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Item Open Access From Vision to Action: Conditions for Transformative Food System Imaginaries(2026)Amid escalating ecological crises, concentration of power within industrialized food systems, and deepening inequities, the need for transformative approaches to food system change has become urgent. Yet the capacity to imagine viable alternatives remains constrained by dominant political-economic logics. This project investigates collective visioning as a pedagogical practice for expanding imaginative capacity and informing just food systems transformation. Drawing on systems thinking, futures studies, and cognitive science, the project examines how food system practitioners envision desirable futures and how these imaginaries shape their current work. Using a multi-modal, arts-based participatory methodology, including guided sensory meditation, interactive zines, collective drawing, and semi-structured interviews, the study engages New England practitioners in both generating just food system futures and reflecting on the utility of visioning. Through participatory workshops and interviews with New England food systems practitioners, this study identifies six thematic dimensions shaping the perceived transformation potential of visioning: groundedness, relationality, privilege, scale, and opportunity. Together, these themes illuminate how imagination operates not merely as speculative thought but as a socially embedded practice conditioned by power, place, and design. Findings indicate that visioning is not inherently transformative; its efficacy depends on relational grounding, attention to power and privilege, and integration with lived practice. When these conditions are met, visioning can function as a meaningful tool for fostering collaboration, aligning action, and supporting pathways towards more just and regenerative food systems.Item Open Access Item Open Access Hierarchy of Needs: Patterns of Food Insecurity and Material Hardship Prevalence Among U.S. Families with Young Children Across Income Levels(2026)Food insecurity is a serious public health concern, especially among households with children. Food insecurity impacts children in a variety of ways, including contributing to poor physical and mental health outcomes and overall lower academic readiness. Poverty has profound and long-lasting effects, placing families at increased risk for housing instability, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare, and unsafe living environments. This study examined the prevalence of food insecurity and the correlation between food insecurity and other material hardships among 1113 U.S. caregivers with young children. Additionally, it compared households below and above 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). An online survey was administered between February and July 2021 to a national sample of U.S. caregivers of at least one child aged 0–4 years examining life challenges experienced by the respondents, including food insecurity, diaper insecurity, and other hardships and challenges with basic needs. Correlation analyses and chi-squared tests examined hardship clustering patterns overall and stratified by poverty status. Food insecurity was identified among caregivers living in households with incomes both below (33.1%) and above (12.5%) 200% FPL. Food insecurity did not occur in isolation, rather it tended to cluster together with other forms of hardship including clinical depression (r=0.47; 81.7% of food insecure had depression), medical cost burden (r=0.47; 55.1%), and diaper insecurity (r=0.53; 72.3%). The results revealed a hierarchy of necessity, built upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, experienced when caregivers are exposed to food insecurity both above and below 200% FPL. This study provides useful information for food security interventions. Policies that don’t account for the presented hierarchy will keep managing poverty rather than dismantling it. Breaking the cycle of poverty requires focusing on fulfilling the basic needs outlined in Maslow’s hierarchy, such as providing consistent food, shelter, and security.Item Open Access Dataset: Global review on restoration incentive mechanisms and their outcomes in open ecosystems(2026-06-26)Dataset for a global review on restoration incentive mechanisms and their outcomes in open ecosystems. Details on the study are included in the abstract below, as stated in the submitted manuscript. The dataset includes data from 129 peer-reviewed articles that evaluated incentive mechanisms for restoring open ecosystems. The data comprises qualitative and quantitative information, including metadata for each reviewed article (title, authors, abstract, publication year, journal, country, continent) and three main domains of information: i) restoration intervention: country and objective of restoration, restoration age, spatial scale of restoration under evaluation, original ecosystem being restored, primary land use, and restoration techniques implemented; ii) incentive mechanism: name of the incentive program, type of incentive, intentionality of the incentive mechanism, type of proponent organization, source of funding, targeted recipients, and land tenure of recipients; iii) outcomes: environmental and socioeconomic results achieved through the implementation of incentive mechanisms. An explanation of the metadata for each variable and the classification scheme used is included, along with a list of articles excluded during the full-text screening phase. Manuscript abstract: Open ecosystems provide critical habitat for biodiversity and essential ecosystem services, but are increasingly threatened by land conversion, altered disturbance regimes, and biological invasions. Restoration initiatives have mobilized incentives to recover millions of hectares, but these mechanisms have historically targeted forests, which can be problematic when translated directly to open ecosystems. Comprehensive assessments of restoration incentive outcomes in open ecosystems remain limited, restricting our ability to identify general patterns and context-dependent effects across regions. Through a systematized literature review, we (i) characterized the geographic distribution of restoration incentive mechanisms in open ecosystems, (ii) investigated how these mechanisms were designed, financed, and implemented, and (iii) assessed their environmental and socioeconomic outcomes. We found 129 scientific articles documenting 90 incentives across 25 countries, located predominantly in temperate regions. Direct payments were the most common incentive type, typically combined with other mechanisms and funded by governmental agencies targeting landholders and land users. Approximately 72% of reported outcomes were positive, with environmental gains often associated with improvements in biodiversity, soil conditions, and broader ecosystem indicators. Positive socioeconomic outcomes included increased income, employment, and environmental awareness. Yet, negative outcomes were more frequent for socioeconomic than environmental indicators, including reduced income, increased livelihood vulnerability, and displacement of traditional communities. Unlike forest-focused approaches, restoration in open ecosystems relied largely on land abandonment and grazing management. Long-term, multifunctional restoration strategies that integrate environmental and socioeconomic objectives are essential, particularly in tropical regions where restoration needs remain high. Incentive programs should combine multiple mechanisms within multi-level governance and align restoration goals with local land-use systems, particularly where grazing and other human activities are closely linked to ecosystem functioning and traditional livelihoods. Incorporating active restoration where natural regeneration is limited and integrating local communities into restoration planning can support long-term recovery while reducing leakage and recultivation risks once incentives end.Item Open Access
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