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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Urban Food Sovereignty: Urgent Need For Agroecology And Systems Thinking In A Post-Covid-19 Future, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis Jan 2020

Urban Food Sovereignty: Urgent Need For Agroecology And Systems Thinking In A Post-Covid-19 Future, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to challenges associated with our dominant industrial food system in the U.S. The general public now has more appreciation for farm workers and meatpacking employees, as well as those in grocery stores and in food transportation who are suddenly recognized as essential frontline workers. It apparently takes a crisis for us to focus clearly on the fragility of this system and the lives of people on whom we depend. In this commentary we discuss the definition of food sovereignty, how it manifests in urban areas, and how the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger viable …


Subsistence Under The Canopy: Agroecology, Livelihoods And Food Sovereignty Among Coffee Communities In Chiapas, Mexico, Margarita Fernandez Jan 2015

Subsistence Under The Canopy: Agroecology, Livelihoods And Food Sovereignty Among Coffee Communities In Chiapas, Mexico, Margarita Fernandez

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

One of the most pressing challenges facing the world today is how to sustainably feed a growing population while conserving the ecosystem services we depend on. Coffee landscapes are an important site for research on agrifood systems because they reflect global-scale dynamics surrounding conservation and livelihood development. Within them, we find both what is broken in our global agrifood system, as well as the grassroots struggles that strive to change the system by building socio-ecologically resilient, sustainable livelihoods. Research shows that smallholder shade coffee farmers steward high biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services. At the same time, studies in the …


Food Sovereignty: An Alternative Paradigm For Poverty Reduction And Biodiversity Conservation In Latin America, M Jahi Chappell, Hannah Wittman, Christopher M. Bacon, Bruce G. Ferguson, Luis García Barrios, Raúl García Barrios, Daniel Jaffee, Jefferson Lima, V. Ernesto Méndez,, Helda Morales, Lorena Soto-Pinto, John Vandermeer, Ivette Perfecto Nov 2013

Food Sovereignty: An Alternative Paradigm For Poverty Reduction And Biodiversity Conservation In Latin America, M Jahi Chappell, Hannah Wittman, Christopher M. Bacon, Bruce G. Ferguson, Luis García Barrios, Raúl García Barrios, Daniel Jaffee, Jefferson Lima, V. Ernesto Méndez,, Helda Morales, Lorena Soto-Pinto, John Vandermeer, Ivette Perfecto

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Strong feedback between global biodiversity loss and persistent, extreme rural poverty are major challenges in the face of concurrent food, energy, and environmental crises. This paper examines the role of industrial agricultural intensification and market integration as exogenous socio-ecological drivers of biodiversity loss and poverty traps in Latin America. We then analyze the potential of a food sovereignty framework, based on protecting the viability of a diverse agroecological matrix while supporting rural livelihoods and global food production. We review several successful examples of this approach, including ecological land reform in Brazil, agroforestry, milpa, and the uses of wild varieties in …


Diversified Farming Systems: An Agroecological, Systems-Based Alternative To Modern Industrial Agriculture, Claire Kremen, Alastair Iles, Christopher M. Bacon Jan 2012

Diversified Farming Systems: An Agroecological, Systems-Based Alternative To Modern Industrial Agriculture, Claire Kremen, Alastair Iles, Christopher M. Bacon

Environmental Studies and Sciences

This Special Issue on Diversified Farming Systems is motivated by a desire to understand how agriculture designed according to whole systems, agroecological principles can contribute to creating a more sustainable, socially just, and secure global food system. We first define Diversified Farming Systems (DFS) as farming practices and landscapes that intentionally include functional biodiversity at multiple spatial and/or temporal scales in order to maintain ecosystem services that provide critical inputs to agriculture, such as soil fertility, pest and disease control, water use efficiency, and pollination. We explore to what extent DFS overlap or are differentiated from existing concepts such as …


Food Security And Smallholder Coffee Production: Current Issues And Future Directions, Martha Caswell, V. Ernesto Méndez,, Christopher M. Bacon Jan 2012

Food Security And Smallholder Coffee Production: Current Issues And Future Directions, Martha Caswell, V. Ernesto Méndez,, Christopher M. Bacon

Environmental Studies and Sciences

In recent years, there has been growing discussion within the specialty coffee industry about the preva- lence of seasonal food insecurity in coffee growing communities. The idea that coffee producers lack re- sources to feed themselves and their families flies in the face of Fair Trade and other sustainable coffee ini- tiatives, which were designed to ensure a viable livelihood and improved conditions for small-scale coffee farmers around the world. Though these certifications represent an important step toward delivering better prices to farmers, they are inadequate tools to stand alone against the formidable and entrenched barriers faced by this population. …