No description available.

No description available.

The global food system as a provider of food security faces several sustainability challenges currently. Industrial agriculture practices degrade the environment and are vulnerable to political instabilities due to fossil energy and agriculture input dependency. At the same time, climate change endangers the circumstances of agriculture. This study aimed to explore if local food systems could help sustain food security in Finland. The case local food system is the Uusimaa region. Specifically, it investigates if deploying agroecological principles could help achieve food security. Agroecology is a science and a social movement that utilizes ecosystem simulating farming practices and aims at the social equity of all food system actors. The case study consisted of semi-structured interviews of Uusimaa local food system actors and text analysis of local food-related policy documents. The focus of the interview questions was on the opportunities and challenges of local food to sustain and improve food security and the needed actions to improve food security in general. The text analysis coded the materials according to the agroecological principles. The main target of the result analysis was to identify the current and envisioned state of local food’s role in food security and if implementing agroecological principles might help achieve the expected state. The result showed that the agroecological principles broadly present in the interviewees’ vision were not broadly present in the analyzed policy documents. The results suggest that local food produced with methods closer to agroecological principles could be beneficial to the food security according to the interviewees. On this basis, the agroecological principles would help design the needed food system transformation and related policies.

Little is known about the barriers and facilitators to local food procurement among women of reproductive age (WRA). Therefore we conducted qualitative interviews with WRA in rural eastern and western NC (ENC and WNC) to learn of factors related to locally sourced food procurement. In-depth interviews were conducted among low-income White, Black, and Hispanic English-speaking WRA (N=62 (ENC: 37; WNC: 23) (18-44 years)). Independent coders used a consensus codebook to double-code all transcripts. Coders then came together to discuss and resolve coding discrepancies, and identified themes and salient quotes. Cross-cutting themes from both ENC and WNC participants included access to local food sources; acceptance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Electronic Benefit Transfer (SNAP/EBT); freshness of produce; support for local agriculture; and the community aspect of local food sourcing. The in-depth understanding gained from this study could be used to guide tailored policy and intervention efforts aimed at promoting fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income WRA.

Locally oriented food has recently gained considerable popularity as an alternative to the industrial food system. Current scholarship on local food has typically focused on direct-to-consumer (DTC) arrangements, such as farmers' markets or CSAs. Yet other players besides producers and consumers engage with locally-oriented food. Food vendors (restaurants, retailers and grocers, and value-added food processors) have recently entered the scene and locally-oriented farm-to-vendor arrangements constitute one of the cutting edges of the development of local food systems. This dissertation studies one such local food system in southern New England. Utilizing a mixed methods approach entailing social network analysis, in-depth interviews, fieldwork observations, and GIS analysis, this study interrogates how direct-to-vendor (DTV) local food systems operate. I show through the literature review that though local food systems hold considerable promise, they are not inherent mechanisms of sustainability. Next I turn to the question of what "counts" as local, examining the range of distances farms and vendors within this region travel to sell or purchase food, and asking what are the forces and conditions that influence this range of travel? The greatest influences are number of ties to other local food entities, what type of farm or food-vendor they are, size, and urban proximity. I then focus on key participants in the area of study. What are the challenges and constraints around developing a vibrant locally-based food system? These participants face continual pressure to expand their size and markets, emulating the dominant food system and thereby undercutting their sustainable potential. However, these participants also find ways to overcome what are sometimes contradictory interests to forge a functional locally-based food system based on reciprocity and trust. Due in part to price premiums on local food many local food participants tend to be white and have high incomes and levels of education. In the final empirical chapter I ask: in what ways do these inequalities manifest systematically? By geospatially mapping the locations of local food outlets against census data on race, income, and education, I show that racial and class advantages are perpetuated in terms of people's proximal access to these local food outlets.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Multilaterally, Canada’s food system is not succeeding – this is related to jurisdictional disconnect in policy objectives and outcomes between aspects of the system. This “good food gap” requires integrated, system-focused solutions.Considering an ecosystems approach to biocultural anthropology and the community food security perspective, this thesis studied food banks’ use of fresh, local produce in Hamilton, Ontario – a city particularly affected by poverty and food insecurity. Mixed methods allowed a more holistic investigation: a nutritional assessment of 108 model grocery parcels from three Hamilton food banks over a local growing season was complemented by semi-structured interviews with 13 key stakeholders including food bank staff, clients and produce suppliers and others involved in community food work in Hamilton.</p> <p>Average parcel contents met or exceeded some nutritional targets, but other results were concerning: parcels contained high sodium levels, few servings of milk and alternatives and vegetable and fruit servings were seasonally-limited with fresh, local produce making a significant contribution during the harvest months. Also, parcels varied individually but those for smaller households were significantly more adequate than those for larger households. Non-nutritive benefits to food banks’ use of fresh, local produce were identified and seen to extend beyond the emergency food sector (EFS) though poor produce quality was considered a drawback. Infrastructure, knowledge and networks were the main categories of facilitating or limiting factors. These findings are situated within stakeholders’ discussions of the relationships between emergency food, food security, nutrition, culture and their future aspirations. The results support the position that overcoming the good food gap in Hamilton can be best accomplished by both improving the food bank system – such as through increasing the use of fresh, local produce – and moving beyond emergency food towards a just, sustainable, rights-based food system through the community food centre model.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)