Reweaving the food security safety net: Mediating entitlement and entrepreneurship

The American food system has produced both abundance and food insecurity, with production and consumption dealt with as separate issues. The new approach of community food security (CFS) seeks to re-link production and consumption, with the goal of ensuring both an adequate and accessible food supply in the present and the future. In its focus on consumption, CFS has prioritized the needs of low-income people; in its focus on production, it emphasizes local and regional food systems. These objectives are not necessarily compatible and may even be contradictory. This article describes the approach of community food security and raises some questions about how the movement can meet its goals of simultaneously meeting the food needs of low-income people and developing local food systems. It explores the conceptual and political promise and pitfalls of local, community-based approaches to food security and examines alternative economic strategies such as urban agriculture and community-supported agriculture. It concludes that community food security efforts are important additions to, but not subsitutes for, a nonretractable governmental safety net that protects against food insecurity.     

Neoliberalizing food safety and the 2008 Canadian listeriosis outbreak

This paper examines evidence regarding neoliberalization of the social organization of Canadian food safety from a series of documents produced in response to the Canadian listeriosis outbreak in 2008. The outbreak is described, then interpreted within a neoliberal context, where: (1) neoliberalism operates as an ideology (2) that enables a socio-political and economic strategy within (3) a project pursued by coalitions seeking to consolidate power through (4) a process of neoliberalization. Following Gramsci’s work on power, it is argued that food safety serves as an attractor, organizing consent within a neoliberal context. Testimony before a parliamentary subcommittee, official reviews, an independent investigation, food inspection records, and media reports have been examined to identify the key factors associated with the outbreak and the process of neoliberalization. The events associated with the outbreak are described first, as activities and practices in organizational settings (governance, sanitation, and production), and secondly, as components in a food production network where consent is organized around food safety.     

多方参与机制在GIAHS保护中的应用——以青田县稻鱼共生系统保护为例

由FAO、UNDP和GEF等推动的GIAHS项目,是为了对全球重要的、受到威胁的传统农业文化与技术遗产进行保护,建立一个全球达成共识的、持续发展的动态保护系统。系统的保护与可持续发展能力建设是其保护的一个重要内容,但是,对GIAHS的保护还没有经验可循。浙江省青田县方山乡龙现村的“传统稻鱼共生农业系统”是其中一个被确立为GIAHS的古老而濒危的农业系统,探索了参与式管理中在全球、国家、地方和社区水平上的利益相关方的组成和作用,这些利益相关方包括：参与并提供支持的国际机构、参与并提供支持的国内机构、青田县政府及其领导的各个相关部门、企业和私人团体、社区以及参与式管理的重要一环——社区参与式管理在GIAHS保护中的应用。在分析目前保护区管理机制的基础上,主要采用半结构访谈法和利益相关方分析法,重点对社区参与式管理在青田保护区中的应用进行了探讨,并提出三项建议：（1）组织有关人员参加社区参与理论与方法培训;（2）利益相关方信息交流平台建设;（3）社区参与相关规章制度建立。     

Soil fertility management in the mid-hills of Nepal: Practices and perceptions

Sustaining soil fertility is essential to the prosperity of many households in the mid-hills of Nepal, but there are concerns that the breakdown of the traditional linkages between forest, livestock, and cropping systems is adversely affecting fertility. This study used triangulated data from surveys of households, discussion groups, and key informants in 16 wards in eastern and western Nepal to determine the existing practices for soil fertility management, the extent of such practices, and the perception of the direction of changes in soil fertility. The two principal practices for maintaining soil fertility were the application of farmyard manure (FYM) and of chemical fertilizer (mainly urea and diammonium phosphate). Green manuring, in-situ manuring, slicing terrace risers, and burning plant residues are rarely practiced. FYM usage was variable with more generally applied to khet land (average 6053 kg fresh weight manure ha^–1) than to bari land (average 4185 kg fresh weight manure ha^–1) with manure from goats and poultry preferred above that from cows and buffaloes. Almost all households (98%) apply urea to khet land and 87% to bari land, with 45% applying diammonium phosphate to both types of land. Application rates and timings of applications varied considerably both within and between wards suggesting poor knowledge transfer between the research and farming communities. The benefits of chemical fertilizers in terms of ease of application and transportation in comparison with FYM, were perceived to outweigh the widely reported detrimental hardening of soil associated with their continued usage. Among key informants, FYM applied in conjunction with chemical fertilizer was the most popular amendment, with FYM alone preferred more than chemical fertilizer alone – probably because of the latters long-term detrimental effects. Key informant and householder surveys differed in their perception of fertility changes in the last decade probably because of differences in age and site-specific knowledge. All key informants felt that fertility had declined but among households, only about 40% perceived a decline with the remainder about evenly divided between no change and an increase. Householders with small landholdings (< 0.5 ha) were more likely to perceive increasing soil fertility while those with larger landholdings (> 2 ha) were more likely to perceive declining fertility. Perceived changes in soil fertility were not related to food self-sufficiency. The reasons for the slow spread of new technologies within wards and the poor understanding of optimal use of chemical fertilizers in conjunction with improved quality FYM may repay further investigation in terms of sustaining soil fertility in this region.Colin Pilbeam graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA in Agriculture and Forest Sciences. He spent 11 years as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Soil Science, The University of Reading researching nitrogen and water dynamics in cropping systems in Kenya, Syria, and Nepal. He is now the manager of research programs at Cranfield School of Management.Sudarshan Bhakta Mathema is a senior agricultural economist based in Kathmandu, Nepal. After serving the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, in Nepal for 23 years, he joined the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization as the Farming Systems Economist for 2years. Currently, Dr. Mathema is the Manager of the Hill Agriculture Research Project with the Department for International Development, UK. Dr Mathema has major expertise in the fields of farming systems research and development, participatory research and development, competitive grant systems, sustainable rural livelihoods, impact assessment, project management and implementation, agricultural extension methods, and various types of socio-economic research. He has worked as a consultant for various national and international institutes. He has published papers and reports in the field of agriculture, particularly focusing on Nepal.Peter Gregory has been the Professor of Soil Science at the University of Reading since 1994. His research focuses on the interactions between plant roots and soils and on the development of sustainable systems of crop production. He has worked in Australia, Syria, Nepal, India, and West Africa and is the chair of Global Environmental Change and Food Systems – an international research project on food security.Padma Bahadur Shakya is an Agricultural Economist who has worked for the Department of Agriculture under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in Nepal for more than 20 years. He has also been a short-term consultant for various national and international organizations such as FAO, the UNs World Food Programme, Swiss Development Corporation, Asian Development Bank, JICA, HARP, and several local NGOs. Currently, he is affiliated with the Agriculture Perspective Plan Support Programme, implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.     

Creating space for sustainable food systems: Lessons from the field

In response to growing trendsin the current food system toward globalintegration, economic consolidation, andenvironmental degradation, communities haveinitiated alternative, more sustainable foodand agricultural systems. Lessons may now belearned about the development and maintenanceof local, sustainable food systems projects –those that attempt to integrate theenvironmental, economic, and social health oftheir food systems in particular places. Fourkinds of space need to be created and protected– social space, political space, intellectualspace, and economic space. Three importantthemes emerge from these community spaces:public participation, new partnerships, and acommitment to social, economic, andenvironmental justice principles.     

Beliefs,knowledge, and values held by inner-city youth about gardening,nutrition, and cooking

Changes in the US food system and an interest in changing dietary habits among youth have impelled numerous schools and communities to develop programs such as community gardens. Youth community gardens have the potential to positively influence dietary behaviors and enhance environmental awareness and appreciation. However, actual data supporting youth gardening and its influence are limited. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of community gardens on youth dietary behaviors, values and beliefs, and cooking and gardening behaviors. Focus groups were conducted with inner-city youth living in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota and compared those involved in a youth garden program with those uninvolved in order to investigate whether the gardening program influenced their habits, beliefs, and values. Findings indicate that youth garden program participants were more willing to eat nutritious food and try ethnic and unfamiliar food than those not in the program. Additionally, it was apparent that garden participants had a stronger appreciation for other individuals and cultures and were more likely to cook and garden on their own than youth not involved in a garden program. The findings suggest that garden programs positively impact youth garden habits, food choice, social skills, nutrition knowledge, and cooking skills. Lauren Lautenschlager is currently a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and working toward obtaining her MS in nutrition and becoming a registered dietitian. She is interested in the education of youth on the food system. Chery Smith is an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include the dietary behavior and nutritional status of low-income and homeless people, community and international nutrition, and food systems.     

Eliciting indigenous knowledge on tree fodder among Maasai pastoralists via a multi-method sequencing approach

Although the potential of indigenous knowledge in sustainable natural resource management has been recognized, methods of gathering and utilizing it effectively are still being developed and tested. This paper focuses on various methods used in gathering knowledge on the use and management of tree fodder resources among the Maasai community of Kenya. The methods used were (1) a household survey to collect socio-economic data and identify key topics and informants for the subsequent knowledge elicitation phase; (2) semi-structured interviews using key informants to gather in-depth information; (3) tree inventory to collect quantitative data on the ecological status of trees and shrubs on rangelands; and (4) group consensus method to countercheck information elicited from key informants. Study results obtained show that the use of multiple methods in an appropriate sequence is an effective way of building upon the information elicited from each stage. It also facilitates the collection of different types of data and knowledge allowing a measure of triangulation, which can be used to confirm the validity and consistency of indigenous knowledge. Multiple methods also allow the collection of more knowledge than can be obtained if only one method is used. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies on indigenous knowledge systems use multiple methods that combine both individual and group interviews in order to obtain more complete and accurate information. Evelyne Kiptot, a research scientist with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, is based at Muguga Regional Research Centre but is currently a PhD student in the Technology and Agrarian Development (TAD) chair group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her current research activities focus on indigenous knowledge systems in pastoral areas, participatory approaches, and upscaling.     

Restaurants,chefs and local foods: insights drawn from application of a diffusion of innovation framework

Chefs have been recognized as potentially important partners in efforts to promote local food systems. Drawing on the diffusion of innovation framework we (a) examine the characteristics of chefs and restaurants that have adopted local foods; (b) identified local food attributes valued by restaurants; (c) examine how restaurants function as opinion leaders promoting local foods; (d) explored network linkages between culinary and production organizations; and (e) finally, we consider some of the barriers to more widespread adoption of local foods in the culinary community. Analyzing quantitative and qualitative data collected from interviews with individuals from 71 restaurants, we compare and contrast restaurants that utilize relatively large amounts of locally-produced ingredients with restaurants using few, if any, local products. Results reveal that chefs are most interested in intrinsic food qualities, such as taste and freshness, and less interested in production standards. As opinion leaders, chefs utilize signage, wait staff, and cooking classes to promote local foods; however, the diffusion process across restaurants, and between restaurants and producers, is limited by network associations. Structural barriers such as distribution problems and lack of convenience were identified as limiting more widespread use of locally-grown foods. We offer several implications of this research for further work that seeks to engage chefs as opinion leaders who are important to building greater support for local food systems.

基于模糊综合评价法的人工林生态环境影响综合评价研究——以安徽省林业世行贷款综合发展项目为例

开展人工林生态环境影响评价对促进人工林健康发展有重要意义。围绕世行贷款林业综合发展项目建设目标,选取9项指标构建人工林生态环境影响综合评价体系。以安徽省林业世行贷款综合发展项目为例,运用模糊综合评价法,依据项目监测点造林前和造林后的观测数据,对项目人工林进行生态环境影响评价研究。结果显示,通过项目人工林建设使项目区生态环境状况向良性方向发展。     

A NEW APPROACH TO HOLISTIC NITROGEN MANAGEMENT IN CHINA

● Progress on nitrogen management in agriculture is overviewed in China. ● 4R principles are key to high N use efficiency and low N losses in soil-crop systems. ● A new framework of food-chain-N-management is proposed. ● China’s success in N management provides models for other countries. Since the 1980s, the widespread use of N fertilizer has not only resulted in a strong increase in agricultural productivity but also caused a number of environmental problems, induced by excess reactive N emissions. A range of approaches to improve N management for increased agricultural production together with reduced environmental impacts has been proposed. The 4R principles (right product, right amount, right time and right place) for N fertilizer application have been essential for improving crop productivity and N use efficiency while reducing N losses. For example, site-specific N management (as part of 4R practice) reduced N fertilizer use by 32% and increased yield by 5% in China. However, it has not been enough to overcome the challenge of producing more food with reduced impact on the environment and health. This paper proposes a new framework of food-chain-nitrogen-management (FCNM). This involves good N management including the recycling of organic manures, optimized crop and animal production and improved human diets, with the aim of maximizing resource use efficiency and minimizing environmental emissions. FCNM could meet future challenges for food demand, resource sustainability and environmental safety, key issues for green agricultural transformation in China and other countries.     

Local or localized? Exploring the contributions of Franco-Mediterranean agrifood theory to alternative food research

Notions such as terroir and “Slow Food,” which originated in Mediterranean Europe, have emerged as buzzwords around the globe, becoming commonplace across Europe and economically important in the United States and Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Given the increased global prominence of terroir and regulatory frameworks like geographical indications, we argue that the associated conceptual tools have become more relevant to scholars working within the “alternative food networks” (AFN) framework in the United States and United Kingdom. Specifically, the Local Agrifood Systems (Systèmes Agroalimentaires Localisés, or SYAL) perspective, first articulated in 1996 by French scholars, seeks to understand the relationship between the development of local food systems and specific territories. We review the empirical and theoretical literature that comprises each of these perspectives, highlighting three areas in which SYAL scholarship may be relevant to AFN researchers. First, while AFN scholars tend to understand the “local” in terms of positionality, in a distributionist sense (vis-à-vis one’s relation to sites of food production or consumption or along commodity chains), SYAL studies frame local food systems as anchored within particular territories. Second, SYAL research places significant emphasis on collectivity, both in terms of collective institutions and shared forms of knowledge and identity. Third, although both perspectives are framed in opposition of the industrialization of the global food system, AFN scholars focus more on alternative distribution schemes (e.g., organic, fair trade, and direct marketing schemes), while SYAL researchers favor territorially anchored structures (e.g., geographical indications).     

Place, work, and civic agriculture: Common fields for cultivation

``Civic agriculture' identifies adiverse and growing body of food and farmingenterprises fitted to the needs of localgrowers, consumers, rural economies, andcommunities. The term lends shape andlegitimacy to development paradigms that existin opposition to the global,corporately-dominated food system. Civicagriculture also widens the scope of ag-relatedconcerns, moving away from a strictlymechanistic focus on production and capitalefficiency, and toward the more holisticreintegration of people in place. To date,researchers and practitioners have attendedclosely to the economic benefits of newmarketing arrangements and institutions (e.g.,value-added co-ops, CSAs, and farmer'smarkets). Local food and farming has a criticalrole to play in the development of analternative commerce. At the same time, this isonly half the promise of civic agriculture.Civic agriculture can (and should) promotecitizenship and environmentalism within bothrural and urban settings not only throughmarket-based models of economic behavior, butthrough common ties to place and physicalengagement with that place.     

Local autonomy and sustainable development: Testing import substitution in more localized food systems

Community initiatives to create more localized food systems ofteninclude the strategy of import substitution, i.e., increasing local foodproduction for local consumption. The purpose of this policy iseffectively to supplant some level of imported food into the region. Weargue that such action can carry social and environmental risks as wellas benefits and we have developed research parameters to measure theimpact of such strategies. Harriet Friedmann's seminal work (1991) onthe employment of import substitution by transnational corporationsprovides a framework to identify possible advantages and disadvantagesof the same approach locally. We propose local autonomy and sustainabledevelopment as positive indicators of a more localized food system.Three units of analysis are proposed to measure changes in localautonomy and sustainable development as a result of import substitutionschemes: fair labor trade, equity and democracy, and environmentalstewardship. We propose that this flexible framework of analysisincreases our ability to describe the shifting and integrated balancebetween more local and more global food systems.     

基于层次分析法的城市土地整理项目风险评估模型

城市土地整理是我国实现耕地"占补平衡",解决"吃饭与建设"矛盾的重要手段.但因整理项目的特殊性,使其比一般工程项目具有更大的风险性.在对城市土地整理风险分析的基础上,构建了城市土地整理项目风险评估AHP模型.     

土地整治项目全面质量控制与管理

土地整治项目是指通过一定规划方案和工程措施对现有未利用地或利用率较低土地进行综合治理的行为,为保障我国粮食安全和落实最严格的耕地保护政策作出了重要贡献。但结合工程实施现状来看,重多土地整治项目由于资金缺口较大、管理不到位等原因,出现了工程质量较差无法达到严格验收条件的现象,工程质量已成为影响工程形象和加强土地利用的巨大障碍。由于土地整治项目包含内容较多,且涉及农业、林业、水利以及环保等部门政策限制较多,在具体实施过程中存在较多困难。因此,做好项目实施过程中的质量控制和管理,成为了做好土地整治项目的关键,也是项目面临的必须要解决的重大问题。     

关于渭北台塬区残次林地土地整治项目开展的思考与探索

土地整治已成为缓解耕地占补平衡压力、实现耕地总量动态平衡的重要方式,但随着我国经济迅猛发展,土地资源已越来越不能满足现代社会的发展需求,而截止目前,基于第二次全国土地调查数据成果,包含其他草地、盐碱地以及滩涂地在内的未利用地后备资源已濒临枯竭,严重制约着我国经济社会发展和威胁国家粮食安全,对此,积极寻求新的占补平衡模式和路径,将是当前土地资源开发和利用亟待解决的重点问题。本文以陕西省宝鸡市为研究区域,结合渭北台塬区残次林地土地整治项目目前实施的实际情况,通过分析当地政策背景、后备资源类型、项目开展中存在的问题等来揭示项目实施中需要改进的地方,以期为当地土地整治项目的开展提供更多思路和改进的方向。     

耕地资源承载力关键影响因素识别与典型评价模型研究进展

保障粮食安全、实现乡村振兴、助力生态文明建设是当前农业农村工作关注的热点，其核心是耕地资源承载力问题。本文梳理了承载力的概念、起源与发展，系统概述了4种代表性的耕地资源承载力评价模型（农业生态区法、生态足迹法、模型指数法以及综合评价法），归纳了承载力影响因素指标体系和关键影响因素识别的4种方法，对比了4种方法的优缺点。结果表明：影响因素指标体系多出现于大、中尺度耕地资源承载力研究之中，且较为容易构建，而在小尺度的研究中，如村域单元等，尚未形成代表性研究成果；关键影响因素识别多以主观方法为主，如专家咨询法，缺乏定性方法的选择；而耕地资源承载力评价模型趋向于对综合性研究方法的选择。故今后在研究方法选择上也应优先考虑综合评价模型。     

The resilience of long and short food chains: a case study of flooding in Queensland,Australia

This paper provides new insights into the food security performance of long and short food chains, through an analysis of the resilience of such chains during the severe weather events that occurred in the Australian State of Queensland in early 2011. Widespread flooding cut roads and highways, isolated towns, and resulted in the deaths of people and animals. Farmlands were inundated and there were food shortages in many towns. We found clear evidence that the supermarket-based (long) food chain delivery system experienced significant difficulties in supplying food to flood-affected towns. In contrast, more localized (short) food supply chains—which relied upon supply from growers in peri-urban areas and community-based food initiatives—remained largely intact, and provided food at a time when the supermarkets were limited in their ability to respond to consumer demand. However, on closer examination of food distribution during flooding in the regional city of Rockhampton and in the State capital, Brisbane, the demarcation of success between “long” and “short” food chains became blurred. Both types of food supply chains shared some key resilience characteristics in responding to crisis but diverged in other important ways. We argue that conceptualizing food chains in terms of key elements of resilience—scale, diversity, flexibility and cohesion—may be more fruitful than the short-long dichotomy alone. This approach is particularly useful when prioritizing food security as the basis for evaluating food system sustainability in a context of predicted increases in extreme weather events and future climate change.     

Integrating food security into public health and provincial government departments in British Columbia, Canada

Food security policy, programs, and infrastructure have been incorporated into Public Health and other areas of the Provincial Government in British Columbia, including the adoption of food security as a Public Health Core Program. A policy analysis of the integration into Public Health is completed by merging findings from 48 key informant interviews conducted with government, civil society, and food supply chain representatives involved in the initiatives along with relevant documents and participant/direct observations. The paper then examines the results within the context of historic and international trends and theoretical models of food policy, community food security, and applied policy research. Public Health re-emerged as a driver of food security in BC—both as a key player and in positing the public’s health as a driver in food security and food systems. While Public Health’s lead role supported an increase in legitimacy for food security in BC, interviewees described a clash of cultures between Public Health and civil society. The clash of cultures occurred partly as a result of Public Health’s limited food security mandate and top down approach. Consequently civil society voice at the provincial level was marginalized. A social policy movement toward a new political paradigm—regulatory pluralism—calls for greater engagement of civil society, and for all sectors to work together toward common goals. A new, emerging policy map is proposed for analyzing the dynamics of food security and health promotion initiatives in BC.