Contribution of Agriculture to Health Promotion

Abstract

Agriculture has been an important source of the human diet throughout human history, but its relationship with human societies has transformed over the long course of more than 10,000 y. Urbanization and agricultural commercialization are significant among such changes and wield considerable impact on human diets, nutrition, and health. This paper presents four studies examining the influence of agriculture on diet and general health: 1) the impact of urban allotment gardening on human health and wellbe-ing in Japan, 2) the preference of people in Japan for collaborations between citizens’ farms and food-support organizations 3) the linkages between dietary diversity and agriculture in Indonesia, and 4) food sources and child nutrition in the deforested frontiers of Cambodia.