Enhancing resilience through seed system plurality and diversity: challenges and barriers to seed sourcing during (and in spite of) a global pandemic
AbstractThe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have rippled across the United States ’ (US) agri-food system, illuminating considerable issues. US seed systems, which form the foundation of food production, were particularly marked by panic-buying and heightened safety precautions in seed fulfillment facilities which precipitated a commercial seed sector overwhelmed and unprepared to meet consumer demand for seed, especially for non-commercial growers. In response, prominent scholars have emphasized the need to support both formal (commercial) and informal (farmer- and gardener-managed) seed systems to holistically aid gro...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Tackling land ’s ‘stubborn materiality’: the interplay of imaginaries, data and digital technologies within farmland assetization
AbstractThe nature of farming is – still – an essentially biological, and thus volatile, system, which poses substantial challenges to its integration into financialized capitalism. Financial investors often seek stability and predictability of returns that are hardly compatible with agriculture – but which are increasingly s een as achievable through data and digital farming technologies. This paper investigates how farmland investment brokers engage with, perceive, and produce farming data for their investors within a co-constructive process. Tackling land’s ‘stubborn materiality’ for investment, I argue, has...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Grajales, Jacobo: Agrarian capitalism, war and peace in Colombia: beyond dispossession
(Source: Agriculture and Human Values)
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Antibiotic responsibility and agricultural publics: diverse stakeholder perceptions of antibiotic use in animal agriculture
AbstractThis paper examines diverse perspectives around the concept of responsibility concerning antibiotic use in animal agriculture. Antibiotic use in agriculture has been identified as a source of antimicrobial resistance, one of the largest public health threats today. In the United States, efforts to curb antibiotic use in farming draws on a diverse range of actors —including farmers, veterinarians, consumers, and public health advocates—and relies on a mix of industry standards and federal guidelines around responsible use. The paper selects a similarly diverse range of people and employs Q methodology to query t...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
As if you were hiring a new employee: on pig veterinarians ’ perceptions of professional roles and relationships in the context of smart sensing technologies in pig husbandry in the Netherlands and Germany
This study explores the meaning veterinarians attribute to the application of PLF in the context of public concerns related to pig production. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with pig veterinarians located in the Netherlands and Germany. By using an inductive and semantic approach to reflexive thematic analysis, we developed four main themes from the interview data: (1) the advisory role of the veterinarian, which is characterized by a diverse scope, including advice on PLF, generally positive evaluations and financial dependencies; (2) the delineation of PLF technologies as supporting tools, which are seen as ...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Cultivating intellectual community in academia: reflections from the Science and Technology Studies Food and Agriculture Network (STSFAN)
AbstractScholarship flourishes in inclusive environments where open deliberations and generative feedback expand both individual and collective thinking. Many researchers, however, have limited access to such settings, and most conventional academic conferences fall short of promises to provide them. We have written this Field Report to share our methods for cultivating a vibrant intellectual community within the Science and Technology Studies Food and Agriculture Network (STSFAN). This is paired with insights from 21 network members on aspects that have allowed STSFAN to thrive, even amid a global pandemic. Our hope is th...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
The resilience and viability of farmers markets in the United States as an alternative food network: case studies from Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic
AbstractThis paper examines the resilience of farmers markets in Michigan to the system shock of the global COVID-19 pandemic, questioning how the response fits into market goals of food sovereignty. Adapting to shifting public health recommendations and uncertainty, managers implemented new policies to create a safe shopping experience and expand food access. As consumers directed their shopping to farmers markets looking for safer outdoor shopping, local products, and foods in short supply at grocery stores, market sales skyrocketed with vendors reporting selling more than ever before, but the longevity of this change re...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Social science – STEM collaborations in agriculture, food and beyond: an STSFAN manifesto
AbstractInterdisciplinary research needs innovation. As an action-oriented intervention, this Manifesto begins from the authors ’ experiences as social scientists working within interdisciplinary science and technology collaborations in agriculture and food. We draw from these experiences to: 1) explain what social scientists contribute to interdisciplinary agri-food tech collaborations; (2) describe barriers to substantiv e and meaningful collaboration; and (3) propose ways to overcome these barriers. We encourage funding bodies to develop mechanisms that ensure funded projects respect the integrity of social science ex...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Farmer satisfaction and short food supply chains
AbstractIn response to a commentary on our research article (Azima and Mundler in Agric Hum Values 39:791 –807, 2022), we address the argument that increased reliance on family farm labor with low or no opportunity costs leads to higher net revenue and greater economic satisfaction. Our response provides a nuanced perspective on this issue in the context of short food supply chains. We also examine th e share of total farm sales from short food supply chains in terms of its effect size on farmer job satisfaction. Finally, we emphasize the need for further research into the sources of occupational satisfaction among farme...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
A genealogy of sustainable agriculture narratives: implications for the transformative potential of regenerative agriculture
AbstractThe agri-food system is facing a range of social-ecological threats, many of which are caused and amplified by industrial agriculture. In response, numerous sustainable agriculture narratives have emerged, proposing solutions to the challenges facing the agri-food system. One such narrative that has recently risen to prominence is regenerative agriculture. However, the drivers for the rapid emergence of regenerative agriculture are not well understood. Furthermore, its transformative potential for supporting a more sustainable agri-food system is underexplored. Through a genealogical analysis of four prominent sust...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Enhancing resilience through seed system plurality and diversity: challenges and barriers to seed sourcing during (and in spite of) a global pandemic
AbstractThe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have rippled across the United States ’ (US) agri-food system, illuminating considerable issues. US seed systems, which form the foundation of food production, were particularly marked by panic-buying and heightened safety precautions in seed fulfillment facilities which precipitated a commercial seed sector overwhelmed and unprepared to meet consumer demand for seed, especially for non-commercial growers. In response, prominent scholars have emphasized the need to support both formal (commercial) and informal (farmer- and gardener-managed) seed systems to holistically aid gro...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Tackling land ’s ‘stubborn materiality’: the interplay of imaginaries, data and digital technologies within farmland assetization
AbstractThe nature of farming is – still – an essentially biological, and thus volatile, system, which poses substantial challenges to its integration into financialized capitalism. Financial investors often seek stability and predictability of returns that are hardly compatible with agriculture – but which are increasingly s een as achievable through data and digital farming technologies. This paper investigates how farmland investment brokers engage with, perceive, and produce farming data for their investors within a co-constructive process. Tackling land’s ‘stubborn materiality’ for investment, I argue, has...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
Grajales, Jacobo: Agrarian capitalism, war and peace in Colombia: beyond dispossession
(Source: Agriculture and Human Values)
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - May 1, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
What is a food system? Exploring enactments of the food system multiple
AbstractRecent years have seen widespread calls to transform food systems to address complex demands such as feeding a growing global population while reducing environmental impacts. But what is a food system and how can we most effectively work to change it? “Food System” can be found describing more limited dietary regimens as well as sector-specific supply chains going back to the 1930s, but its use to describe very large, dynamic, coupled socio-ecological systems gained traction in academic and civil society publications in the 1990s and this use of the term has increased dramatically in recent years. When the infl...
Source: Agriculture and Human Values - April 29, 2023 Category: Food Science Source Type: research
