What Is a School Farm? Results of a Scoping Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Mar 30;20(7):5332. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20075332.

Abstract

As school farms become more prominent programs to teach food education, research is needed to support school farms' implementation and sustainability. This scoping review included 94 articles on school farms from three bibliometric databases covering broad international literature. Vocational agricultural training, animal husbandry, and crop production were common characteristics of school farms across 103 years of publications. Themes of sustainability, healthy eating, and food systems were more prominent in recent literature. Peer-reviewed studies (1985-2019) provided some empirical research showing school farms' impact on students. This review discusses school farms' structures and objectives as promising food education and production programming.

Keywords: agricultural education; food access; food education; food literacy; food security; food systems; school farm; school food; vocational agriculture.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agriculture* / methods
  • Animal Husbandry*
  • Animals
  • Crop Production
  • Farms
  • Food
  • Schools

Grants and funding

There was no specific funding for this scoping review. A.I.C. is funded by a Michael Smith Health Research BC Award (2021-26).