from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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JAFSCD is the world’s only community-supported journal. JAFSCD content is open access (free) thanks to the generous support of our shareholders: the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium, Library Shareholders, a growing number of Individual Shareholders, and our six JAFSCD Partners: |
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Nonprofits in the food and agricultural landscape are critical to the food supply chain. They deliver food to the hungry, ensure best practices in food safety, and advocates for policy benefiting farmers.
Collaboration among nonprofits, commercial entities, state Extension offices, and governmental agencies improves and sustains food and nutrition security at the state and local levels. In a new JAFSCD article, The food and agricultural nonprofit landscape, authors Alicia Papanek, Chelsea DeMasters, Micayla Richardson, and Kimberly Wiley examine the landscape of 904 food and agricultural nonprofits operating in Florida to determine their scope of services, role in the food supply chain, and potential collaboration opportunities with allied organizations. Findings provide insight for nonprofit organizations and public health practitioners seeking to better understand and outline areas of opportunity for multisector collaboration. Corresponding author Alicia Papanek can be contacted at aliciapapanek@gmail.com.
KEY FINDINGS AMONG FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS (FANOs)
Landscape: FANOs target the entire food supply chain: preproduction, production, distribution, and consumption. The majority of FANOs supported preproduction by conducting education, training, and policy development that support later stages of the food supply chain. The second-most common type of support was food distribution, like food banks and pantries. Urban areas are home to most FANOs, leaving gaps in services in more rural areas.
Role: Over 75% of FANOs were 501(c)(3)s, providing charitable, religious, or educational services. Labor advocacy organizations and trade associations—501(c)(5) and (6), respectively—equally made up the majority of remaining FANOs.
Value: The sector’s revenue totaled US$311,089,731 while employing 2,271 workers in 2019. FANOs also benefited from 52,721 volunteers in 2019. Over 40% of FANOs were small, primarily volunteer-run initiatives. The low number of employees compared to the large number of volunteers, particularly for distribution and consumption nonprofits, indicated a heavy reliance on volunteer support.
IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH - This framework for categorizing FANOs furthers researchers’ ability to measure the sector’s impacts on the food supply and policymakers’ ability to target public resources to ensure food supply chain continuity.
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IRS 990 forms are publicly available and provide a wealth of helpful information about how nonprofits contribute to social and economic systems. To identify local areas where staff, volunteers, and resources may be low, the methodology provides a roadmap to assess and analyze local nonprofit organizations using the data available in IRS 990 forms.
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The unique perspectives of FANOs and Extension are especially suited to collaboration in service of public health and social goals that strengthen food systems and ensure the sustainable use of limited resources.
- The food supply chain stages with fewer FANOs may indicate that commercial or Extension entities are filling gaps—or that opportunities exist to collaborate and build partnerships across stages.
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Florida’s food and agricultural nonprofits' revenue topped US$311 million in 2019. They employed 2,271 workers and benefited from over 52,000 volunteers. Learn more about their community value in this new @JAFSCD article. #Florida #nonprofits #foodsupplychain #economicdevelopment Read for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.133.023
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Photo above: Food and agricultural nonprofit organizations give back to our communities. Photo credit: UF PhotoShelter.
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Aquaculture has a deep history in coastal areas of the U.S., but a variety of challenges threaten its economic viability. Seaweed production, specifically sugar kelp, is popular in other parts of the world, although it is still a nascent agricultural industry in the U.S.
Sea Grant Extension programs and state departments of agriculture seek to address economic viability in aquaculture with sugar kelp production, while also harnessing the environmental and nutritional benefits of sugar kelp.
In a new JAFSCD commentary, Developing a nascent agriculture industry: Lessons learned with sugar kelp, authors Anoushka Concepcion, the Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn Extension educator leading the sugar kelp project in the state, and Stacey Stearns, UConn Extension’s communications specialist, present an argument for getting seaweed in our waters and on the menu in the U.S. Sea Grant and Extension play vital roles in developing nascent agricultural industries and facilitating its development alongside farmers and regulatory officials.
Sugar kelp is not the first agricultural product to face these challenges, and the authors explore parallels with the açaí berry in Brazil. The key with any nascent agricultural product is not oversaturating the market and developing consumer demand alongside production and processing.
Sea Grant Extension programs provide science-based and unbiased information for farmers, helping them make more informed decisions on the best steps for their operation. While much work and success accompanied this work in Connecticut, there are also lessons learned that others could apply in working with nascent agricultural industries. Extension has an important role in helping build sustainable food systems, and this team continues working with aquaculture farmers on infrastructure needs, managing industry expectations, and educating multiple audiences with data visualizations.
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Locally grown #seaweed is on the menu in coastal communities throughout the United States as the nascent agricultural industry develops. The key is making it work for farmers and consumers. #sugarkelp #economicdevelopment Read the @JAFSCD commentary for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.133.028
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Photo above: Anoushka Concepcion, the Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn Extension educator, holds wild sugar kelp while on a boat in Long Island Sound. Photo provided by the authors. |
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News from JAFSCD Partner the University of Vermont
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The Food Systems Research Summit returns to the University of Vermont this fall!
Registration is open now for this event that will convene food systems researchers to foster networking opportunities and facilitate mutual learning toward solutions-oriented food systems research.
The Summit will be held September 16–17, 2024, in Burlington, Vermont. JAFSCD is a sponsor and we will be there! |
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There will be plenary sessions from: |
| And side sessions on topics from: - Genetic Breeding for Sustainable Agriculture
- Values Based Food Procurement
- Food, Labor, and Social Sustainability
- The Sustainability Paradox: Experiences of Vermont Farmers
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New England Integrated Policy Program (NEIPP)
- Food System Vitality Rooted in the Land
- And more!
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Postdoctoral Fellow with Hunger Solutions Institute
Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) in the College of Human Sciences seeks a Postdoctoral Fellow to conduct research on SNAP nutrition incentive programs. The fellow will process large datasets for reporting and research purposes and conduct independent research on how households spend SNAP nutrition incentives. Experience working with large, complex datasets — such as scanner data or other point-of-sale data — is desired. See the Auburn University employment site for details. |
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