Measuring community power: A scale to measure collective self-determination, Embodied Earth Care and Connection, and Ubuntu among urban farmers and gardeners

Ashley Gripper and Tori Cowger

Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2025, vol. 14, issue 2

Abstract: Participation in community farming and gardening increases and improves social support, collective agency, care, and resistance in many historically exploited communities. Black- and Brown-led food justice organizations have expressed the need for an instrument that captures what is most important to them: information on how their programs impact land-based knowledge, spirituality, collec­tive agency, resistance, and mental health. This study used a survey instrument to develop a scale using exploratory factor analysis. Participants were recruited with the help of key partners and influ­encers from U.S.-based agricultural networks. The final analyzable sample contained 363 respondents. The scree plot, parallel test, and eigenvalues all sup­ported a five-factor structure as most appropriate for the data. These five inter-related factors explain a concept called “Agricultural Community Power” and refer to Collective Self-determination, BodyMind Community Care, Land-based Spiritual Well­being, Embodied Earth Care and Connection, and Ubuntu/Interdependence. This model had ade­quate internal consistency reliability (Cron­bach’s alpha = 0.93). The Agriculture Community Power Scale (AgCPS) is a tool that (1) can be used for program evaluation and (2) is better aligned with the values, priorities, and impacts of many commu­nity-rooted environmental organizations. AgCPS moves food justice evaluation away from standard metrics (such as BMI and fruit and vegetable con­sumption) and toward metrics of community care, collective agency, land-based spirituality, and community power.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban; Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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