The Significance of Urban Gardening on the Household Economy: A Case of Minority Urban Gardeners

Urban gardening (UG) is an emerging approach to increase the consumption of fresh produce in the homestead. The objective of this exploratory case study was to enhance the technical and economic efficiency of small, socially disadvantaged, and minority (SSDM) urban gardeners in Maryland. Twenty-two SSDM producers engaged in UG participated in the study. The findings showed that farmers were operating rationally, and cultivating diversified specialty, medicinal, and ethnic crops, with an average of twenty specialty/ethnic crops on 1.2 acres. The farmers reported six primary reasons for sustaining urban gardening: family consumption (79%), outdoor and physical activity (79%), supplemental household income (57%), leisure (50%), experiential learning for family members (14%), and tax benefits (7%). Findings revealed that 96% of the farmers strengthened knowledge in reducing production costs, increasing farm income (86%), enhancing entrepreneurial skills (82%), improving farm management practices (73%), mitigating risk (59%), and changing UG behaviors and actions (100%).