Civic agriculture in review: Then, now, and future directions

Abstract

“Civic agriculture,” a term first coined by rural sociologist Thomas Lyson, refers to forms of agriculture that occur on a local level, from production to consumption, and are linked to a community’s social and economic development. Sixteen years since its original articulation, the term “civic agriculture” has taken on greater significance in research, political activism, and community organizing. Grown from the roots of civic community theory, civic agriculture functions as a new branch of civic community theory that is ripe for theorization. In revisiting the foundations of the term, this review paper seeks to consolidate current and future research in the field of civic agriculture with a focus on its link to social welfare. This begins by reviewing the foundations of civic community theory and discussing how they influence research related to civic agriculture. As we report in this paper, there remain considerable gaps in understanding of how civic agriculture can be fomented by—or is related to—indicators such as demographics, concentration of power, community cohesion, and civic engagement. Consequently, the assumed links between local food systems and social welfare must continue to be studied to determine correlation and causality. This understanding is particularly important during this time of global pandemic, when the flaws and inequities of global supply chains are exposed and where, in many cases, civic agriculture met the increasing interest in local food. The COVID-19 pandemic has amply demonstrated the fragility and instability of global food supply chains, making the need for local food systems more significant and more relevant to communities across the world.

Global Landscape of Urban Agriculture and Covid-19 Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…The research in this group focused on urban agriculture and its relation to marginalised communities, which is linked to topics such as racism, inequities, and disparities. The studies explored the racism, inequities, and inequalities faced by marginalised populations during Covid-19 (Colson-Fearon & Versey, 2022), with urban agriculture being introduced as a potential solution to address issues of food access and inequities faced by these communities (Colson-Fearon & Versey, 2022;Kaika & Racelis, 2021;O'Hara & Toussaint, 2021). However, there are contradictory studies that call for a rethinking of the policy of urban agriculture practices in marginalised communities, taking into account the lens of structural extermination (Toussaint, 2021) and the settler-colonialism and post-colonial literature on cities and urban planning (Sassano et al, 2022).…”

Analysis of Urbanization and Climate Change Effects on Community Resilience in the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas

“…In the RGV, "the transitory nature of many settlements often leads to erosion of social capital making it difficult to build ecological and urban resilience practices" [1,5,37]. Leveraging civic engagement tools is one way to build community and ecological and urban resilience, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and improve living conditions and social welfare [38]. The major question, although beyond the scope of this research, is what it would take to develop viable civic engagement platforms.…”

Impact of COVID-19 on the Agriculture Sector: Survey Analysis of Farmer Responses from Kerala and Tamil Nadu States in India

“…Within the agriculture sector, the impacts of COVID-19 vary with crops; the impact seems to be more on perishable commodities including vegetables and fruits compared to nonperishable products [8], such as rice, and this emphasizes the requirement for enhancing post-harvest processing or value addition of agricultural commodities [18]. Due to restrictions imposed on transport and movement due to lockdown, supply chain disruptions were apparent in many regions [19]. The impact of the pandemic was more pronounced for small-scale growers [3].…”