Branding practices, trust-building, and performance in urban agriculture: evidence from Tokyo and Shanghai

Urban agriculture in megacities needs to sustain farm businesses amid land scarcity and changing food-supply requirements. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, this study examines how brand orientation is enacted and associated with performance across different urban agriculture businesses. Survey data from 145 Tokyo farm businesses and 162 Shanghai agri-food businesses were combined with interviews with six purposively selected operators. Focused framework analysis distinguished self-reported brand orientation, enacted branding practices, and realized performance. Two overlapping mechanisms helped build trust: relational proximity through repeated interaction with buyers, consumers, and communities, and institutional assurance through certification, traceability, and reliable delivery. Strong brand orientation could coexist with plans that had yet to be implemented or with practices that had yet to gain wider market recognition. The returns from branding depended on whether businesses could reach suitable buyers, supply them consistently, and retain control over marketing and prices. Limited farmland constrained production, and insecure leases discouraged investment. In businesses reliant on wholesale channels or tasked with maintaining urban food supplies, pricing discretion could also be limited. Sustainability practices such as circular production supported brand claims when communicated credibly to buyers. The comparison shows how land access and a farm’s role in the urban food supply system shape what it can gain from branding. Commercial returns, continued use of farmland, and continuity of urban food supply did not always align across the cases.