Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 201 Document Number: D11754
Notes:
Online from AgriMarketing Weekly. 3 pages, Highlights from a national survey representing all age groups of U.S. consumers. Nearly one-half said they were concerned or extremely concerned about the safety and reliability of the food chain as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
22 pages, Commercialisation of smallholder agriculture is important for rural economic growth. While previous studies have analysed effects of commercialisation on productivity and income, implications for farm household nutrition have received much less attention. We evaluate the effects of commercialisation on household food security and dietary quality with a special focus on calorie and micronutrient consumption. We also examine transmission channels by looking at the role of income, gender, and possible substitution effects between the consumption of own-produced and purchased foods. The analysis uses survey data from farm households in Kenya and a control function approach. Generalised propensity scores are employed to estimate continuous treatment effects. Commercialisation significantly improves food security and dietary quality in terms of calorie, zinc and iron consumption. For vitamin A, effects are insignificant. Commercialisation contributes to higher incomes and increased nutrients from purchased foods, but it does not reduce the consumption of nutrients from own-produced foods. Enhancing market access is important not only for rural economic growth, but also for making smallholder agriculture more nutrition-sensitive.
Gale, Wayne (author / Chair, American Seed Trade Association)
Format:
Commentary
Publication Date:
2019-06-18
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D11041
Notes:
The June 7, 2019 commentary by Barber in the New York Times was retrieved online at: https://seedfreedom.info/opinion-save-our-food-free-the-seed. It is filed with this document., Online via seedworld.com. 3 pages., Response to an opinion piece in the New York Times by celebrity chef Dan Barber. Barber reported on visiting a 24,000-acre farm in North Dakota and observing the large scale of operations. He concluded: "We should be alarmed by the current architects." In this commentary author Gale offered a differing view of the changes in plant breeding and the seed industry over the past 100-plus years - and what they mean for the future.
17 pages, Scholarship within the social sciences of agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) exists, in part, to inform solutions to complex problems. Increasingly, complex problems are found at the nexus of social and ecological systems; therefore, scholarship within the social sciences of AFNR must mirror this social-ecological characteristic. Existing AFNR social science literature on resilience lacks the required social-ecological perspective, conceptualizing resilience as an individual characteristic. The absence of a social-ecological perspective of resilience fails to holistically address the complexity of AFNR systems and the challenge therein. Therefore, the current manuscript seeks to inform social science scholarship within AFNR by foregrounding social-ecological resilience as a necessary approach to addressing the complexity of challenges found throughout AFNR systems. Included in the discussion is a critical review of individual resilience, an introduction to adaptation and transformation, an outline of social-ecological resilience, an in-depth analysis of the seven principles of social-ecological resilience, and a discussion of social-ecological resilience thinking applied to the seven research priority areas described by the American Association for Agricultural Education. In total, the current manuscript paves the way for additional systems-based research in the AFNR social sciences by introducing critical concepts and approaches related to social-ecological resilience.
Shellabarger, Rachel M. (author), Voss, Rachel C. (author), Egerer, Monika (author), Chiang, Shun-Nan (author), and University of California, Santa Cruz
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018-10-17
Published:
United States: Springer Netherlands
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 8 Document Number: D10316
13 pages., Via online journal., The idea of a profound urban–rural divide has shaped analysis of the 2016 U.S. presidential election results. Here, through examples from agri-food systems, we consider the limitations of the urban–rural divide framework in light of the assumptions and intentions that underpin it. We explore the ideas and imaginaries that shape urban and rural categories, consider how material realities are and are not translated into U.S. rural development, farm, and nutrition policies, and examine the blending of rural and urban identities through processes of rural deagrarianization and urban reagrarianization. We do not argue that an urban–rural divide does not exist, as studies and public opinion polls illustrate both measured and perceived differences in many aspects of the lived experiences that shape our individual and collective actions. Ultimately, we suggest that the urban–rural divide concept obscures the diversity and dynamism of experiences each category encompasses. Additionally, it ignores the connections and commonalities that demand integrative solutions to challenges in agri-food systems, and draw attention to the power relations that shape resource access and use within and across urban and rural spaces.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 84 Document Number: D10845
Notes:
178 pages., OCLC No. 950952213, Via UI Library Catalog., America has a perplexing, multifaceted problem that combines hunger, obesity, and unhealthy food. This book examines how this situation was created and shows how people working together can resolve this longstanding issue. The United States--one of the world's wealthiest and resource-richest nations--has multiple food-related problems: declining food quality due to industrialization of its production, obesity across all age groups, and a surprisingly large number of households suffering from food insecurity. These issues threaten to shorten the lives of many and significantly reduce the quality of life for millions of others. This book explores the root causes of food-related problems in the 20th and 21st centuries and explains why collective impact--the social form of working together for a common goal--is the method that needs to be employed to reach a successful resolution to hunger, obesity, and the challenges of the industrial food system. Authored by Mark Winne, a 45-year food activist, the book begins with background information about the evolution of the U.S. food movement since the 1960s that documents its incredible growth and variety of interests, organizations, and sectors. The subsequent sections demonstrate how these divergent interests have created a lack of unity and constitute a deterrent to achieving real change and improvement. Through examples from specific cities and states as well as a discussion of group dynamics and coalition-building methods, readers will come away with an understanding of a complicated topic and grasp the potential of a number of strategies for creating more cohesion within the food movement--and realizing meaningful improvements in our food system for current and future generations
