Authors:Dorceta Taylor, Te’yah Wright, Ian Ortiz, Alison Surdoval, Ember McCoy, Sorroco Daupan Pages: 1–29 - 1–29 Abstract: This study of eight types of emergency food assistance organizations in Michigan, USA, is the first statewide study of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the operations of these organizations. It focuses on the following question: How did the pandemic affect the operations of emergency food assistance organizations' The paper examines how the race/ethnicity of the organization’s director was related to program activities, the pandemic’s impacts, and responses to the pandemic. It offers new insights into emergency food assistance organizations operated by Black and multicultural directors. The article examines how the sex of the emergency food assistance directors is related to programming, the pandemic’s impacts, and responses to it. Most studies of emergency food assistance focus on urban areas. In addition to studying organizations in the state’s metropolitan areas, we also study organizations in small towns and rural areas. The paper also analyzes two additional questions: How did the government support the state’s emergency food assistance organizations during the pandemic' And how do organization leaders perceive government responses to the pandemic' The sample consists of 181 emergency food assistance organizations. Whites directed most organizations; 82.9% had a primary director who was White, 11% had Black directors, and 6.1% had directors from other racial/ethnic groups. The organizations studied are long-lived; they have been operating for a mean of 20.8 years. The organizations serve meals to an average of 79 people per day. They also provide food items to roughly 185 people daily. The pandemic had profound effects on the operations of emergency food assistance organizations. About 28% of the organizations indicated that they cut back on their programming, and just over a fifth of the organizations limited their operating hours. Moreover, 23% of the organizations reported that the number of restaurants donating food declined, while 18% percent reported a decline in supermarket food donations. However, 58.9% of the organizations increased the amount of food they distributed, and 61.3% reported an increase in the number of people seeking food from the organization. During the pandemic, White-run organizations obtained government funding from 19 sources, multicultural-led organizations got government support from 10 sources, and Black-run organizations received support from three sources. Forty percent of directors in all-Black-run organizations, 23.5% of those in multiracial-led organizations, and 22.6% of the directors in all-White-led organizations criticized government responses to the pandemic. PubDate: 2022-05-16 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.008 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Mckenzie Carvalho, Amy Hagerman, Phil Kenkel, Dave Shideler Pages: 1–11 - 1–11 Abstract: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federally funded and state administered program to combat food insecurity. Analyzing factors in SNAP participation is important to understanding consumption in food systems and supporting community development. As of 2019, 565,900 Oklahomans participate in the SNAP program, approximately 84% of those eligible for the program. This leads to two questions: why do those who are eligible participate, and how can we better reach those who do not' We analyzed county-level SNAP participation among the income-eligible to identify explanatory characteristics of SNAP usage. Data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) and the U.S. Census Bureau were used to perform a regression analysis on 12 variables, such as store access and number of dependents. The percentage of households with children under 18 and the unemployment rate are associated with increases in SNAP participation among those eligible. Store access and rurality are associated with a decline in SNAP usage. These findings will aid policymakers, SNAP administrators, and outreach education groups in improving program participation by targeting groups susceptible to food insecurity and with low SNAP usage who could benefit from participation. PubDate: 2022-05-06 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.007 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Naomi Cunningham, David Conner, Claire Whitehouse, Henry Blair, Jessica Krueger Pages: 1–17 - 1–17 Abstract: According to prior research, local food purchases at anchor institutions (AIs) support community development and food system resilience. AIs are placed-based organizations, such as schools, universities, and hospitals, that support their communities by virtue of their mission. The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to examine how these institutions can support food system resilience during a period of increasing food insecurity and supply chain disruptions. This study uses mixed methods, including interview and survey data, to investigate how foodservice operations at New England AIs adapted to COVID-19 and supported local food systems throughout the pandemic. The findings demonstrate that AIs experienced shortages of everyday food items among their broadline distributors—large, national distributors that carry a wide variety of food products. However, AIs adapted to these shortages and found alternate sources for these products thanks to mutually beneficial relationships with local producers. Having relationships with both local and national distributors was an important source of functional redundancy within institutional food supply chains, reducing institutions’ reliance on a single supplier and enhancing their resilience. This finding suggests that local purchasing relationships help AIs adapt to systemic disruptions, further incentivizing farm-to-institution programs. This study also found that AIs engaged in a wide array of food access initiatives during the pandemic, including pop-up grocery stores and serving free or reduced-price meals. These initiatives supported staff members and communities through food shortages and increased food insecurity. We suggest that these diverse food access initiatives, some of which were created in response to COVID-19 and many of which were in place before the pandemic, are an accessible way for AIs to support food system resilience in capacities beyond procurement. PubDate: 2022-05-06 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.006 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Junru Guo, Daniel Tobin, Teresa Mares Pages: 1–14 - 1–14 Abstract: As the world grapples with how to support the millions fleeing the ongoing war in Ukraine, attention must be extended to how these individuals, and the many others who are forcibly displaced in other parts of the world, can be welcomed to new lands. Research indicates that creating foodways through gardening can provide cultural connections for diasporic communities. However, few studies have addressed how necessary inputs, such as seeds, affect refugees’ abilities to reconstruct culturally significant foodways. Drawing on placemaking theory, this article explores if and how access to seeds and seed systems enables refugee gardeners to grow essential crops, which might be otherwise difficult to obtain, to produce foods reminiscent of their homelands. Focusing on Nepali Bhutanese refugee gardeners in Chittenden County, Vermont, we present findings from 30 semi-structured interviews demonstrating how refugee gardeners draw upon known practices and preferences to make a new land less foreign. Seed systems offer refugee gardeners the opportunity to access, plant, and save familiar crops and experiment with new planting techniques and crop varieties. This study indicates that seed systems are an important way through which people make place, both physically and symbolically. PubDate: 2022-04-18 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.005 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Heide Bruckner, Sophie Dasaro Pages: 1–20 - 1–20 Abstract: The unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed weaknesses in our emergency food distribution programs and also highlighted the importance of the adaptive capacity that is actively fostered within such programs. Community-based food distribution programs have faced an increased reliance on their services due to record-breaking food insecurity since March 2020. Concurrently, these emergency food distribution programs have had to deal with the logistical challenges of operating their programs during a pandemic. How are they adapting, and which existing organizational assets have they been able to draw from and/or strengthen' Based on in-depth qualitative research with emergency food distribution programs in Boulder and Denver, Colorado, this paper analyzes how their operational responses to the COVID-19 crisis both demonstrate and reinforce adaptive capacities. By drawing from collective resources, leveraging the efficiency of their flexible and decentralized structures, and networking across organizations, the programs in our study took advantage of existing organizational assets. At the same time, we argue that by overcoming logistical and practical barriers to address emerging food insecurity needs, they simultaneously deepened their adaptive capacities to respond to ongoing and future crises. PubDate: 2022-04-14 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.004 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Rebecca Som Castellano, Lisa Meierotto, Cynthia Curl Pages: 1–20 - 1–20 Abstract: Latina farmworkers play an essential role as agricultural laborers while at the same time managing responsibilities at home. However, little attention has been paid to these women’s lives, including how they manage the multiple roles they occupy. This is problematic in part because occupying multiple roles, particularly roles that may conflict with each other, can negatively influence well-being, including physical, mental, emotional, and economic well-being. In this research, we examine the work-family interface for Latina farmworkers, asking: What factors shape the experiences of Latina farmworkers as they navigate the work-family interface' Building from a broader multi-method and interdisciplinary study, this paper utilizes interview and focus group data to examine Latinas laboring in the agricultural fields of Idaho. Findings suggest that many supports in the work and family domains (e.g., supportive co-workers, friends, and family) can aid Latina farmworkers in fulfilling the various forms of labor they are responsible for. However, several family and work demands (e.g., single parenthood, difficult work hours and conditions) make it challenging for Latina farmworkers to fulfill the various forms of labor they are responsible for. Structural violence and intersectionality shape these women’s experiences with both supports and demands in the work and family domains. Relatedly, we find that organizational, community, and geographic contexts shape the experiences of Latina farmworkers in fulfilling labor in the public and private spheres. In particular, race and gender, immigration and documentation status, community organizations, and rurality all shape the navigation of the work-family interface for these farmworkers. PubDate: 2022-04-08 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.002 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:John Ikerd Pages: 1–3 - 1–3 Abstract: First paragraphs: In my previous column on technology, I reasoned that “good technologies” (1) should not force people to adopt them but be matters of choice, (2) should reduce the drudgery of work but not the thinking, and (3) should not separate thinking from working (Ikerd, 2022). I concluded that industrial agricultural technologies violate all of these criteria because they are designed to maximize productivity and economic efficiency rather than economic sustainability. I concluded: “The technological challenges of the future will be to develop new mechanical, biological, and digital technologies that empower, rather than oppress, the people who choose to use them” (Ikerd, 2022, p. 7). Regardless of the criteria, many technologies of the future will be developed by private-sector corporations and thus will be designed to maximize economic efficiency and productivity. As a result, governments must accept the responsibilities for preventing, restricting, or mitigating the impacts of technologies that threaten the well-being of society over the long run. . . . PubDate: 2022-04-08 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.001 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Jennifer Shutek Pages: 1–3 - 1–3 Abstract: First paragraphs: Candan Turkkan’s Feeding Istanbul: The Political Economy of Urban Provisioning begins with an intimate anecdote about her grandmother’s experiences of hunger during the Second World War and the centrality of bread in her family. She reflects on the fragility of food systems that belie appearances of food abundance in urban areas and the lasting psychological impacts of hunger. This personal story introduces the focus of the book: the political economies of urban food provisioning in Istanbul. Feeding Istanbul chronologically discusses food provisioning in Istanbul from the 16th century to the present. Turkkan uses an impressive range of sources, including secondary historical materials, archival documents and collections, and ethnographic research, to suggest that Istanbul has experienced three food regimes, each with unique relationships between the central authority, economics, and food supplies. . . . PubDate: 2022-04-08 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.003 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 3 (2022)
Authors:Duncan Hilchey Pages: 1–3 - 1–3 Abstract: First paragraph: In this issue, our articles explore the often-fragile interaction of scholars, local activists, and practitioners who are blending ideas and philosophies at home and abroad to find a more just and equitable food system that can help save the planet. Or, to put their collaborative efforts more viscerally, to find ways for human beings to save themselves from themselves. An example of the weaving of Western and Indigenous knowledge is on the cover of this issue: the “Regenerative Food System Spiral” represents the intersection between Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) (brown) and Life’s Principles (LPs) (green). The internal spiral is the base of seven principles; the first tier is the expansion over a shorter time frame, and the second tier is the expansion over a longer time frame—many generations. The spiral is a recurring pattern and symbol both in nature and in Indigenous communities, from observation of this optimal growth form. This image is Figure 2 from the article “Weaving disciplines to conceptualize a regenerative food system,” by Sara El-Sayed and Scott Cloutier (both at Arizona State University) who conceptualized this approach, with the graphic designed by Ahmed Barakat. . . . PubDate: 2022-03-28 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.112.021 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Marie Ben-Othmen, Jerry Kavouras Pages: 1–21 - 1–21 Abstract: The interest in and enthusiasm for shifting food systems to community-based and local trajectories have increased exponentially over the past decade. Part of the appeal of community-based, local food systems is their potential to secure access to healthy food for local communities, expand sustainable farming practices, promote local food economies, and advance environmental and food justice. Interactions and collaborations within the spectrum of the food system’s stakeholders—from farmers to local officials and organizations to local businesses and residents—are the cornerstone for effective food systems tailored to their community’s needs. An increasing number of food system studies have applied stakeholder assessment approaches to map out complex situations among multiple stakeholder groups with different values and viewpoints regarding food system change. However, despite being an essential and influential political unit to target, counties have received very little attention in food system studies, as researchers and practitioners often focus on the federal and state levels of intervention to design food policies. This study examined the food system in Will County, Illinois, by applying the advocacy coalition framework and using a qualitative, semi-structured survey to engage a diverse set of stakeholders. The answers to the survey questions offered insights into three overlapping and divergent Will County stakeholder viewpoints (Pragmatic, Environmental and Food Justice Advocate, and Visionary), with the intent of informing and enacting food system transformation at the county level. The discussion within this paper focuses on coalition-building and collaboration between formal and informal groups to empower local communities to develop a distinctive food system identity that promotes community support, collaborative networks, and food justice at the county level. PubDate: 2022-03-23 DOI: 10.5304/jafscd.2022.112.018 Issue No:Vol. 11, No. 2 (2022)
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