8pgs, The global trend of urbanization coupled with an increasing awareness of the importance of food systems resilience, has led to an increasing interest in urban agriculture to sustainably feed the rapidly growing urban population and mitigate against food supply chain disruptions. While home and community gardens have been long studied, there has been relatively little empirical research focused specifically on commercial urban agriculture (CUA) operations. The purpose of this study was to characterize commercial urban farms, and to identify their primary barriers to business development and expansion, their perceptions of future opportunities, and their specific informational needs. Because CUA has received relatively less attention in previous empirical research, a qualitative approach was used for this needs assessment to collect rich, contextualized information to help differentiate the specific barriers, opportunities and needs of CUA operations as opposed to their rural counterparts. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 29) of CUA producers in Florida. These interviews revealed that CUA operations face many of the same barriers that are common to establishing and growing small farms, with additional barriers due to local government regulations and tensions associated with farming on land that is not traditionally used for agriculture. Despite these difficulties, CUA operators believe their urban location is a key benefit to their operation and they see a variety of opportunities for future business and market expansion.
23 pages, The present study explores the development of agri-food value chains from an organizational learning perspective, using the German organic food sector as an example. We illustrate how the development of local value chains unfolds over time and outline how facilitation can support this process.
5 pages, The main objective of this study was to find out how small farmers were affected by urbanization.
The study was conducted during 2020 in 2 barangays (districts ). Cagayan de Ore (CDO) City specifically canitoan and pagatpat, Philippines. There were 12 and 11 farmers in Canitoan and Pagatpat, respectively who participated the focus group discussion (FGD). Majority of them was
considered as small farmers due to the size of their farm which was less than 1 hectare. Around
70 hectares of agricultural land in Canitoan were transformed into a private housing subdivision.
Qualitative approach was employed using FGD and farmers were organized and interviewed as
a group. Data revealed that agricultural lands had been converted into residential or commercial
purposes. CDO agriculture area was decreased from 91.5 to 81.89%. Urbanization affected the farmer in term of displacement, income source, decrease economic status and negative motivation for agriculture. In conclusion, urbanization in CDO which brought progressive economic development had negatively affected the lives of some small farmers. We suggested proper policies to find alternatives for the farmers so that they could continue to produce food in the surroundings of the city and thus made city and rural areas more resilient in food supplies and also water regeneration.
25pgs, se programs in the peer-reviewed literature, the objectives were to identify factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of these two local value chain models of healthy food access and to identify the perceived impacts from the perspective of the sites implementing them. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with CFS (n = 7) and DS (n = 10) site representatives in January 2020. Template analysis was used to identify themes through a priori and inductive codes. Participants identified two primary facilitators: support from partner organizations and on-site program stewardship. Produce (and program) seasonality and mitigating food waste were the most cited challenges. Despite challenges, both CFS and DS sites perceive the models to be successful efforts for supporting the local economy, achieving organizational missions, and providing consumers with greater access to locally grown produce. These innovative programs demonstrate good feasibility, but long-term sustainability and impacts on other key stakeholders merit further investigation.
14pgs, The unjust distribution of poor health outcomes produced via current United States food systems indicates the need for inclusive and innovative policymaking at the local level. Public health and environmental organizers are seeking to improve food environments from the ground up with locally driven policy initiatives but since 2010 have increasingly met resistance via state-government preemption of local policymaking power. This analysis seeks to understand how political actors on both sides of preemption debates use rhetorical argumentation. In doing so, we offer insights to the meaning-making process specific to food systems. We argue that advocates for local food-system innovations are forwarding understandings of food and community that contradict the policy goals they seek. We offer suggestions for local food and environmental advocates for adjusting their arguments.
12 pages, According to the World Health Organization a diet high in vegetables may reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases, stroke, and certain types of cancer. In addition, vegetables have lower carbon footprints than most other foods. The main objective in this paper is to find drivers behind vegetable consumption, with emphasis on health and environmental motivation. We used the theory of planned behavior together with direct acyclic graphs as a theoretical basis. The empirical analysis applied the graded response model and bounded beta regression with survey data from 2019. The main results show that health attitude is a stronger motivator for vegetable consumption than environmental attitudes.
16 pages, Social media are currently not only used for communication between individuals but an increasing number of companies use these means as simple and fast sales and communication channels. The importance of communication with consumers through social networks, such as Facebook, is essential in today's marketplace for small businesses, for which this tool is one of the cheapest alternatives to communicating and selling products. This trend did not escape agriculture-specific local farmers who process fresh local products. The study's objective is to highlight the importance of social media communication in the agri-food sector, specifically in the sub-sector of local fresh products, as well as to determine which consumers are most interested in local products from farmers communicated through Facebook. We conducted the research using our Facebook page called Ours-Yours (in Slovak Naše-Vaše). This account was created for research purposes and has a clearly defined objective of supporting and promoting local fresh products from small Slovak farmers. Research involved 42 small farms that sell fresh local dairy products. From these farmers we discovered what form of marketing communication they had used in the past. Afterwards, we visited eight selected farms, took professional photos of their products, and promoted them under one brand using our Facebook page Ours- Yours (Naše-Vaše). The methodology of the research was based on an analysis of Facebook posts, which were visualised, uniformly graphically processed photographs of the products. Contributions were advertised on radio located 50 kilometres from the farms to ensure local marketing of the products. We measured demographic factors (gender and age) and users' interaction with individual posts. Research has shown that women between the ages of 45 -- 64, who follow Facebook mostly from their mobile phones, are most interested in Facebook posts with local fresh products (and information about them)
9 pages, Financial performance benchmarks were estimated on the basis of samples of successful Northeast fruit and vegetable producers classified by primary local foods market channel. Comparisons across farm stores, large urban farmers' markets, and intermediated market channels were conducted for the purpose of identifying key differences in human and financial resource requirements. The benchmarks provide data useful for assisting individual farmers in assessing their performances and new and beginning farmers in identifying appropriate market channels for their businesses. Additionally, the benchmarks provide a rich source of information for use by Extension educators in developing programming around local foods marketing opportunities and business planning.
19pgs, Advocates of indoor vertical farming have pitched the enterprise as key to the future of food, an opportunity to use technological innovation to increase local food production, bolster urban sustainability, and create a world in which there is “real food” for everyone. At the same time, critics have raised concerns about the costs, energy usage, social impacts, and overall agricultural viability of these efforts, with some insisting that existing low-tech and community-based solutions of the “good food movement” offer a better path forward. Drawing from a mix of participant observation and other qualitative methods, this article examines the work of Square Roots, a Brooklyn-based indoor vertical farming company cofounded by entrepreneur Kimbal Musk and technology CEO Tobias Peggs. In an effort to create a market for what I refer to as “techno-local food,” Square Roots pitches its products as simultaneously “real” and technologically optimized. As a way to build trust in these novel products and better connect consumers with producers, Square Roots leans on transparency as a publicity tool. The company’s Transparency Timeline, for instance, uses photos and a narrative account of a product’s life-cycle to tell its story “from seed-to-store,” allowing potential customers to “know their farmer.” The information Square Roots shares, however, offers a narrow peek into its operations, limiting the view of operational dynamics that could help determine whether the company is actually living up to its promise. The research provides a clear case study of an organization using transparency–publicity as market strategy, illustrating the positive possibilities that such an approach can bring to consumer engagement, while also demonstrating how the tactic can distract from a company’s stated social responsibility goals.
