Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

And Food Justice For All: Advancing Access To Just And Sustainable Food Systems, Makenna Grace Landry May 2024

And Food Justice For All: Advancing Access To Just And Sustainable Food Systems, Makenna Grace Landry

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

A collection of work exploring food justice and food access programming in Western Montana, as well as a critique of the Bayer-Monsanto merger.


Tending To The Tapestry: An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of Women Farmer-Artists' Stories, Aubrey Pongluelert Jan 2020

Tending To The Tapestry: An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of Women Farmer-Artists' Stories, Aubrey Pongluelert

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There is a disconnect in Western academia, between classroom conversations concerning the impact of environmental degradation on rural communities, and engagement with those communities whom we are discussing. Those working in environmental studies are confronted with the question of how to effectively communicate the concerns addressed by the field in ways which are accessible to, and engage broader audiences. Creative languages such as the visual arts, storytelling, and music are invaluable tools in this task because they offer accessible and culturally relevant means of conveying ideas, perspectives, and experiences. This project examines the ways in which these creative languages contribute …


Climate Change, Agriculture, And Adaptations: Policy Recommendations For Conservation Agriculture, Sydney Abraham, Mel Dollison Jan 2019

Climate Change, Agriculture, And Adaptations: Policy Recommendations For Conservation Agriculture, Sydney Abraham, Mel Dollison

Climate and Society

This paper examines the intersection of climate change and agriculture with a focus on possibilities for sustainable agriculture in a warmer world. The authors consider the impacts (both positive and detrimental) of climate change on food production systems before engaging with a variety of adaptive strategies including crop diversification, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and conservation agriculture (CA). These strategies are then applied within the context of sub-Saharan agricultural policy. Ultimately, the authors suggest that policymakers should support rural agriculture by prioritizing conservation agriculture as a critical piece of both mitigation and adaptation policy.


Oberlin's Experimental Hazelnut Orchard: Exploring Woody Agriculture's Potential For Climate Change Mitigation And Food System Resilience, Naomi Fireman Jan 2019

Oberlin's Experimental Hazelnut Orchard: Exploring Woody Agriculture's Potential For Climate Change Mitigation And Food System Resilience, Naomi Fireman

Honors Papers

Mitigating and adapting to climate change and transitioning to more sustainable agricultural methods to feed a growing human population are fundamental challenges today. Woody agriculture holds potential for addressing both through food production and carbon sequestration. To help assess this potential, in 2011, Oberlin College planted an experimental orchard made up of 70 hybrid hazelnut trees treated with three levels of fertilization. I asked the questions: How does annual allocation of carbon to different tissues change over time as hybrid hazels mature? How much carbon can this system store, where is it stored, and how does this change over time? …


Growing Youth Programming At Garden City Harvest Through Participatory Action Research, Hannah B. Oblock Jan 2018

Growing Youth Programming At Garden City Harvest Through Participatory Action Research, Hannah B. Oblock

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This professional paper presents a program evaluation and strategic plan for the youth development farming programs at Garden City Harvest (GCH), a non-profit in Missoula, Montana, which coordinates community-centered agriculture projects and facilitates sustainable agriculture education. The youth programs, Youth Harvest (YH) and Youth Farm (YF), hire adolescents of 15-18 years of age to work on their urban farms to learn about sustainable agriculture, job readiness skills, and social-emotional well-being. As the organization continues to expand, especially with the addition of a new facility, GCH administration and staff are interested in learning how the programs impact the youth employees and …


Net Zero Energy Dairy Production: Powering Minnesota Dairy Farms With Renewable Energy, Mckenzie Dice Jan 2017

Net Zero Energy Dairy Production: Powering Minnesota Dairy Farms With Renewable Energy, Mckenzie Dice

Honors Capstone Projects

The goal of this project was to determine if the West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC) dairy production could achieve a net zero energy status, meaning that the dairy operation uses as much as energy on-site as the amount of energy that is produced on-site for the dairy operation. There are several ways to accomplish this goal, principally through energy conservation, by means of installing more energy efficient technologies, as well as the installation of on-site renewable energy. At the WCROC dairy, a new utility room has been installed to introduce energy efficient technologies to the dairy operation, as …


Fishing For A Sustainable Future: Aquaponics As A Method Of Food Production, Richard Ramsundar May 2015

Fishing For A Sustainable Future: Aquaponics As A Method Of Food Production, Richard Ramsundar

Student Theses 2015-Present

This thesis compares and explains the advantages aquaponics farming has over modern industrial intensive farming. Through a comparison natural capital usage, conservation, recycling and cost, the thesis advocates for the expansion of aquaponics usage in urban settings. The thesis also explains the history of intensive farming and aquaponics in America, the science of how aquaponics operates, the economic and environmental costs of modern intensive farming versus aquaponics farming, and the social implications of aquaponics. Lastly, I propose a policy that reallocates farm subsidies by modifying the Farm Bill. Then I propose policies that support creating a new standard of farm …


Presentations And Posters From The 2015 Research That Matters Sustainable Food Conference: People, Policy, & Practice, Various Authors Jan 2015

Presentations And Posters From The 2015 Research That Matters Sustainable Food Conference: People, Policy, & Practice, Various Authors

Food and Gardening Working Group

The University of South Florida Sustainable Food Conference: People, Policy, & Practice brought together food researchers from USF and the larger Tampa Bay community to share ideas and findings that will pave the path toward more sustainable and resilient communities. It featured research papers and presentations from all disciplines and methodologies addressing issues concerning food production, distribution, retail, and/or consumption.


The Social Dimensions Of Sustainability And Change In Diversified Farming Systems, Christopher M. Bacon, Christy Getz, Sibella Kraus, Maywa Montenegro, Kaelin Holland Jan 2012

The Social Dimensions Of Sustainability And Change In Diversified Farming Systems, Christopher M. Bacon, Christy Getz, Sibella Kraus, Maywa Montenegro, Kaelin Holland

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Agricultural systems are embedded in wider social-ecological processes that must be considered in any complete discussion of sustainable agriculture. Just as climatic profiles will influence the future viability of crops, institutions, i.e., governance agreements, rural household and community norms, local associations, markets, and agricultural ministries, to name but a few, create the conditions that foster sustainable food systems. Because discussions of agricultural sustainability often overlook the full range of social dimensions, we propose a dual focus on a broad set of criteria, i.e., human health, labor, democratic participation, resiliency, biological and cultural diversity, equity, and ethics, to assess social outcomes, …