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Saving Seeds: The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Native American Seed Savers, and Problems of Property
Sheryl D. Breen
To put it simply, seeds are the essence of life. Without their varied yields, the earth would have no agriculture, no livestock, no food systems, no ecological stability. In all shapes, sizes, and distributions, seeds are genetic powerhouses that store life's codes; they are as essential a resource as the water and soil at nourish them. Nonetheless, mounting evidence demonstrates steady erosion of the seed biodiversity necessary for viable food systems. Some seed varieties have been unable to adapt as habitats change or shrink, non- commercial seed-saving techniques have disappeared along with community elders, and a relatively small number of hybrid and transgenic commodity crop varieties – none of which yield useful seeds – dominate global agriculture while the botanical populations of historic landraces and their wild cousins decline. Political dangers abound as well; war and cial rest have decimated seed banks in Afghanistan, for example, and it is feared that some unique local varieties from other locations may have been permanently lost.
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"La misma realidad de cada lugar es diferente" ("The same reality of each place is different"): A case study of an organic farmers market in Lima, Peru
Kevin Cody
Alternative food movements in North America and Western Europe have proliferated in recent years as producers and consumers attempt to reform what is perceived as a fatally flawed industrial food system. Meanwhile, agricultural producers in the global South are increasingly dispossessed of land and livelihoods as agro-industrial processes take on increasingly global dimensions. Given that many of the challenges facing small-scale producers in the North and South stem from similar patterns of agro-industrialization, might they also share similar responses to these challenges?
In this article I make a case for broadening the geographic frame of reference for alternative food systems by comparing farmers' market research from the US with an organic farmers' market in Lima, Peru. Data is drawn from the experiences of agricultural exchange participants, and broadens the field of inquiry into alternative geographies of globalizations (Bebbington 2001). What lessons and insights gained from research into market-based agro-food initiatives in the US could be applied to the movement/market for organic produce in Peru? What makes the case in Peru distinct from alternative food movements in the US, and what lessons can be drawn from these distinctions?
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Rewriting the Call to Charity: From Food Shelf Volunteer to Food Justice Advocate
Beth Dixon
Consider the food shelf volunteer (or any charity worker) who is inspired to practice good work on behalf of those who are poor and hungry. Her beneficence is praiseworthy. But a simple call to charity may also blind the volunteer to certain facts about food justice. First, it leaves out why clients who utilize the food shelf are hungry. Second, it suggests that the generous volunteers who staff the food shelf have met their political responsibilities. In this viewpoint I argue that hunger relief advocates may be transformed into policy advocates only if they are epistemically positioned to do so. What we need is a new practical strategy or technique for rewriting the very nature of what it means to engage in charity. This strategy involves using stories or narratives that profile particular people who are food insecure, but that also include systemic background conditions describing the social, political, and economic positions of more than one person. To make visible these background conditions I employ the philosophical concept of a "counterstory." Counterstories reveal structural inequities that identify how groups of people are unfairly disadvantaged. Acquiring this point of view is necessary for undertaking our collective responsibilities for achieving food justice because it positions us to see what structural conditions must change. In this way food justice activism becomes a real goal, made possible by the creation of a knowledgeable and informed citizenry.
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High Tunnels for Local Food Systems: Subsidies, Equity, and Profitability
Nathaniel Foust-Meyer and Megan E. O'Rourke
High tunnels (HTs) constitute a growing, local level response to the globalization of our food. As semi-permanent greenhouses, HTs bring practical on-farm solutions to biophysical growing constraints; they extend the growing season and buffer delicate crops from extreme weather events. In 2009, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) began subsidizing the construction of HTs with the documented goals of increasing environmental stewardship and the added benefit of promoting local foods. However, many questions remain about the impacts of HT’s. Who is benefiting from the NRCS HT program? Will farmers continue to adopt HTs in the absence of government subsidies? What is their production potential? This paper explores the impacts of the NRCS HT program and high tunnels on farms, consumers, and the local food movement. Preliminary results indicate that farms with high tunnels are expanding around areas with the greatest demand for local produce. The combined results from farmers who use high tunnels and the United States government who pays for the leads us to conclude that high tunnels are a growing part of the U.S. food system with the potential to increase access to local produce.
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The Energy Basis of Food Security
Eric Garza
Food security includes elements of food availability, access and use. In the complex system that is our global food system, many variables influence an individual’s ability to achieve food security, but given that many people access food through economic markets food prices have come to be a vital component of food security. Food prices are influenced by many factors, but among these are fuel prices. For the last decade trends in food prices have tracked those of fuel prices consistently, and just as fuel prices have generally increased since 2005 food prices have done the same. Rising and increasingly volatile food prices have hampered the access to food for millions of people worldwide, and led to food riots and social unrest the world over.
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Resistance and Innovation In the Evolving Urban Food System of Monterrey Mexico
Craig K. Harris
Monterrey is the capital city of the state of Nuevo Leon in Mexico. Historically it is the leading industrial city of Mexico, with a strong history of foreign direct investment. Located in the northeastern part of the country, its proximity to Texas has fostered its status as a modern cosmopolitan metropolis. The past couple decades have been characterized by a history of violence, but that is now diminishing as citizens' groups are "taking back our city". The hot and arid climate of the region meant that, as the metropolis developed, it had to rely on some importation of food from other parts of the country.
The paper investigates the emergence and development of innovation and resistance in the regional food system of the Monterrey metropolitan region. Without ascribing any functionalist properties to the agrifood system, the paper uses the concept of an agrifood value chain and its ancillary components to analyze the ways in which the regional agrifood system has developed and changed during the past several decades. Specifically the paper investigates the changing relationships between: primary production (farm, ranch, garden), processing, wholesale distribution, retail sales, commercial and institutional food service, and final consumption.
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Designing for Behavior and Culture in Local Food Systems
Christiana Lackner and J. P. Pellicciaro
Although food systems and design may seem like they do not have much in common, design is as essential to the human experience as food. Herbert Simon is quoted as saying, "Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones."
This view positions design to help address current issues around behavior and culture in local food systems. In this paper, we analyze the approaches of various common and emerging models in the local food movement through several design lenses. We highlight opportunities for innovation in local food initiatives by using design-based thinking tools that can influence behavior and culture around food. Finally, we present two case studies and provide actionable takeaways that can be used by local constituents. With a view toward fostering interdisciplinary dialogue around pressing food systems issues, the authors feel design is an important and accessible practice in the formulation of culture and behavior that can bring valuable insights to this discussion.
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How Can You Recognize Success? Individual Responses to Food System Policy Aimed at Children
Erin Roche, David Connor, and Jane Kolodinsky
Farm-to-school (FTS) programs and similar programs are gaining attention for many reasons, one of which is the recognition that they could help stem the increase in childhood overweight and obesity. Most programs that have been evaluated have increased students' selection or intake of fruits and vegetables following the incorporation of FTS components. However, the wide range of activities that are typically part of FTS programs make it difficult to pinpoint which components have the greatest potential to improve students' health behaviors. Within the field of nutrition education, theory-based interventions that target the key underlying factors influencing health behavior offer the most promise.
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