from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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Alternative grain networks (AGNs) are small groups of farms and firms that differ from larger networks in how they grow and distribute food. They focus on making good, wholesome food using local values, culture, and business-to-business relations based in trust, while also working with nonprofit organizations.
In a new article in JAFSCD, Establishing alternative grain networks: A comparison of case experiences in South Tyrol, Italy, and Colorado, United States, researchers Meyer, Sacchi, Sartori, and Fischer compared two AGNs: Regiokorn in South Tyrol, Italy, and the Colorado Grain Chain (CGC) in the U.S. They examined factors like how close people are to each other, how similar their cultures are, how well the businesses work together, and how much the community is involved.
KEY FINDINGS
Regiokorn and CGC are different in many ways. Regiokorn is a business network involving farmers, mills, and bakers in a place where people have a lot in common culturally. CGC is a newer AGN that includes everyone involved in growing grains, even consumers. It covers a large geographical area with different cultures and economic realities. Being close together and sharing culture helps Regiokorn succeed. In Colorado, even though people are spread out, there is a chance for regional collaboration, including people from different backgrounds. When the community is involved, like with CGC, more people might want the products. This could mean that Regiokorn's model, working together based on cooperative principles, may work well in Colorado and in many other local grain networks.
The findings indicate that different ways of organizing can lead to similar results. This can help other AGNs figure out what works best for them.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
More research is needed in alternative food networks (AFNs), especially in AGNs, because people are interested in healthier, organic, and sustainable foods. Especially with grains, people want to know more about where their food comes from and how it is grown, to trust it more and see the value in whole grains for a healthy diet. AGNs can help with this, leading to more demand for diverse, sustainable, and healthy grains and the tasty foods made from them. SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
What is an alternative grain network — and do you have one in your state? Learn from a new study that evaluates two AGNs (in Italy and the U.S.) with different organizational structures but similar outcomes. Read the @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.133.029 |
Photo above: Regiokorn display at a retail outlet. Photo provided by the authors.
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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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In this newly published article, Challenging agricultural norms and diversifying actors:
Building transformative public policy for equitable food systems, Wilkes From the article's abstract:
"Food systems governance regimes have long been spaces of 'thick legitimacy' (Montenegro de Wit & Iles, 2016), where embedded norms benefit productivist agricultural practices. Within governance regimes, the science-policy interface and the scientists who occupy this space are integral in today’s public policy processes. Often treated as objective science, technical disciplines have become a powerful source of legitimatizing in decision-making.
"Without the contextualization of lived experience or diverse ways of knowing, these siloed spaces can lead policymakers towards an action bias (e.g., a rush to short-term solutions) that neglects the underlying causes and concerns of our current crises. Current governance arrangements in the science-policy interface demonstrate the bias toward technical science (e.g. economics) and short-term solutions. However, by challenging productivist agriculture norms reformed public policy processes may shift from a space of repression to one of possibility.
"This reform can happen through investigating dominant actor coalitions and identifying tools to reconfigure these power arrangements. Public policy theory, such as the advocacy coalition framework (ACF), helps organize relations within current agricultural policy arenas. The work of practitioners and other disciplines offer tools that can support transformative action by food systems advocates in the pursuit of changing the way public policy is made. In part, understanding how power is organized and who may influence policy processes is critical to change. This reflective essay ends with tools and strategies for those wishing to engage governments in this shift. The proposed tools and strategies focus on how people (e.g. policy champions), processes (e.g. policy leverage points), and partnerships (e.g. allyship) generate ways in which advocates can, and do, engage governments in transformative change."
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
Current governance arrangements in the science-policy interface demonstrate the bias toward technical science (e.g. economics) and short-term solutions. However, by challenging productivist agriculture norms reformed public policy processes may shift from a space of repression to one of possibility. Read the reflective essay in @JAFSCD for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.133.032
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Reference: Montenegro de Wit, M., & Iles, A. (2016). Toward thick legitimacy: Creating a web of legitimacy for agroecology. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 4, Article 115. https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000115
Photo above: Mural in Houston, Texas, U.S. by Amy Christian.
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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!
The Summit will be held September 16–17, 2024, in Burlington, Vermont. JAFSCD is a sponsor and we will be there! See a sneak peek of the agenda below.
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