Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work

In Canada, food assistance is provided through a widespread network of extra-governmental, community-based, charitable programs, popularly termed food banks. Most of the food they distribute has been donated by food producers, processors, and retailers or collected through appeals to the public. Some industry donations are of market quality, but many donations are surplus food that cannot be retailed. Drawing on insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work in southern Ontario, we examined how the structure and function of food banks operate to facilitate the distribution of foods not marketed through the retail system. Our findings indicate that the handling of industry donations of unsaleable products is a labor-intensive activity, made possible by the surfeit of unpaid labor in food banks, the neediness of food bank clients, and clients lack of rights in this system. The marshalling of volunteer labor to serve a corporate need might be construed as a win-win situation because the work of salvaging edible foodstuffs from among industry surplus helps to feed the hungry while also diminishing the amount of refuse deposited in landfill sites, sparing corporations disposal costs and landfill tipping fees, and helping them forge an image of good corporate citizenship. However, the reliance of food banks on industry donations means that food assistance becomes defined as that which the corporate sector cannot retail. Moreover, the intertwining of food bank work with corporate needs may function to further entrench this ad hoc secondary food system and mitigate against initiatives to develop more effective responses to problems of hunger and food insecurity in our communities.     

Dirt in our mouths and hunger in our bellies: Metaphor, theory-making, and systems approaches to sustainable agriculture

The metaphor of the food system,dominant in current research approaches to sustainableagriculture, mirrors the productionist paradigm, whichreduces our relationship to land and food to theproduction and consumption of commodities. Theenactment of the familiar values of nourishment andhospitality is what the goal of sustainableagriculture would amount to in terms of our day to daylived experience. The metaphor of an earthen bowl asa theory of food and agriculture can embody thesevalues such that broader change might be achievedthrough embracing the idea and practice of theories asnourishing and theorizing as hospitable.     

Constructing “green” foods: Corporate capital, risk, and organic farming in Australia and New Zealand

Public concern over environmentalquality and food safety has culminated in thedevelopment of markets for green foods – foodsthat are variously construed as fresh, chemical-free,nutritious, natural, or produced in anenvironmentally-sustainable manner. Understanding theemergence of green foods is dependent on analysisboth of the ways in which foods are produced andprocessed, and of the meanings that are attached tothem at each stage of their production,transformation, and consumption. The notion of greenfoods is thereby understood here as a fluid andcontestable signifier that myriad actors involved inthe production/consumption cycle may attempt to shapefor their own purposes. This paper explores corporate capital's recent attempts, through certification logosand advertising, to signify the healthiness andenvironmental virtues of organically-produced foods inAustralia and New Zealand. These attempts have not,however, been universally successful either in termsof gaining consumer interest, or in gaining agreementsbetween farmers, certifying organizations, andcapitalist firms over the meaning of organic and thepractice of sustainable agriculture. The experienceof corporate involvement in the organics industry isillustrative of yet-to-be-resolved processes ofreflexive modernization. As food production andtransformation continues to produce environmental andsocial risks, the question of just what makes foodgreen will continue to be a source of social conflict.     

Sustaining local agriculture Barriers and opportunities to direct marketing between farms and restaurants in Colorado

Research explored methods for shortening the food links or developing the local foodshed by connecting farmers with food service buyers (for restaurants and institutions) in Colorado. Telephone interviews were used to investigate marketing and purchasing practices. Findings include that price is not a significant factor in purchasing decisions; that food buyers prioritize quality as their top purchasing criterion but are not aware that local farmers can provide higher quality, that institutions are interested in buying locally; that small farms can offer comparable or higher quality produce andservice; and that farmers need to show buyers what the quality of produce and service they can provide.     

Identifying ecosystem services using multiple methods: Lessons from the mangrove wetlands of Yucatan, Mexico

The failure to properly account forthe total value of environmental and natural resourcesresults in socially undesirable overexploitation anddegradation of complex ecosystems such as mangrovewetlands. However, most ecosystem valuation researchtoo often focuses on the question of what is the value and not enough on what peoplevalue. Nonmarket valuation practitioners have usedqualitative approaches in their work for some time.Yet, the relative strengths and weaknesses ofdifferent qualitative methods have been more thesubject of speculation than systematic research. Thestatistical examination of focus group and individualinterview data on ecosystem services illustrates thatthe two methods generate important but differentecosystem service data. Further, the data show thatthe use of multiple data collection methods offers amore robust understanding of what people value.     

Gender, land, and water: From reform to counter-reform in Latin America

Rural women did not fare very well inthe land reforms carried out during the Latin Americanreformist period of the 1960s and 1970s, with womenbeing under-represented among the beneficiaries. It isargued that women have been excluded from access toand control over water for similar reasons that theywere excluded from access to land during thesereforms. The paper also investigates the extent towhich women have gained or lost access to land duringthe counter-reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. Underthe neo-liberal agenda, production cooperatives aswell as communal access to land have largely beenundermined in favor of privatization and theindividual parcelization of collectives. Significantland titling efforts are also being carried outthroughout the region to promote the development of avigorous land market. This latter period has also beencharacterized by the growth of the feminist movementthroughout Latin America and a growing commitment bystates to gender equity. The paper reviews the extentto which rural womens access to land and, thus, waterhas potentially been enhanced by recent changes inagrarian and legal codes.     

Identifying Potential Within-Field Management Zones from Cotton-Yield Estimates

Remotely-sensed cotton yield estimates, collected mid-season over the past 11 years, were investigated to identify the degree of temporal stability exhibited in two irrigated fields on Colly Central farm, Collarenabri, NSW, Australia. In particular, the aims of the investigation were: (1) to develop stable yield zones from multi-year yield estimates derived from 11 consecutive years' mid-season Landsat TM imagery; (2) to discover the number of consecutive years of yield estimates required to give similar stable estimates of yield zones to those derived from all 11 years of available data. Results of the investigation indicate that the fields described in the study exhibit a strong degree of temporal stability. Additionally, where an assumption is made that 11 years worth of yield estimates will cluster to generate the most temporally stable regions of similarity, the mapping of clusters generated using 5 or more years will generate comparable regions of similarity with high confidence that the regions will indeed closely match those of the temporally stable 11 year estimates.     

Bringing political economy into the debate on the obesity epidemic

This paper takes what has been termed the epidemic of obesity as the point of departure to examine the way in which political economic factors intersect with diet and nutrition to determine adverse health outcomes. The paper proposes several concepts to better understand the dynamics of the foodscape – institutional sites for the merchandising and consumption of food. These include the concepts of spatial colonization and pseudo foods. With a focus on critical dimensions of the contemporary foodscape, principally supermarket merchandising practices, as well as trends in other food vending operations, the paper explores incentives that motivate capital to spatially colonize the foodscape with aggressively promoted high fat/high sugar pseudo foods. The paper reports on extensive research on trade industry publications as well as data collected through onsite investigations of supermarket practices of the three largest Canadian retail supermarket operations. In addition, current merchandising practices of convenience chain store operations and some non-traditional food vending sites are examined. In concluding, it is argued that the rapidly evolving interdisciplinary debate around the obesity crisis would benefit considerably from the insights to be gained from political economic analysis of retail food industry practices and trends.     

War on foot and mouth disease in the UK, 2001: Towards a cultural understanding of agriculture

This article applies some ofthe insights from framing studies in policyresearch, metaphor analysis, and the history ofmedicine to a cultural understanding ofagriculture, using the 2001 outbreak of footand mouth disease in the UK as a case study.The article will show how metaphors of war wereused as a rhetorical frame by the media andas an implicit action frame by policy makers.It will be argued that although the war framemight initially have been useful in rallyingsupport for the slaughter policy, the metaphorlater backfired, when a metaphorical war turnedinto a literal holocaust. This might haveencouraged the public to perceive the policy asmedieval, brutal, and misguided, thuspotentially undermining the willingness ofsections of the public to support the slaughterpolicy in future outbreaks. If, on the otherhand, a vaccination policy were adopted in thefuture, care would need to be taken to avoidmetaphorical linkages with other controversiesover vaccination in other domains.     

Some reflections on Eastern European agriculture an introductory essay to the special issue on “agriculture in Eastern Europe”

This article reviews three general themes pertaining to the transformation of Eastern European agriculture from a command system to a market oriented system. The first theme deals with the diverse character of Eastern European agriculture. In a context in which the agricultures of this region are often considered homogenous, acknowledgement of the varied dimension of this sector is a key element in both analytical and political terms. The second theme pertains to the market. The historical and theoretical dispute over the role of the market has not only been central in the socio-economic reorganization of Eastern European countries and agricultures but is also a common element shared with the West. The third and final theme refers to the changing social stratification of rural regions. The emergence of new and powerful social groups and the demise of others represent fundamental aspects in the understanding of possible trajectories for development. The article concludes with a review of the contributions contained in this special issue of Agriculture and Human Values.Alessandro Bonanno is Associate Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of numerous journal articles and books, among themSmall Farms (1987),Sociology of Agriculture (1989),Agrarian Policies and Agricultural Systems (1990), andThe Agricultural and Food Sector in the New Global Era (1993). He is also co-editor of the forthcoming book From Columbus to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food. Since the late 1980s, he has been researching issues pertaining to the Agricultural and Food Sector in selected Eastern European Countries.     

Relational dynamics and strategies: Men and women in a forest community in Sweden

This article views gender dynamics and strategies for change in a small Swedish village from a systems perspective. In the context of the struggle for the communal management of forests, tensions arose in the relations among the people in the village who differed in their opinions as to how to approach village development. Some village women argued for the importance of issues other than only community forestry in the development of the community's future livelihoods and well-being. They also believed that linking these activities with each other are vital for the community. Co-operative inquiry with women in the village reveals that, in their view, the community's overall needs are the most meaningful point of departure and not just individual resource management initiatives. They believed that it was vital to link resource management with other developmental activities in the village. The inquiry process also shows how the differences that may arise between men and women are dependent on the context, their relationships, and the networks they activate rather than the differences emerging solely from gender roles or the structure. Attention to how women and men draw boundaries around their activities and relationships expands our understanding of the diverse means they use for reaching their objectives. It also highlights the role of innovators who cross these boundaries and work toward change.     

Environmental and social risks, and the construction of “best-practice” in Australian agriculture

Amongst the environmental and social externalities generated by Australian agriculture are a number of risks both to the health and safety of communities living near sites of agricultural production, and to the end consumers of agricultural products. Responses to these potential risks – and to problems of environmental sustainability more generally – have included a number of programs to variously: define best-practice for particular industries; implement Quality Assurance procedures; and encourage the formation of self-help community Landcare groups. Taken together, these programs appear to deal comprehensively with both the social and environmental risks associated with agricultural production and products. However, these programs may also be interpreted as strategies that actually encourage the further intensification of agriculture, while attempting to reassure consumers that their food is safe and that farmers are doing all they can to protect the environment. Investigation of the Australian cotton and beef industries illustrates a number of strategies that have become evident between farmers, agri-science agencies, and the retail sector to manage these risks and define good farming practices in ways that satisfy their own perceived interests. Contrary to the image, therefore, of green consumption that is emerging as an integrated concern for clean (and thereby healthy) and sustainably produced foods, it appears that mainstream agricultural industries have bifurcated these concerns in ways that distract attention from production and processing methods, leaving conflict over on-farm production methods a characteristic only of those industries believed to have direct health impacts on nearby communities.     

Converting or not converting to organic farming in Austria:Farmer types and their rationale

Reasons for converting to organic farming have been studied in a number of instances. However, the underlying rationale that motivates the behavior is not always made clear. This study aims to provide a detailed picture of farmers decision-making and illustrate the choice between organic and conventional farm management. Based on 21 interviews with farmers, a decision-tree highlighting the reasons and constraints involved in the decision of farmers to use, or not to use, organic production techniques was formulated. The accuracy of the decision-tree was tested through a written survey of 65 randomly sampled farmers. The decision-tree permits the identification of decision criteria and examines the decision-making process of farmers in choosing their farming method. It also allows for the characterization of farmer strategies and values, identifying five types of farmers: the committed conventional; the pragmatic conventional; the environment-conscious but not organic; the pragmatic organic; and the committed organic. The importance of taking into account heterogeneity in farmers attitudes, preferences, and goals and their impact on the choice of a farming method is emphasized.Ika Darnhofer is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Economics at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna. She received both her MSc and PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, working on issues of agricultural development in Africa. Her current research interests include economic and sociological analyses of factors that shape farmers land use decision-making behavior, with a particular focus on organic farming.Walter Schneeberger is a Full Professor of Farm Business Management and Head of the Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Economics at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna. His current research interests include the economics of producing and processing agricultural products and farm business management for both conventional and organic farms.Bernhard Freyer is a Full Professor of Organic Farming and Head of the Institute of Organic Farming of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna. His work on organic farming focuses on its agronomic aspects (plant cultivation, crop rotations, and soil fertility) as well as on the analysis of conversion to organic farming (planning process, farm development) and its potential for regional development.     

Community food security: Practice in need of theory?

Practitioners and advocates of community food security (CFS) envision food systems that are decentralized, environmentally-sound over a long time-frame, supportive of collective rather than only individual needs, effective in assuring equitable food access, and created by democratic decision-making. These themes are loosely connected in literature about CFS, with no logical linkages among them. Clear articulation in a theoretical framework is needed for CFS to be effective as a guide for policy and action. CFS theory should delimit the level of analysis (i.e., what are the boundaries of community); show how CFS relates to individual, household, and national food security and explain emergent properties, which are important at the community level of analysis; point to the best indicators of CFS or its lack; clarify the determinants of CFS; and clarify the stages of movement toward CFS. This theoretical base would allow researchers to develop valid and reliable measures, and allow practitioners to weigh alternative options to create strategic plans. A theoretical base also would help establish common ground with potential partners by making the connections to anti-hunger work, sustainable agriculture, and community development clear.     

Resistance,redistribution, and power in the Fair Trade banana initiative

The Fair Trade movement seeks to alter conventional trade relations through a system of social and environmental standards, certification, and labels designed to help shorten the social distance between consumers in the North and producers in the South. The strategy is based on working both in and against the same global capitalist market that it hopes to alter, raising questions about if and how Fair Trade initiatives exhibit counter-hegemonic potential to transform the conventional agro-food system. This paper considers the multiple levels at which Fair Trade alternatives operate to identify the different forms of social action that the movement engages with, and to clarify where the movements counter-hegemonic potentials are being realized. I suggest the Fair Trade movement is most successful in encouraging consumers and producers to commit acts of resistance and in supporting redistributive action that shifts resources from North to South. Up to now, however, Fair Trade alternatives appear to hold only a theoretical potential to provoke transformative change in the agro-food system. A reconceptualization of the Fair Trade model and how it is implemented could allow it to manifest more of its implicit, oppositional promise.Aimee Shreckis a sociologist and the Research Specialist for the California Faculty Association. Her previous work as a postdoctoral researcher with the University of California, Berkeley and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program focused on social justice, sustainable agriculture, and fair trade.     

The community idea in American country life

The American Country LifeAssociation was heir to Theodore Roosevelt'sCountry Life Commission, which examined thegeneral conditions of farming life in the opencountry, and...its larger problems. In1919, Kenyon Butterfield, a member ofRoosevelt's Commission, met withrepresentatives from 30 states and 25 nationalorganizations to form the American Country LifeAssociation. In that year, Butterfield, ACLA'sfirst president, published a book, TheFarmer and the New Day, whose defining chapterwas The Making of Communities: The CommunityIdea. The ACLA was educator created and led.Solutions to rural problems were seen aseducational matters. But educational philosophywas undergoing scrutiny and new educationalconcepts were arising from the bustling,industrializing, urbanizing times of late19th century. The experimental,unconstrained spirit of the nation at the turnof the century was formalized as pragmatism. Aleading pragmatist and educator of the time wasJohn Dewey, a contemporary of Butterfield.The communitarianism of Butterfield and Deweycarried throughout the life of ACLA in avariety of forms. Even after ACLA ended as anorganization in 1976, the concerns and idealscontinued in successor organizations, and canbe found in environmental, sustainableagriculture, and rural life organizationstoday. This paper traces one of continuingthemes of the ACLA, the community idea as a wayof adding a social dimension to agriculture'seconomic policies and development. The ACLAstory is a metaphor for country life throughmuch of 20th century America. ACLA is alsoa lesson in how organizations come into being,flourish, falter, die, and leave their legaciesto future generations.     

Gendered participation in water management: Issues and illustrations from water users‘ associations in South Asia

The widespread trend to transferirrigation management responsibility from the stateto communities or local user groups has byand large ignored the implications ofintra-community power differences for theeffectiveness and equity of water management. Genderis a recurrent source of such differences. Despitethe rhetoric on womens participation, a review ofevidence from South Asia shows that femaleparticipation is minimal in water usersorganizations. One reason for this is that theformal and informal membership criteria excludewomen. Moreover, the balance between costs andbenefits of participation is often negative forwomen because complying with the rules and practicesof the organization involves considerable time costsand social risks, whereas other ways to obtainirrigation services may be more effective for femalewater users. Although effective, these other andoften informal ways of obtaining irrigation servicesare also typically less secure. More formalparticipation of women can strengthen womensbargaining position as resource users withinhouseholds and communities. Greater involvement ofwomen can also strengthen the effectiveness of theorganization by improving womens compliance withrules and maintenance contributions. Furtherdetailed and comparative research is required toidentify the major factors that affect womensparticipation and control over resources, ifdevolution policies are to address the tensionbetween objectives of transferring control overresources to community institutions, and ensuringthe participation of all members of the community,especially women.     

The restructuring of the agricultural and food system: Social and economic equity in the reshaping of the Agrarian Question and the Food Question

The paper investigates the characteristics of the global restructuring of the agricultural and food system that has occurred in recent years. Emphasis is placed on the emergence of the Food and Natural Resource Question and its relation to the Agrarian Question. It is argued that rather than being separate issues, these are two aspects of a unified process occurring at the global level. Moreover, it is argued that the transnational unity of the agrarian question and the food question mandates a reconstruction of the arena within which production takes place. This phenomenon in turn generates a set of limits to domestic political institutions and locally generated social demands. The implications of the emergence of the international arena as locus of political action is discussed vis-a-vis the local level of socio-political action.Alessandro Bonanno is Associate Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has researched among other topics, the structure of agriculture, the role of the State in agriculture, and regional and international development. Currently, he is investigating the processes of globalization and restructuring of the agriculture and food sector.     

Foundations of production and consumption of organic food in Norway: Common attitudes among farmers and consumers?

In Norway, the production andconsumption of organic food is still small-scale. Research on attitudes towards organic farming in Norway has shown that most consumers find conventionally produced food to be good enough. The level of industrialization of agriculture and the existence of food scandals in a country will affect consumer demand for organically produced foods. Norway is an interesting case because of its small-scale agriculture, few problems with food-borne diseases, and low market share for organic food. Similarities between groups of consumers and producers of food, organic and conventional, when it comes to attitudes concerning environment, use of gene technology, and animal welfare have implications for understanding market conditions for organically produced food. The results of our study indicate that organic farmers and organic consumers in Norway have common attitudes towards environmental questions and animal welfare in Norwegian agriculture. Conventional farmers have a higher degree of agreement with the way agriculture is carried out today. Unlike organic farmers and consumers, conventional farmers do not see major environmental problems and problems with animal welfare in today's farming system. But like the organic farmers and consumers, and to a stronger degree than conventional consumers, conventional farmers renounce gene technology as a solution to environmental problems in agriculture. These results are discussed in relation to their importance for the market situation for organically produced foods.     

Close encounters with a CSA: The reflections of a bruised and somewhat wiser anthropologist

This essay tells a story. It is a story of the author's experience with community supported agriculture (CSA). It is also a story that depicts the difficulties of academic activism and grass-roots engagement. As an academic and an activist, the author argues that it is important to admit and share experiences that are less than perfect, since they are the basis for a more complete knowledge and a more organic existence, individually, collectively, sensually, and intellectually.