25 articles in this issue
Patricia Allen
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John Ikerd
Kate Clancy
First paragraphs:"How can it be that more than a century after muckrakers exposed the deplorable conditions of workers in the food system, that harassment of workers, rapes in the fields, squalid living conditions, pesticide showers, hazardous working con... see more
Wanda Martin, Kathleen Perkin
Food safety regulations designed for industrial-scale food producers can create insurmountable challenges when applied to small-scale food producers. These challenges can make for a frustrating environment for food consumers, producers, and regulators, at... see more
Joanna Friesner, INFAS co-creators of the Statement on Equity in the Food System
The Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability (INFAS or "the Network"), initiated informally in 2008 and formalized in 2011, encompasses a broad group of practitioners, primarily in academic institutions, who work individually o... see more
Anna Erwin
Farmworkers play an integral part in both industrial and alternative agriculture, and in recent years the alternative agriculture and farmworker justice movements have been collaborating in more fruitful ways. These collaborations are applauded and are de... see more
Carole Biewener
This article addresses issues related to paid work, unpaid work, and economic viability in alternative food initiatives (AFIs) by comparing three urban agriculture entities in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. The discussion is framed in terms of what constitut... see more
Megan L. Clayton, Katherine Clegg Smith, Lainie Rutkow, Roni A. Neff
Foodborne disease is a significant problem in the United States and around the world. Though research identifies diverse factors associated with foodborne outbreaks, one of the most common is poor worker health and improper hygiene practice. Research on s... see more
Anelyse M. Weiler, Charles Z. Levoke, Carolyn Young
Despite popular momentum behind North American civil society initiatives to advance social justice and ecological resilience in the food system, food movements have had limited success engaging with migrant farmworkers. This article describes a partnershi... see more
Sarah O. Rodman, Colleen L. Barry, Megan L. Clayton, Shannon Frattaroli, Roni A. Neff, Lainie Rutkow
Despite difficult working conditions, farmworkers in the United States are excluded from many federal-level labor protections. The exclusion of farmworkers from standards that apply to most other workers is referred to as agricultural exceptionalism. This... see more
Adam Calo, Kathryn Teigen De Master
Farmworkers aiming to transition to independent proprietorship often benefit from beginning farmer incubator programs that offer agricultural training, subsidized farmland rents, and marketing and business assistance. Incubator initiatives often align wit... see more
Charles Z. Levoke, Nathan McClintock, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Amy K. Coplen, Jennifer Gaddis, Joann Lo, Felipe Tendick-Matesanz, Anelyse M. Weiler
Interest in food movements has been growing dramatically, but until recently there has been limited engagement with the challenges facing workers across the food system. Of the studies that do exist, there is little focus on the processes and relationship... see more
Michael D. Courville, Gail Wadsworth, Marc Schenker
Heat-related illness (also called heat illness) is a recurring and avoidable condition that results in multiple deaths in California farm fields every year. We conducted five focus groups as part of the California Heat Illness Prevention Study (CHIPS) in ... see more
Kathleen P. Hunt
Agrifood movement literature largely represents food system labor through images, descriptions, and depictions of farm workers and other agriculture-related labor, such as slaughtering and meatpacking. Although engaging in a holistic dialogue that conside... see more
Michael Ekers, Charles Z. Levoke
What is the relationship between unpaid and non-waged work and the survival, and even growth, of small- and medium-scale farms? This research brief examines this question through examining the growth of internships and volunteer positions (non-waged work)... see more
Joann Lo, Alexa Delwiche
Public procurement is a strategy to transform the food system into one that is more sustainable and just. The Good Food Purchasing Policy (GFPP), developed by the Los Angeles Food Policy Council in 2012, leverages taxpayer funds to support local producers... see more
Lorien E. MacAuley, Kim L. Niewolny
The beginning farmer phenomenon offers an array of possibilities for facilitating social, economic, and political changes in the agrifood system. Apprenticeships within both formal and informal institutions are increasingly important in the education and ... see more
Michael J. Pisani, Joseph M. Guzman
This paper documents the exceptional confluence between employment as a U.S. farmworker and business owner. Hispanics compose the overall majority (79.7%) of U.S. farmworkers, with two-thirds (66.6%) of all farmworkers identifying as Mexican. Utilizing th... see more
Becca Berkey, Tania Schusler
This study investigates how justice-related issues affect farmers and workers on organic farms in the northeastern United States. At the study's core is an examination of the current context of laborers in organic agriculture in the U.S. Northeast. The st... see more
Lina Yamashita, Diana Robinson
The number of food systems education programs and curricula in the U.S. has increased in response to the growing interest in where food comes from and how it is grown. While these educational efforts aim to increase learners' connection to food and the la... see more
Nicholas Freudenberg, Michele Silver, Lesley Hirsch, Nevin Cohen
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, cities have looked to the rapidly growing food sector as a promising source of new employment, and yet most of the sector's growth has come from low-wage, dead-end food jobs. A strategy to simultaneously increase f... see more
David V. Fazzino II
First paragraph:The contributors in the 14 chapters of Food Systems Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture, through different theoretical perspectives, view the global economic and food crisis of 2008 as a reflection of pervasive st... see more
Charles Francis, Amy Swoboda
First paragraph:Bringing order and clarity to the analysis and evaluation of food systems is an elusive goal, especially when multiple agencies are involved in the design and implementation of policy. Many actors in the system are involved, from input sup... see more
Kimberley Curtis
First paragraph:In the slender volume Awakening Community Intelligence, journalist and long-time community supported agriculture (CSA) advocate Steven McFadden argues for the exponential expansion of CSAs. In the face of profound, disruptive challenges in... see more
Sharon Ferguson, Jillian Ferguson
First paragraphs:Toby Hemenway's recent book is a well grounded follow-up to his earlier book, Gaia's Garden, which was instrumental in introducing the concept of permaculture to an American audience. Despite the fact that many books on permaculture have ... see more