Small and medium-sized farms are an important demographic of the agricultural sector in the Shenandoah Valley and Chesapeake Bay watershed. Having sufficient food system infrastructure available and accessible to these farm operations is essential to help them add value to their farm products; diversify their operations and differentiate their farm and food products in an increasingly competitive and commodity-based food system. Despite its importance, however, local food systems (LFS) frequently have incorrect types or insufficient amounts of the equipment and facilities needed to support these systems. Through the use of two case studies, this study investigates current circumstances, future needs, and offers recommendations for two important components of LFS infrastructure in the Shenandoah Valley. The first study inventories and assesses existing infrastructure capacity available in the region. Using data collected from farmers, LFS organizations, and institutional foodservice organizations, a needs assessment is then completed to determine the specific amounts and types of equipment and facilities which would be needed to meet current LFS infrastructure needs. The second study explores current and potential benefits, and future challenges of a produce auction to impact Mennonite communities in the Shenandoah Valley. This analysis of the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction (SVPA) was conducted using data obtained from both interviews and surveys. Results indicate that producers, existing infrastructure, and institutional buyers in the region would like to own, use, or rent food system infrastructure. There is unmet LFS infrastructure demand in due to the current lack of enough food cleaning, processing, packaging, and storing equipment in this area. For the SVPA, most of participants were satisfied with the auction. Buyers, however, reported that their procurement from the SVPA is limited by fluctuating prices, demand outpacing supply of produce, insufficient delivery services. Overall, food system infrastructure in general, and the SVPA in particular, were reported to have an important role in the region in supporting market access for local small and medium sized farmers, improve viability of local food system and the regional economy, and facilitating connections between consumers and their local food system. Several recommendations to strengthen the region's LFS are derived from these results. / Master of Science

Local food production movements have claimed a central role in proposals to mitigate some of the negative effects of economic globalization. Although not meant to be a panacea for the ills of the neoliberal order, local food production is advocated as a sustainable solution to a portion of the environmental degradation caused by global capitalism, and as a mechanism by which to rebuild community networks undermined by the globalization of commerce and culture and create the type of sustainable development necessary to restore and preserve the carrying capacity of the planet. This study seeks to develop a conceptual framework for assessing the potential for communities to create and sustain local food production by addressing three major factors that influence a community's ability to localize its food system: the physical capacity of the region or locality to produce enough food to feed its inhabitants, successful policy and trade adjustments by governments to create and enable the survival of local food production systems, and the willingness of consumers to participate in a localized food production system, which includes the community's willingness and ability to bear the costs of instituting and maintaining the local system. / Master of Arts

Local food systems (LFS) connect producers and consumers in a geographically restricted food supply chain. Local food advocates argue that limiting the spatial scope of food systems can help to address the sustainability challenges present in the global food system. LFS are argued to eliminate intermediaries, enable clear product provenance, encourage community interactions, and involve few food miles. LFS are growing in Sweden, where the government launched a National Food Strategy in 2016, which among other aims promotes the proliferation of local food. This study aims to understand why several farmers from Uppland, central Sweden engage in local selling and whether concerns about sustainability influence the choice of selling channels among them. Using on-farm, semi-structured interviews with the farmers, this research explores three research questions concerning: (1) farmer motives for engaging in local selling channels, (2) factors constraining farmer involvement in LFS, and (3) farmer perceptions on the future of local selling channels. The overall purpose of this research is to provide a critical perspective on local selling as a sustainable food system solution. The study reveals a wide range of motives, including economic advantages from responding to consumer demand and cutting out middlemen, price premiums, more customer interactions, job satisfaction, and proximity to markets. Various economic and personal constraints limit the farmers’ use of local selling channels. Such constraints include seasonality of produce, performing time-consuming middlemen tasks, limited access to essential infrastructure, low transport load utilisation, and individual reasons for not wanting to up-scale local production. The results indicate that better access to on-farm or nearby infrastructure, improved small-scale efficiency, increasing food prices for consumers, changing consumer preferences, more diverse farm products, and better congruency between government objectives and import policies could all help to support LFS in the future. This research exposes a number of underlying contradictions and tensions associated with local food in the literature and among the interviewed farmers. The study finds that sustainability concerns are not a critical motive for the farmers’ involvement in local selling. Some of the farmers even question the sustainability of such channels and challenge the idea that LFS are inherently more sustainable than food systems on other scales. Furthermore, almost all the farmers are involved in both local and global food systems. The farmers do not find it conflicting to be part of both food systems, and are in fact consciously using both systems to their economic advantage. Thus the clear distinction between local and global food systems made in the LFS literature is not reflected in the practical experiences of the farmers involved in this study.

Alternative food systems (AFS) projects are designed to address issues of environmental justice, food security and insecurity, community health disparities between the affluent and the poor, and access to healthful foods in distressed urban areas. Past research has questioned the efficacy and long-term viability of such interventions, particularly in distressed primarily Black urban areas. The purpose of this intrinsic case study (ICS) was to understand the ways in which local governmental entities collaborated with each other and with nongovernmental partners to help develop an AFS in South Florida through the creation of a market garden called the PATCH. Critical race theory was the framework for addressing the challenges associated with community health, empowerment, and socioeconomic issues pertaining to AFS. A critical case sampling strategy was employed in order to study the selected site. Transcribed data from interviews with 6 key informants, observational notes, and publicly available document searches were coded using a thematic posteriori strategy and analyzed diagrammatically. Results revealed 4 primary drivers for the effective creation of AFS including collaboration and partnerships, community empowerment, community involvement, and the leadership role of government. The concept of transcommunality played an integral role in how these primary drivers could be applied between local governmental and nongovernmental partners. Knowledge gleaned from these results can inform the development of effective community and culturally specific AFS that can help address the disparities that race and socioeconomic status play in providing access to healthful foods in South Florida, thereby creating the basis for positive social change in distressed urban areas.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Matthew R. Sanderson / Food crises in Kenya are recurring phenomena. Despite widespread and perennial famines, Kenya is exporting food while importing food aid. This study focuses on the concept and question of food security in Kenya. If Kenya can produce and even export food products, why does the country still import food aid every year? Why is the country classified as food insecure? And why does the country still suffer from recurrent famines? Drawing on social science theory from the political economy of food and agriculture, this study postulates that the contradiction between exporting food and importing food aid is related to Kenya‟s subordinate position in the world economy. Using a comparative-historical, in-depth case study research design, this research descriptively explores the relationship between trends in food aid, trade, production and food security. The study finds that the relationship between food trade and aid with food security is mixed in Kenya. Aid and trade have not strongly enhanced food security in Kenya, but food insecurity in Kenya has not gotten markedly worse.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Hyung Jin Kim / Accessing healthy food can be a challenge for people living in both rural and urban environments. A broad range of factors influences one’s food security, including the accessibility and affordability of food retailers, travel time to shopping, availability of healthy foods, and food prices. The connections between planning and food systems have begun to emerge and be examined but planners face many barriers when tackling food system issues that range from turf problems, a lack of knowledge that any problem exists, to a lack of funds. The study purposes were to 1) identify areas with low access to healthy food sources; 2) discover barriers and perceptions of healthy food accessibility among community members; and 3) explore current planning policies and practices for increasing healthy food accessibility. The study area of this case is Riley County, Kansas, which has lower food accessibility especially to health foods in low income areas located in urban neighborhoods, even though rural areas are further away from a healthy food store. The research has the potential to inform the local food system framework and provide guidance for local policy makers and stakeholder groups. Surveys were collected from 150 households in order to identify challenges and barriers respondents face when obtaining healthy food. Food prices and low income were the largest barriers survey respondents faced when obtaining healthy food. Interviews conducted among 6 individuals from planning offices, market, and community stakeholder groups and both urban and rural issues were discussed. Currently, there is understanding of the importance of healthy food but little action that follows. There are opportunities for planners and policy makers to get involved with planning for the local food system. Partnerships must be established to share resources and technical skills among stakeholders in order to plan for healthy community food systems.

Vermont prides itself on being a national role model in developing innovative models for community-supported, ecologically responsible agricultural practices. However, Vermont's largest sector of agriculture, the dairy industry, has increasingly relied on Latinx* migrant farm laborers who face significant challenges. Due to a lack of a year-round agricultural visa program, most farmworkers on Vermont's dairy farms are unable to receive proper documentation. This circumstance has a significant impact on migrant workers, particularly those living and working closer to the border, as those areas fall within federal jurisdiction of US immigration enforcement. In these borderlands, surveillance is intensified and so the pressure to be invisible is heightened. The current availability of agricultural visas is limited to seasonal migrant farmworkers, and because dairy is year-round work, farmworkers in the dairy industry are barred from accessing proper documentation. Increased patrolling along the northern border results in extreme isolation, fear, and the inability to access basic human rights. For migrant workers on Vermont's dairy farms, just taking a trip to the grocery store is to risk deportation. This thesis examines systemic barriers, complex relationships, and resilient responses of Vermont's farmworkers, drawing upon applied, mixed methods. The first article uses ethnography to examine food access and food sovereignty through Huertas, an applied garden project in northern VT. The second article analyzes the methodologies connected to El Viaje Más Caro/The Most Costly Journey, an applied cartooning project that shares farmworker stories with other migrant farmworkers as a tool to break cycles of isolation and relieve psychological distress. Both projects illustrate resilient responses to the barriers associated with being undocumented along the Northern border. While the thesis is based on research conducted in Vermont, the significance is broader in scope, and representative of national and international trends. The food system is built upon those who are continually stripped of and denied rights. While this is about Vermont, it is not only about Vermont: these stories are symptomatic of a larger structural violence. This thesis situates itself in a multi-scalar context-Vermont, the US, international- in which the stories conveyed are indicative of political and economic systemic obstacles, and the potential for human creativity to subvert and respond to systems of oppression. *I use the term "Latinx" throughout my thesis because it is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina and even Latin@. It is pronounced "La-teen-ex". This is a term that has been introduced by the trans/queer community, but is increasingly being adopted by scholars, activists, journalists, and social media. (Ramirez & Blay, 2016)

Addressing malnutrition (in all its forms) whilst developing a global food system compatible with environmental sustainability remains one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. The current framing of our food systems fails to fully capture the inequities in production, distribution, efficiency and sufficiency of all components necessary to end malnutrition. This research presents a holistic, scalable and replicable framework to model food system pathways (across all essential nutritional components, including macronutrients, micronutrients and amino acids), providing quantification of production, losses, allocation and conversions at all stages of the value chain. Furthermore, this framework attempts to translate current food metrics-often presented in tonnage or absolute terms-into daily per capita figures to provide important context for how this translates into food security and nutrition. This framework can be applied at global, regional and national levels. Here, this model is first presented at a global level and then focuses on India as a national-level example. Results highlight that, at a global level, we produce the equivalent of 5800 kilocalories and 170 grams of protein per person per day through crops alone. However, major system inefficiencies mean that less than half of crop calories and protein are delivered (or converted) for final food supply. Pathway inefficiencies are even more acute for micronutrients; more than 60% of all essential micronutrients assessed in this study are lost between production and consumer-available phases of the food supply system. Globally we find very large inequalities in per capita levels of food production, ranging from 19,000 kilocalories (729 grams of protein) per person per day in North America to 3300 kilocalories (80 grams of protein) in Africa. Large variations are also seen in terms of food system efficiency, ranging from 15-20% in North America to 80-90% in Africa. Understanding regional inefficiencies, inequalities and trade imbalances will be crucial to meet the needs of a growing global population. This case is exemplified in India-specific framework results. India's domestic production capacity would result in severe malnutrition across a large proportion (>60%) of the population (even under ambitious yield and waste reduction scenarios) in 2030/50. This shortfall will have to be addressed through optimised intervention and trade developments. This work also explores a number of solutions which couple improved nutritional outcomes with sustainability. Analyses of global and national nutritional guidelines conclude that most are incompatible with climate targets; the recommended USA or Australian diet provides minimal emissions savings relative to the business-as-usual diet in 2050. Low-cost, high-quality protein will remain a crucial element in developing an effective and sustainable food system. This research explores the potential of two sources. Results find that meat substitute products have significant health and emission benefits, but are strongly sensitive to both price and consumer acceptability. The environmental impact of aquaculture is strongly species-dependent. This study provides the first quantification of global greenhouse gas emissions from aquaculture, estimated to be 227±61 MtCO2e (approximately 3-4% of total livestock emissions). This is projected to increase to 365±99MtCO2e by 2030.

In the past, cities and their food system were spatially interwoven. However, rapid urbanization and the creation of industrialized agriculture have physically isolated and psychologically disconnected urban residents from the landscape that sustains them. Cities can no longer feed themselves and must rely on a global hinterland. Vital growing, preserving, and cooking knowledge has been lost, while negative health, economic, and environmental effects continue to develop from this separation. Low-income neighborhoods have significantly been affected where a lack of income and mobility pose barriers to adequate food access. Architects have addressed food issues individually, but have yet to take an integrative approach that meaningfully engages urban citizens with all processes of the food system. Urban planners have recently taken a holistic design approach to food issues through the development of the community food system concept. By applying this idea to an architectural program I have designed a Community Food Center for the Five Points Neighborhood in East Knoxville, TN. Spatially compressing and layering food activity spaces preserves the majority of the landscape on site for food production. The kitchen, dining room, market, and garden increase access to healthy food while serving as community gathering spaces, and the business incubator kitchens provide economic opportunities. The whole facility acts to educate and engage people in the growing, harvesting, preserving, cooking, sharing, and composting of food. Cities cannot sustain themselves by only providing spaces for consumption. Architects must challenge the accepted relationships between food system spaces and strive to reincorporate productive landscapes and spaces dedicated to transforming raw ingredients into a variety of architectural programs. Although the Five Points Community Food Center is site specific, the concept of integrating multiple food activities into a single architectural entity can be used as a tool for place making by expressing a local identity through food culture while improving the social and economic fabric.

This thesis presents a comparison of conventional agriculture and Ecological Recycling Agriculture (ERA) in terms of their environmental and socio-economic effects. Environmental effects include greenhouse gas emissions and energy use but the focus is on leakage of nutrients. Socio-economic effects include production, costs and benefits at macro, firm and household levels. The comparison is made at regional (Baltic Sea), national (Swedish) and local (Järna community/Södertälje municipality) levels. At regional level the main challenge is to transform agricultural production in an environmentally friendly direction and reduce nutrient loads while sustaining food production. At national level the challenges are to shift the product mix towards more vegetables and less meat, and to address the geographical division of animal and crop production. At local level the challenge is to achieve sustainable rural development in environmental, economic and social terms. Results: at regional level the empirical findings were scaled up to calculate three scenarios. A scenario where the agriculture sectors of Poland and the Baltic States transform in such a way that their structure and use of resources resembles the Swedish average resulted in a 58% increase of nitrogen and an 18% increase in phosphorus surplus from agriculture and increased food production. Two other scenarios where agriculture in the entire Baltic Sea area converts to ERA resulted in reductions of 47-61% in nitrogen surplus from agriculture and eliminated the phosphorus surplus. In these scenarios food production decreased or remained stable depending on the strategy chosen. At national level, the environmental effects of different production methods, transport and different food baskets were compared. A household survey was performed to construct an alternative food profile. This food basket was high in vegetables, low in meat and high in locally produced organic food compared to the average Swedish food profile. It was also 24% more expensive. Food basket content was found to be as important as production methods in reducing the environmental effects. Localized production and processing was less important. At local level, a network of entrepreneurs engaged in the production, processing and distribution of organic food was studied. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess the network, which was found to be a resilient self-organized network characterized by economic stability and social capital. A high share of locally produced and consumed food was coupled with social and economic sustainability. This was facilitated by well-functioning cooperation within the network and between entrepreneurs, consumers and the municipality. EU expansion can be seen as a window of opportunity for governance of the Baltic Sea and the agriculture sector. A new agricultural regime with large-scale ERA production would result in several environmental gains. Sustainable governance of the Baltic Sea as agreed on in HELCOM cannot be achieved while simultaneously maximizing agricultural production in the surrounding countries. Agricultural production bears large external costs. There is substantial willingness to pay for an improved Baltic Sea environment among the public: this justifies environmentally sound farming practices. The contracting parties of HELCOM, including the Swedish government, have both environmental and economic incentives to use this window of opportunity before it closes. This thesis is the result of a collaboration between Mälardalen University and Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. Both universities contributed with supervision and financial support at different stages of the research process. / I den här avhandlingen jämförs konventionellt jordbruk med ekologiskt kretsloppsjordbruk. Jämförelsen görs med avseende på miljöeffekter och socio-ekonomisk påverkan. Av miljöeffekterna är fokus på läckage av växtnäring men utsläpp av växthusgaser samt energianvändning studeras också. Till de socio-ekonomiska effekterna räknas effekter på produktionsvolym samt kostnader och nyttor på såväl samhälls- som företags- och hushållsnivå. Jämförelsen görs på regional (Östersjöområdet), nationell (Sverige) och lokal (Järna/Södertälje kommun) nivå. På regional nivå är den stora utmaningen att omvandla jordbruksproduktionen i miljövänlig riktning och att minska närsaltsbelastningen samtidigt som produktionen hålls uppe. På nationell nivå är en utmaning att ändra produktionssammansättningen mot mer grönsaker och mindre kött samt att minska den geografiska uppdelningen av djurhållning och spannmål. På lokal nivå är utmaningen att uppnå en hållbar landsbygdsutveckling ur miljömässigt såväl som ekonomiskt och socialt perspektiv. Resultat: på regional nivå beräknas miljöpåverkan och påverkan på livsmedelsproduktion i tre olika scenarier. Enligt ett scenario omvandlar Polen och de baltiska staterna sina jordbrukssektorer efter samma struktur och resursanvändning som ett genomsnittligt svenskt jordbruk. Det resulterar i att överskottet av kväve och fosfor i jordbruket ökar med 58% respektive 18% samtidigt som livsmedelsproduktionen ökar. Två andra scenarier där jordbruket i hela Östersjöregionen ställer om till ekologiskt kretsloppsjordbruk resulterar i reduktion av kväveöverskottet från jordbruket med 47-61% samt att fosforöverskottet elimineras. I de här scenarierna skulle livsmedelsproduktionen minska eller vara i princip oförändrad beroende på vilken strategi som väljs. På nationell nivå jämförs miljöpåverkan av olika produktionsmetoder, av transporter samt av olika matkassar. En hushållsstudie genomfördes i en grupp miljömedvetna konsumenter för att konstruera en alternativ matkasse. Matkassen innehöll en stor andel grönsaker, en liten andel kött och mycket lokalt och ekologiskt producerad mat jämfört med en genomsnittlig svensk matkasse. Den var även 24% dyrare i inköp. Det visade sig att miljöbelastningen påverkades väl så mycket av matkassens innehåll som av produktionsmetod. Lokal produktion och förädling var inte lika betydelsefullt. På lokal nivå studerades ett nätverk av entreprenörer engagerade i produktion, förädling och distribution av ekologiska livsmedel. Semistrukturerade intervjuer användes för att studera nätverket. Ett resilient, självorganiserande nätverk karaktäriserat av ekonomisk stabilitet och socialt kapital observerades. En hög andel av lokalt producerad och konsumerad mat samt ett väl fungerande samarbete i nätverket av entreprenörer och mellan entreprenörer, konsumenter och kommunen bidrog till ekonomisk hållbarhet. EU:s utvidgning innebär en möjlighet till förändrad förvaltning av Östersjön och jordbrukssektorn. En omställning i stor skala till ekologiskt kretsloppsjordbruk skulle leda till miljöförbättringar. En hållbar förvaltning av Östersjön, något som överenskommits inom ramen för HELCOM, kan inte uppnås samtidigt som jordbruksproduktionen maximeras i länderna runt Östersjön. Jordbruket orsakar betydande externa kostnader. Betalningsviljan för en förbättrad Östersjömiljö är stor vilket motiverar investeringar i ett miljövänligare, hållbart jordbruk. Medlemmarna i HELCOM, däribland Sveriges regering, har såväl ekonomiska som miljömässiga incitament att utnyttja möjligheten som Polens och de baltiska staternas EU-inträde innebär. Den här avhandlingen är ett samarbetsprojekt mellan Mälardalens högskola och Stockholm Resilience Centre vid Stockholms universitet. Båda lärosätena bidrog med handledning och finansiering under avhandlingsprojeket.