Food Security Commons^™

On The Path To A Resilient Urban Food System In A Rural State: A Mixed-Method Needs Assessment Of Urban Producers And County Extension Agents In Arkansas, Catherine Elizabeth Dobbins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project utilized a mixed-method needs assessment approach to urban agriculture in Arkansas, a predominately-rural state. Chapter II was a qualitative study, using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, that investigated the perceptions, needs, and experiences of Arkansas urban farmers and their interactions with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service (CES). Interviews were conducted with 16 urban farmers in Northwest and Central Arkansas. The interview data revealed individualized needs based on the size, years in operation, and mission of each urban farmer interviewed. General needs were determined, such as market pricing, co-ops, and access to appropriate equipment, but generally …

Regenerative Grazing And The Benefits Of Livestock On Soils In Northern New South Wales, Raymond Mooney

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Conventional cattle grazing has received criticism for environmental degradation in the past. Regenerative grazing and the principles of regenerative agriculture show encouraging signs that proper livestock management and planned grazing can reverse degradation and mitigate climate change. An emphasis on soil health and increasing soil carbon and organic matter levels reveals positive feedback for environmental health, the economic security of farmers, and nutritional health of consumers.

In this study I looked to investigate the benefits of regenerative agriculture, reasons why it is being practiced, and the extent it is practiced within the grazing in comparison to traditional methods within Northern …

Humanitarian Assistance In Protracted Emergencies: Rethinking The Role Of Food Aid In Adjumani, Victoria Puglia

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Humanitarian food assistance is incredibly susceptible to funding cuts, which reduces the quantity of food available to refugees. If refugees depend solely on food aid for survival, the implication of reductions is increased food insecurity at a household level. The Government of Uganda champions a self-reliance strategy that has failed to support refugees to the desired extent, especially when food rations are low. This study aims to assess the impact of humanitarian food assistance on the socioeconomic structures of refugee settlements in Adjumani, Uganda to understand the consequences of unstable food aid. The research was conducted over a four-week period. …

In The Round: The Future Of Food, Teddy Bekele, Jane Black, Mitchell Davis, Jon De La Para Harper, Natalie Dinicola, Virginia Dunleavy, Sam Fiorello, Kimberly Flowers, Raj Gollamudi, Daniel Hewett, Jak Knowles, Tom Laurita, Robert Lawrence, Maureen Mazurek, Robyn Metcalfe, Mike Miille, Hari Pulapaka, Jenneffer Pulapaka, Patricia Risica, Simone Sala, Chase Sova, Karen Washingon, Tom Weis, Center For Complexity

Future of Food

In collaboration with PopTech, the Center for Complexity (CfC) hosted a two day convening in March 2019 to discuss the future of food, conducted in-the-round. Conversations-in-the-round offer an experimental and collaborative forum where a variety of perspectives collide to reimagine how we should approach navigating complex challenges.

30 professionals, community leaders, ag-tech startups, policymakers, local activists, global aid administrators, and many other important voices in the food industry were in attendance. We did not set out to create solutions, rather we devoted our time to exploration — a process that allowed us to assess, discover, reality-check, and strategically plan the …

Through The Eyes Of Locals: A Changing Climate In Bolivia, Jacob D. Rex

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Deforestation and Agricultural Land-Use Change in Bolivia as a Function of Socio-Economic Realities.

This research combines semi-structured interviews of key informants and local participants, as well as field observations, which were conducted between January and April of 2019 in the Departments of Santa Cruz & Chuquisaca.

Farm To Label: A Critique Of Consumer Activism In The Sustainable Food Movement, Olivia Whitener

Pomona Senior Theses

“Local,” “organic,” “natural,” and “Fairtrade” are just several of the many claims adorning the food products that line grocery store shelves. These promises of environmental sustainability and social responsibility are pillars of the “good food revolution” sweeping the nation as consumers demand alternatives to the products of the industrial food system. Green consumerism, the premise that consumer demand for environmentally sustainable goods will bring about ecologically beneficial outcomes, is at the heart of the sustainable food movement. This thesis takes a critical look at the operation of green consumerism in the food system. It explores the ideology and shortcomings of …

Imperfect Produce Pricing: Relationships Between Price Percent Discount And Demographic Traits Of Customers, April Foster

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research sought to understand the impact of price reductions on consumer spending behaviors related to the purchase of imperfect produce. Additionally, the correlation between consumers’ demographics and their willingness to purchase imperfect produce at various price points was evaluated. The data was viewed with mindfulness toward reducing food loss as a function of the world food crisis. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between Washington County, Arkansas consumers’ demographic traits and the percent discount at which they are willing to alter their behavior to purchase specific imperfect produce items. Using the Theory of …

Assessing Rice Consumers’ Preferences And Willingness To Pay In Haiti, Cleeford Pavilus

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last 30 years, rice has become the number one food staple in Haiti, and rice imports have outpaced domestic production to supply the country’s increasing rice demand. Policy makers support the claim that increasing local rice supply will not only reduce the dependency on imported rice but also upheave the national economy. However, there is a lack of information on Haitian consumers’ preferences for rice to aid the development of the local rice supply chain. This research aims to bridge that gap by assessing Haitian consumer preferences and willingness to pay for selected rice quality characteristics. The results …

Identification And Characterisation Of Novel Phages Of Pectobacterium And Erwinia, Colin Buttimer

PhDs

Losses in crop yields due to disease need to be reduced to meet increasing global food demands associated with growth in the human population. There is a well-recognised need to develop new environmentally-friendly control strategies to combat bacterial crop diseases. There are several crop diseases for which no effective bactericidal agents are currently available, such as potato blackleg and soft rot disease caused by Pectobacterium atrosepticum and other members of soft rot Enterobacteriaceae (Czajkowski et al., 2011). Furthermore, current control measures involving the use of traditional chemicals or antibiotics are losing their efficacy due to the natural development of bacterial …

Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia Annual Report 2017/2018, Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

There were two key areas in which the Council focused during the year:

• environmental biosecurity; and
• the attributes required by a biosecurity ‘combat’ agency to effectively sustain a biosecurity response.

In addition, planning began for two new areas of advice to Government – biosecurity research and development; and border biosecurity.

Developing constructive advice to Government requires a comprehensive understanding of the needs and challenges of industry, Government and the community. It also requires an understanding of how changes to the biosecurity system might impact these groups and affect the State’s biosecurity status. During 2017/18 the Council continued to monitor biosecurity …

Justice Served Fresh: Associations Between Food Insecurity, Community Gardening, And Property Value, Micajah Daniels, Courtney Coughenour Ph.D

McNair Poster Presentations

Numerous stakeholders in Nevada have used a variety of efforts to combat the growth of food insecurity facing Nevadans. The purpose of this research project is to understand the association between food insecurity, community gardens, and property value. Following the wealth of scholarship on these topics and data collected from community garden agencies in Southern Nevada, the research questions for this project include: (1) Where are community gardens located in SNV? (2) What efforts community gardens agencies are doing to address food insecurity (most interested in their efforts using community gardens)? (3) What are the perceptions of supports and barriers …

The Relationship Of Male And Female Pastoralist Income With Household Food Security And Nutrition Status In Tanzania: Maasai, Sukuma, And Barabaig Ethnic Groups, Henriette Gitungwa

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Although previous work provides a significant baseline for understanding the impact of gender on household decision making and resource (i.e. income and food) allocation, there are gaps in evidence for important groups, including East African pastoralists. Previous authors have noted that pastoralists’ gender roles and relations appear to be resistant to change, potentially impeding household development. This paper attempts to assess the relationship between male and female pastoralists’ income control and household food security and nutritional status in Tanzania. We use three surveys: a household-level livestock health and economics survey, a household food security survey, and an individual woman-level survey …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Agricultural Information Needs And Food Access In The Stann Creek District Of Belize, Sam Harris

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural information sources available to farmers and to describe food access and availability for the people of Dangriga, Stann Creek, Belize. This study used descriptive survey research methods with convenience sampling of the general public (n=22) and of farmers (n = 38) in the summer of 2017. Farmers use a variety of agricultural information sources with the extension service cited most often, followed by friends and fellow farmers. Weather, lack of information, pests, and inadequate access to capital were of primary concern for farmers. Face to face meetings were …

Enhancing Quality Of Life Through Foreign Direct Investment In Northern Mozambique, Sarah-Beth Delay

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Undergraduate Honors Theses

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has the potential to increase economic activity and improve GDP growth in low-income countries, but can hinder economic development (quality of life improvements) if not sustainable and holistic in manner. Africa serves as a host to many cases of FDI focused on economic growth, but not necessarily improving the quality of life for its citizens. FDI has spread throughout the African continent, where many countries are well endowed with natural resources, like minerals and coal. These economies have experienced rapid GDP growth with few benefits reaching citizens of the host country. Mozambique is a low-income country …

Sustainability At Sit: A Look At The Past, A Plan For The Future, Taliesin Haugh

Capstone Collection

Climate change threatens our world and way of life. Intelligent development and investment could mitigate the worst threats of climate change, while simultaneously providing continuous growth for the global economy. The New Climate Economy proposes efforts to combat this ecological collapse that would result in $30 trillion in new annual economic growth by 2030. Stockholm Resilience Center agrees, giving a framework based on global ecological systems that calls for five critical tasks that can bring growth and stability: Renewable energy

Sustainable local food production

New development models, based on what has worked globally

Reduction of wealth inequity

Education, health, and …

In The Field The Women Saved The Crop: The Women’S Land Army Of World War Ii, Denna M. Clymer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Women’s Land Army brought together rural and urban sectors of the United States in a climate of national and regional crisis. By the time the country was cast into war, the agricultural sector was already caught in a downward economic spiral that drove away laborers. With demand falling, and farms propped up only by experiments in subsidy and parity, when military and industrial jobs emerged in urban areas, farm laborers became scarce. At the same time the war created jobs for men outside of the agricultural sector, farm prices recovered and demand soared, forcing farmers to look to women …

Modelling The Impact Of National Development Strategies For The East African Rice Sector, Florence Muthee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 2008 food crisis prompted many food importing nations to reconsider the need to be self-sufficient especially in their staple food needs. This awakening led to the launch of the Coalition for Africa Rice Development (CARD) initiative with a goal to double rice production in Africa. Under the CARD umbrella member countries drafted individual National Rice Development Strategies (NRDS). This study is a quantitative assessment of four East African countries’ NRDS: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda within dynamic global rice economy models. The NRDS targets and strategies are not realistic and included under estimation of rice consumption for Kenya, an …

Peel Business Park Transition Strategy, Ghd

Natural resources commissioned reports

Transform Peel

Transform Peel is a $49m Royalties for Regions funded program aimed at achieving job creation, sustainable growth and economic development in the Peel Region. The Peel Development Commission and its partners, intend to implement this program over 35 years where projections estimate that 35,000 jobs will be created generating an approximate $16.2b per annum economic output by 2050. Located in the Shires of Murray and Serpentine Jarrahdale, the program comprises three integrated, strategic elements, the Peel Business Park (PBP), the Peel Food Zone (PFZ) and the Peel Integrated Water Initiative.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development …

Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia Annual Report 2016/2017, Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

Developing constructive biosecurity advice to government requires a comprehensive understanding of the needs and challenges of industry, government and community. It also requires an understanding of the potential impacts of changes to the Western Australian biosecurity system on these groups as well as on the biosecurity of the State.

During 2016/17, the Council continued its commitment to engaging with key stakeholders. The strong consultative processes used by the Council enabled robust advice to be developed for government. The main area of focus during the year was government’s investment in Western Australia’s biosecurity. The key areas of advice that were progressed …

Franklin County Community Food Resources, Emily Couture

Franklin

Food resources found in Franklin County, Maine:

• Farm stands
• CSA farms
• Farmers' markets
• SNAP office
• WIC office
• Additional resources

Kennebec County Community Food Resources, Mikayla Libby Gilbert

Kennebec

Food resources found in Kennebec County, Maine:

• Farmers' markets (EBT)
• Retailers (Harvest Bucks)
• DHHS office
• Meals on Wheels
• Food pantries
• Meal sites

Knox County Community Food Resources, Mikayla Libby Gilbert

Knox

Food resources found in Knox County, Maine:

• Farmers' Markets (EBT and Harvest Bucks)
• Retailers (Harvest Bucks)
• DHHS office
• Meals on Wheels
• Food Pantries
• Meal Sites

Hancock County Community Food Resources, Savannah Lowrey

Hancock

Food resources found in Hancock County, Maine:

• Farm stands
• Farmers markets
• CSA farms
• Food pantry
• Community centers

Oxford County Community Food Resources, Laura Mills

Oxford

Food resources found in Oxford County, Maine:

• Farmers' markets
• Food co-operatives
• Cooking classes
• CSA farms
• Farm stands
• Farm stands that accept Husky Bucks
• Retail Stores

Penobscot County Community Food Resources, Savannah Lowrey

Penobscot

Food resources found in Penobscot County, Maine:

• Farm stands
• Farmers' markets
• Food pantries
• CSA farms
• Community centers

Piscataquis County Community Food Resources, Samantha Machado

Piscataquis

Food resources found in Piscataquis County, Maine:

• Local farmers' markets
• Local farmers' markets (SNAP, WIC, and/or EBT)
• Free meals through the month (churches)

Piscataquis County Community Food Resources, Tiia Kand

Piscataquis

Food resources found in Piscataquis County, Maine:

• Food banks
• Food pantries
• Food resources
• Additional resources
• Demographics

Somerset County Community Food Resources, Jason Scott

Somerset

Food resources found in Somerset County, Maine:

• Good Shepard Food Banks partners
• Harvest Bucks/EBT Farmers' Markets
• Farm stands
• CSA farms
• Other food resources

Somerset County Community Food Resources, Michela Desjardins

Somerset

Food resources found in Somerset County, Maine

• County statistics
• Local producers
• Local markets
• University of Maine (UMO)
• Recreation