Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development  

Duncan Hilchey

First paragraph:Food waste and food rescue have been hot topics in recent years (although gleaning dates back to at least biblical times in the ancient traditions of tzedakah and pe’ah). Our cover photo for this issue, courtesy of Salvation Farms, shows a... see more

John Ikerd

First paragraphs:The United States farm bill expires in 2018 and is scheduled to be replaced by new legislation approved by the U.S. Congress and implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA has already announced its farm bill prefer... see more

Laura Schreiner, Charles Z. Levkoe, Theresa Schumilas

Despite limited study, farmer training is an area of growing interest and concern among new and experienced farmers across North America. It is also an area with broad implications regarding the future of domestic food production. This paper presents find... see more

Kim A. Keenan

First paragraph: No food system can be considered successful unless all people are well fed with the best food available.—Ken Meter (2013, p. 11) For me, Ken Meter’s simple statement hits the nail on the proverbial head. In Peoria, Illinois, we see f... see more

Timothy Griffin, Christian Peters, David Fleisher, Michael Conard, Zach Conrad, Nicole Tichenor, Ashley McCarthy, Emily Piltch, Jonathan Resop, Houman Saberi

Agricultural production on farms and ranches in the U.S. contributes to the food supply and the food system on local, regional, national, and global scales. Increasing production at the regional scale—the focus of this research—depends on accurately estim... see more

Roni A. Neff, Elana K. Dean, Marie L. Spiker, Theresa Snow

For a variety of reasons, farms cannot sell or donate all the food they produce, and some food crops are lost from the food supply. Food lost at the farm level represents a substantial environ­mental, economic, and nutritional cost to the food system. Few... see more

Amy Guptill, David A. Larsen, Rick Welsh, Erin Kelly

The last century has seen steady decline in the number of farms and ever-worsening concentra­tion of economic power in the food system. In more recent decades, agricultural sales directly to consumers have grown, raising questions about the role of econom... see more

Kathleen P. Hunt

This research brief reports preliminary findings related to the SNAP Challenge (SC), an anti-hunger initiative in which participants purchase their household groceries using the average food stamp budget benefit for one week. By simulating a SNAP budget, ... see more

Rebecca C. Woodruff, Kimberly J. Arriola, Kia Powell-Threets, K. Rashid Nuri, Carol Hunter, Michelle C. Kegler

Inadequate access to healthy foods is an important determinant of dietary intake among low-income populations in the United States. This study reports the results of an evaluation of two urban farmers markets in metro Atlanta, which received funding to im... see more

Charles Z. Levkoe, Colleen Hammelman, Luke Craven, Gavin Dandy, Jeff Farbman, James Harrison, Phil Mount

In this paper, we explore the current state of the food hub by discussing innovative practices supporting efforts to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems. We present key insights from a roundtable discussion among scholars and practition... see more

Sarah A. Amin, Megan Lehnerd, Sean B. Cash, Christina D. Economos, Jennifer M. Sacheck

Improving food access is a complex challenge, and a broad range of U.S. nonprofit organizations are working to create positive change. In an attempt to amplify the impact of a single organization, foun­dations have begun funding collaboratives of mul­tipl... see more

Kyle M. Moller, James G. Hartwell, Bridget R. Simon-Friedt, Mark J. Wilson, Jeffrey K. Wickliffe

Along with the many benefits of urban agriculture comes the possible exposure to contaminants not typically seen in rural soils. Through the use of standard laboratory analyses (ICP-AES and CVAAS) and a field-portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF)... see more

Teresa M. Mares

First paragraph:What role does love play in challenging the devastating impacts of capitalism on our food system? What role does hope play? For Holt-Giménez, the author of A Foodie’s Guide to Capital­ism, both love and hope are essential in building a mor... see more

Amber A. Heckelman

First paragraph:Jennifer Robinson and James Farmer’s Selling Local: Why Local Food Movements Matter consoli­dates decades of research on the local food move­ment, drawing attention to the array of local food developments in the U.S. Midwest and Appalachia... see more

Darcy Mullen

First paragraph:In A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved Its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement, Philip Ackerman-Leist tells the story of Mals, in Northern Italy. He does it in a way that makes the reader feel as if the... see more

Salma Loudiyi

First paragraph:In The Politics of Food Sovereignty: Concept, Practice and Social Movements, editors Annie Shattuck, Christina Schiavoni, and Zoe VanGelder bring together some of the seminal contributions of the Yale McMillan Center Agrarian Studies Progr... see more

Keith Williams

First paragraph:Food Leadership: Leadership and Adult Learning for Global Food Systems, edited by Catherine Etmanski (2017), consists of eight papers in three sections: Indigenous food systems, leadership in global food system transformation, and learning... see more