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COVID-19 and consumer demand for local meat products in South Carolina
No full textFirst paragraph:
The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated economic disruptions have challenged local food producers, distributors, retailers, and restaurants since March 2020. COVID-19 was a stress test for the U.S. local food supply chain, exposing vulnerabilities whose impacts have varied by region and sector. Some local producers saw sales fall in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions and consumer foot traffic changes (O’Hara, Woods, Dutton, & Stavely, 2021). In other areas, local food producers were able to pivot from collapsing market channels by finding opportunities elsewhere (Thilmany, Canales, Low, & Boys, 2020). . .
Setting the table, not running it: An inclusive approach to access to healthy foods
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Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) is a vegan food justice nonprofit in northern California. We focus on making a more just and sustainable food system for everyone involved. Since injustice in the food system crosses the species barrier, we work to connect the dots between the exploitation of human and nonhuman animals. We focus our efforts on four main areas: ending the use of animals in the food system, improving access to healthy foods in Black, Brown, and low-income communities, exposing the worst forms of child labor (including slavery) in the chocolate industry, and advocating for farmworker rights. These seemingly disparate areas have much in common: they are interlocking forms of oppression, marginalization, and domination in the food system. We recognize that the intersecting nature of oppression necessitates a nuanced response. For example, as an organization working on both farmworker justice and food apartheid, we cannot advocate for lowering the price of food as this would negatively impact produce workers who already suffer grave systemic injustice. Instead, we advocate for equality of access and living wages for everyone.[1] In this piece, we focus on our approach to the lack of access to healthy foods, and specifically our community-based efforts in Vallejo, California.
[1] Food Empowerment Project does not use the common term “food deserts” to describe areas impacted by lack of access to healthy foods. We prefer “food apartheid.” Deserts are naturally occurring phenomena. “Food apartheid” better captures the deliberate systemic, political, and racist origins of the food crisis faced in Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities
Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania farm revenue: Looking back at the 2020 season
No full textInitial forecasts predicted severe financial losses for small and midsized farmers as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted usual market channels nationwide. Early reports both confirmed and challenged these fears, as some farmers could not find new markets while others established or expanded their direct-to-consumer sales to replace their lost outlets. To understand the impact of the pandemic on Pennsylvania farmers across the entire 2020 growing season, Chatham University and Pasa Sustainable Agriculture[1] surveyed farmers and performed interviews with a subset of these farmers. The anonymous survey was distributed by Pennsylvania-based farm organizations to their constituents, predominantly through email. Just under half the farmers (42%) reported a loss of revenue, while over half (58%) reported either no change or an increase in revenue in 2020. The scale of these changes varied greatly. We also found that vegetable farmers fared slightly better than livestock/eggs/dairy farmers; those with a higher pre-COVID revenue did better than those with a lower pre-COVID revenue; and farms that were able to increase direct-to-consumer sales maintained or increased their total revenues. Participation in state and federal relief programs varied and appeared to have no significant effect on farmers’ final 2020 revenue. Farmers’ responses to the open-ended survey questions demonstrated that the weather, a lack of infrastructure to support small and midsized producers, and consumers’ lack of support for a regional food system were major challenges before COVID. Without meaningful policy changes, these challenges will persist beyond the pandemic’s resolution.
Correction Notice, December 12, 2022
Data related to the Farmer to Family Food Box Program (FFFBP) was included by accident in the initial article published online. The fourth paragraph of the Results section has been corrected to delete data related to the FFFBP. In addition, the Broad Leib et al. (2021) reference was deleted from the text and References list. No other edits were made in the article.
[1] Pasa Sustainable Agriculture is a nonprofit organization that provides training, research, and technical services to farmers in Pennsylvania and throughout the mid-Atlantic region. See more at https://pasafarming.org
Appraising the administrative burden of USDA organic certification: A descriptive analysis of Notice of Noncompliance data
No full textMany of the challenges organic producers and processors experience are caused by how organic standards compliance is monitored and enforced—in particular, the administrative procedures that are mandated to verify that operation practices meet organic certification requirements. In this policy analysis, we examine noncompliance documentation and verification by accredited certifiers under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Leveraging a novel and unique compilation of “Notice of Noncompliance” letters issued to organic producers and processors, we find a preponderance of administrative violations, relative to substantive ones. We discuss how the finding may help explain contemporary transformations in the organic market, as larger agri-food entities’ capacity to absorb the administrative costs that frustrate smaller operations may contribute to organic market “conventionalization” and consolidation
Food inequality: One part of a much larger problem
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In 2014, researchers ascribed the growing nutritional inequality in America to two factors: the price of wholesome foods and geographic inaccessibility for families living in food deserts (Wang et al., 2014). Priyah Fielding-Singh believed that the causes had to be much more complex than that. As a doctoral student in sociology at Stanford University, she conducted an ethnographic study that involved interviewing 160 parents and children and extensively observing four families. Her findings, reported in How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America, reveal the complexity of causes, as she was expecting, of growing nutritional inequality. She also addresses the need to see food inequality as one interconnected facet of socioeconomic inequality rather than as a standalone problem. . .
Community food systems resilience: Values, benefits, and indicators
No full textThere is increasing awareness that community food policies and programs can address issues of equity, sustainability, profitability, and resilience in food systems. Community coalitions, local governments, food policy councils, cooperative extension, and other stakeholders seek to improve community food systems through policy and programmatic development. However, these groups often do not know what types of policy or program models exist to help achieve their goals. This research identified expert consensus on three important topics related to community food systems resilience: (1) values that should guide adopting and implementing policies and programs to facilitate community food systems resilience, (2) benefits of adopting policies and programs that support community food systems resilience, and (3) policies, programs, and initiatives that are indicators of resilience. These indicators can be used to assess the resilience of communities and to help communities identify policy options to achieve specific goals and objectives. The results of this study were used to create a community food system resilience audit tool that community groups can use to assess the current resiliency of their food system, identify priorities, and set goals. The audit tool focuses on seven core themes that contribute to community food systems resilience: agricultural and ecological sustainability, community health, community self-reliance, distributive and democratic leadership, focus on the farmer and food maker, food justice, and place-based economics. The individual indicators in this audit tool provide specific policies and practices that can be adopted by local governments, supported by cooperative extension agents, and advocated for by food policy councils and community-based organizations
Planning toward sustainable food systems: An exploratory assessment of local U.S. food system plans
No full textNational planning and health organizations agree that to achieve healthy and sustainable food systems, planners must balance goals across a spectrum of sustainability issues that include economic vitality, public health, ecological sustainability, social equity, and cultural diversity. This research is an assessment of government-adopted food system plans in the U.S. that examines which topics, across the three dimensions of sustainability (social, environmental, and economic), are included in local food system plans and conducts an exploratory analysis that asks whether the community capitals (built, cultural, social, financial, human, and natural) available in a community are associated with the content of food system plans. The research team first developed a Sustainable Food System Policy Index made up of 26 policy areas across the three dimensions that, in aggregate, define and operationalize sustainable food systems. With this index we evaluated a sample of 28 food system plans for inclusion of these policy impact areas. We then performed an exploratory regression analysis to examine whether the availability of community capitals was associated with the content of food system plans. Findings indicated that jurisdictions integrated a broad range of issues into their food system plans; however, there are certain issues across every dimension of sustainability that are much less frequently included in plans, such as strategies related to participation in decision-making, financial infrastructure, and the stewardship of natural resources. Regression analysis identified statistically significant linear relationships between particular capitals and the proportion of policy areas included in plans. In particular, higher metrics associated with poverty were associated with the inclusion of fewer policy areas and with a potentially narrower policy agenda. This study adds to the plan evaluation literature as one of the first attempts to document the content of a sample of U.S. food system plans through a sustainability lens, contributing to the knowledge of what types of issues are advanced by local food system plans and the policy implications of current gaps in planning agendas
National food security, immigration reform, and the importance of worker engagement in agricultural guestworker debates
No full textThis article looks at the United States’ federal H-2A Temporary Agricultural Visa Program and reforms proposed by the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. In this policy analysis, we draw on media content analysis and qualitative interviews to compare the viewpoints of farmers, workers, grower and worker advocacy groups, intermediary agents, and politicians. We find that perspectives on the program are dependent upon actors’ level of direct interaction with workers. Moderate-sized farmers and regionally based worker advocacy groups tend to be the most concerned with day-to-day program operations and fair working conditions. In contrast, national-level advocacy groups, intermediary agents, and politicians are less critical of the program and seek to broadly expand farmer access to guestworkers, justifying proposed program reforms with discourses of national food security and immigration reform. Ultimately, we suggest that engaging a food systems lens to understand these policies provides a more nuanced perspective, addressing national food security and immigration as related issues
Farmer attitudes and perceptions toward gleaning programs and the donation of excess produce to food rescue organizations
No full textFood waste and food insecurity are two concurrent major public health issues. To address them, gleaning programs can reduce waste and enhance food security by diverting produce to food pantries. To understand the experiences of farmers and gleaning programs, interviews were completed with 12 farmers who had participated in a gleaning program and 16 farmers who had not donated produce through a gleaning program within the Greater Kansas City metro area. For farmers who had participated in the gleaning program, the ease of donating and tax incentives were primary benefits. Inadequate experience and inefficient volunteers were cited as challenges. Farmers without experience with gleaning programs cited safety and liability issues as concerns. Because farmers communicate frequently with other farmers, food rescue organizations should consider enlisting their support. Communities and government agencies should provide financial support to improve the resources and infrastructure of gleaning organizations to improve farmer-gleaner relationships
Local innovation in food system policies: A case study of six Australian local governments
No full textAustralian local governments undertake a range of activities that can contribute to a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system. However, their engagement in food system governance is highly uneven, and only a handful have developed dedicated food system policies. This article reports on case studies of food system policy development and implementation in six local governments in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. The main motivators for policy and program development were to improve environmental sustainability, reduce food waste, improve diet-related health and food security, and support local, sustainable agriculture. Key steps included consulting with the community, identifying local food-related issues, and developing policy solutions. Local government activities targeted many dimensions of the food system, and policy implementation processes included hiring dedicated food system employees, creating partnerships with organizations outside local government, advocacy to higher levels of government for policy and legislative change, and program evaluation. The research also identified key enablers of and barriers to policy development and implementation, including factors internal to local government (e.g., presence/absence of local champions, high-level leadership, and a supportive internal culture) as well as important state- and federal-level constraints, including absence of comprehensive policy frameworks for food and nutrition, of dedicated funding for local government food system work, and of leadership for food system governance from higher levels of government. The authors conclude with recommendations for strengthening the role of Australian local governments in creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system, applicable to both local governments and to Australian state and federal governments. These recommendations may also be useful to local governments in other national jurisdictions