Crider, Margaux S. (author), Vick, K.C. (author), Young, Jeffery A. (author), Breazeale, Nicole D. (author), Jones, Kenneth R. (author), and Zimmerman, Julie N. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2025-02-15
Published:
USA: Extension Journal, Inc.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 210 Document Number: D13542
20 pages, Extension’s evolving role in urban food production will require intensive reflexivity and ongoing collaboration. Extension educators around the country have already made progress in engaging with both the social and horticultural sides of urban agriculture. Designed appropriately, urban food systems hold the potential for healthy food access, community and environmental resilience, and economic prosperity (Rangarajan & Riordan 2019). Moving forward, we offer recommendations for Extension staff to apply within their institutions and beyond. Specifically, we urge Extension to prioritize the following: 1) mediate the rural/urban dichotomy, 2) tackle structural and institutional power dynamics, and 3) intensify strategies for community resilience.
14 pages, Background: The industrialization and consolidation of the animal agriculture industry has led to the rise of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). CAFOs and their runoff have been linked to deleterious effects on environmental and human health. A previous study demonstrated that hog CAFOs were disproportionately sited within or near low-wealth communities and communities of color, raising environmental justice concerns. This study aimed at replicated prior methods to assess whether environmental injustices that were identified nearly 20 years ago have been adequately addressed through policy and/or other mechanisms.
Methods: CAFO data, including facility size and manure generation, were taken from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Buffer analysis was conducted using CAFO data and block-group sociodemographic data from the 2018 5-year American Community Survey to measure CAFO proximity to communities of concern (low-wealth, communities of color). Statistical analyses (quintile analysis, prevalence ratios, negative binomial regression, spearman correlation assessments) were utilized to measure the correlation between CAFO presence and sociodemographics.
Results: The CAFOs in Mississippi were located in block groups that have an average or greater African American population compared with the state. The highest number of hog CAFOs were within block groups with 15.9%–36.9% of people below the poverty line.
Conclusion: Race and socioeconomic status could be factors in determining the likelihood of living near a hog CAFO in Mississippi, yet these analyses did not demonstrate a positive correlation between race, socioeconomic status, and the presence of CAFOs. Considering the potential harm that hog CAFOs pose to low-wealth populations and communities of color, policy recommendations include a moratorium on expansion; phasing out the largest CAFOs in the state; and stricter enforcement of environmental protections with regards to animal agriculture.
9 pages, The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected working class and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, who have been more likely to contract and die from the virus. These inequalities in part stem from higher rates of comorbidities such as asthma, which can be connected to local built environments. One area where these inequalities are starkest is in energy generation and distribution, where marginalized communities are both more likely to be exposed to hazards from energy production, whereas at the same time more likely to struggle to afford that energy, leading to difficult trade-offs with other necessities. In turn, many of these inequalities can be tied to spatial patterns of residential segregation, such as redlining, which cut off BIPOC communities in from the prevailing wealth generating mechanisms of the past century, leading to the patterns of divestment and hazard exposure seen today. In this article, we explore the connections between public health, energy production and consumption, and redlining, using Milwaukee, WI as a case study. Using data from March to June 2020, we perform quartile regressions to assess the relationship between positive COVID cases, local demographics, and the local energy environment. We find that low-income and BIPOC communities were more likely to contract COVID, while also facing higher energy burdens and exposure to respiratory hazards, as well as a statistically significant relationship between COVID rates and redlining policy. We argue these results call further research into the connections between energy insecurity and other forms of injustice that manifest within racial capitalism.
