ABSTRACT
Consumer demands and current legislation require intensive greenhouse horticulture to be sustainable. This poses the challenge of how to teach the concept of sustainable horticulture to all professionals involved in farming. The province of Almeria, in the south-east of Spain, is one of the major horticulture greenhouse areas in Europe, and an expert panel of relevant stakeholders was invited to look into the best pedagogical practices and methods to transfer technology and knowledge, with the goal of improving the sustainability of greenhouse horticulture. A combination of an online questionnaire, a Delphi method, and desk research was, therefore, used as the strategy to collect the data and implement the research design during 2021. On-farm/business demonstrations, virtual education, and classroom education were common pedagogical methods used. On-farm/business demonstrations, participatory education, and co-learning were identified as the best pedagogical methods to use in sustainable agriculture/horticulture training. The expert panel also concluded that participatory education and co-learning should be further explored whereas virtual and classroom education should play a less dominant role in the training activities. This knowledge can help training organizations and designers to avoid common mistakes, tailor their training activities, and be mindful of common barriers and (mis)conceptions. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Agriculture sector in the Republic of Moldova is the main and strategic brunch for the national economy. During the 2020-2022 years, we studied the factors influencing the development of enterprises in the horticulture sector in the Republic of Moldova. The research was carried out within the project: "Impact of macromedia and geographical factors on bankruptcy and business performance of economic entities in the agri-food sector in the Republic of Moldova", project code 20.80009.0807.26, according to contract with NARD. The study was conducted by interviewing approx. 1000 companies from agri-food (vegetal, animal, postharvest, processing, HORECA sectors etc.), inclusive approx. 800 enterprises from Horticulture brunch. As a result of the study it was established: economic factors / risks obtained an average rating of 3,94 points on the scale of 5 pt.;technical and technological factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4.1 points on the scale of 5 pt.;ecological factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4,06 points on the scale of 5 pt.;legislative-legal factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4,05 points on the scale of 5 pt.;information factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4,02 points on the scale of 5 pt.;moral factors / risks obtained an average rating of 4.04 points on the scale of 5 pt., qualification of staff factor / risk obtained an average rating of 4.08 points on the scale of 5 pt. and other factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, etc.
ABSTRACT
The nutritional quality and biomass of various sprouts can be enhanced by Zn and red-blue light, especially the Brassica sprouts. However, the combined effects of this two on sprouts are rarely reported. In this study, different Zn concentrations (0, 1.74, 3.48, 10.43 and 17.39 mM) were combined with two ratios of red-blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (R: B = 1:2, 1R2B;R: B = 2:1, 2R1B, at 70 μmol m−2 s−1 PPFD, 14 h/10 h, light/dark) to investigate their mutual effects on the growth, mineral elements, and nutritional quality in flowering Chinese cabbage sprouts (FCCS). Fresh weight, dry weight, contents of organic Zn, soluble sugar, vitamin C, total flavonoids, total polyphenol, FRAP (ferric ion-reducing antioxidant power) and DPPH (radical inhibition percentage of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) were significantly increased by Zn supplement (10.43 and 17.39 mM) and 2R1B, while hypocotyl length and moisture content were decreased remarkably by Zn supplement. Total glucosinolates contents in the sprouts increased dramatically under 2R1B compared with 1R2B, while photosynthetic pigments contents decreased. Heat map and principal component analysis showed that 2R1B + 17.39 mM Zn was the optimal treatment for the accumulation of biomass and health-promoting compound in FCCS, suggesting that a suitable combination of light quality and Zn supplement might be beneficial to zinc-biofortified FCCS production.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, irregular closed school life and frequent online teaching have negatively impacted the mental health and academic performance of many college students. Doing horticultural activities is an effective way to promote physical and mental health and enhance academic performance. This paper explores the relationship between horticultural activities participation, academic self-efficacy and positive mental characters under the perspective of disciplinary integration, with a view to promoting the mental health status and academic performance of college students and the application of horticultural therapy on college campuses. Questionnaires such as the Positive Mental Characters Scale for Chinese College Students (PMCS-CCS) and Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) are used to investigate 160 college students from four universities in China. The results show that horticultural activity participation is significantly positively correlated with academic self-efficacy (r = 0.345;p < 0.01) and positive mental characters (r = 0.298;p < 0.01), and horticultural activity participation can positively affect positive mental characters (B = 0.135, p < 0.01). At the same time, academic self-efficacy has a partial mediating effect between horticultural activity participation and positive mental characters. Universities can actively carry out campus horticultural activities to enhance students' horticultural activity participation, which in turn promotes academic self-efficacy and further enhances the positive psychological level of college students.
ABSTRACT
Horticultural activities in urban areas and suburbs describe economically viable ways of production (North and Patterson, 2018), and are a continuous growing segment of production in developing countries as well as in Romania countries and are expected to have positive impacts on nutrition quality first and implicit on people's health. This comes as a necessity as the population is continuously growing as the land has a limited use. In a wide sense, urban horticulture includes everything from small home and community gardens to city park management, rooftop greening, as well as complex vertical way of production. This sector assures increased availability of fresh products (vegetables and fruits) in big cities, healthier diets, improved food safety, low transportation costs, efficient resource use, and the mitigation of environmental impacts of horticultural production such as the emission of greenhouse gases.
ABSTRACT
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has motivated social workers to reckon with and transform traditions in service delivery. The development, application, and evaluation of technology-enhanced practices have become more vital than ever. Garden on the Balcony (GOB) was an innovative internet-based social work service designed to respond rapidly to the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing. This paper introduces the underlying perspectives and design of GOB and reports participants' reflections on the program to understand its mechanisms and implications. Interview data from GOB participants were collected 4 months after the program ended. Thematic analysis generated three major themes, suggesting that GOB had (a) promoted individual resilience and family cohesion;(b) built online and offline community bonds;and (c) cultivated a green lifestyle and spiritual reflection on life. This study demonstrates a practical example of the effective use of technology-enhanced practice.
ABSTRACT
During megacity lockdown, a team of social work practitioners and researchers in Beijing developed a rapid, innovative, Internet-based intervention that provided social-emotional support for participating families through indoor micro-gardening. As COVID-19 continues to restrict in-person interactions and traditional social activities, this type of online social-emotional support and community building should become a major social work method for crisis intervention and service provision. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Over the 21st century almost all of the UK's harvest labour has been foreign-bom. The COVID-19 crisis (from March 2020) threatened UK food security by limiting this supply of low-wage foreign labour into the UK. In response a national campaign was launched to get a domestic 'Land Army' to 'Feed the Nation' and 'Pick for Britain' (the three main epithets used). The article profiles this campaign. We show that the COVID-19 crisis put low-wage harvest labour into the spotlight when this labour is usually hidden from public view. Potentially, such unveiling could have challenged the economics of the food production system. However, we argue that the rupture was stage-managed by invoking a wartime rhetoric and three key concomitant roles of the victim-hero farmer, the good migrant, and the reluctant British-based understudy. These emphasised the valiant nature of harvest work and framed migrant workers as (temporary) heroes helping to save the nation. In contrast, British-based workers' reluctance to embrace precarious work was framed as personal deficiency rather than a structural failure to create decent jobs. In all, the spotlight cast on the low-wage rural economy by the COVID-19 crisis was carefully targeted and stage-managed and did not challenge the persistence of precarious horticultural work. Copyright © 2022 CSIC.
ABSTRACT
Background: When the global COVID-19 pandemic and state of emergency was declared in early 2020, South Pacific Island nations rapidly closed their borders resulting in significant socio-economic upheaval. With the South Pacific region highly vulnerable to external shocks, there was concern amongst Pacific governments and international donors as to the implications of COVID-19 restrictions on the local food system. Methods: Horticultural farmers and market vendors (n = 825) were surveyed in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, using local enumerators, over a five-month period (July to November 2020), which represented the initial phase of COVID-19 restrictions in the region. Data were disaggregated based on location, farmer and vendor impacts, and postharvest loss. Results: Farmers in Fiji (86%) were more likely to experience difficulties in selling their crops during the initial stages of COVID-19 restrictions, compared to farmers on the smaller Pacific Island nations of Tonga (10%) or Samoa (53%). While market vendors in Fiji (73.2%) and Tonga (56.8%) were similarly impacted, few vendors (22%) in Samoa were affected. Farmers and market vendors on the islands of Viti Levu (Fiji) and Upolu (Samoa), specifically those supplying or located in the key urban centres were more likely to experience elevated postharvest loss. Elevated postharvest loss due to COVID-19 was more prevalent amongst municipal market vendors, peri-urban farms and vendors sourcing from larger commercial farms. Road-side vendors and vendors in the rural areas were less likely to incur elevated loss. Conclusions: While fresh horticultural food systems in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa were all adversely effected by COVID-19 restrictions, these impacts were more acute in Fiji. Given value chains associated with main urban centres were more likely to incur elevated postharvest loss, this would imply consumers were avoiding town centres and alternatively sourcing fresh fruit and vegetable from rural road-side vendors. Pacific road-side vendors appear to have provided an important fresh food distribution capacity during local COVID-19 travel restrictions.
ABSTRACT
During the past few years, Americans have experienced a wide variety of stressors, including political tensions, racial/civil unrest, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. All of these have led to uncertainty within society. Chronic feelings of helplessness can lead to depression or feelings of hopelessness in those who perceive their situation as unchanging. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts of gardening and outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic on perceptions of hope, hopelessness, and levels of depression, stress, and anxiety. Participants of this study were recruited through online social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram;458 participants completed the 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale inventory as well as the Hope Scale. Our data indicated that individuals who self-reported themselves as gardeners had significantly more positive scores related to levels of stress, anxiety, and depression and a sense of hope. Furthermore, gardeners had lower levels of self-reported depression, anxiety, and stress when compared with those who did not identify themselves as gardeners. The gardeners also had a more positive outlook regarding hope for the future. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between the number of hours spent participating in gardening and a sense of hope, and a negative correlation was found between the number of hours gardening and stress levels. Similarly, there was a significant negative correlation between the number of hours spent participating in any outdoor activity and self-reported levels of stress, anxiety, or depression;however, there was a positive correlation between the number of hours spent participating in any outdoor activity and a sense of hope. Our data suggested that more hours spent outside gardening or participating in recreational activities led to less perceived stress, anxiety, and depression and greater levels of hope for the future. © 2023, American Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
With the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, different areas were affected, with positive or negative effects, as a function of the conditions imposed above all by gardening activities. This brought effects on the production of ornamental plants. In this context, the objective of this study was to analyse the situation of production, commercialization and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ornamental plants market in the city of Dona Euzebia-MG. A questionnaire with objective and discursive questions was applied to the city producers (30). The production of seedlings in Dona Euzebia is economically and socially important. Most producers have properties with 5 hectares, are in activity for a range of 5 to 19 years and have between 2 to 5 employees. With the onset of the pandemic, the market for seedlings and ornamental plants in Dona Euzebia was positively modified, with an increase in plant sales, which led to changes in production and in the sales process. During the period, producers took all measures to prevent the spread of the virus. The interviews showed that ornamental plants were among the main species cultivated and among the most sought during the pandemic period analyzed in this study. Furthermore, despite the restrictions and the uncertain scenario, there is optimism among producers, especially in terms of post-pandemic sales.
ABSTRACT
The horticulture can positively affect the well-being of older people, counteracting physical and cognitive decline and improving the overall quality of life. Modern technologies provide valuable support to encourage such activities and promote an active lifestyle. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of community horticultural activities, supported by a digital platform, in a mixed sample of participants aged over 60 years in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants took part in a six-month study, divided into two periods. During the first three months, participants just completed a set of questionnaires investigating the following psychological variables: self-esteem, loneliness, depression, quality of life, affects, social support and cognitive functioning. In the following three months, participants were involved in a digital-supported horticulture program, which was followed by the detection of the same psychological variables. The effects of horticulture were evaluated by comparing surveys responses at the two timepoints. The results show an improvement in the quality of life, in cognitive functions and, to a lesser extent, in subjective well-being of participants. Participants who are married or cohabiting generally show a better quality of life, and after intervention are less likely to express negative emotional states. There was no evidence of depression. Digitally assisted horticulture can improve the quality of life of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Copyright © FrancoAngeli.
ABSTRACT
The general objective of the research were to analyse the acceleration of economic recovery and food security of smalllholder farmer househols post the 2018 earthquake and COVID-19 pandemic era through empowering farmer groups of dry land horticulture agribusiness based. The specific objective was determining and analysing the effect of the Pentha-helix approach, sinergy among Higher Education Institution, Local Government, Agricultural Extension officer, Bank and private enterprise in empowering farmers. It's mission were Better Farming, Better Business and Better Living. It was the longitudinal action research by implementing Participatory Action Research. The data was recoded from farmers target groups and 60 smallholder farmers in three villages nearby the pilot project village. The cross classification between food expenditure and sufficiency of energy consumption was used to measure the degree of food security of household. It's concluded that developing agribusiness of upland horticulture has high potential for reinforcement of economic recovery of smalholder farmer's household post the 2018 earthquakes and during pandemic COVID-19 era. Implementing Triple Helix and Pentahelix approach have a possitive impact for strenghtening and recovering economy of smalholders farmers households. They were in enough food category which depicted by 85.50% degree of energy consumption. Food scurity based on distribution of household food need was in the category of low expenditure of food (less than 60%). Food scurity of household based on cross combination between the dergree of energy consumption and the proportion of food expenditure were 61% of them were resistance to food scurity, 30.85% of household were vulnerable of food scurity, and 6.20% of households were troubled of food scurity and 61.25% of them were lack of food. They realize that North Lombok region is a tourism destination, so that they have high instrinsik motivation for growing vegetable crops and seasonal fruits. Therefore, supplying high economic value of vegetables and fruits, quality insurance and friendly environment of vegetables and fruits are needed to be sustained through implementing the penta helix approch.
ABSTRACT
Drawing on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork with Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) workers in south‐east Australia, I reflect in this paper on the experience of interminable temporariness and on its implications for the structural conditions underpinning contemporary horticultural labour in Australia. Although in many ways reflective of the specificities of a unique historical moment, the interminable temporariness experienced through the COVID‐19 pandemic also speaks to broader, enduring conditions produced within contemporary Australian agriculture. Here, the restructuring of the agri‐industry produces for many what Lauren Berlant describes as the “impasse” or “crisis ordinariness” of life under neoliberalism. At the same time, logics of development—including racialized imaginaries and border regimes—articulate with agricultural guest worker schemes in ways that seek to fix whole populations and regions in relations of suspended hope. In this context, I argue, the pandemic exposed and intensified structural vulnerabilities and unequal distributions of risk, which are encoded in the political economy of farm work in Australia, while also cleaving open new, if tentative, possibilities for agency and solidarity. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
The country was under lockdown from more than two months due to COVID-19. In this crisis, the farmers have not allowed food security to be endangered. Moreover, they have increased food production despite all the obstacles. Right now, farmers are facing many obvious and climatic problems. Prime Minister of India has said that we have to convert this crisis into opportunity. The solution to farmer's problems is necessary, to make the country Atmanirbhar Bharat and to take it rapid fast on the path of progress. The outbreak of this epidemic has come at a time when the harvesting of Rabi crops had already started. However, taking necessary steps, Ministry of Agriculture has worked with all agencies of selling and buying agricultural products, units notified by the state governments, farmers and agricultural labourers along with machines used in harvesting and sowing and agro-horticulture exempted from and out of state. In addition, the All India Transport Call Centre was launched to remove bottlenecks in the movement of seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, fish and other perishable agricultural products. © 2022 University of Stockholm. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The horticulture sector in northern Australia, covering north of Western Australia (WA), Northern Territory (NT), and north Queensland (QLD), contributes $1.6 billion/year to the Australian economy by supplying diverse food commodities to meet domestic and international demand. To date, the Australian Government has funded several studies on developing the north’s agriculture sector, but these primarily focused on land and water resources and omitted an integrated, on-ground feasibility analysis for including farmers’/growers’ perspectives. This study is the first of its kind in the north for offering a detailed integrated assessment, highlighting farmers’ perspectives on the current state of the north’s horticulture sector, and related challenges and opportunities. For this, we applied a bottom-up approach to inform future agriculture development in the region, involving a detailed literature review and conducting several focus group workshops with growers and experts from government organisations, growers’ associations, and regional development agencies. We identified several key local issues pertaining to crop production, availability of, and secure access to, land and water resources, and workforce and marketing arrangements (i.e., transport or processing facilities, export opportunities, biosecurity protocols, and the role of the retailers/supermarkets) that affect the economic viability and future expansion of the sector across the region. For example, the availability of the workforce (skilled and general) has been a challenge across the north since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Similarly, long-distance travel for farm produce due to a lack of processing and export facilities in the north restricts future farm developments. Any major investment should be aligned with growers’ interests. This research highlights the importance of understanding and incorporating local growers’ and researchers’ perspectives, applying a bottom-up approach, when planning policies and programs for future development, especially for the horticulture sector in northern Australia and other similar regions across the globe where policy makers’ perspectives may differ from farmers.
ABSTRACT
Urban Agriculture (UA) is the widespread practice of food production within available city space using non-commercial, commercial and hybrid production technologies. The economic viability of UA remains a concern among UA practitioners. To investigate UA’s viability;land, labour and distribution cost are analyzed, and margin and benefit–cost ratio (BCR) under vacant lot, rooftop/backyard and discretionary labour UA are calculated. We present a straightforward approach to gauge the economic viability of UA taking examples from 40 distinct locations of two divergent development contexts of Adelaide, South Australia and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. UA seems potentially viable by selecting high-value crops in Adelaide but showed little chance of viability under low-value crop scenarios in both contexts. The high cost of land is shown to be the primary driver of cost for UA. Labour cost appears to be a critical difference between the two cities, being an important constraint for the economic viability in Adelaide, where the wage rate is high. To improve economic viability, the respective governments and planners should consider better ways to avail subsidised land through policy intervention and volunteer or subsidised labour arrangement mechanisms. Home food gardens accessing available land and labour as a discretionary/spare time activity with zero distribution cost may represent the best way to produce food without exceeding market costs in cities.
ABSTRACT
The paper draws on Rosa's three dimensions of the structured phenomenology of time - daily time, longer time, and historical time - as a conceptual lens to analyse the lived experiences and structural framing of temporary farm work in the UK and to address the question: how is it that short-term precarious work remains the accepted solution for agricultural work even under conditions that challenge the status quo. We draw on qualitative research with farmers and workers conducted prior to and during Brexit and Covid-19. We note that farmers and workers alike have found ways to accept and adjust to seasonal migrant labour as a taken-for-granted solution to the pressures of daily farm life. Further, farmers contend that seasonal migrant work is essential to secure the longer-term viability of their farms, while migrant workers' longer-term view involves delayed gratification in a 'dual frame of reference'. Local workers, alternatively, cannot imagine farm work as providing a long-term future. When looking historically at farm life, farmers and workers alike invoke changing epochs, to explain current conditions as the conditions of our times, and thus to deny their own agency. Structural-economic shifts are thus never addressed and other ways of doing things never imagined.
ABSTRACT
A total of fourteen papers (ten research papers and four review papers) in various fields of horticulture are presented in this Special Issue, including such topics as the identification and accumulation of the bioactive compounds in various plant species;the effects of abiotic stresses on bioactive compound composition and content;and exploration of the best methods for bioactive compound extraction. [1], the authors investigated the nutritional profile and the antioxidant, antiproliferative, and antibacterial activities of five species of Brassica (cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, white cabbage, and Chinese cabbage);they found that these Brassica vegetables are excellent sources of polyphenols that showed moderate antiproliferative and antibacterial potential. [2], the effect of the bulk density and water-holding capacity of lignite substrate in comparison to mineral wool and the EC of nutrient solution on the plant morphological parameters, yield, and fruit quality of greenhouse cucumber were investigated, and the results suggest that both the substrate density and water-holding capacity positively affected the morphological features of the plants. In the fourth paper, reported by Karim and Yusof [4], it was found that the impregnation of spinach leaves with salicylic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, and sucrose effectively improved the quality and storage ability by reducing chilling injury through improvement of the proline content.
ABSTRACT
Botanic gardens are defined by their mission to maintain living plant collections for scientific research, conservation, display and education. This mission represents the potential ecosystem services that botanic gardens aim to produce, with display and education specifically regarding recreational ecosystem services (RES). Visitors must directly experience botanic gardens to transform these potential RES into real benefits, yet the public may not be interested in studying plants during their leisure time. Thus, botanic gardens turn to events to attract visitors. The objective of this study is to estimate the RES benefits created by a botanic garden event and profile the visitors that it brings into the garden. To do so, a questionnaire was distributed at the Zagara plant festival, held in Spring 2021 at the Palermo University Botanic Garden in Sicily (Italy). Respondents are local, young to middle-aged, mostly female, well-educated, upper to middle class and not accompanying children. Most came to the Zagara to observe, admire or purchase plants. Through the zonal Travel Cost Method (TCM), visitors' marginal consumer surplus is estimated to be 6.16 € and the event's total recreational value is estimated to be 26,464.21 €. The study took place during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and responses also indicate that the Zagara filled consequential visitor needs for outdoor social occasions. This study contributes to the literature on RES benefit valuation by applying the well-accepted TCM to the unexplored subject of special events in botanic gardens with the aim of supporting management decisions. Management implications •Botanic gardens are defined by their living plant collections, yet they are also important for human wellbeing;•Events bring many visitors into botanic gardens, and are responsible for creating social benefits in the form of recreational ecosystem services;•Garden managers often lack the resources to carry out complicated valuation procedures, but online survey and mapping platforms have made the zonal travel cost method a direct way to estimate the recreational benefits produced by an event, and understand who benefits;•Such valuations are necessary for gardens to plan events to increase social welfare, optimize ecosystem services and improve inclusiveness.