Local Food Policy Research Articles

'We want to be part of the broader project' Family Farmers and Local Food Governance in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Brazil has been praised for the development of its agricultural sector, its policies against hunger, and its support for family farming. Yet, the future of small-scale family farmers remains uncertain. In this paper, we question whether food system localization facilitates the integration of small-scale family farmers into food governance processes in Porto Alegre, Brazil. To answer this, we present the City Region Food System (CRFS) as a conceptual approach to explore the relationship between food systems localization and enhanced participation of small-scale family farmers in food governance. After introducing the case study of local food in Porto Alegre, we highlight key structural inequalities that limit family farmers' participation in local food practices and influence their involvement in food governance. We then examine linkages between local food policy eff orts and family farmers' praxis, attempting to discern mismatches and related implications for the development of an inclusive CRFS. We argue that systematization of local food practices within the city region represents a double-edged sword as it may translate into a decrease in farmers' autonomy and ownership of local initiatives but could also burden them with regulations not fit for purpose. In conclusion, we suggest that a CRFS approach to planning can help to address structural inequalities and power asymmetries in local food governance only if informed by local dynamics and based on context-sensitive mechanisms for participatory governance incorporating a variety of small-scale family farmers (and other stakeholders).

The Potential for Federal Preemption of State and Local Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes

Federal, state, and local governments each have a role to play in protecting health. President Obama recognized that “state and local governments have frequently protected health, safety, and the environment more aggressively than has the national Government.”1 Yet, the federal government can hinder state and local activity through preemption, which is “when a higher level of government restricts, or even eliminates, a lower level of government’s ability to regulate an issue.”2 State governments can similarly preempt local law. Industries subject to regulation may support preemption in order to facilitate compliance with a uniform or less stringent standard, or to create a regulatory vacuum.3 From a public health perspective, preemption can be used to impede progress, innovation, local self-determination, and grassroots movements.3 Conversely, preemption can be used as a tool to advance public health if it provides minimum standards or prohibits laws that would undermine health. In the area of food and nutrition, express preemption is routinely included in certain federal laws, such as food labeling (i.e., nutrition, menu, and genetically modified organism labeling laws). In recent years, there has been an upsurge of state preemption of various local food policies.3 For example, in 2016, Kansas preempted local regulations related to food-based health disparities, nutrition labeling, portion size, and restaurant incentive items, among other things.3 Additionally, state legislatures are increasingly employing preemption strategically to block other progressive measures, such as increased minimum wage, paid leave, and anti-fracking.3 Could preemption of a similarly politically charged measure—sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes—be next? SSB taxes have been enacted in seven U.S. cities, and are being considered in multiple states and municipalities. But state and local laws are subject to potential preemption by the federal government. In light of the rise in SSB taxes, health consequences of consuming SSBs,4 and recent change in the federal administration, it is crucial to assess the potential basis for federal preemption of SSB taxes. As discussed below, Congress has the constitutional authority to preempt state and local tax laws. The aim of the present research was not to assess this constitutional authority, but to understand what might motivate federal legislators to preempt SSB taxes. As such, the authors analyzed the legislative histories of federal bills and laws that had a central and express purpose of preempting state taxes. The research uncovered Congressional preemption of state taxes related to national programs and in the context of federal regulation of interstate commerce. This article discusses the legislative histories related to these acts and considers whether the rationales upon which they are based apply to SSB taxes.

African American Women's Perceptions on Access to Food and Water in Flint, Michigan

ObjectiveTo explore the perceptions of food access by African American women in Flint, MI. MethodsUsing womanist theory, in which African American women's experiential knowledge centered the analysis, 8 focus groups were conducted during fall/spring, 2014–2015. Seventeen mothers aged 21–50 years with children aged <18 years and 13 women aged >60 years comprised the groups. ResultsThe high cost of water, poor availability of healthy foods in inner-city stores, and limited transportation were barriers to accessing healthy food. Conversely, receiving food from food giveaways, friends, and family, as well as access to transportation facilitated food access. These women also reported discriminatory experiences and diet-related health concerns. Participants were keenly aware of available free community resources and gender, racial, and income barriers to accessing them. Conclusion and ImplicationsUnderstanding these barriers and facilitators provides information to aid local food policy assistance decisions and inform community-based interventions, especially given the lead contamination of water and the purported importance of a healthy diet to sequester lead.

Farming Chicago: Prospects for Higher Education Support of Sustainable Urban Food Systems in the U.S. Heartland

The article highlights recent food policies in Chicago with the goal of exploring how higher education institutions can contribute to development of sustainable food resources for residents of North American cities. Thousands of Chicago residents face daily challenges accessing fresh food due to income constraints and/or lack of proximity to food retailers. Concomitantly, the city’s high dependency on imported food, often from thousands of miles away, is countered by growing interest in local production in community gardens and urban farms. The article outlines efforts at redeveloping Chicago into a thriving producer of fresh food through advocacy, policy making, and planning; and curriculum and community engagement efforts at Chicago area universities and colleges that exemplifies higher education’s role in creating a just and ecologically sustainable urban food system. The examples illustrate the importance of multi-institutional collaboration, often driven by community-based advocacy groups that facilitate local food research, technical assistance, and policy initiatives with support from universities and colleges. The article therefore highlights the supportive role urban higher education institutions can play in building food systems that support the local food economy, contribute to improving the natural environment, and expand access to nutritious fresh food for those with the least wherewithal.

Modelling Local Food Policy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Due to Transportation

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1.IntroductionLocal food advocates assert many attributes of food that span sociological, health, safety, quality, economic and environmental considerations (Feenstra, 1997; Weatherell et al., 2003; Zepeda and Leviten-Reid, 2004; Roininen et al., 2006; Feagan, 2007; Darby et al., 2008; Kemp et al., 2010; Martinez et al., 2010). As the academic community increasingly tests these ideas, this article explores the assertion that food systems generate greenhouse gas savings compared to conventional food systems that make up mainstream food value chains. More specifically, this study looks at the current methods for modeling and accounting for greenhouse gasses generated in the transportation of food throughout the value chain when comparing food systems (LFS) to conventional food systems (CFS) and proposes a framework that is readily accessible to regional economists.A food system, as defined here, entails the entire chain from production to consumption. A LFS is one that is further defined by geographic proximity. Though no clear consensus exists on what constitutes food (Hand and Martinez, 2010; Martinez et al., 2010), the concept of local entails the notion of closer geographic connections between producers and sellers. For those advocating environmental attributes of foods, the shortened travel distance is a key basis of positive environmental outcomes of food (Pirog et al., 2001). For the proponents of LFS, the overtness of shorter travel distance is sufficient in proclaiming that food generates less transit-related greenhouse gas (GHG) than conventional foods (Edwards-Jones et al., 2008; Weber and Matthews, 2008; Coley et al., 2009). In light of increasing public scrutiny of anthropogenic contributions to climate change, policies pursuing reduced CO2 emissions, such as food promotion, will likely become more common. As such, tools for gauging environmental outcomes of policy direction are needed. For regional or sub-national policy considerations, few tools exist for guiding policy.In this study and in related studies (Martinez et al., 2010; Low et al., 2015), differences in food miles delineate LFS and CFS. Hence, the method of estimation and inclusiveness of food miles is of paramount importance in estimating the GHG generation. While some food system studies have gone beyond transportation as the sole source of GHG to encompass processing and storage (Van Hauwermeiren et al., 2007), or even production (Meisterling et al., 2009), others have limited consideration to transportation miles (Pirog et al., 2001; Wallgren, 2006; Weber and Matthews, 2008). This study follows the treatment of food miles in calculations of GHG emissions across LFS and CFS and highlights the role of accounting for food miles.There is no single source for estimating the distances food travels from producer to consumer that also takes into account stops along the way for processing, warehousing and distribution. Limited resources for measuring comparative food miles has resulted in widely varying estimates that can range between one- and two-thousand miles, depending on methods used in estimation and food commodities measured (Hendrickson, 1996; Pirog et al., 2001; Weber and Matthews, 2008). The modes and relative energy efficiency of transportation modes is also an important consideration (Meisterling et al., 2009), as efficiencies can be gained from long-haul trucks or trains that may offset long travel distance GHG generation from less-efficient delivery modes. That is, studies that assume that LFS miles generate the same carbon emissions per mile as CFS miles may overstate the GHG savings of LFS if those miles are less fuel-efficient than CFS miles. For example, the Transportation Research Board (2010) estimates that the typical fuel consumption of a Class 2 truck (pickup, or mid-sized utility truck) is nearly six times higher per ton-mile than a Class 8 combination truck. …

Building an Airplane While Flying It: One Community's Experience with Community Food Transformation

Across the country, local and regional food policy councils are collaborating to make healthy, afford­able food more available to everyone. What ingre­dients are needed for a true collaboration that changes social and racial equity dynamics? How can these collaborations influence systems, policy, and awareness in school food environments, specifically? This reflective case study describes some of the accomplishments and challenges faced by the multistakeholder Holyoke Food and Fitness Policy Council (HFFPC) for nearly a decade. Using a mixed-method participatory evaluation approach to lift up diverse partners’ insights, we conducted key informant interviews with people who were engaged with the project during its eight operating years; focus groups and participatory asset mapping with stakeholders; and reviewed meeting notes from the eight years of the HFFPC. We identify several crucial ingredients that sustain equitable community-based collaboration: changing the dominant narrative, community and youth leader­ship and advocacy, and aligned multistakeholder partnerships. We also discuss critical structural and values-based challenges to multistakeholder organizing, including issues of trust, transparency, resources, leadership development, and differences in perceptions of racial equity in an under­resourced, predominantly Latino community. As such, this case study investigates community engagement and effectiveness. It provides insights for those food policy councils and local coalitions endeavoring to build from within the community while accomplishing policy goals, and will help to further the practice of equity, community food policy and systems change, and governance.

안성 로컬푸드에 대한 소비자 구매의사 및 구매결정요인

본 연구는 안성 로컬푸드에 대한 소비자 구매를 결정짓는 주요 요인을 발굴함으로써 향후 안성지역 푸드정책 수립 및 안성 로컬푸드 활성화를 위한 기초정보를 제공하고자 수행되었다. 먼저 안성 로컬푸드를 이용해 본 경험이 있고 안성에 거주하고 있는 20세 이상 여성을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하여 로컬푸드에 대한 소비자 구매유발 속성을 도출하였다. 도출된 7가지 속성 "우수한 품질", "안전성", "건강에 좋음", "지역경제활성화", "저렴한 가격", "접근성", "다양한 품목" 중에 안성 로컬푸드 소비자 구매의향을 결정짓는 주요 요인을 찾아내고자 로지스틱회귀분석을 수행하였다. 분석결과 안성 로컬푸드에 대한 소비자 구매결정에 가장 영향을 주는 속성은 "우수한 품질"과 "저렴한 가격"이었으며, 그 다음으로 "접근성"과 "지역경제활성화"인 것으로 조사되었다. This study was conducted to provide basic information for future Anseong local food policy and local food activation by finding the key factor determining consumer purchasing for Anseong local food. First, we conducted a survey and derived consumer purchasing attributes for the local food. Logistic regression analysis was performed to find the main factors that determine the consumers' purchase intention for Anseong local food out of such seven attributes as 'excellent quality', 'safety', 'good for health', 'activation of local economy', 'low price', 'accessibility', 'variety of items'. The results showed that the most influencing attributes on consumers' purchase decisions for Anseong local food were 'excellent quality' and 'low price' followed by 'accessibility' and 'activation of local economy'.

Getting farming on the agenda: Planning, policymaking, and governance practices of urban agriculture in New York City

How and why is urban agriculture taken up into local food policies and sustainability plans? This paper uses a case study of urban agriculture policymaking in New York City from 2007 to 2011 to examine the power-laden operation of urban environmental governance. It explores several ‘faces of power,’ including overt authority, institutionalized ‘rules of the game,’ and hegemony. It also investigates how multiple actors interact in policymaking processes, including through the construction and use of broad discursive concepts. Findings draw upon analysis of policy documents and semi-structured interviews with 43 subjects engaged in food systems policymaking. Some municipal decision-makers questioned the significance of urban agriculture, due to the challenges of quantifying its benefits and the relative scarcity of open space in the developed city. Yet, these challenges proved insufficient to prevent a coalition of civic activists working in collaboration with public officials to envision plans on food policy that included urban agriculture. Actors created the ‘local/regional food system’ as a narrative concept in order to build broad coalitions and gain entry to the municipal policy sphere. Tracing the roll-out of plans reveals the way in which both the food systems concept and specific policy proposals were repeated and legitimized. Unpacking the dynamics of this iterative policymaking contributes to an understanding of how urban environmental governance happens in this case.

Participation in a city food security program may be linked to higher ant alpha- and beta-diversity: an exploratory case from Belo Horizonte, Brazil

ABSTRACTThis article reports the results of a case study examining the connections between municipal food security policy and biodiversity in the region of Belo Horizonte, a populous city in the heavily fragmented Brazilian cerrado (savannah)/Atlantic forest transition region. Belo Horizonte, through its Secretariat of Food and Nutrition Security (SMASAN), has generated increased food security in the city, in part by economically supporting local small farmers. Farmers’ economic security has been previously linked to their agricultural practices and sustainability; thus, SMASAN’s programs potentially affect biodiversity in the region’s agricultural matrix and rainforest fragments through their work with farmers. In order to examine this dynamic, we compared ground-foraging ant diversity on four SMASAN and three non-SMASAN farms and adjoining forest fragments. Supported by data from farmer interviews, sampling in 2005 and 2006 indicated SMASAN farms had: a) higher alpha and beta diversity and b) potentially greater overlap between species found on-farm and in adjacent forest fragments. This case study may be the first directly linking biodiversity conservation with food security and changes in local food policy institutions, emphasizing the importance of an approach integrating politics and ecology, and the potential for human wellbeing and conservation to go hand-in-hand.

Perceptions of Food Access by African American Women With Children in an Urban Post-Industrial North Central American City

ObjectiveTo describe the perceptions of food access within the context of social ecological model of the nutrition environment and a womanist theory of African American women with children living in a city with limited access.Design, Setting and ParticipantsA community-based, qualitative approach was used to conduct four focus groups with 17 African American women ages 21-50 years, each with child <18 years old in the home to explore their perceptions of access in a North Central post-industrial urban city. Volunteers from community collaboratives recruited participants via snowball sampling.Outcome Measures and AnalysisTranscriptions were open coded within each focus group; then axial codes were determined and compared across the focus groups. Two coders came to consensus on recurring categories.ResultsThe two main themes were the necessity of free food from gardens, food banks and food pantries, and the impact of intersectionality wherein participants’ perceived that discrimination were experienced based on gender, race, income and/or religious practice. Access to free food was most mentioned 41 times and constituted positive experiences (21), negative experiences (13), neutral experiences (1) and gardens as a free food source (6). The impact of intersectionality was mentioned 27 times.Conclusions and ImplicationsResults demonstrate how low-income African American women in this environment obtain food. Understanding these barriers provides useful information for community organizations and other institutions that serve the community. In this environment, low-income African American women with children were keenly aware of the free community resources available and barriers to access. Their revealed experiences can be used for facilitating local food policy assistance decisions and interventions.FundingJohn Harvey Kellogg Endowment Research Funds, MSU NSF-AGEP. ObjectiveTo describe the perceptions of food access within the context of social ecological model of the nutrition environment and a womanist theory of African American women with children living in a city with limited access. To describe the perceptions of food access within the context of social ecological model of the nutrition environment and a womanist theory of African American women with children living in a city with limited access. Design, Setting and ParticipantsA community-based, qualitative approach was used to conduct four focus groups with 17 African American women ages 21-50 years, each with child <18 years old in the home to explore their perceptions of access in a North Central post-industrial urban city. Volunteers from community collaboratives recruited participants via snowball sampling. A community-based, qualitative approach was used to conduct four focus groups with 17 African American women ages 21-50 years, each with child <18 years old in the home to explore their perceptions of access in a North Central post-industrial urban city. Volunteers from community collaboratives recruited participants via snowball sampling. Outcome Measures and AnalysisTranscriptions were open coded within each focus group; then axial codes were determined and compared across the focus groups. Two coders came to consensus on recurring categories. Transcriptions were open coded within each focus group; then axial codes were determined and compared across the focus groups. Two coders came to consensus on recurring categories. ResultsThe two main themes were the necessity of free food from gardens, food banks and food pantries, and the impact of intersectionality wherein participants’ perceived that discrimination were experienced based on gender, race, income and/or religious practice. Access to free food was most mentioned 41 times and constituted positive experiences (21), negative experiences (13), neutral experiences (1) and gardens as a free food source (6). The impact of intersectionality was mentioned 27 times. The two main themes were the necessity of free food from gardens, food banks and food pantries, and the impact of intersectionality wherein participants’ perceived that discrimination were experienced based on gender, race, income and/or religious practice. Access to free food was most mentioned 41 times and constituted positive experiences (21), negative experiences (13), neutral experiences (1) and gardens as a free food source (6). The impact of intersectionality was mentioned 27 times. Conclusions and ImplicationsResults demonstrate how low-income African American women in this environment obtain food. Understanding these barriers provides useful information for community organizations and other institutions that serve the community. In this environment, low-income African American women with children were keenly aware of the free community resources available and barriers to access. Their revealed experiences can be used for facilitating local food policy assistance decisions and interventions. Results demonstrate how low-income African American women in this environment obtain food. Understanding these barriers provides useful information for community organizations and other institutions that serve the community. In this environment, low-income African American women with children were keenly aware of the free community resources available and barriers to access. Their revealed experiences can be used for facilitating local food policy assistance decisions and interventions.

Social Capital and The Centrality of Local Food Policy to Sustainability Initiatives in U.S. Counties

The conceptualization of sustainability has evolved greatly since the Bruntland commission defined it as comprising the three E’s. of environment, equity and economics (WCED, 1987). As a concept, sustainability has been both broadened to include such additional themes as cultural and creative dimensions, and deepened into a broad variety of specific policy domains, such as local food policy (Moldavanova, 2013). This paper examines 1) the centrality of local food policy in the system of sustainability initiatives in a sample of counties in the United States; and 2) assesses the role of social capital in variations in food policy initiatives and in the relationship of those initiatives to the major dimensions of sustainability. La concettualizzazione della sostenibilita si e evoluta notevolmente da quando la commissione Brundtland l’ha definita come comprendente le tre E, dell’ambiente, dell’equita e dell’economia (WCED, 1987). Il concetto di sostenibilita e stato sia ampliato per includere temi supplementari, come le dimensioni culturali e creative, che approfondito in una vasta gamma di settori specifici, come la politica alimentare locale (Moldavanova, 2013). Questo articolo esamina 1) la centralita della politica alimentare locale nel sistema di iniziative di sostenibilita in un campione di contee degli Stati Uniti; e 2) valuta il ruolo del capitale sociale nelle variazioni di iniziative politiche alimentare e nel rapporto di queste iniziative alle maggiori dimensioni della sostenibilita.

Urban agriculture: long-term strategy or impossible dream?: Lessons from Prospect Farm in Brooklyn, New York

Proponents of urban agriculture have identified its potential to improve health and the environment but in New York City and other densely developed and populated urban areas, it faces huge challenges because of the shortage of space, cost of land, and the lack of contemporary local food production. However, large portions of the city and metropolitan region do have open land and a history of agricultural production in the not-too-distant past. Local food movements and concerns about food security have sparked a growing interest in urban farming. Policies in other sectors to address diet-related illnesses, environmental quality and climate change may also provide opportunities to expand urban farming. Nevertheless, for any major advances in urban agriculture, significant changes in local and regional land use policies are needed. These do not appear to be forthcoming any time soon unless food movements amplify their voices in local and national food policy. Based on his experiences as founder of a small farm in Brooklyn, New York and his engagement with local food movements, the author analyzes obstacles and opportunities for expanding urban agriculture in New York.

Print E-mail Dissolved: Lessons Learned from the Portland Multnomah Food Policy Council

The city of Portland, Oregon, is often hailed in news and popular media as the capital of the U.S. alternative food movement. In 2002, the Portland Multnomah Food Policy Council (PMFPC) was established to address the region's growing interest in cultivating a sustainable local food system. Council members contributed to many notable achievements, including a healthy corner store initiative, a beginning farmer training program, and changes to zoning codes to expand urban agriculture. However, the PMFPC was dissolved in the summer of 2012 after local government agencies expressed that the council was losing relevancy. After a decade of conducting food policy and advocacy work in a region praised for fostering both citizen engagement and sustainable food systems, what can we learn from the story of the PMFPC? In this reflective case study, we explore the challenges associated with citizen engagement in local food policy. Through semistructured interviews and analysis of PMFPC documents, we provide insight into how particular obstacles might have been avoided or overcome. Our research speaks to the broad arena of public participation and highlights the importance of negotiating and clearly articulating the roles and responsibilities of council members, government staff liaisons, and elected officials; regularly evaluating the usefulness of established roles, structures, and processes; and making the changes necessary to maintain the relevance of the council throughout its life. We conclude with lessons learned and recommendations for both citizens and government agencies hoping to foster productive public engagement and to advance local food systems policy.

Exploring consumer motivations towards buying local fresh food products

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how consumers from a developing country background such as Indonesia make local fresh food decisions for daily eating. Design/methodology/approach – The use of the means-end chain approach is utilized as a measure of attributes, consequences and values of locally produced products. Findings – For Javanese ethnic group in Indonesia, “save money” and “health benefits” are identified views that motivate consumers purchasing their local foods. Research limitations/implications – Although investigating the largest ethnic groups in Indonesia, the results of this study cannot be generalized to all Indonesian consumers and a larger sample needs to be studied to generalize the results to the wider population of Indonesia. Practical implications – It is better for the Government to promote local food policies that is based on identified motivations of consumers. “Save money” and “health benefits” themes can be used as the central messages for the development of advertising strategies. Originality/value – This study identifies the Javanese motivations for buying local foods and examines the motivation differences between rural and urban locations. This is providing views for the Government and individual businesses use to.

Rustbelt Radicalism: A Decade of Food Systems Planning Practice in Buffalo, New York (USA)

Pressure is increasing from nongovernmental actors to incorporate food more concretely into municipal policies and plans. A qualitative case study of Buffalo, New York (USA), demonstrates that incremental, persistent food systems practice and advocacy by nonstate actors, a group we call the rustbelt radicals, followed by their collective engagement with municipal planning, can lead to transformations in municipal policy and planning for strengthening food systems. The paper concludes with seven factors that enable rustbelt radicals to transform local food systems plans and policies.

Collaboration Meets Opportunity: The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative

As cities across the nation seek to improve healthy food access, this participant observer case study highlights how one midsized city successfully developed a collaborative infrastructure to understand and address inequity in healthy food access. We trace the genesis and evolution of Baltimore's Food Policy Task Force, the hiring of a food policy director, and the establishment of the Baltimore Food Policy Initiative, which is an intergovernmental partnership to increase access to healthy, affordable foods in urban food deserts. While some cities have approached food access issues through community coalitions pressuring city government or government edicts, Baltimore successfully identified its need, used available research to drive and inform action, established priorities, and acted expeditiously with a focus on sustainability. This case study is relevant and applicable for those seeking to influence change in local food policy in midsized urban settings.

Situating the ‘alternative’ within the ‘conventional’ – local food experiences from the East Riding of Yorkshire, UK

Policy makers rarely feature in research into alternative and local food systems (ALFS), yet are often regarded as central actors in supporting such local food systems, sometimes as part of wider rural development strategies. Furthermore, what ‘local’ actually means has long been debated in the alternative food networks literature, with the consensus that the term is contested and defies definition. This paper explores discursive constructions of ‘local’ food, drawing on in-depth interviews with farmers, local food businesses, consumers and policy makers in East Yorkshire. The paper argues that the concept of local food is contextualised and refracted through the people and places in which food is produced and consumed. It illustrates the complexities involved in understanding, and making sense of, local food networks and their relationship with conventional food systems.The paper has two core concerns. The first is to challenge conceptualisations of local food as linked only to non-intensive agricultural regions. The second attends to situating food production and consumption within local contexts to understand the diverse and relational interpretations of the ‘local’ which policy makers, businesses and consumers have with regard to food. The paper concludes that alternative and local food systems interact with the conventional food system in complex and multiple ways, underlining that it is not a case of ‘either/or’, but that food production and consumption are heterogeneous and refracted through specific places.

Development and Evaluation of Ordinary Least Squares Regression Models for Predicting Irrigated and Rainfed Maize and Soybean Yields

Abstract. Understanding the relationships between climatic variables and soil physical and chemical properties with crop yields on large scales is critical for evaluating crop productivity to make better assessments of local and regional food security, policy, land and water resource allocation, and management decisions. In this study, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were developed to predict irrigated and rainfed maize and soybean yields at the county level as a function of explanatory variables [precipitation (P), actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa), organic matter content (OMC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), clay content (CC), and available soil water capacity (ASW)] of the dominant soil type in each of the 93 counties in Nebraska. Models were developed for the statewide average dataset (state models) as well as for the four major climatic zones (zonal models). Spline interpolation was used to spatially interpolate all independent variables across all 93 counties. The results of the OLS state models showed a very good performance for predicting rainfed maize and soybean yields. For rainfed maize, about 73% of the variation in yield (RMSD = 867 kg ha-1) was explained by ETa alone, and 83% of yield variability (RMSD = 690 kg ha-1) was explained by the model Yield = f(ETa, P, ASW, CEC, CC). For rainfed soybean, about 69% of the variability (RMSD = 238 kg ha-1) was explained by ETa alone, and a maximum of 85% (RMSD = 164 kg ha-1) of the variability was explained by the model Yield = f(ETa, P, ASW, CEC, CC). No additional variation in yield was explained by adding OMC to the rainfed maize and soybean yield models. Less correlation was found between the predicted and observed yields for irrigated maize and soybean than for the rainfed yields for both crops. For irrigated maize and soybean, a maximum of 45% (RMSD = 533 kg ha-1) and 36% (RMSD = 218 kg ha-1) of the variability in yield was explained by the models Yield = f(ETa, P, ASW) and Yield = f(ETa, P, ASW, CEC, CC, OMC), respectively. For the rainfed crops, ETa played a major role in predicting yield, whereas P and ASW played a major role in predicting irrigated yields. ETa and P accounted for 96%, 73%, and 67% of the total explained variation in rainfed soybean yield for zones 2 (drier), 3, and 4 (wetter), respectively, whereas soil physical and chemical properties accounted for 4%, 27%, and 33%, respectively. Unlike rainfed conditions, irrigated maize and soybean yield predictions were improved by applying the zonal models rather than the state models.

Food for All: Reflecting on how theory helped with public participation in the development of local food policy

Food for All: Reflecting on how theory helped with public participation in the development of local food policy

Local Food Policy in Canada and the Next 20 Years of the Toronto Food Policy Council: An Interview with Lauren Baker

Local Food Policy in Canada and the Next 20 Years of the Toronto Food Policy Council: An Interview with Lauren Baker