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Examining Gendered Aspects Of Land Tenure Security And Smallholder Food Security During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Uganda, Michelle B. Saunders

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Smallholder agriculture is an integral part of the global food system – indeed, over 80% of the world’s farms operate on less than two hectares of land. In Uganda, these smallholder farmers grow the majority (~85%) of food produced, and thus are critical to domestic food security. However, due to external threats such as economic hardship and climate change, smallholders are also vulnerable to food insecurity themselves. As we work towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger, it is crucial that we pay particular attention to this vital population. This thesis explores two key explanatory factors that …

Groundwater Governance And Agricultural Sustainability: Examining Farmer Interactions With California’S Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, Zachary Matthew Goldstein

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Climate change has exacerbated groundwater depletion globally, and policymakers have struggled to effectively manage groundwater resources. California enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 to restore groundwater to sustainable levels.

The first paper of this thesis examines the drivers associated with uptake of groundwater conservation practices in agriculture. While a rich body of research has explored farmers’ conservation practice adoption, understanding of groundwater conservation practices is more limited. This study explores how information sources influence the actual and intended adoption of groundwater management practices in California. Using survey data from farmers (n = 553) in three largely agricultural …

Building Relationships And Resilience: Local Food Systems In Vermont And New England During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Beyond, Claire Whitehouse

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis brings together two studies of local food systems in Vermont and New England. The first study focuses on the experience of Vermont local food businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic by combining two surveys conducted in the first half of 2021: one of foodservice operations that procure food locally and one of Vermont farms that sell directly to consumers. We analyzed descriptive statistics, open responses, and conducted Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to assess which factors were related with business’ financial status before and since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic financial status was related with business type, whether the business went on …

Seeding Coexistence: Understanding The Potential For Seed System Pluralism Through A Mixed-Methods Research Study Of Vermont Growers, Carina Isbell

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Visions for the future of the global agri-food system are often polarizing. Facing such issues as climate change, social and political unrest, and decreasing biodiversity, communities are increasingly facing critical decisions relating to how food systems can transform to better meet the needs of society and the environment. Seeds – an often-overlooked input that, throughout history, have encapsulated agri-food system paradigms as well as hope for how they might be changed – sit at the nexus of many of these decisions. In the last half-century, increasing privatization and industrialization across the agricultural sector have profoundly transformed seed systems globally. In …

Shaping Soil: Examining Relationships Between Agriculture And Climate Change, Lindsay Barbieri

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As the ripple-effects of a changing climate shape our planet, understanding relationships between agriculture and climate change is critical. With agricultural practices shaping soils on over a third of the earth’s land surface, the soils and lands where food is produced are integral grounds for examining these relationships. While not all humans practice agriculture in similar or damaging ways, nevertheless, dominant agricultural practices are displacing beings and ecosystems and perturbing global nutrient cycles across the planet. These entwined imbalances of dominance and nutrients result in flows of excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon that are responsible for nearly three-fourths of the …

Governing Water Quality Limits In Agricultural Watersheds, Courtney Ryder Hammond Wagner

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The diffuse runoff of agricultural nutrients, also called agricultural nonpoint source pollution (NPS), is a widespread threat to freshwater resources. Despite decades of research into the processes of eutrophication and agricultural nutrient management, social, economic, and political barriers have slowed progress towards improving water quality. A critical challenge to managing agricultural NPS pollution is motivating landowners to act against their individual farm production incentives in response to distant ecological impacts. The complexity of governing the social-ecological system requires improved understanding of how policy shapes farmer behavior to improve the state of water quality. This dissertation contributes both theoretically and empirically …

Local Farmer Knowledge Of Adaptive Management On Diversified Vegetable And Berry Farms In The Northeastern Us, Alissa White

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Agricultural adaptation to climate change is notoriously context specific. Recently updated projections for the Northeastern US forecast increasingly severe and erratic precipitation events which pose significant risks to every sector of agricultural production in the region. Vegetable and berry farmers are among the most vulnerable to the risks of severe precipitation and drought due to the intensive soil and crop management strategies which characterize of this kind of production. To successfully adapt to a changing climate, these farmers need information which is tailored for the unique challenges of vegetable and berry production, framed at the level of climate impacts, and …

Repelling Contarinia Nasturtii (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), A Brassica Specialist, Using Non-Host Essential Oils, Chase Stratton

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Swede midge, Contarinia nasturtii Kieffer (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), is an invasive pest causing marketable losses on Brassica crops in the Northeastern United States and throughout southern Canada. Heading brassicas, like cauliflower and broccoli, are particularly susceptible because larvae feed concealed inside meristematic tissues of the plant, where head formation occurs. Our work details the development of a sustainable, affordable pest management tactic for swede midge – plant derived repellents.

First, it was necessary to establish both a damage and marketability threshold for swede midge, so we developed a technique to manipulate larval density of swede midge on cauliflower, We asked: (1) …

Governing Environmental And Economic Flows In Regional Food Systems, Michael Bishop Wironen

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Globalization, specialization, and intensification have transformed the global food system, generating material flows and impacts that span multiple scales and levels, presenting novel governance challenges. Many argue for a transition toward a sustainable food system, although the scope and specific goals are fiercely contested. Theory and method is needed to evaluate competing normative claims and build legitimacy.

In this dissertation Vermont serves as a case study to investigate how environmental and economic flows impact regional governance, focusing on efforts to manage agricultural phosphorus to achieve water quality goals. A material flow account is developed to estimate phosphorus flows embedded in …

Making The Healthy Choice: Exploring Health Communication In The Food System, Emily Portman

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Cooperative Extension System are organizations that serve the public and agricultural communities, respectively. Within these broad organizations are two groups of food systems professionals, registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) and Extension agents, who are utilizing communication as a critical point of access for health-related issues. Both groups of professionals negotiate organizational structure in order to construct their own health knowledge and, subsequently, communicate accurate information to their constituents. Understanding the ways that these professionals navigate their roles as health communicators are important for contributing to public discourse about how health knowledge is created …

Supporting A Growing Agricultural Economy By Understanding Child Care In Farm Families, Emily Stengel

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis argues for the consideration of child care accessibility and costs as one factor in the success and wellbeing of farmers in the United States. There is a long tradition in rural studies of recognizing that farms are not just economic enterprises but are family-based social enterprises as well, with household level issues and family roles that are both acknowledged and contested. However, child care is missing from virtually all scholarly and public discussions of agricultural workforce development - even more so than other social services and family supports. Additionally, the agricultural sector, considered as a portion of U.S. …