Small-scale urban agriculture: Drivers of growing produce at home and in community gardens in Detroit

Abstract

The desire for fresh, local food has increased interest in alternative food production approaches, such as private small-scale agriculture, wherein households grow their own food. Accordingly, it is worth investigating private agricultural production, especially in urban areas, given that an increasing share of the world’s population is living in cities. This study analyzed the growth of produce at people’s homes and in community gardens, focusing on behavioral and socio-demographic factors. Data were collected through an online survey in Detroit, Michigan; 420 citizens were interviewed. The results revealed that trust, attitude, and knowledge affect the growing of produce at home. Involvement and personality are also drivers of community gardening. Regarding socio-demographics, household size affects the growing of produce at home, while gender, age, and income affect community gardening. The findings have valuable implications for stakeholders who wish to foster private small-scale urban agriculture, for example, through city planning and nutrition education.

Who Gardens and How in Urban USA: Informing Social Equity in Urban Agriculture Action Plans

“…In contrast, age reduced the odds of being an overall or indoor home gardener across all cities. This aligns with findings from previous studies suggesting that older participants typically have to reduce gardening related physical exertion for their health (Blaine et al, 2010;Grebitus, 2021). Finally, only homeownership increased the odds of being an outdoor gardener across all the cities.…”

“…The results of this study provide some indication of factors that may inhibit or promote household gardening. In alignment with existing national data (National Gardening Association Research Division, 2021) and city-specific studies (Grebitus, 2021), we found that homeownership increased the odds of gardening across all three cities for the home-based and combination gardening typologies. The association of gardening with homeownership, along with higher education and income, suggests that economic advantage may play a part in an individual's ability to participate in UA.…”

“…In terms of gender, being female lowered the odds of being an overall or combination gardener in LA; indoor home gardener in LA; and overall, indoor home, or combination gardener in NYC. The gender-based findings align with limited existing city-specific studies that find that women tend to focus more on ornamental gardening than gardening to grow produce (Philpott et al, 2020;Grebitus, 2021). However, the multi-city nature of the data used in this research was able to highlight that this relationship was not consistent and can vary by city and gardening type.…”

“…Second, individuals with higher education and income, those living with a spouse/partner, homeowners and, more specifically, White men who earn more than $50 K represented the largest segment of household and combination gardeners. These results, along with other studies that suggested a higher likelihood of lower-income residents participating in community gardening (Grebitus, 2021) suggest that if UA is to advance social equity, one avenue is to expand such community gardening efforts (which is already on the agenda of many cities). However, our results show that even doubling community gardening is unlikely to reach more than ∼5% of the population.…”

“…However, a lack of information on how many people garden in these two typologies and their demographics can hinder the evaluation of UA's effectiveness in advancing social equity. Publicly available demographic data on urban gardeners are typically not representative of the population, or are project specific (e.g., they describe particular community gardens) (Philpott et al, 2020;Grebitus, 2021). To our knowledge, the only survey that has recently examined the demographics of those engaged in UA (who grow their own food) across multiple cities is the National Gardening Survey (National Gardening Association Research Division, 2021).…”