University of Minnesota, Duluth
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Linking Farmers, Healthy Foods, and Underserved Consumers: Exploring the Impact of Nutrition Incentive Programs on Farmers and Farmers' Markets
No full textThe number of farmers' markets in the United States has increased rapidly over the last 20 years. They have begun to attract a great deal of attention for their potential to provide consumers in rural and urban "food deserts" with fresh fruits and vegetables. Incentive programs targeting federal nutrition benefit customers at farmers' markets are new and rapidly growing programs that seek to address the problems of access and affordability for these consumers, as well as enhance the viability of participating markets and farmers. This article relies on data from markets providing nutrition incentive programming in 2010 and a survey of participating farmers in order to study federal nutrition benefit and incentive usage at the markets and to provide preliminary results about the type of farmers and markets that might benefit most from incentive programming. The farmers' market data show that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) redemption has increased substantially (usually doubling or more annually) in markets offering incentives. The analysis of farmer surveys revealed that both farmer and market characteristics are important to the impact of incentives on participating farmer sales. Farmers who were more likely to report increased sales from incentives were those with a higher proportion of market gross sales accounted for by fruits and vegetables; who depend on individual farmers' markets for a higher percentage of farm sales; who sell products at small or medium-sized markets; or who are very satistifed with the implementation of incentive programming at their markets. As these are preliminary results of new programming, future research needs are addressed
Safe Re-use Practices in Wastewater-Irrigated Urban Vegetable Farming in Ghana
No full textIrrigation using untreated wastewater poses health risks to farmers and consumers of crop products, especially vegetables. With hardly any wastewater treatment in Ghana, a multiple-barrier approach was adopted and safe re-use practices were developed through action research involving a number of stakeholders at different levels along the food chain. This paper presents an overview of safe re-use practices including farm-based water treatment methods, water application techniques, post-harvest handling practices, and washing methods. The overview is based on a comprehensive analysis of the literature and our own specific studies, which used data from a broad range of research methods and approaches. Identifying, testing, and assessment of safe practices were done with the active participation of key actors using observations, extensive microbiological laboratory assessments, and field-based measurements. The results of our work and the work of others show that the practices developed had a great potential to reduce health risks, especially when used to complement each other at different levels of the food chain. Future challenges are the development of a comprehensive framework that best combines tested risk-reduction strategies for wide application by national stakeholders as well as their potential implementation into legally enforceable national standards
Community-Engaged Learning in Food Systems and Public Health
No full textFood preferences, systems, and policies influence the health of individuals and communities both directly, through food consumption choices, and indirectly, through environmental, economic, and social impacts. To aid student understanding of these complex determinants of food choice, a student-driven, community-engaged learning course on food systems and food choices was developed. Guided by the socio-ecological model for health and the goals of the Emory Sustainability Initiative and supported by the Center for Community Partnerships (CFCP), the course objectives, curriculum, and activities were determined by the students in collaboration with the faculty advisor and community partners. Two central components of the course were student-led learning modules and community-engaged research on food systems. The four learning modules included: (1) determinants of individual food preference and choice; (2) food and agriculture systems; (3) food access and food justice; and (4) agricultural policy. Community research projects described the role of farmers' markets, community supported agriculture, conventional markets, community gardens, and farm-to-table restaurants in the production and distribution of food in metro Atlanta, with an emphasis on locally produced fruits, vegetables, meats, and milk. Where possible the projects mapped the reach of these distribution models to low-income communities and food deserts, and identified strategies to improve access to healthy food options in these communities. The course culminated in a student-organized symposium for community members and in research reports for community partners. The symposium drew diverse participants, including growers, farmers' market managers, advocacy groups, public-health scientists, policy-makers, students, and academicians. Discussions with symposium participants assisted in refining the research reports for community partners and helped identify strategies and topics for future collaborative efforts and course improvements. A grant from Emory's CFCP facilitated collaboration with community partners, community research, and dissemination of research findings
DIGGING DEEPER: Bringing a Systems Approach to Food Systems: Issues of Scale
No full textFirst paragraph:October 2011 marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the first food policy council in the U.S., in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the intervening year I have spent some time thinking about the trajectory of food policy councils (FPCs) over those decades. What's impressive is how active FPCs have been in addressing a wide range of policy topics across all sectors of the food system. The policies fall into different legal categories and funding mechanisms, and range from food production to food waste; from direct markets to large retail; from loans to plans. After three decades of FPC activity I find two things of particular interest about this phenomenon: first, the breadth of issues and the amount of human and economic resources going into the work of not only identifying policy changes but legislating and appropriating funds for them; and second, how much of this work is being done in isolation from similar undertakings around the country and even in the same state. It is the latter phenomenon that got me thinking about how to encourage more collaboration and efficiency in local or municipal FPC work. I decided that a useful way was to employ concepts that come from the world of systems thinking and analysis...
Urban Gardening: A Valuable Activity, But...
No full textUrban gardening has a high popularity among civic politicians as well as certain vocal advocates. However, there is no basis to expect that this food-supply concept could ever deliver fresher food and/or lower cost foods to most people living within the contemporary structure of a modern urbanized society
No Buts About It...The Value of Urban Food Production: Response #4 to Hallsworth and Wong’s viewpoint
No full textFirst paragraphs:In their provocative essay, Alan Hallsworth and Alfred Wong (2013) contend that academics, activists, and policy makers exaggerate the benefits of urban food gardening. They state: "There is no basis to expect that [urban gardening] could ever deliver fresher food and/or lower cost foods." The authors attempt to explain the shortcomings of urban gardening as a food security strategy by highlighting its barriers in Vancouver, Canada, especially the climactic obstacles to production in northern regions and the age-old real estate adage of "highest and best land use" that precludes urban food production. Hallsworth and Wong's assumptions could not be more incorrect, and rather than simply stoking debate, the authors unwittingly provide fodder for the detractors of urban agriculture, of which there are many. Indeed, urban gardening plays a significant role within the city as public space, as an economic development strategy, and as a community-organizing tool. Most importantly, urban food production contributes to household food security. To cite just one example from my own research: a ½ acre (0.2 ha) urban farm project in Brooklyn, New York — East New York Farms! — produces over USD20,000 of fresh produce annually in a neighborhood defined by disparities in fresh food access. Over 70 percent of the farm's transactions are made through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (i.e., food stamps), meaning that fresh produce is reaching community members in high need (personal interview with East New York Farms manager, June 15, 2010).The essay fails to convince precisely because it relies on false assumptions and narrow understandings of urban gardening. Hallsworth and Wong acknowledge the value of only the "personal enjoyment" of growing food and the "socializing" benefits of community gardening. The authors suggest that urban gardening has some redeeming productive capacity, but not for "most people" who believe that "greater [food] security flows from food that is in some way local." Certainly it is a mistake, the authors explain, to think we can "return to the days of 'growing (all) one's own food.'" Yet nowhere in the essay do Hallsworth and Wong justify these assumptions. Urban food production is re-emerging in complex and contradictory ways throughout North America. The growing movement is not predicated on false hopes of its productive potential, but recognizes urban cultivation as one of many approaches to address inequalities in the conventional food system...
In This Issue: Surf and Turf: JAFSCD Looks at Both Land and Seafood Systems
No full textFirst paragraph:Again we run the gamut of food systems issues in this open call issue of JAFSCD, with our first paper focusing exclusively on seafood (I couldn't resist this kitschy title). Despite their fragile state and enormous contribution to the protein intake of people around the world, fisheries are a neglected topic in the food systems literature. We haven’t tackled the research gap in this issue, but we may take a crack at it in the future. Please let me know if you think local fisheries and food systems are a good special topic call
Including the Voices of Communities in Food Insecurity Research: An Empowerment-based Agenda for Food Scholarship
No full textThe disempowering manner in which "hungry people" are portrayed in public discourse and the dehumanizing way in which they are treated when they try to provision for themselves demand that scholars create counter frames to subvert the existing portrayal of those experiencing food insecurity. In this paper, we call for a program of research that uses participatory research methodologies to invite, recognize, and represent the voices of people experiencing food insecurity. We argue for an expanded program of food scholarship that places the experiences, needs, and voices of people experiencing food insecurity in the foreground. Such a program is needed in order to better understand the lived reality of food insecurity, how interventions can be designed for communities as partners in research rather than objects of investigation, and how communities can mobilize themselves for broader environmental change
Farms or Freeways? Citizen Engagement and Municipal Governance in Edmonton's Food and Agriculture Strategy Development
No full textIn the mid- to late 1990s, most provincial governments in Canada downloaded or devolved authority for land use planning to local levels of government. In Alberta, this shifted responsibility for the protection of farmland to municipalities. However, a strong oil and gas economy and rapid growth of Alberta's urban centers in recent decades has resulted in significant loss of prime farmland to urban and industrial development. In Edmonton, Alberta's capital city, citizens' concerns over food security and the protection of farmland within city boundaries shaped the 2010 municipal development plan, which links land use planning with food and agriculture, and also paved the way for an Edmonton agri-food strategy. In this exploratory case study we examine factors shaping Edmonton's food policy development and implementation, and the impact on prime farmland in the city's outer limits. Despite progressive changes in policy due to strong citizen support, municipal council's approval of a food and agriculture strategy lacking hard targets subsequently set the stage for continued urban sprawl and loss of prime farmland. This study illuminates the conflicts between citizens' demand for sustainable urban food systems and the development narrative still prevalent in many North American cities. We conclude the paper by discussing the key levers required to ensure the transformational context required to institute holistic food system strategies
Navigating the Fault Lines in Civic Food Networks
No full textCivic food networks have emerged as a civil society–driven response to the social, economic, and environmental shortcomings of the industrial food system. They are differentiated from other forms of alternative food networks in that they emphasize cooperation over independence, focus on participatory democratic governance over hierarchy, and serve both social and economic functions for participants. Yet there is little understanding of the processes of cooperation, particularly among farmers, in civic food networks. In this five-year action research project we documented the development of a farmer-driven civic food network in southern Manitoba on the Canadian Prairies. We explore the relations among farmers to better understand the potential of civic food networks to contribute to a more resilient and locally controlled food system. Our findings highlight the tensions and power dynamics that arise through the processes of re-embedding farmers in more interdependent relations. Fractures occurred in the group when negotiating the diverse needs and values of participants, which manifested in disputes over the balance of economic and extra-economic organizational pursuits, over the nature of the cooperative distribution model, and over quality standards. Asymmetrical power relations also emerged related to gender and generational differences. Although social embeddedness and civic governance did lead to enhanced relations and trust, these positive outcomes were unevenly distributed and coexisted with feelings of distrust and acrimony. In order to realize their full potential, proponents of civic food networks must confront difference in order to embrace the strength that comes from diversity in the process of building more resilient, and civic, food networks