Isham, Jonathan (author) and Centre for the Study of African Economics, University of Oxford
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
unknown
Published:
United Kingdom
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C28221
Notes:
Posted online at http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/conferences/2000-OiA/pdfpapers/isham.PDF, Presented at "Opportunities in Africa: micro-evidence on firms and households," a conference at the University of Oxford from April 9-10, 2000.
14 pages, Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the U.S. and other countries around the world saw a dramatic increase in the number of people starting pandemic gardens. In this article, the authors use rhetorical framing analysis to explore how news coverage of this gardening boom presented the illusion of control framed around the themes of economics, food sovereignty, physical and mental health, and community and connection. It concludes with a discussion of how these four themes offer an overly-optimistic view of gardening that deemphasizes sustainability, focuses on processes over harvests, and ignores food chain inequities.
"Results in this study demonstrate that GMO strategies use available information, extract and transform it through resource investments that are not compensated by energy-efficient results, and this trend are likely to increase due to ecosystem reaction. Moreover, resources invested into a process that stores information in seed that does not maximize power is counterproductive, and this singular approach reduces opportunities to explore other patterns and alternative plant breeding and production system strategies that may provide more consistent and sustainable system performance in the long term."
