image: Corn, growing alongside beans and pumpkin in a suburban garden, Sydney, Australia. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Robert McDougall.
A study of 13 small-scale organic gardens in Australia found that urban agricultural operations produced high yields but were not cost-efficient; using gardening logbooks and gardener survey data collected between November 2015 and May 2017, the authors found that urban gardens produced approximately twice the yield of commercial farms in Australia, but the average cost of materials and labor to produce 1 kg of produce was higher than the cost of purchasing 1 kg of the same produce at local stores.
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Article #18-09707: "Small-scale urban agriculture results in high yields but requires judicious management of inputs to achieve sustainability," by Robert McDougall, Paul Kristiansen, and Romina Rader.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Robert McDougall, University of New England, Armidale, AUSTRALIA; tel: +61405638199; e-mail: robert.n.mcdougall@gmail.com; Romina Rader, University of New England, Armidale, AUSTRALIA; tel: +61267732857, +61409035368; e-mail: rrader@une.edu.au; Paul Kristiansen, University of New England, Armidale, AUSTRALIA; tel: +61421950026; e-mail: pkristi2@une.edu.au
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences