Characteristics and growing practices of Baltimore City farms and gardens

Santo, Raychel; Lupolt, Sara N.; Kim, Brent F.; Burrows, Ruth A.; Evans, Eleanor; Evenson, Bailey; Synk, Colleen M.; Viqueira, Rachel; Cocke, Abby; Little, Neith G.; Rupp, Valerie; Strauss, Mariya; Nachman, Keeve E.

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127357

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Maryland's Best website is a public database of farm operations maintained by the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Marketing and Agribusiness Development section to connect producers and consumers. We also contacted growers who previously participated in a qualitative study of soil contact [9] or in the Safe Urban Harvests Study [4,31]. We contacted 240 growers via email; 5 who responded were ineligible (i.e., not currently growing fruits or vegetables or not located in Maryland); 10 who responded indicated they were not interested; 187 did not respond; and 38 participated in at least one season of data collection.…”

Section: Methods Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application and demonstration of meso-activity exposure factors to advance estimates of incidental soil ingestion among agricultural workers

Lupolt,

Kim,

Agnew

et al. 2024

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Soil is an understudied and underregulated pathway of chemical exposure, particularly for agricultural workers who cultivate food in soils. Little is known about how agricultural workers spend their time and how they may contact soil while growing food. Exposure factors are behavioral and environmental variables used in exposure estimation. Objectives Our study aimed to derive exposure factors describing how growers engage in different tasks and use those factors to advance the use of time-activity data to estimate soil ingestion exposures among agricultural workers. Methods We administered a meso-activity-based, season-specific soil contact activity questionnaire to 38 fruit and vegetable growers. We asked growers to estimate the frequency and duration of six meso-activities and describe how they completed them. We used questionnaire data to derive exposure factors and estimate empirical and simulated exposures to a hypothetical contaminant in soil via incidental ingestion using daily, hourly, and hourly-task-specific ingestion rates. Results We generated exposure factors characterizing the frequency and duration of six meso-activities by season, and self-reported soil contact, glove use, and handwashing practices by meso-activity and season. Seasonal average daily doses (ADDs) were similar across all three forms of ingestion rates. No consistent patterns regarding task-specific contributions to seasonal or annual ADDs were observed.

show abstract

Section: Methods Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application and demonstration of meso-activity exposure factors to advance estimates of incidental soil ingestion among agricultural workers

Lupolt,

Kim,

Agnew

et al. 2024

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Matrix coding query that summarizes all information obtained in this systematic review and which showed individual authors against the different benefits. Binary system where 1 shows the presence of the benefit and 0 reflects its absence (Source: the authors) [1][2][3][4]6,[8][9][10]13,14,17,23,25,27,28,. Figures 9 and 10 show that only one article mentions that there are no significant social benefits.…”

Section: Reported Challenges and Limitations From The Studies Against...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ensuring sustainable urban food systems is of extreme importance, given that urban areas are currently characterized by rapid population growth, aggressive food marketing, and unhealthy diets [1]. Indeed, these areas and their inhabitants face numerous challenges linked to the expansion of urbanization, including socio-economic, ecological, and environmental issues, which have a negative impact on the environment and unsustainable urban development and a huge impact on health [2]. According to the World Health Organization (2020), we are now in an era of concern for mental health and well-being, in which the presence of green spaces has been shown to reduce the mental health burden associated with depression [3], affecting more than 264 million people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of Non-Commercial Urban Agricultural Practices—A Systematic Literature Review

Boukharta,

Huang,

Vickers

et al. 2024

Agronomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban agriculture refers to any type of activity located within or around a city designed to provide ecosystem services. Given the rapid population growth and urbanization, urban agriculture is seen as a potential alternative route to a more sustainable urban food system. This review answers the main question: What are the benefits of non-commercial of Urban Agriculture (NCUA) forms and its contribution towards food production? using a systematic literature review approach. The methodology involved capturing 1355 recent articles from qualified search engines, using key terms according to the defined question, then screened for relevance and the defined scope of this review, resulting in a final selection of 40 articles for analysis. The results show that implementing NCUA practices has multifaced social, economic, and environmental benefits, such as improving people’s health, reducing expenditure on food and creating sustainable cities, highlighting the need to recognize the multifaceted role of NCUA in promoting a more sustainable lifestyle and strengthening local communities and engagement. Moreover, awareness of urban agriculture differs between developed and developing countries, as does the recognition and valorization of its benefits. Further research is needed to examine the enabling factors and barriers to NCUA adoption in different urban context, the resource implications, and the long-term sustainability of these practices.

show abstract

“…37 In Baltimore City, Maryland, for example, kale was grown at 34% of urban farms and gardens and was the third most frequently grown produce item after tomatoes and peppers. 38…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Between 1997 and 2017, US kale production and supplies nearly tripled, with per capita availability peaking at 467 g (over one pound) per US citizen annually . In Baltimore City, Maryland, for example, kale was grown at 34% of urban farms and gardens and was the third most frequently grown produce item after tomatoes and peppers …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Non)targeted Chemical Analysis and Risk Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Darkibor Kale Grown at Rural and Urban Farms

Brueck,

Xin,

Lupolt

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigated the presence and human hazards associated with pesticides and other anthropogenic chemicals identified in kale grown in urban and rural environments. Pesticides and related compounds (i.e., surfactants and metabolites) in kale samples were evaluated using a nontargeted data acquisition for targeted analysis method which utilized a pesticide mixture containing >1,000 compounds for suspect screening and quantification. We modeled population-level exposures and assessed noncancer hazards to DEET, piperonyl butoxide, prometon, secbumeton, terbumeton, and spinosyn A using nationally representative estimates of kale consumption across life stages in the US. Our findings indicate even sensitive populations (e.g., pregnant women and children) are not likely to experience hazards from these select compounds were they to consume kale from this study. However, a strictly nontargeted chemical analytical approach identified a total of 1,822 features across all samples, and principal component analysis revealed that the kale chemical composition may have been impacted by agricultural growing practices and environmental factors. Confidence level 2 compounds that were ≥5 times more abundant in the urban samples than in rural samples (p < 0.05) included chemicals categorized as "flavoring and nutrients" and "surfactants" in the EPA's Chemicals and Products Database. Using the US-EPA's Cheminformatics Hazard Module, we identified that many of the nontarget compounds have predicted toxicity scores of "very high" for several end points related to human health. These aspects would have been overlooked using traditional targeted analysis methods, although more information is needed to ascertain whether the compounds identified through nontargeted analysis are of environmental or human health concern. As such, our approach enabled the identification of potentially hazardous compounds that, based on their hazard assessment score, merit follow-up investigations.

show abstract

Characteristics and growing practices of Baltimore City farms and gardens

Cited by 9 publications

References 13 publications

Application and demonstration of meso-activity exposure factors to advance estimates of incidental soil ingestion among agricultural workers

Application and demonstration of meso-activity exposure factors to advance estimates of incidental soil ingestion among agricultural workers

Benefits of Non-Commercial Urban Agricultural Practices—A Systematic Literature Review

(Non)targeted Chemical Analysis and Risk Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Darkibor Kale Grown at Rural and Urban Farms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About