Authors:Duncan Hilchey Pages: 1–4 - 1–4 Abstract: First paragraphs: In this issue, we celebrate the extraordinary contributions that new farmers and gardeners make to their host communities. Immigrant farmers and gardeners, military vet farmers, young BIPOC farmers … all are increasingly joining the ranks of our food producers. While not enough to replace the loss of traditional farmers, USDA funding to support NGOs and CBOs that are providing land access, technical assistance, and farm incubation services appears to be fostering a new generation of farm and garden practitioners who are putting their shoulders to the wheel of food justice and food sovereignty in the U.S. On our cover is Dhan Maya Subba, a participant in the New Farms for New Americans’ agriculture and education program for refugees (photo by Alisha Laramee, Program Manager, NFNA). Subba is one of nearly 100 families originally from homes in Asia and Africa who participate in the program to grow food to feed their families. NFNA, a program of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, helps families who have been resettled in northern New England to access land, continue their agricultural traditions, and grow culturally significant crops. More details about NFNA can be gleaned from Nepali Bhutanese refugee gardeners and their seed systems: Placemaking and foodways in Vermont by Junru Guo, Daniel Tobin, and Teresa Mares (all at the University of Vermont) in this issue. . . . PubDate: 2022-06-20 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.022 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Domenic Vitiello Pages: 1–18 - 1–18 Abstract: United States cities have developed urban agriculture support systems with different priorities and institutional structures, with significant impacts and implications for social equity and justice. Some treat farming and gardening as public goods, public spaces, valued for their community-building, environmental and public health promotion, and other social benefits. Others have sought to extract more economic and redevelopment gains from urban agriculture. These represent divergent, often opposing expectations of what urban agriculture can yield, and what it should be, often present in the same city. This article, a combination of mixed methods research and reflection, traces the evolution of urban agriculture practice, support, and policy in Philadelphia and Chicago since the 1990s. In both cities, community gardens first declined and then grew in number since the late 2000s; both cities became prominent centers of urban farming. The two cities’ policies and support systems started from a similar place in the 1990s, but Chicago increasingly treated urban agriculture a public good, while the place of agriculture in Philadelphia remained more contested and unstable. These histories reflect broader tensions and the diversity of approaches in governing, supporting, and practicing agriculture in cities. PubDate: 2022-06-15 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.019 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Melari Nongrum, Bethamehi Syiem Pages: 1–7 - 1–7 Abstract: Among food practices that foster climate resilience, traditional agricultural practices of Indigenous communities have been recognized and noted in recent times. These forms of agriculture include shifting cultivation and its adaptations across communities in the tropics. However, the policy narrative around shifting cultivation is rooted in its misunderstanding, as it was once seen as primitive and backward. New research and a reinterpretation of existing research present challenges to long-held policies that have discouraged and deterred the practice of shifting cultivation. With the onset of this new narrative is a call to action that seeks a rethinking by policymakers and governance actors around the nature and merits of traditional agriculture. Through the case of Meghalaya, a small hilly state in the Northeastern region of India largely inhabited by Indigenous Peoples, this commentary aims to provide the dominant narrative at the local context, evidence of the adaptations in shifting cultivation that contribute to sustainability, and the need to rethink policy relating to shifting cultivation at the local level. PubDate: 2022-06-15 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.018 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Matthew Mariola, Adam Schwieterman, Gillian Desonier-Lewis Pages: 1–17 - 1–17 Abstract: The local foods movement is now firmly entrenched in the public imagination and as a feature of the larger food economy. With the most recent wave of local food retail markets now in its second decade, scholarly attention has turned to the factors that correlate with success, yet we know very little about local food consumer purchasing patterns. In this study, we examine a comprehensive database of all food sales spanning ten years at a pioneering local food market in Wooster, Ohio. Analysis of over 1 million sales data points reveals a number of interesting trends: there are predictable seasonal patterns in the rise and fall of sales at the market; there is a notable increase over time in the proportion of sales accounted for by takeaway foods produced in the market’s commercial kitchen; co-op members spend more on average per visit than nonmember customers. A successful market needs a balance between a small number of large-volume producers, who dominate sales with a handful of products, and a deep pool of smaller-volume producers, who bring a diversity of products to the market shelves. We conclude with a series of points that are of use to local food scholars, practitioners, and policy advocates. PubDate: 2022-06-08 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.011 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Laurel Bellante, Megan Carney, Gigi Owen Pages: 1–3 - 1–3 Abstract: First paragraph: Food projects have become an increasingly popular engine for economic development and branding efforts to promote “creative cities” in the neoliberal context (Joassart-Marcelli & Bosco, 2017). However, proponents of food-based development often overlook the uneven impacts of such projects and neglect underlying structural, social, and environmental issues. University researchers can play a key role in raising awareness about these issues, inform food policy needs, and create university-community partnerships that can disrupt dominant narratives and support local initiatives that build capacity, equity, and resilience in regional food systems. Located in Tucson, Arizona—a UNESCO City of Gastronomy—researchers at the University of Arizona (UA)’s Center for Regional Food Studies (CRFS), in collaboration with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), endeavor to accomplish these urgent tasks through several collaborative efforts described here. PubDate: 2022-05-27 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.017 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Matthew Hoffman Pages: 1–3 - 1–3 Abstract: Review of Building Community Food Webs, by Ken Meter. (2021). Published by Island Press. Available as paperback and eBook; 304 pages. Publisher’s website, which includes a study guide: https://islandpress.org/books/building-community-food-webs First paragraph: Many readers of this journal are familiar with Ken Meter,[1] whose five decades of working with local community groups, state governments, and tribal nations in the United States to assess, plan, and build local and regional food systems have made him one of the most experienced people doing this kind of work. His pioneering economic analyses of local food systems and the regional food system plans he has written can be found on the website of the Crossroads Resource Center. This much-awaited book is something different. It weaves together his years of experience in a collection of case studies that are grouped according to themes by chapter and which serve in this fashion to present some overarching lessons from Meter’s career. [1] Mr. Meter served as a JAFSCD columnist from 2010 to 2015. His columns can be found at https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/search/index'query=&authors=ken+meter PubDate: 2022-05-27 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.016 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Adam Pine Pages: 13–1 - 13–1 Abstract: The affordable housing crisis in the United States is leaving millions of Americans homeless or spending over one-third of their income on rent, a condition housing scholars refer to as ‘shelter poverty.’ This problem has clear linkages to the food system in terms of the cost and condition of food workers’ housing, the availability of food in low-income neighborhoods, the relationship between food and housing policy, and how much money households have available to provision themselves after paying rent. This commentary explores four aspects of the relationship between the U.S. food and housing systems: the contradiction between abundance and scarcity; the role of racism and coloniality in creating these systems; the role of the government and public policy in maintaining and supporting these systems; and how stigma affixes itself to both the hungry and the shelter-poor. Incorporating housing as part of food system work can strengthen both ongoing movements and unite scholars and activists in exploring the on-the-ground living experiences of people across the country. PubDate: 2022-06-17 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.021 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Megan Mucioki, Elizabeth Hoover, Jennifer Sowerwine, Intertribal Agriculture Council, Keir Johnson-Reyes, Latashia Redhouse, Dan Cornelius Pages: 121– - 121– Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled deep and systemic weaknesses and gross inequalities in U.S. food and farming systems, compounding the effects of an already unjust food and agricultural system. Emergent studies reveal disproportionate effects of the pandemic on minority farmers and vulnerable communities, as well as inequitable access to critical relief programs. Less is understood about the experiences and responses of Native American producers, tribal governments, and tribal-led organizations to the COVID-19 crisis. As the nation’s primary Native American agriculture and natural resources organization, serving 574 Federally Recognized Tribal communities throughout the United States, the Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC) received a resounding increase in inquiries during the pandemic pertaining to a number of challenges that tribal producers and governments face. In response, IAC launched a series of national surveys to assess the impacts and needs of Native American producers, tribal governments, and grocery stores in and near tribal communities, with the goal of identifying effective strategies to address tribal priorities in policy and programming. As we continue to learn about the causes and consequences of food system ruptures during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become abundantly clear that increased investment in and sovereignty over decentralized regional food and farming systems’ infrastructure and markets are needed to strengthen the economic viability and resilience of Native American agriculture and food systems. PubDate: 2022-06-17 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.013 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:C. Caxaj, Amy Cohen, Carlos Colindres Pages: 139– - 139– Abstract: In this paper, we report on research findings from a cross-sectional survey with 143 primarily Mexican migrant agricultural worker respondents in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Participants reported high rates of experiences of threats and violence by employers, limited faith in the follow-through of both Canadian and country-of-origin authorities when reporting concerns, and a unanimous lack of knowledge in how to file a claim of a legal matter (e.g., housing, human rights violation). Most participants also reported that they believed they would receive poorer health care in relation to their Canadian counterparts and that their privacy would not be protected. While certain indicators, such as knowledge of resources for transportation, translation, and legal advocacy were higher than previous research would suggest, most participants did not feel confident that more serious issues would be addressed if they sought help. Our results suggest migrant workers in BC report similar, or even higher, rates of experiences and expectations of poor social support, legal protection, and health care in comparison to prior research in this region and elsewhere. While further research would be required to confirm this hypothesis, the impact of COVID-19 on this population is undeniable. Our findings highlight the need for greater regional and provincial commitments to fund targeted services for migrant agricultural workers that address the unique barriers they face. Additionally, greater attention and funding must be dedicated to supporting this population to navigate and access services that already exist. Together, dedicated initiatives could make a major difference for this workforce. Federal investments in support services of this nature would ensure the sustainability of such efforts. In addition, reforms to temporary migrant agricultural programs, such as open work permits and immediate access to permanent residence, would better afford workers opportunities to access the rights and protections that are currently out of reach for many. PubDate: 2022-06-17 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.020 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Nadine Budd Nugent, Ronit Ridberg, Hollyanne Fricke, Carmen Byker Shanks, Sarah Stotz, Amber Jones Chung, Sonya Shin, Amy Yaroch, Melissa Akers, Roger Lowe, Carmen George, Kymie Thomas, Hilary Seligman Pages: 177– - 177– Abstract: Structural inequities contribute to food systems in which tribal communities in the U.S. are more likely to experience barriers to healthy food access, including financial barriers, lack of geographic proximity, or both. Food sovereignty movements improve food access by shifting power to local people to build food systems that support cultural, social, economic, and environmental needs. Financial incentive programs, including produce prescription programs, have emerged as a promising intervention to improve food access and support food sovereignty. This case study describes the implementation of two federally funded produce prescription programs (Produce Prescription Projects or PPR) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) in two rural tribal communities: the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta region in Alaska, and the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. We illustrate how PPR can be tailored to accommodate local and diverse cultures, strengthen community power, and be uniquely suited for the challenges of increasing access to nutritious food in rural tribal communities. We also highlight recommendations and future areas of research that may be useful for other rural tribal communities implementing PPR. PubDate: 2022-06-18 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.014 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
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