from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
|
|
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: |
|
|
Communities are interested in understanding and participating in the creation of food policies that impact food access, health, and social justice. Developing open access educational courses in food policy can help build awareness about food policy and equip citizens to democratically participate in food policy formulation.
In a new JAFSCD article, Crafting a grassroots introduction to food policy course, authors William Schanbacher, Joe Bohn and Erica Hall present reflections on crafting and conducting a pilot course, Introduction to Food Policy, that was collaboratively developed by the University of South Florida Food Sovereignty Initiative and the Florida Food Policy Council. Delivered virtually over six weeks, the course sought to equip community members, students, and policymakers with essential knowledge and advocacy tools for creating more democratic and fair food systems. Corresponding author William Schanbacher can be contacted at william48@usf.edu.
KEY FINDINGS - Participants gained critical skills in identifying and navigating local food policy frameworks.
-
The course significantly raised awareness about the interconnectedness of urban agriculture, zoning laws, public health, and land-use policy.
- Evaluations underscored the importance of intersectional and inclusive approaches to food policy education.
- Participants needed and gained knowledge of how food policies affect access to healthy foods for populations in underserved communities.
-
Greater understanding was gained about the importance of community mobilization as a tool to influence and help shape local food access and distribution policies.
- The course enhanced participants' understanding of existing tools for data collection and analysis resources to better understand geographic impacts of food sovereignty and insecurity issues.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH The university-community partnerships were a critical prerequisite for collaborating on the food policy course development; this can serve as an example for other disciplines. To strengthen the meaningfulness and impact of coursework, it was important to engage participants with lived experience, especially those from marginalized communities, in not only the authors’ research projects but as ongoing partners in higher education through consistent conversation and engagement.
The authors recommend recognizing the importance of community-informed coursework to create a “critical consciousness” among class participants to shape their perspectives for more meaningful practice and research activities. This can influence advocacy in policymaking processes or help shape research agendas related to critical social issues impacting our marginalized populations.
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
Complex and interconnected challenges faced by food policy councils make it difficult to navigate tumultuous social, cultural, and political terrains as well as to develop processes for evaluating the effectiveness of food policy solutions. In a new JAFSCD article, authors present reflections on crafting and conducting a pilot course, Introduction to Food Policy, that was collaboratively developed by the University of South Florida Food Sovereignty Initiative and the Florida Food Policy Council. Read the full reflection and learn more about these organizations and the course by reading the @JAFSCD article for free at https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.016
|
Photos above: Grocery store shelves in rural United States. Photo provided by Elizabeth Dean. |
|
|
In a new JAFSCD "Voices from the Grassroots" essay, author Gabriel Salah-Pfeiffer presents a reflection on the first three years of Capitol View Communal Garden and Orchard (CVCGO). CVCGO is a communal garden founded in 2022 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. The garden sits on a previously unused ⅓-acre city park accessed through a lease agreement with the Saint Paul Parks Department. CVCGO was conceived as a means of strengthening connection and cooperative capacity in the community by satisfying the tangible need for fresh food. It is a space founded on the principles of unconditional sharing, non-coerced labor, and anti-hierarchy.
CVCGO distills these three elements into the slogan inscribed on the garden’s sign: Take what you need; help if you want. These elements in practice at CVCGO have helped to simplify administrative tasks for gardeners, increase food access in the neighborhood, build cooperative capacity, and form meaningful connections between community members.
Salah-Pfeiffer speculates in the article, entitled Building community through communal gardening, that communal gardens can serve as incubators, connectors, and producers that are replicable — but not necessarily “scalable.” Communal gardening fits into the urban agricultural ecosystem without competing for large amounts of grant money or market share, and instead meets needs exactly where they exist. The author hopes that CVCGO’s exploration into new social and productive relationships can lead to new ideas, and new connections across communities, all pushing toward a brighter future and a more secure, connected, and liberated world.
To learn more about the community garden, its structure, and how it got started, read the entire Voices from the Grassroots essay at the @JAFSCD website: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.028 SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
Take what you need, help if you want: a communal garden in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA experiments in unconditional sharing. #urbanfarming #gardening #communalgarden #community Read the @JAFSCD essay for free at https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.028
Interested in sharing a local organization's innovations? Learn more about submitting a Voices from the Grassroots essay for publication in JAFSCD! Photo below: Community work night at Capitol View Communal Garden and Orchard in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; photo by the author. |
|
|
JAFSCD SHAREHOLDER CAREER OPPORTUNITIES |
|
|
Assistant/Associate Professor of Wildfire Management
(Position #0083067) in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR). Full-time, tenure-track position based in Honolulu with an 11-month appointment. Details here. | | County Administrator for Kaua‘i
(Position #0089216) in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR). Full-time, permanent position located in Kapa‘a, with a salary range of $129,732 to $233,508, depending on qualifications. Details here. |
| Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs
(Position #0089047) at UH at Mānoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR). Full-time leadership role focused on enhancing academic programs and student experiences. Details here. |
|
|
This email is sent to you as a notification of the newest JAFSCD articles and other occasional JAFSCD news. |
|
JAFSCD is an open access, community-supported journal! Your library, program, or organization can become a shareholder to help keep JAFSCD's content available to all, regardless of their resources. We welcome anyone to become an individual shareholder; donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
|
|
|
|
