Author: mobilegrow

In framing garden loss as a lack of community control, Soil Generation links the struggle to preserve urban agriculture to broader concerns that are reflected in local civic conventions, and also highlights the legacies of colonialism and racism that have displaced and oppressed Black and Brown people, immigrants, and indigenous communities in Philadelphia and beyond […]

Soil Generation was formed in conscious opposition to the PHS modus operandi that had long been the public face of urban agricultural activities in Philadelphia. Seeking its legitimacy from Black and Brown growers and community members, Soil Generation has worked to put forth a narrative that gives more voice to growers of color, who have […]

With less money being distributed from the federal and state governments to city agencies, local governments have had to scramble to find alternative funding sources. Public-private partnerships are often formed in this context, but their viability as a replacement for the aid offered by the prior welfare-state remains in question . In this newfound and […]

In advocating for urban agriculture as a long-term land use, garden organizations participate in the ongoing renegotiation of both ideas of urban nature and the material ecological conditions in cities, which distribute the benefits and burdens unevenly among different social groups . Advocacy for urban agriculture is also similar to other efforts underway to transform […]

Interestingly, prior studies in the region found that organic fertilizer use in the early organic movement was potentially more widespread. For example, early organic farmers in Yolo County who were interviewed by Guthman et al. in the early 1990s used high nitrogen-based organic fertilizers such as pelleted chicken manure, seabird guano, and Chilean nitrate to supply […]

While not significant, SOM indicators were also selected in the development of the LMM for gross mineralization rates as well. These results are congruent with previous research looking across ecosystem types that reported a relationship between N cycling rates and SOM indicators. For example, a meta-analysis published by Booth et al. that examined woody, grass, and agricultural […]

Farmers thus provide an important node in the research and policy making process, whereby they determine if scientific findings or policy recommendations apply to their specific farming context—through direct observation, personal experience, and experimentation. Understanding the mechanisms of farmer knowledge formation and precisely how farmers learn is essential to integrating farmer knowledge into the scientific literature. […]

For example, Theobroma cacao seeds, rinds, branches, and other plant parts were identified in areas surrounding both Households 2 and 4 and ceramic vessels were recovered that contained cacao residue. Cacao was a prized plant in Mesoamerica, with its value translating into both beverages and as a form of currency . Cacao resources are typically […]

From a conceptual standpoint, there has been considerable debate in recent decades over how to best maintain agricultural productivity while also achieving systems that can maintain long-term productivity through resilience to environmental stress. These conversations often pivot around the idea of replacing industrial input-intensive agricultural practices with ecologically-based, knowledge-intensive systems. These ecologically-based systems are typically […]

Hannah’s mentorship has been invaluable at inflection points in my PhD process, and I can’t overstate how lucky her new grad students will be to have her as an advisor. I feel incredibly privileged to have the community support of more people than I can thank individually without making my acknowledgements longer than my dissertation. […]