IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/joafsc/359510.html

Community Food Security via Urban Agriculture: Understanding People, Place, Economy, and Accessibility from a Food Justice Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Meenar, Mahbubur R.
  • Hoover, Brandon M.

Abstract

This paper examines the role of urban agriculture (UA) projects in relieving food insecurity in lower-income neighborhoods of post-industrial U.S. cities, using Philadelphia as a case study. Based on food justice literature and mixed-methods such as GIS, survey, field observations, and interviews, we discuss how neighborhoods, nearby residents, and the local food economy interact with UA projects. Our findings suggest that, although UA projects occupy a vital place in the fight against community food insecurity in disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods, there are debates and concerns associated with the movement. These concerns include geographic, economic, and informational accessibility of UA projects; social exclusion in the movement; spatial mismatch between UA participants and neighborhood socioeconomic and racial profiles; distribution of fresh produce to populations under poverty and hunger; and UA's economic contributions in underprivileged neighborhoods. Finally, we outline future research directions that are significant to understanding the practice of UA.

Suggested Citation

  • Meenar, Mahbubur R. & Hoover, Brandon M., 2012. "Community Food Security via Urban Agriculture: Understanding People, Place, Economy, and Accessibility from a Food Justice Perspective," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 3(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:joafsc:359510
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/359510/files/137.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patricia Allen, 2010. "Realizing justice in local food systems," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 3(2), pages 295-308.
    2. Patricia Allen, 1999. "Reweaving the food security safety net: Mediating entitlement and entrepreneurship," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(2), pages 117-129, June.
    3. Patricia Allen, 2008. "Mining for justice in the food system: perceptions, practices, and possibilities," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(2), pages 157-161, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Porter, Christine M., 2019. "Triple-rigorous Storytelling: A PI's Reflections on Devising Case Study Methods with Five Community-based Food Justice Organizations," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 8(A).
    2. Smith, Vincent M. & Harrington, John A., 2014. "Community Food Production as Food Security: Resource and Economic Valuation in Madison, Wisconsin (USA)," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 4(2).
    3. Moore, Kelly & Waite, Bruce & Dinkins, David & Swisher, Marilyn E. & Delong, Alia & Johns, Tracy, 2015. "Maximize Impact, Minimize Resources: Locating Food Deserts and Increasing SNAP Spending on Fruits and Vegetables," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 6(1).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    2. Lea Loretta Zentgraf, 2025. "How Democratic Is Just Enough? Critical Reflections on the Transformative Potential of the Berlin Food Policy Council," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10.
    3. Catherine Brinkley & Gwyneth M. Manser & Sasha Pesci, 2021. "Growing pains in local food systems: a longitudinal social network analysis on local food marketing in Baltimore County, Maryland and Chester County, Pennsylvania," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 911-927, December.
    4. Yuki Kato & Laura McKinney, 2015. "Bringing food desert residents to an alternative food market: a semi-experimental study of impediments to food access," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 215-227, June.
    5. Kelly J. Hodgins & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2018. ""We are a business, not a social service agency." Barriers to widening access for low-income shoppers in alternative food market spaces," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(1), pages 149-162, March.
    6. Ryan Galt & Damian Parr & Julia Van Soelen Kim & Jessica Beckett & Maggie Lickter & Heidi Ballard, 2013. "Transformative food systems education in a land-grant college of agriculture: the importance of learner-centered inquiries," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(1), pages 129-142, March.
    7. Douglas H. Constance, 2023. "The doctors of agrifood studies," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 31-43, March.
    8. Paul Hebinck & Henk Oostindie, 2018. "Performing food and nutritional security in Europe: claims, promises and limitations," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1311-1324, December.
    9. Hallie Eakin & John Patrick Connors & Christopher Wharton & Farryl Bertmann & Angela Xiong & Jared Stoltzfus, 2017. "Identifying attributes of food system sustainability: emerging themes and consensus," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(3), pages 757-773, September.
    10. Zhenzhong Si & Theresa Schumilas & Steffanie Scott, 2015. "Characterizing alternative food networks in China," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 299-313, June.
    11. Melissa N. Poulsen, 2017. "Cultivating citizenship, equity, and social inclusion? Putting civic agriculture into practice through urban farming," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 135-148, March.
    12. Adam Czudec, 2022. "The Altruistic Behaviour of Consumers Who Prefer a Local Origin of Organic Food," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, April.
    13. Julia M. L. Laforge & Colin R. Anderson & Stéphane M. McLachlan, 2017. "Governments, grassroots, and the struggle for local food systems: containing, coopting, contesting and collaborating," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(3), pages 663-681, September.
    14. Joshua Sbicca, 2015. "Food labor, economic inequality, and the imperfect politics of process in the alternative food movement," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(4), pages 675-687, December.
    15. Levkoe, Charles & Wakefield, Sarah, 2011. "The Community Food Centre: Creating Space for a Just, Sustainable, and Healthy Food System," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 2(1).
    16. Diego Thompson, 2021. "Building and transforming collective agency and collective identity to address Latinx farmworkers’ needs and challenges in rural Vermont," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 129-143, February.
    17. Joshua Sbicca, 2012. "Growing food justice by planting an anti-oppression foundation: opportunities and obstacles for a budding social movement," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(4), pages 455-466, December.
    18. Meyer, Samantha B. & Coveney, John & Henderson, Julie & Ward, Paul R. & Taylor, Anne W., 2012. "Reconnecting Australian consumers and producers: Identifying problems of distrust," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 634-640.
    19. Mirka Erler & Christoph Dittrich, 2020. "Middle Class, Tradition and the Desi-Realm—Discourses of Alternative Food Networks in Bengaluru, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, March.
    20. Elizabeth A. Bennett, 2018. "Extending ethical consumerism theory to semi-legal sectors: insights from recreational cannabis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 295-317, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:joafsc:359510. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.