Organic wheat and small grains are produced on relatively few acres in the inland Pacific Northwest. The objective of this study was to examine how the nitrogen (N) dynamics of cropping systems (CSs) produced during the transition phase impacted organic wheat yield and protein levels in the first 2 years of certified organic production. Certified organic spring wheat (SW) was produced in 2006 and winter wheat (WW) in 2007 following nine, 3-year transitional cereal, small grain and legume-intensive CSs. SW and WW following perennial alfalfa + oat/pea forage or 3 years of legume green manure tended to be more productive than wheat that followed systems that contained a small grain crop for at least 1 year during the transition. In addition to increasing soil N, well-established stands of forage and green manure provided adequate cover to reduce weed establishment prior to organic production. Effective weed control strategies were as important as increasing soil inorganic N levels for improving organic wheat production. Choice of crop type, cultivar and rotation is important in organic wheat systems and in this study, WW had better stand establishment, competition with weeds and higher overall yield than SW and would be a better-suited class of wheat for organic production in situations where spring weeds are the dominant problem. Regardless of CS or crop type, supplemental soil fertility (primarily N) during the organic production phase will be necessary to maintain high soil N levels and wheat yields in these dryland systems.

Foodshed analysis provides a way to assess the capacity of regions to feed themselves. While dozens of foodshed analyses have been completed across North America, they have not been systematically analyzed. This paper reviews 22 foodshed analyses completed in the USA and Canada between 2000 and 2013. The criteria used to evaluate the foodshed studies are authorship/type of publication, spatial extent, goals and questions, methods and data sources for assessing consumption and production, analysis of pathways from production to consumption and findings. Similarities and differences, along with strengths and weaknesses, are identified. Together, the foodshed studies indicate significant opportunity for food system relocalization across North America. Foodshed studies are a potentially powerful tool for policy analysis and planning. A future research agenda for foodshed studies is identified, including addressing data gaps and establishing more standardized models for evaluating production, consumption and pathways.

Many urban agriculture programs, and the organizations that run them, require substantial resources to remain viable and provide the multifunctional benefits that practitioners and supporters hope to achieve. As urban agriculture activity expands, practitioners and supporters face significant challenges, including how to match resources to the needs of practitioners and expectations of municipalities, and how to distribute those resources effectively and equitably so that communities, and the city as a whole, capture the benefits of these projects. This is particularly important as cities face increasing pressure to reduce costs and maximize the return on public expenditures. A 2-year study called Five Borough Farm documented the goals and objectives of urban agriculture projects in New York City and the resources for their success. The data showed that resource needs go beyond the material and financial needs discussed in the urban agriculture literature (e.g., land, soil, money). Interviews documented that urban agriculture projects have broader goals than merely producing food, and that attaining these goals (e.g., environmental improvements, community development, social justice) requires the support of government and networks of practitioners, non-profit organizations and philanthropies. Moreover, interviewee comments suggested that significant disparities in access to resources make the urban agriculture system in New York unequal and constrain the efforts of some farms and gardens. This paper, based on the Five Borough Farm research, examines the resource needs of urban agriculture operations in terms of farm and garden viability and equity among practitioners. It describes the goals, expectations and resource needs of New York City urban agriculture from the perspectives of farmers and gardeners, and from the views of city officials, funders and supporting non-profits. It discusses the need for attention to the political and social structures that create disparity and precariousness to ensure a sustainable and just urban agricultural system, in addition to the financial and technical assistance resources that enable farmers and gardeners to produce food. The paper concludes with recommended strategies to align resource needs and urban agriculture goals and expectations in New York and other cities.

Overwintered cover crops mechanically terminated into mulch can be a weed management tool for reduced-tillage organic agriculture. However, the impacts of management options for cover cropping are not well understood, including cover crop variety, termination timing and termination method. In a field experiment, conducted in 2012 and 2013 in Western Washington, we examined three grains, four vetches and one barley–vetch mix terminated with two mechanical methods and at two different times. We determined the influence of cover crop variety and termination time on cover crop biomass production and tissue nitrogen (N), effectiveness of cover crop termination, soil nitrate–N and percent weed cover. We also determined the influence of termination method on percent weed cover. Cover crop biomass ranged between 3 and 9 Mg ha−1 and was not influenced by termination time; the greatest production was from three varieties of grain. Rye varieties were more effectively terminated with a roller–crimper than barley. Mean soil nitrate–N levels ranged from 1.9 to 18 mg kg−1 and were the greatest with vetches. Post-termination weed cover was greater in 2013 than in 2012 and the cover crop variety influenced weed cover at the Late termination time only. Neither plant N concentration in the cover crop mulch nor soil nitrate influenced weed cover. The results of this study indicate that cover crop biomass and termination timing are important factors influencing weed cover and termination effectiveness in cover crop mulch.

Research has demonstrated growing public interest in local food and that this interest is driven by a number of factors including supporting local farmers, reducing the distance food travels, sustaining the environment, and food safety and quality. However, there has been very little research relating factors to actual purchase behavior. This study begins to fill that gap by relating consumer beliefs and values toward local foods with activities that support local foods as well as the actual purchase behavior for 22 fresh produce items. Data were collected through an Ontario-wide, web-based survey that is part of a longitudinal panel regarding food issues. Results from 1879 completed surveys indicated consumers had positive perceptions of local food and felt responsible for buying local, but also experienced barriers when trying to do so. Positive perceptions toward local food and a greater sense of personal responsibility to buy local were positively associated and higher barriers negatively associated with the likelihood of engaging in activities related to supporting local food as well as buying fresh produce items that were produced in Ontario. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context that consumers seem to have an overall orientation or schema to buying local in general, rather than a highly specific schema directed to one or a few particular products.

Kitchen gardens may improve family food security and nutrition. While these gardens are the domain of women in Afghanistan, women face unique challenges accessing training and resources to maximize small-scale agricultural output. The University of Maryland's Women in Agriculture Project builds capacity among female extension educators to work with vulnerable women to implement and maintain kitchen gardens. Extension educators use experiential methods to teach vegetable gardening, apiculture, small-scale poultry production, post-harvest handling and processing, nutrition and marketing through workshops, demonstration gardens and farmer field schools. This paper explores contextual factors related to women's food security and agricultural opportunities, describes key project activities and approaches and discusses project success and challenges, sustainability and implications for future programs.

Throughout the USA, urban agriculture is expanding as a manifestation of an emerging American food politics. Through a case study of Brooklyn, New York, I used mixed qualitative research methods to investigate the political possibilities of urban agriculture for fostering food justice. My findings build on the existing alternative food network (AFN) literature by indicating that problematic contradictions rooted in the neoliberalization of urban agriculture limit the transformative possibilities of farming the city as currently practiced in Brooklyn. I suggest that longstanding agrarian questions—concerns over the relationship between agriculture and capitalism and the politics of small-scale producers—are informative for critical interrogation of urban agriculture as a politicization of food.

Integrated crop–livestock systems in the tropical region are diverse and not well characterized. To better understand the conditions and potential of these systems, we characterized the spatial and social arrangement of integrated systems within a landscape context. Integrated systems are defined by biomass and nutrient flows, linking crop, livestock and human components of agriculture. The landscape is defined within a spatial framework of these flows. To understand the diversity of integrated systems in the tropics, we characterized three case study areas: Southern Mali, Brazilian Cerrados and Amazon frontier. Methodology was based on historical and descriptive approaches of these cases, mobilizing interdisciplinary knowledge of a large research team. This provided a retrospective view to discuss four key points about the future of integrated systems in the tropics: (i) importance of landscape structure for conception and adaptation of the integrated systems; (ii) key role of local institutions in managing such integrated systems; (iii) trade-offs between external and internal resources; and (iv) role of nitrogen to improve system efficiency. This paper concludes with the relevance of social sciences in the further development of integrated systems.

Weed management is a major concern for organic farmers. Strategies and techniques used by organic farmers vary according to crops, soils, climate and other factors. Organic farmers in upstate New York experienced in weed management were interviewed about what weed–crop complexes they face, how they manage weeds, and what priorities they have for research. The interviews were complemented with an all-day focus group conducted with the farmers who were interviewed. All of the farmers interviewed relied heavily on cultural practices, such as crop rotation, fertility management, high-density planting, transplants and the use of cover crops. Mechanical practices were also important for the farmers interviewed. They emphasized selection of the appropriate tools for the situation and techniques for using tools effectively. Most of the farmers interviewed relied on intensive tillage to control perennial weeds. Differences in practices were notable among the farmers interviewed. Several farmers shared innovations both in practices and equipment modification. Farmers identified soil and nutrient management; tillage and cultivation tools and practices; natural herbicides; flame weeding and no-till systems without herbicides as research priorities. Some of the topics suggested for research have already received substantial research attention; identification of these topics by the farmers indicated a need to disseminate research findings through extension materials and demonstration of viable practices.

In the United States, interest in urban farms and community gardens is flourishing, yet the urban home food garden (UHFG) and its contributions to urban systems have been overlooked and understudied. To begin to address this gap, we are conducting a mixed methods study of African American, Chinese-origin and Mexican-origin households with home gardens in Chicago, IL. Study methods include in-depth interviews, participant observation, ethnobotanical surveys and analysis of the chemical and physical properties of garden soils. As of this writing, findings indicate that home gardening has an array of beneficial effects, contributing to household food budgets and community food systems, the reproduction of cultural identity and urban biodiversity. The majority of informants in the study were internal or international migrants. For these individuals, gardening, culture-specific food plant assemblages and the foodways they support represent a continuation of cultural practices and traditional agroecological knowledge associated with their place of origin. The gardens of some migrant households also harbor urban agrobiodiversity with roots in the Global South. At the same time, gardens may have less salubrious effects on urban systems and populations. A lack of knowledge of safe gardening practices may expose vulnerable populations to environmental hazards such as soil contaminants. Gardeners in this study reported using synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides, sometimes indiscriminately, and the repeated application of synthetic fertilizers and compost may contribute to the nutrient loading of urban stormwater runoff. These effects may be moderated by the relatively low bulk density and high porosity of garden soils due to tillage and the application of organic matter, which can be expected to enhance stormwater infiltration. While the UHFG's potential contributions to urban systems are significant, outreach and research are needed to help gardeners grow food safely and sustainably in ways that contribute to overall ecosystem health.

Underutilized crops tend to harbor high levels of genetic diversity, be maintained on-farm in small-scale farming systems and be relatively neglected by formal research and development strategies, including breeding programs. While high genetic variability allows these crops to adapt to marginal environments, inappropriate management practices and reductions in population sizes in individual farmers’ plots may lead to productivity loss and poor harvests. This situation further limits their cultivation and use, notwithstanding the potential these crops may hold for diversification of agricultural systems, food security and market development. Peru hosts a wealth of native agrobiodiversity, which includes many underutilized crops. To improve their performance and promote their continued conservation and use, a participatory breeding program was developed on five underutilized crops of the Peruvian highlands; the breeding approach, based on a combination of evolutionary and participatory methods, is designed to achieve a balance between yield improvement and maintenance of genetic diversity. Preliminary results in quinoa and amaranth are encouraging, fostering further engagement of farmers by increasing availability of quality seed for downstream uses. However, methodological, financial and institutional issues need to be addressed for the effort to be expanded and upscaled. This paper provides an overall description of the initiative as well as a discussion on early results obtained in quinoa and amaranth, highlighting those aspects that make this approach particularly relevant for minor crops and identifying the opportunities and challenges for the initiative to move forward.

A recent increase in programs supporting the entry of organic farmers into direct market channels, such as farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture has occurred in the USA. In order to better implement these programs and to design better outreach and educational support activities for direct market farmers, understanding farmers’ perceptions of success in these marketing channels is valuable. To this goal, Wisconsin-certified organic vegetable farmers were surveyed in order to investigate the relationships between farm characteristics, marketing strategies, and farmer's perceptions of their profitability and quality of life. The data collected from this survey indicate that farmers selling into farmers' markets and through community-supported agriculture tend to be more likely to be dissatisfied with their profitability. Conversely, however, the survey data indicated that farmers selling into other markets, particularly wholesale markets and restaurants/institutions, are significantly more likely to be dissatisfied with their quality of life. Thus, it appears that farmers are making trade-offs with respect to entering markets that allow for greater financial rewards but may lead to a lower quality of life. These results point to the potential benefit of outreach efforts to assist farmers to increase their profitability in market channels that also provide a higher quality of life.

Farming systems in the Costa Chica region in Mexico face limitations linked to low yields and soil fertility degradation. Several alternative maize-based cropping systems have been proposed to improve current limitations. These field-level options need to be evaluated at farm level in order to assess their feasibility, taking into account input requirements, contributions to self-sufficiency in food and long-term soil fertility, and the availability of labor. In this study, we defined four scenarios to explore consequences of changes in current farming systems for eight typical farms in the region; the first two scenarios comprised redressing current imbalances in crop nutrition and organic matter (OM) supply, respectively, and the last two scenarios explored high fertilizer input and animal husbandry. Farms responded in different ways to the various options depending on available land, current soil quality, current cropping systems and presence of livestock. Improvements in crop nutrition based on mineral fertilizers increased family income but only had substantial effects on soil OM (SOM) balances when fertilizer rates were double the amount currently subsidized. Addition of organic fertilizers resulted in positive effects on SOM balance, but with often strong trade-offs with family income due to costs of acquisition, transport and application. Animals played an important role in increasing SOM balances, but had relatively little effect on improving family income. The results demonstrated that improvements in family income and SOM balance at farm scale were feasible but that without more fundamental system changes trade-offs between short-term yield increases and longer-term soil fertility increases should be expected. The results highlight the need for policies that take into account farm-specific differences in crop and livestock intensification opportunities.

Organic producers are seeking alternative tactics for weed control, so that they can reduce their need for tillage. In this study, we examined cultural strategies for controlling weeds during the transition from a cool-season crop to soybean. The study was arranged as a two-way factorial, with factors being choice of cool-season crop and tillage treatments. The cool-season crops were either spring wheat harvested for grain or an oat–pea mixture harvested for forage. Five tillage treatments, ranging from intensive tillage to no-till, were established following each cool-season crop. Two tillage treatments included the cover crops, oat plus oilseed radish. Soybean was planted the following growing season. Each soybean plot was split into two subplots: weed-free and weed-infested. A cultural system comprising oat/pea as a preceding crop with no-till and cover crops reduced weed biomass in soybean 63% compared to intensive tillage. Reduced weed biomass resulted because of delayed weed emergence and lower weed community density. Consequently, soybean yielded 14% more in this treatment than with the intensive tillage treatment when weeds were present. Weed community composition also differed between the two systems; horseweed and field dandelion were prominent in no-till, whereas common lambsquarters, redroot pigweed and buffalobur were prevalent in the tillage control. Other treatments did not control weeds better than intensive tillage. A cultural system approach may minimize the need for tillage during the interval between cool-season crops and soybean.

Although interest in integrating agriculture into the urban landscape in the USA is increasing rapidly, there is a shortage of guidance for agricultural production in this context as well as a unique set of significant biophysical constraints. A common constraint is not being able to grow directly in the soil, making raised-bed gardening a necessity. Subirrigated planters (SIPs) are a style of raised bed with a subsoil reservoir that provides aeration and allows growers to irrigate below the soil where water is pulled up via capillary action. This bed design has vocal advocates; anecdotally, growers find them to be high yielding, water efficient and easier to maintain than standard raised beds. Given their apparent promise, there is interest in promoting SIPs and in utilizing them in larger-scale urban gardening operations but no rigorous tests compare these beds relative to standard raised beds. At one location and for one season, we compared yields for three crops: cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum), sungold cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) and lacinato kale (Brassica oleracea), crop quality and labor input for two styles of SIPs, as well as a sack garden, a variation of a SIP that does not require lightweight soil, with two conventional raised beds (one with a compost and topsoil mix and one with the soilless growing medium ideal for container gardening). Results from our first year of data indicate that both the SIP beds and the conventional beds with the soilless growing medium were more productive overall than conventional raised beds with topsoil and compost (P<0.01). Tomato production in the SIP without the root barrier was greater than both the conventional bed with the compost and topsoil mix (P<0.01) and the conventional bed with the soilless growing medium (P<0.05). The majority of the higher-cost beds had a positive revenue stream in the first summer season; given these results, investing in SIPs or in soil appropriate for raised beds appears to be worth the higher initial cost.

Considering global trends such as climate change and resource scarcity, a major challenge of future cities will be to reduce urban footprints. Moreover, cities have to become or remain livable for their inhabitants and offer social and economic opportunities. Thus, reconnecting food production and cities offers promising potential. The diffusion of urban farming reflects a rising awareness of how food and farming can shape our cities. A growing number of urban farming projects exist in and on urban buildings, including open rooftop farms, rooftop greenhouses and indoor farming. These projects are characterized by the non-use of land or acreage for farming activities. We use the term ‘Zero-Acreage Farming’ (ZFarming) to represent these farms. The objective of this paper is to: (1) illustrate and systemize present practices of ZFarming and (2) discuss specific novelties of ZFarming in the wider context of urban agriculture. We analyzed 73 ZFarms in cities of North America, Asia, Australia and Europe using a set of criteria, and developed a typology of ZFarming, complemented by in-depth interviews with pioneers in rooftop farming in New York. The results illustrate that ZFarming generates innovative practices that may contribute to a sustainable urban agriculture. Besides growing food, it produces a range of non-food and non-market goods. It involves new opportunities for resource efficiency, new farming technologies, specific implementation processes and networks, new patterns of food supply and new urban spaces.