilized or neglected space into a public resource, providing opportunities for social interaction, greater community cohesion and self-sufficiency, and engagement for young people in underserved neighborhoods.

• There is a substantial amount of land potentially available for urban agriculture in NYC. We have identified almost 5,000 acres of vacant land likely to be suitable for farming in the five boroughs, the equivalent of six times the area of Central Park. In addition to this land, there are many other potential sites, including over 1,000 acres of NYCHA green space, underutilized open spaces, and Greenstreets. There are also many other potentially suitable sites and properties that are not included in these designations that would greatly expand the total amount of land available for agricultural production. Each of these different types of sites would demand different approaches and strategies if they are to be deployed for agriculture. In this regard, existing data on land availability and suitability is inadequate to understand true capacity, and information on public (municipal) land is insufficiently accessible.

• Intensive growing methods adapted to urban spaces can result in yields per acre which greatly exceed those of conventional production techniques. More land under fruit and vegetable cultivation will be needed if the population is to shift to a healthier diet. Employing high-yield or “biointensive” production techniques characteristic of urban agriculture can contribute to this goal. Widely-practiced intensive farming techniques for small sites in urban areas, such as intercropping, intensive soil management, or hydroponic cultivation can convert underused or neglected urban space into a highly productive community asset.

• While urban agriculture cannot supply the entire city with all of its food needs, in certain neighborhoods it can significantly contribute to food security. There are a number of neighborhoods where a confluence of factors makes urban agriculture a particularly attractive and effective means of addressing multiple community challenges. These factors include low access to healthy food retail, high prevalence of obesity and diabetes, low median income, and comparatively high availability of vacant and other available land. These issues are all correlated, and it is in these areas where urban agriculture could have the greatest impact on food security.

• There is a need for cost/benefit analyses that reflect the full complexity of the city’s social and environmental challenges. Unlike other forms of green infrastructure, urban agriculture has the potential to generate revenue and provide long-term employment as well as to provide environmental benefits such as decreasing stormwater runoff (both by harvesting rainwater and by increasing surface permeability). Conventional cost-benefit analyses that consider complex problems in isolation often miss potential synergistic solutions that address multiple problems at once. Urban agriculture clearly has the potential to provide such solutions for NYC.

• NYC’s rooftops are a vast, underused resource that could be transformed for food production.
NYC is one of the most advantageous places in the nation to establish rooftop agriculture due primarily to density, but also to public interest and support, access to capital, a robust transportation network, adequate infra- structure, proximity to institutions of higher education, and consumer demand. Existing green roof incentive programs have not been designed to support rooftop agriculture. Rapidly changing technologies and the skills and experience being developed by today’s rooftop farming pioneers will likely make wider adoption much more feasible in the near future.

• Bureaucratic challenges are a major barrier to the expansion of urban farming. Uncertainties over land jurisdiction and management remain a major hurdle to prospective urban farmers. City agencies, already stretched by budget cuts, often don’t have adequate capacity to provide oversight for this type of activity on their properties. Additionally, there is the added complication of using public land for commercial ventures (for 3 farms intended as for-profit operations). Though not without precedent, these issues will need to be comprehensively addressed if more of our available public spaces are to be used for urban agriculture.

• Existing infrastructure has the potential to support the expansion of urban agriculture. There are substantial opportunities to take advantage of underused existing refrigeration, food processing, and distribution infrastructure within NYC, which are all critical to delivering food from the urban farm to the consumer. Churches, schools, and other institutions often have kitchen and refrigeration facilities that are not always in use, and assessing such resources and developing alternative networks for their use would assist in the expansion of agricultural activity in the city.

• Urban farmers are establishing viable businesses by taking advantage of multiple revenue streams. While farming in cities remains a challenging and low-profit margin activity, enterprising urban farmers are developing multiple-revenue stream models to adapt to urban conditions. In addition to selling food directly to the public, farmers have developed direct marketing relationships with restaurants and institutions, initiated revenue-generating education and training services, and can profit from the environmental services they are providing, such as tipping fees for collecting compostable waste.

• Urban agriculture is part of a broader horticultural approach to urban greening that encompasses more than fruits and vegetables. The capacity of the city for agricultural production includes the cultivation of non-crop food products to take advantage of the diversity of environments and urban fabric types that exist in NYC, including such products as honey, chickens, and fish. All of these approaches have proven successful in urban areas and can be symbiotically incorporated into more conventional fruit and vegetable production methods. Additionally, the production of non-food crops such as flowers and raw materials could allow for the economic and environmental benefits of urban horticulture to be more widely distributed to sites that are not suitable for food production.

• Urban agriculture functions as a catalyst for larger food system transformations. Urban farmers are developing vital connections between urban and rural communities. Already urban farms in the city are providing such linkages, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, by doing such things as inviting rural farmers to participate in and supplement their community-based farmers markets, providing a customer base for both the urban and rural farms simultaneously.

See the complete 112 page report here.

Master in Architecture Thesis

By Rachel Hedlof
June 9, 2011
Master in Architecture
Portland Graduate School of Architecture
University of Oregon

Abstract:

Local food and agriculture in the Portland Metro Region has a strong cultural presence due to its support by chef- farmer collaborations, local food marketing promotion, and community supported farmer’s markets. The number of small farms on the periphery of Portland is increasing, supported by their close contact with the city due to the urban growth boundary. Agriculture within city boundaries has also shown continuous growth through support by community and civic organizations.

Both peri-urban and urban agriculture contribute to a regional dynamic that connects urban and rural residents in the pursuit of a sustainable food ethic. The Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture will act as a place for collaboration in sustainable food systems across the metro region, bringing together business, academic and civic organizations with a shared vision.

A unique opportunity for new social and environmental synergies is created by placing a center for agriculture in a dense urban environment. Food producing gardens will be located within the building structure and on the site, making the benefits of urban agriculture immediately apparent. An open and engaging program that welcomes people to the gardens will work to bring awareness of food production to people living in the city. Natural cycles of farming such as water use and composting will be integrated into urban cycles of storm water management and collection of organic waste, while a mutually beneficial exchange of thermal, daylight, and water needs will strengthen the building- landscape connection.

Within the building design, spatial relationships will be developed that seek to build collaboration between various occupants and visitors. The reciprocal form of building and landscape will be developed to engage building users, affirming the relevance of food production to daily activities. A study of formal relationships of protection and seclusion, exhibition and engagement, as they relate to the urban environment, will inform the design.

Thesis Research Report: Landscape and Architecture: (65 pages)

Thesis Architectural Design Project – Architectural Design Portfolio:

Thesis submitted for completion of Master of Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability

By Tara McNerney, Maarten Dankers, Luke Callahan
School of Engineering
Blekinge Institute of Technology
Karlskrona, Sweden 2011
85 pages

Abstract:

This thesis explores how to overcome barriers to growing food in yards in cities of North America’s Pacific Northwest Coastal Region, to help build towards a more sustainable society. We used a survey and interviews to investigate what barriers prevent people with access to yards from growing food, or prevent them from increasing the amount of food grown in their yards, and how these barriers can be overcome.

We also collected data to determine the resource inputs and production and/or financial outputs for three groups of people involved with growing food in yards: Do-it-yourself gardeners, Consultants involved with designing and implementing food gardens, and Commercial Urban Farmers. This allowed us to gain a better understanding of the current reality and identify what role these groups can play in helping to overcome the barriers. Based on our results, we made a list of recommended actions that are tangible, move in the right direction towards sustainability, can act as stepping stones for future improvements, and could provide a positive return on investment, in order to help individuals with access to yards who are interested in growing food overcome the barriers facing them.

5 Conclusion

The intent of this study was to better understand the current system of growing food in yards, and use that knowledge to encourage individuals to use their yards to grow food in cities of the Pacific Northwest Coastal Region, in order to help build towards a more sustainable society.

The barriers named most frequently by DIYs that prevent them from growing more food in their yards were: Lack of Time, Lack of Space, Lack of Sunlight, Cost of Growing Food, and Lack of Skill/Knowledge. For the general population, Consultants and CUFs rated Lack of Skill/Knowledge and a Lack of Time as important barriers. Lack of Financial Incentives was not often rated as an important barrier in our study.

We gained insights into the current reality of the system by quantifying the inputs and outputs for DIYs, Consultants, and CUFs. CUFs generally had higher inputs compared to the other groups. Consultants reported similar inputs but produced more food, and watered less frequently than DIYs.

DIY gardening seems to be advantageous for someone who wants to get involved and has the time and inclination to do it themselves. We found that the cost of DIY gardening can be low, and there are many other benefits of DIY gardening, such as getting exercise and building community, that would not be experienced by having someone else grow food in your yard. Hiring a Consultant can be desirable for someone who lacks the skill and knowledge to garden and has the money to have an expert design a low maintenance, high yielding yard that addresses their yard’s specific conditions. Hiring or allowing a CUF to farm your yard is a possible option for anyone who does not have time or skill/knowledge, but who does have a suitable yard for growing food. A drawback is that there is a lack of CUFs in the market, which is possibly related to our finding that it seems to be difficult for CUFs to make a living from selling the food they produce. Other actions that could help overcome barriers included co- operate with others, yard-share, grow perennials, water efficiently, mulch, and self-education.

By providing these recommendations, we hope help individuals with access to yards overcome barriers to start growing food, or grow more food, in order to diversify and localize the urban food system and help move society towards sustainability.

See a short visual summary of the thesis here. (1.85MB)

See the complete thesis here. (85 pages)

Rooftop agriculture (RA) is the production of fresh vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers on rooftops for local consumption.

By Aaron Quesnel, Joshua Foss, Nina Danielsson
School of Engineering Blekinge Institute of Technology Karlskrona, Sweden 2011
125 pages

Abstract:

Cities present many opportunities to improve socio-ecological sustainability through efficiencies of scale and access to resources and services. These benefits are often compromised by rapidly increasing urban populations demanding energy, water, resources and food that are sourced, produced and transported from rural areas in unsustainable ways. A systems level approach to understanding the complex challenges cities face is required to strategically plan for the future. Rooftop agriculture is one measure that can help address many sustainability problems cities are currently faced with.

Our research aims to identify the role rooftop agriculture can play in moving society towards sustainability, the challenges it currently faces that may prevent it from being widely implemented, and how to overcome these challenges. To structure our research, we used the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD), a scientifically rigorous and peer reviewed model designed to manage the complexity of planning and decision-making towards sustainability. The culmination of this paper was the creation of a Sustainable Rooftop Agriculture Guide, a practical resource that can help city stakeholders determine how to best use rooftop agriculture in their movement towards sustainability.

5 Conclusion

This study used the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) to understand the relationship between rooftop agriculture and a successful city/food nexus. The research determined that while currently in a nascent stage, rooftop agriculture has the potential to be a strategic action to move a city of the developed world towards sustainability.
Our findings determined the importance of RA being approached from a strategic sustainability perspective to fully value its potential. While RA can contribute key benefits to the city/food nexus in isolation, its strengths lie in its ability to address environmental, social and economic sustainability problems simultaneously. The FSSD played a critical role for this research, and acted as the backbone for collecting and interpreting our results.

RA has shown to be a strategic method in bridging the gap between the current city/food nexus and an ideal one when viewed from a systems perspective. A lack of information and subsequent awareness of RA amongst the general public and policy makers reoccurred as the most significant challenges which the industry currently faces. To accelerate innovation within the field, government policies, incentives and industry guidelines supporting RA development should be created. RA as an industry will also benefit from future collaboration and coordination between RA practitioners, green roof technologists and urban agriculture stakeholders to effectively share and make use of research findings and best practices.
We hope that this research will help shed light onto the environmental, social and economic benefits that can be achieved by using creativity and innovation to explore new ways of using existing spaces within the built environment. RA is just one of countless ways which society can redesign the spaces in which we live work and play in an effort to become more healthy, happy and sustainable.

Read the complete thesis here. (6MB)

Or here online.

Also see their Sustainable Rooftop Agriculture Guide (35 pages of information, pics and case studies).

A comparative study: Urban Agriculture in Vancouver, Dar es Salaam and Copenhagen
 
Independent Study by Afton Halloran
University of Copenhagen
Faculty of Life Science
Jan 21, 2011
 
Abstract

Although generally thought of as a livelihood strategy for the urban poor in developing countries, urban agriculture is prevalent in both the global South and North. Urban agriculture has been heralded for its environmental, social and economic benefits. However, in some cities it is an unrecognized practice and some typologies of urban agriculture are even treated as illegal.

Urban planning has an important influence in determining the structure of a city. This paper argues that urban planners are important stakeholders, which influence the successfulness urban agriculture legitimization and its incorporation into the urban environment.

This paper explores the influence of urban planning structures on the development of urban agriculture within three cities: Copenhagen, Denmark; Vancouver, Canada; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Additionally, it outlines how the act of incorporating urban agriculture into urban planning structures can benefit urban farmers only when multi- stakeholder processes are implemented.

9. Conclusion

With increased urbanization and global food insecurity on the rise cities around the world are looking for solutions. Extensive research has shown that urban agriculture can provide environmental, social and economic services for urban dwellers and their urban surroundings (van Veenhuizen, 2006).

Urban planners and municipal governments are the ultimate determiners of the look and function of a city. Their stake in urban agriculture is highly influential, but often ill-informed opinions of the practice has allowed for the potential of urban agriculture to be overlooked (Harris, 2008; Kauffman et al, 2000).

In order to incorporate agriculture into urban planning it is important to include all stakeholders. Various institutions and organizations have used multi-stakeholder processes to create a fair and equal platform for actors to voice their opinions (Dubbeling in van Veehuizen, 2006).

This paper argues that urban agriculture is an integral part of the urban environment, but its potential cannot be fully realized until it is accepted and legitimised by urban planners. In arguing this point three cities (Vancouver, Copenhagen, and Dar es Salaam) from three different continents with a variety of urban agriculture typologies have been analyzed.

In conclusion, both Copenhagen and Dar es Salaam have promising potential to incorporate urban agriculture into their urban planning structures and legitimize urban agriculture, but they also have a long way to go. Much can be learned from the process in which Vancouver has undertook to be where it is today in terms of urban agriculture. Together these three cities represent various levels of urban agricultural development.

Read the complete study here.(2.4MB)

Thesis – Sacredness in the landscape

By Shawn C. James
Thesis 2011
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture in Landscape Architecture in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011

Abstract:

Faith-based organizations throughout the United States are creating gardens with a variety of visions and results. Ten such gardens were present in Champaign and Urbana, IL in 2010. This phenomenon of faith-based gardening is designated as stewardship gardening within this thesis. While these gardens are recently conspicuous, they are certainly not new; disparate connotations of environmental stewardship have developed since the Garden of Eden. The contemporary call for environmental stewardship should acknowledge its historical implications with consideration of the boundaries between ecocentric and anthropocentric world views.

This thesis considers the design and implementation of Good Ground Garden of First Presbyterian in Champaign, Illinois to understand the motives of stewardship gardening and the capacity that lies within. Eleven gardeners were asked a series of questions in an open, colloquial format about spirituality, stewardship, and environmental ethics in relation to gardening. From these interviews, themes of situation, human ecology, spirituality, reflection, interaction, practice, food, stewardship, conviction, and purpose emerge as part of the greater story of religion and ecology.

Historical background, analysis of local stewardship gardens, and these personal interviews help identify what is valued in the stewardship garden. These values are synthesized into different garden types – Community, Environmental, Cultivation, and Permaculture – with varying forms and functions.

This thesis concludes by demonstrating how each garden type belongs to a cohesive stewardship gardening movement. The common denominator of stewardship gardens, sacredness in the landscape, is explored through an understanding of its components – Centeredness, Natural Boundary, Connectedness, and Particularness – as suggested by Landscape Architect, Randolph Hester. The aspect of particularness is expanded on as an opportunity for a visual marker in the landscape. A combination of garden types with a renewed historical perspective is necessary for a stewardship gardening movement within the realm of urban agriculture, religion, and ecology.

Read the complete thesis here.

Research report from ‘Brisbane to Bogata’ website

By Christina Snowdon
Murdoch University Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy
2010

Abstract:

Urban Agriculture and City Farms and their Influence on Community Engagement is a study of the community aspects of urban gardening. The aim of this research was s to explore the roles that urban gardening play in community development and how urban agriculture can contribute to building community. This was achieved through site visits of community gardens and city farms in the United States and Australia, and site visits of urban agriculture farms in Cuba, during May to August 2010.

The research found that urban gardens can promote community, by providing people with opportunities to form connections and friendships with others. Gardens have the capability to promote cohesion in diverse communities and be inclusive toward marginalised individuals. The urban gardens visited were found to provide opportunities for engagement in democratic processes, providing fulfilment to individuals in a way that other areas of their lives were neglecting to provide. It was found that the motivators or reasons why people are driven to engage in urban gardens are varied. This research provided a clearer understanding of the broad personal and social ills that urban gardening can preempt. Additionally this research found that forming strong partnerships and investing in developing the leadership skills of community garden members is paramount to the success of urban gardens.

To create sustainable urban gardening programs this research recommends several overarching and site specific recommendations. Including the importance of forming partnerships with government and non- government agencies, developing and supporting cross sector collaborations that ensure that a decentralised planning process drives gardening programs. The research also recommends the importance of community capacity building, ensuring the that the garden is accessible and provides opportunities to form strong connections and that it is inclusive to a diverse range of people. Finally this research recommends that a sense of genuine empowerment and solidarity are fostered, highlighting that strong leadership is essential for ensuring sustainable urban garden programs.
This research contributes to the discourse of community garden research and develops a deeper understanding of key themes that can define whether a garden is successful, engaging, inclusive and sustainable. This research looks closely at the reasons gardens are successful, while analysing the pitfalls and problems as disclosed by the community gardener interviewees.
By providing case studies and interviews this research provides a clear framework that is useful in the planning and development of urban gardens.

Read the complete paper here.

See ‘Brisbane to Bogata’ website.

Agricultura Urbana y sus aplicaciones para recuperar suelos degradados en la Unidad Vecinal Portales.

By Ben Bookout
Master of Architecture Thesis
Universidad Catolica de Chile
Feb. 3, 2011
In Spanish 225 pages

My name is Ben Bookout and I recently defended my thesis about urban agriculture in Santiago, Chile. I believe the city and country present interesting challenges and opportunities when it comes to the implementation and practice of urban agriculture. I also believe that the implementation of urban agriculture could help Santiago to become a more resilient city as well as give a new use to abandoned urban space and public space. The subject of study of my thesis is a late 1960′s housing development named Unidad Vecinal Portales.

It exhibits classic symptoms of urban blight and presents interesting social and legal challenges to the implementation of the community garden model for the recuperation of public space. I hope that by sharing what I found more attention can be drawn to this specific challenge in Chile and the phenomenon in this country which is about to reach a tipping point in my opinion.

Abstract:

It can be agreed that the degradation of urban areas, especially public areas is a destructive force in the urban context. Often times, simple recooperation of theses areas by private or public groups can become less endearing to the public surrounding these areas and 10 years later these same areas can become dilapidated again. The ability of the public to participate actively in the recovery of these areas in the form of community gardens or another type of productive landscape is key to the sustainability (in terms of survival) of improved urban public space.

As with most major cities throughout the world, Santiago, Chile is an urban fabric in constant fl ux. Expansion in recent years to surrounding agricultural land and suburbs has caused a similar urban blight situation as has been seen in other major cities throughout the developed world. Unidad Vecinal Portales is just one example of major housing developments that have seen their public common spaces degraded form lack of attention, resources, or change in economic demographics.

A community garden where the public plays a key role in the recovery of these spaces is one option for permanent endearing recovery of these public spaces in the urban context. It remains a feasible option for UVP and can be integrated into any future plans for the recovery of these common public spaces. Community gardens can provide benefi ts that traditional landscapes cannot. They have the ability to bring the public together. They can provide a usable product in terms of food material. Finally, because there is a personal connection with the public space (in this case UVP) where the personal property is plant material requiring attention, these landscapes have a greater ability to become vital to the inhabitants of the surrounding urban context.

Download the complete 225 page thesis in Spanish here.

Her research and findings will be presented at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in Atlanta.

A Report of a Senior Study
By Chelsea Claire Barker
Majors: Sociology and Environmental Studies
Maryville College
Spring, 2010

In her 22 years, Chelsea Barker ’10 has done more than her share of planting vegetables, herbs and flowers, but what she’s most excited about now are opportunities to plant ideas that can revolutionize the American food system.

“[Urban agriculture] is a concept that has the potential to change our diets, our environments, our health, our destitute inner-city communities and our nation’s future,” she wrote in the introduction to her Senior Study, “American Urban Agriculture.”

Barker grew up in suburban Nashville. Her family gardened regularly, so she developed a respect for food and an understanding of food-land connection from an early age. But she knew not everyone was as lucky.

Declaring majors in sociology and environmental studies during her freshman year, she often saw the intersection of the two disciplines when it came to debates such as population, land usage, health, culture and economics. She was aware, too, that food was impacted by nearly every policy decision in the debates.

Chelsea Barker: Abstract

Chapters I and II of this Senior Study analyze the practice, uses and benefits of urban agriculture, from its early origins in North America to its modern context in American cities. Chapter Three includes data and a report on an individual experiment that exposed urban youth to a curriculum based on a physical experience in a garden. The research took place at Tribe One, a youth center located in East Knoxville, Tennessee for six weeks in 2010. The research seeks to answer the question: “What impacts on urban youth’s opinions, knowledge, and choices regarding food can exposure to a garden facilitate?” The research used a curriculum that included lessons on basic biological functions, soil, and the food system. The subjects also learned from the 750 sq. foot organic garden on site. Subjects were given a pre-test and a post-test. Results for this research include a positive correlation with work in the garden and choosing a healthier diet, forming positive opinions about eating vegetables and fruit, and fostering interest in the origins and processes by which food is grown. The final chapter of the study advocates for greater acceptance, use, and government support of the practice of urban agriculture.

Story and complete study here.

Event: Urban Agriculture: Growing Healthy, Sustainable Places (S461)

Paper: The role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities in developing countries

Event: American Planning Assoc. National Planning Conference
in Boston, MA from April 9-April 12, 2011

Urban Agriculture: Growing Healthy, Sustainable Places (S461)

Description:
Urban agriculture is a key component of the emerging practice area of community and regional food systems planning. Explore the forms, types, dimensions and prerequisites for urban agriculture and consider the policies and public planning mechanisms used to support it.

Speakers:
Marcia Caton Campbell
May 2010—present Milwaukee Director, Center for Resilient Cities; May 2006—May 2010 Milwaukee Program Director, Center for Resilient Cities; July 2006—June 2008, Preceptor, UW Population Health Program, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; August 1998–May 2006, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Affiliate faculty member, Gaylord E. Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2002-2006

Amanda T. Arnold, AICP
I am a Principal Planner with the City of Minneapolis and I work on various long range planning issues. Over the last year I have had the opportunity to serve as the project manager for the development of an urban agriculture plan for the City.
Martin Bailkey | see bio

Kimberley E. Hodgson, AICP
As Manager of the Planning and Community Health Research Center, Ms. Hodgson works closely with a network of planning, health, and food policy researchers, organizations and institutions in the research and development of healthy, sustainable communities. She manages several research projects and engages in multiple outreach and education activities, which focus on the integration of community health issues into contemporary urban and regional planning practice.

Martin Bailkey, PhD
Martin Bailkey is a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, Martin is a writer, editor and consultant on community food systems. He has written a number of reports and book chapters on urban agriculture and its contributions to community building, and on the connections between city farming and urban land use. Martin is a co-coordinator, with James Kuhns and Joe Nasr, of the new North American Alliance for Urban and Periurban Agriculture.

Link here.

The Journal of Agricultural Science

Paper: The role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities in developing countries

The Journal of Agricultural Science
Jan 14, 2011

By H. DE ZEEUW, R. VAN VEENHUIZEN and M. DUBBELING
ETC-Urban Agriculture, PO Box 64, 3830 AB Leusden, The Netherlands

Abstract
The current paper briefly summarizes the available evidence regarding the potential of urban agriculture to respond to a number of key urban challenges and reviews the perspectives on urban agriculture applied by local and national authorities. The last section of the paper briefly presents the authors’ views on the development of urban agriculture as an integral part of sustainable city development.

Full paper in the Journal – Pay or read at an institution’s library.

Eleven articles on urban agriculture in Vertigo – The electronic journal of Environmental Science

Vertigo, Vol 10, No. 2
Sept. 2010. In French
Articles about UA in Europe, America and Africa by authors from various backgrounds. This issue was coordinated by Eric Duchemin Institute of Environmental Sciences at UQAM (Canada), Luc Mougeot IDRC (Canada) and Joe Nasr Ryerson College (Canada).

Louiza Boukharaeva et Marcel Marloie
L’apport du jardinage urbain de Russie à la théorisation de l’agriculture urbaine

Manon Boulianne, Geneviève Olivier-d’Avignon et Vincent Galarneau
Les retombées sociales du jardinage communautaire et collectif dans la conurbation de Québec

Emmanuel Pezrès
La permaculture au sein de l’agriculture urbaine : Du jardin au projet de société

Christian Peltier
Agriculture et projet urbain durables en périurbain : la nécessité d’un réel changement de paradigme

M. L. Ndiaye, H.-R. Pfeifer, S. Niang, Y. Dieng, M. Tonolla et R. Peduzzi
Impacts de l’utilisation des eaux polluées en agriculture urbaine sur la qualité de la nappe de Dakar (Sénégal)

Abraham Olahan
Agriculture urbaine et stratégies de survie des ménages pauvres dans le complexe spatial du district d’Abidjan

Kouakou Yao Etienne, Koné Brama, Bonfoh Bassirou, Kientga Sonwouignandé Mathieu, N’Go Yao Alexis, Savane Issiaka et Cissé Guéladio
L’étalement urbain au péril des activités agro-pastorales à Abidjan.

Francis A. Adiko, Barbara Matthys, Gueladio Cissé, Bassirou Bonfoh, Marcel Tanner et Jürg Utzinger
Relation entre le capital humain des maraîchers urbains et leurs comportements de prévention des risques sanitaires sur les sites de culture à Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

Sèdagban Hygin F. Kakai, Sindagbo Alban G. Kakai et Armelle Grey Tohouegnon
Agriculture urbaine et valorisation des déchets au Bénin : une approche de développement durable

Guy Nouatin et François-Xavier Bachabi
Urbanisation et viabilité de l’activité maraîchère : cas d’une ville à statut particulier au Bénin (Parakou)

Marie-Hélène Dabat, Blandine Andrianarisoa, Christine Aubry, Faramalala Ravoniarisoa Evelyne, Hasimboahirana Randrianasolo, Nelly Rakoto, Samira Sarter et Serge Trèche
Production de cresson à haut risque dans les bas fonds d’Antananarivo

Read all the articles in the journal here.

The cultural geography of gardens

Introduction by Christie, Maria Elisa
The Geographical Review
July 1, 2004

Excerpts:

Garden spaces are such a common part of people’s everyday experience that they mostly escape scholarly attention. This collection of case studies offers readers a sense of people, places, and gardens based on geographical fieldwork in parts of the world as distinct as Istanbul, Toronto, Sydney, the Peruvian Amazon, and central and northern Mexico.

Whether they are called “dooryard gardens,” “home gardens,” “house-lot gardens,” “backyards,” “community gardens,” or “market gardens,” these spaces of intimate engagement with the land present us with an opportunity to explore important aspects of biodiversity, food sustainability, civil society, the roles of gender and ethnicity in daily life, and how people’s lives are affected by migration. Participating authors ask very different research questions and employ a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, encouraging other scholars to pursue stimulating new avenues of research.

Gardens and dwelling: people in vernacular gardens
Jul 01, 2004 ; Kimber, Clarissa T. … All the things surrounding us from our infancy persist forever as something common and trivial to our eyes. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1831 Most of the gardens discussed in this special issue of the Geographical Review are common, ordinary gardens around a house, or …

Istanbul’s bostans: a millennium of market gardens
Jul 01, 2004 ; Kaldjian, Paul J. … Bounded by urban noise and bustle, construction and itinerant vendors, concrete and pavement, cars and trucks, multistory apartments and ateliers, litter and dust, the garden of green, neatly subdivided into units of different shades and textures, sits in sharp contrast to the surrounding …

Tending cultural landscapes and food citizenship in Toronto’s community gardens
Jul 01, 2004 ; Baker, Lauren E. … Three community-garden sites in Toronto offer possibilities for understanding how individuals and groups in urban communities are actively producing space and culture through their constructions of place. This article begins with a discussion of the politics of place and the multiple …

Australian backyard gardens and the journey of migration
Jul 01, 2004 ; Head, Lesley … Most Australian gardens are both product and expression of immigrant experience. Although numerous records of Aboriginal gardening practices exist (Jones 1975; Hallam 1989), the gardens of the European colonizers wrought a different scale and intensity of landscape transformation. To …

Home gardens in Amazonian Peru: diversity and exchange of planting material
Jul 01, 2004 ; Ban, Natalie … Home gardens–also known as “backyard gardens,” “dooryard gardens,” and “house gardens”–are characterized by highly diverse cultivated plants (Kumar and Nair 2004) and are regarded as sustainable agricultural production systems for the humid tropics (Kehlenbeck and Maass 2005). Over the …

Kitchenspace, fiestas, and cultural reproduction in Mexican house-lot gardens
Jul 01, 2004 ; Christie, Maria Elisa … The house blessing and communal meal launches the final stages of preparation for the big celebration two weeks from now. Twenty years ago, Dona Silvia of Xochimilco and her husband, Don Miguel, a migrant from an indigenous community in the nearby state of Mexico, signed up to be hosts …

Gardens are us, we are nature: transcending antiquity and modernity
Jul 01, 2004 ; Doolittle, William E. … Il faut cultiver notre jardin. –Voltaire, 1759 The relationship between people and plants is as old as the human species itself, and it is certainly as strong as ever. By extension, the relationship between people and gardens has great antiquity. If one accepts a …

Large excerpts from these Journal stories can be found here.

Complete articles can be found on this paid site or check with your university library to see if they have this issue online or as a hard copy.

The Earth needs our help

By Leonid Sharashkin
PhD thesis
University of Missouri–Columbia
May, 2008
274 pages
(Exciting find! So much to read in this paper. Mike)
Excerpts:

Russia has 18.8 million acres of family gardens, which produce US$14 billion worth of products per year, equivalent to over 50% of Russia’s agricultural output, or 2.3% of the country’s GDP (Rosstat 2007b). The United States, on the other hand, have 27.6 million acres of lawn, which produce a US$30 billion per year lawn care industry (Bormann, Balmori, and Geballe 2001).

Opening quotation:

“The Earth needs our help. Tenderness and a loving attitude give it strength. The Earth may be large, but it is most sensitive. And it feels the tender caress of even a single human hand. Oh, how it feels and anticipates this touch!

“There was a time in Russia when the Earth was deemed to belong to everyone and therefore nobody in particular. So people did not think of it as their own. Then changes came in Russia. They began giving out tiny private plots to people to go with their dachas.

“It was no coincidence at all that these plots were extremely small, too small to cultivate with mechanised equipment. But Russians, yearning for contact with the Earth, took to them with joyous enthusiasm. They went to people both poor and rich. Because nothing can break Man’s connection with the Earth!

“After obtaining their little plots of land, people intuitively felt their worth. And millions of pairs of human hands began touching the Earth with love. With their hands, you understand, not with mechanised tools, lots and lots of people touched the ground caressingly on these little plots. And the Earth felt this, it felt it very much. It felt the blessing touch of each individual hand upon it. And the Earth found new strength to carry on.”

— Vladimir Megre, The Ringing Cedars of Russia

The sprawling city of Moscow advances towards nearby villages. From Sharashkin thesis.

Abstract

Russia’s family gardens currently produce over half of the country’s agricultural output and represent a major sector of the country’s economy, involving two thirds of the population. Despite this prominence, household gardening has been viewed as a recent phenomenon, an adjunct to the country’s industrial agriculture, or a temporary response to the hard- ships of Russia’s economic transition. However, this study of the current status of family agriculture, Russia’s agrarian history, and the results of a 2006 survey of 1,500 families in the Vladimir region, show that gardens not only perform a wide range of economic, social, and cultural functions, but also represent a highly sustainable practice embedded in the region’s — and the country’s — environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural context.

The survey offers detailed information on the economic, agricultural, social, and cultural dimensions of gardening in the Vladimir region, including respondents’ adherence to a wide range of agrarian values. Based on the results, family gardening can be seen as a highly sustainable, diversified, and culturally important practice, which needs to be given due consideration by scholars and policy-makers.

“There is no freedom without land”

Under Russia’s new constitution of 1993, citizens were granted the right to purchase land for their private ownership. This created a lot of excitement and discussion in my family.

And only my grandmother, who — like the donkey Benjamin in Orwell’s Animal Farm (1946) — was old enough to know better, objected in bewilderment: “How come we are supposed to buy land? It was ours already!”

She told us about her childhood on her family homestead, or khutor, in north-eastern Belarus. Having obtained a piece of seemingly worthless land during Stolypin’s land reforms of the 1900s, her father established a flourishing and amazingly self-sufficient farm. They built a log hut (izba), planted a garden, tilled the soil, and tended their small grove of trees, growing and producing everything from their own flour to smoked bacon, from apples to cheeses, from firewood to textile, and having a surplus left for the market.

In 1940, the homestead was confiscated by the Soviet authorities. My great-grandfather, sick at the time, was carried out of his house right on his bed and could watch as his home which he had himself built and where his children had been born was dismantled log by log, loaded onto carts to be transported to the nearest kolkhoz village, where it was assembled. Unable to recover from the blow, my great-grandfather died the same year, fol- lowed by my great-grandmother shortly thereafter. Returning to the site of the khutor in the 1950s, my grandmother found not a trace of the formerly flourishing homestead, and could only establish the exact location by some natural landmarks.

The cruelties of Stalin’s forced collectivization were by no means the first in Russia’s history. My grandmother’s own grandmother could remember the social unrest that followed the “emancipation of serfs” in 1861, when the peasantry was declared “free” but was put under an obligation to buy out their lands from their landlords — the same ancestral lands that the aristocracy had appropriated from the peasantry over the preceding centuries.

Read the complete thesis here.