Who practices urban agriculture? An empirical analysis of participation before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) disrupted the food system motivating discussions about moving from a dependence on long food supply channels toward shorter local supply channels, including urban agriculture. This study examines two central questions regarding the adoption of urban agriculture practices at the household level during the COVID‐19 pandemic: whether the outbreak of the novel coronavirus elicited participation in urban agriculture (e.g., community growing and home growing) and what are the characteristics of individuals who participate. To answer these questions, we conducted two online surveys in Phoenix, AZ, and Detroit, MI. The first round occurred during 2017 and the second during the lock‐down in 2020. Using bivariate probit models, we find that (1) considerably fewer individuals participate in urban agriculture at community gardens compared to at‐home gardening; (2) participation overall is lower in 2020 compared to 2017; and (3) respondents in Detroit practice urban agriculture more than respondents in Phoenix. Across both cities, our results suggest that the continuity of individuals' participation in growing food at community gardens and home is fragile. Not all characteristics that determined who participated in community gardens before COVID‐19 are determining the likelihood to participate during the pandemic. In addition, growing food at home before COVID‐19 was practiced by larger households and employed respondents, yet, during the pandemic, we find that home‐growing was more likely when children were in the household and households were smaller and younger (Detroit), and younger and more educated (Phoenix). These findings suggest that many urban households' food‐growing practices may not yet be mainstream and that other barriers may exist that inhibit households' participation.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Agriculture in São Paulo, Brazil

“…However, the gardens were minimally maintained, and none were permanently closed due to the work of a few volunteers. Similarly, in Detroit and Phoenix metropolitan areas, in the United States, researchers found that, during the pandemic, there was a decrease in community garden participation, in which lower-income households were more likely to participate, whereas younger and highly educated males engaged in home food growing [26].…”

Gender preference on the quality of landscape aesthetic of urban agriculture

“…Apart from being a means of early education for children (Chenarides et al, 2021;Khan et al, 2020) during distance learning activities, encouraging women's participation (Azunre et al, 2019;Khan et al, 2020), and creating biodiversity (Galimberti et al, 2020), this green space effort can realize sustainable urban development (Adidja et al, 2019;Ibrahim & Salim, 2020;Khan et al, 2020;Li et al, 2020b;Yusoff et al, 2017). It was different from before the pandemic, where urban agriculture was dominated by working family and a larger number of household (Chenarides et al, 2021). In Montreal, urban Canadian agriculture is still dominated by well-educated and high-income family groups (Bellemare & Dusoruth, 2020).…”

“…Therefore, through its extension workers, the government can provide resources and motivation for the community to like gardening starting from the yard, especially for people constrained by time and resources (Chenarides et al, 2021), besides maintaining the remaining agricultural land. Meanwhile, millennials can develop urban agriculture with more modern technology, such as hydroponics and verticulture techniques (Lal, 2020;Martin & Molin, 2019), so that the stereotypes around farming such as being messy and dirty can be reduced.…”

“…Changes in socioeconomic conditions, such as increased income and leisure time (Li et al, 2020a) and pandemics (Chenarides et al, 2021;Geng et al, 2020;Khan et al, 2020;Xie et al, 2020), have increased the number of visitors to green open spaces such as parks and urban agriculture as a form of recreation to reduce stress (Khan et al, 2020). It means that the aim of meeting urban food needs to lead to sustainable agriculture.…”

Home Food Procurement Impacts Food Security and Diet Quality during COVID-19

“…Existing evidence of HFP activities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is limited, though our previous work found about half of respondents reported producing, foraging, hunting, or canning last year and nearly one third were engaging in those activities at the time of the survey [39] (Belarmino et al, 2020). Chenarides et al (2020) [40] examined urban gardening before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding lower participation in community gardens as compared to at-home gardens. Constant et al (2020) found having a garden/terrace positively associated with unhealthy behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdown in France, primarily a reduction in physical activity.…”