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Kale is a nutrient-dense leafy vegetable associated with wide-ranging health benefits. It is tolerant of drought and temperature fluctuations, and could thus serve an increasingly important role in providing a safe and nutritious food supply during the climate crisis, while kale's ease of cultivation and ability to be grown in a wide range of soils make it a good fit for urban agriculture. In this pilot study we explored potential differences between kale grown at urban versus rural farms. We planted kale seedlings (Darkibor variety) at three urban and four rural farms in and around Baltimore City, Maryland, instructed farmers to cultivate them using their usual growing practices, harvested the kale from fields and points of distribution, and analyzed it for concentrations of carotenoids, vitamins C and K1, ten nutritional elements, and eight non-essential metals. Although sample sizes for some analyses were in some cases too small to produce statistically significant results, we identified potentially meaningful differences in concentrations of several components between urban and rural kale samples. Compared to urban samples, mean concentrations of carotenoids and vitamins were 22–38% higher in rural field samples. By contrast, mean concentrations for eight nutritional elements were higher in urban field samples by as much as 413% for iron. Compared to rural field samples, mean concentrations of nine non-essential metals were higher in urban samples, although lead and cadmium concentrations for all samples were below public health guidelines. Some urban-rural differences were more pronounced than those identified in prior research. For six elements, variance within urban and rural farms was greater than variance between urban and rural farms, suggesting urbanicity may not be the primary driver of some observed differences. For some nutrients, mean concentrations were higher than upper ranges reported in prior estimates, suggesting kale may have the potential to be more nutrient-dense than previously estimated. The nutritive and metals composition of this important crop, and the factors that influence it, merit continued investigation given its growing popularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making woody mulch (WM) from organic waste is one solution for repurposing waste. Our work had two primary objectives. First, we wanted to destermine the current use of WM as a soil cover, barriers to use, benefits, and possible motivations for adopting the use of WM by home and commercial growers for cultivating crops in Barbados and the Baltimore-Washington, DC metropolitan region in the USA. To accomplish this objective, we administered a survey to growers in both regions. Second, we wanted to determine the benefits of using WM in agricultural production for sweet potatoes (both regions) and Hungarian hot wax peppers (USA). We measured whether WM influenced crop survival, crop yield, crop nutrients, weed mass, and soil characteristics in replicated plots covered with a layer of WM or left bare. Growers reported that expense, availability, and ease of application were barriers to using WM. Despite the barriers, many growers were using, or had previously used, WM and reported myriad benefits, including improving plant yield and/or nutrients, preventing weed growth, maintaining soil moisture and reducing irrigation needs, improving soil fertility, reducing soil erosion, reducing compaction from heavy rain, and maintaining soil temperature. Our data from replicated field trials verified some of the potential benefits reported by growers. WM in some cases promoted higher crop survival and yield of sweet potatoes, suppressed weeds, conserved soil moisture, and maintained higher soil temperature. Understanding which crops benefit from WM and the longer-term effects of WM on crops and soil are deserving of future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]