Browsing by Subject "Food systems"
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Item Enhancing food defense: risk managers' perceptions, criticality assessments, and a novel method for objectively determining food systems' criticality(2014-03) HuffThis research focused on evaluating the perceptions of food defense risk management by state officials, evaluating the validity of a criticality assessment created by the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD), and developing a new geographic information system (GIS) based criticality assessment method. Specific objectives included: (1) investigating and reporting the history of food and agriculture criticality assessments; (2) conducting a survey to identify state officials' risk perceptions related to food and agriculture criticality; (3) analyzing the data collected by the most widely used criticality assessment method (i.e., Food and Agriculture Systems Criticality Assessment Tool); and, (4) developing a new method to objectively measure food system criticality.Item The Gwayakosijigan (Compass) Project: A food system mapping collaboration of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and University of Minnesota Extension(2013) Walsh, Amy; Hamid, Saleema; Wilsey, DavidIn recent years, Native American communities in Minnesota have rallied around the widespread, societal health challenges of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Native communities recognize the rapid and alarming ascendance of these ailments -- which generally afflict Native communities at a greater proportion than the general population -- as an affront to some of the communities’ strongest cultural institutions and, in some cases, as another trauma resulting from the incursion of non-Native ways of being. Tribal nutrition programs promote healthy food knowledge and preparation; garden programs encourage and support healthy food production; and community members employ varied means to showcase traditional food practices for staple foods central to cultural identity. These and other interventions to improve nutritional knowledge, cooking skills, and access to healthy foods have met with varying degrees of success, making next steps difficult to ascertain. This study was designed improve understanding the factors that play into individual food related decisions and behaviors; its purpose to inform future community-scale interventions related to health and food systems. We led participants through a process of making personal food system maps and then followed up with those individuals to discuss their food-related actions and decisions. We learned that participants perceived that they were generally able to make decisions about food as they wished. Many participants emphasized the importance of natural, wild food sources and food procurement strategies as invaluable means to connect with nature, family, friends, and culture. Social and family networks were active when tangible or financial resources were limited. Indeed, for those who felt limited in their food decisions, financial constraints posed the greatest barrier, followed by constraints related to owned assets, such as food preparation equipment or vehicles. Moreover, grief, loss, and other life stresses often interfered with individual’s ability to strategize and adapt to financial or other limitations. Our preliminary results suggest several key directions for future inquiry and programming. This study was based on participant’s perceptions; future assessment should strive to determine whether community members’ desired food choices are, in fact, healthy. Also, relatively high availability of healthy foods in the area suggests that creation of new food access venues is unlikely to change eating habits without additional, related interventions. Finally, participant comments suggest that culturally relevant food production and procurement represent a feasible frame for food and nutrition education and that major life phase changes offer opportunities for accessing interested community members.Item The Impacts of Climate Change on Tribal Traditional Foods(2013) Lynn, Kathy; Daigle, John; Hoffman, Jennie; Lake, Frank; Michelle, Natalie; Ranco, Darren; Viles, Carson; Voggesser, Garrit; Williams, PaulThe tribal communities noted in this very interesting paper are from the Pacific Northwest. This paper is included in the study even though it is not specifically focused on Minnesota’s coastal resources, but is relevant in discussing modes and strategies that tribal leaders may pursue to address the impacts of climate change. Mention is made of wild rice and Ojibwe communities in Minnesota. Key points are extracted and reproduced below. Abstract: “American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are uniquely affected by climate change. Indigenous peoples have depended on a wide variety of native fungi, plant and animal species for food, medicine, ceremonies, community and economic health for countless generations. Climate change stands to impact the species and ecosystems that constitute tribal traditional foods that are vital to tribal culture, economy and traditional ways of life. This paper examines the impacts of climate change on tribal traditional foods by providing cultural context for the importance of traditional foods to tribal culture, recognizing that tribal access to traditional food resources is strongly influenced by the legal and regulatory relationship with the federal government, and examining the multi-faceted relationship that tribes have with places, ecological processes and species. Tribal participation in local, regional and national climate change adaption strategies, with a focus on food-based resources, can inform and strengthen the ability of both tribes and other governmental resource managers to address and adapt to climate change impacts. "American Indian and Alaska Native tribes face unique and disproportionate challenges from climate change that are not yet widely understood in academic or policy arenas. This paper explores one of these challenges in particular—the impact of climate change on traditional foods and the reality that 1) tribal access to resources is strongly influenced by the legal and regulatory relationship that tribes have with the federal government, and 2) tribes have a unique and multi-faceted relationship with places, ecological processes, and species. These frameworks shape tribal responses to climate change. “Water is held sacred by many indigenous peoples (Cozzetto et al.), and considered by some to be a traditional food... Climate change impacts on water temperature and availability will also have significant impacts on tribal traditional foods. Already, the lack of water is among one of the leading causes for the decline in the ability to grow corn and other crops... In the Great Lakes region, warming winters and changes in water level are crippling the ability of wild rice to grow and thrive in its traditional range. Wild rice is a pillar of cultural health for the Anishnaabeg people in Minnesota, and any decline in wild rice negatively affects their well-being. In response to threats facing wild rice, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Tribe has begun trying to address potential hydrological changes. In the early 1900s, settlers built ditches to drain the land for agricultural purposes, resulting in negative impacts to the watershed. The Fond du Lac are now building dams at ditch flow points to keep water levels stable and prevent extreme changes in water level that would negatively affect wild rice harvests. “Climate and ecosystems change over time. Paleoclimate, archaeology, and ethno-ecological research provide a foundation for understanding how climate, environmental productivity and tribal food utilization strategies evolved. Historical evidence demonstrates the rate of climatic change experienced within past environments and the accompanying tribal food security systems that occurred in response to these changes. Although the rate of change experienced was not as rapid as contemporary conditions, tribes historically experienced significant climate changes that affected ecosystems and food-based resources, requiring tribal cultures to strategically adapt and respond to survive. “Tribes may enter government-to-government agreements to increase their role in local resource management, to access additional areas to gather traditional foods, or lease and buy lands that ensure sustained access to traditional foods. Tribes may also exchange information and identify different technologies to access, acquire, process, and store foods. Additionally, tribes can develop formal and informal agreements with other tribes to grant or request access to traditional foods that may now only be found on one of their reservations. Tribes may have to consider diversifying their food-based resources and possibly adopting and utilizing new animals, plants, or fungi. “Addressing climate change through the knowledge, experiences, and policy contexts of indigenous peoples provides a powerful counter-point to the lack of effective global climate responses. As indigenous peoples may experience some of the harshest impacts of climate change, they can also lead the way in creative solutions for adaptation and ethical policy strategies. “Climate change impacts on tribal traditional foods should be viewed in the context of historical and cultural tribal relationships with places, wildlife, and plants, as well as in the landscape of the treaties, federal policies, and federal trust responsibilities and regulations in which they exist. Moreover, tribes view climate change adaptation in light of their reciprocal relations to care for and respect natural resources. As a result of these relationships of reciprocity and responsibility between tribes and nature and existing policies, Indian tribes’ vulnerability to climate change, and the adaptation strategies they adopt are multi-faceted and deeply rooted in a complex historical context. As sovereign governments, tribes have the authority to identify and implement adaptation strategies, and attempt to influence and strengthen the climate change protocols of other governments. “The various adaptive practices tribal practitioners and communities employ may enable managers to institute changes in policies, regional strategies, and resource regulation/conservation that enable ecosystems to respond more favorably to climate change. Tribal participation in local, regional and national climate change adaption frameworks and strategies, with a focus on food-based resources, can assist with prioritizing research and management directions. “Under extreme and rapid conditions of severe change at different ecological scales, western scientists and managers may need to partner with tribal scientists, managers, harvesters, and communities to explore innovative approaches to addressing climate change impacts. Tribal participation in climate change research, policy development and planning can help identify more solutions that fully consider tribal cultural values. Climate change will not obey the jurisdictional boundaries between tribal, private, state, and federal lands. As such, meaningful government-to-government relationships and collaboration will be vital to address the climate change impacts to the traditional foods, and to the wildlife, plants, and habitats valued by tribes and other Americans."Item Social Sustainability and Reciprocity: Co-designing a Social Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (SO-LCA) framework for a food hub at the peri-urban agricultural interface(2023) Russell, RosalindThis research is grounded in sustainability, food, and people. It is a case study exploring how to holistically measure the social equity pillar of sustainable agriculture. More specifically, how to equitably measure the needs and impacts of the many stakeholders-sustaining food systems at the peri-urban agricultural interface. To explore this proof of concept, a community-design approach was utilized to develop a framework for measuring the social impact of stakeholders on and by The Good Acre, a food hub in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. The community-design approach incorporated participatory action research (PAR) principles, which included interviews, routine meetings, focus groups, surveys, follow-up emails, and compensation for time and knowledge shared. The measuring of social impact involved a social organizational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA), which is an emerging methodology used to measure progress in social equity for the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). The SO-LCA is designed to measure how impacts are distributed and accrued across all stakeholders in a system. The stakeholders of The Good Acre include people living in and around the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) who grow, process, package, prepare, distribute, consume, fund, govern, work, or volunteer with local food systems associated with The Good Acre. For this research, the methodology was adapted and re-imagined with the community, for the community, using PAR methods. The methodology and framework that resulted from this study is an exploratory proof of concept for modeling the reciprocal relationships stakeholders have with organizations, communities, and systems in the context of life cycle assessment and sustainability. The effectiveness of the framework should be further explored by 1) applying this methodology to a variety of agricultural organizations to capture a diversity of scales, geographies, and stakeholder priorities (re-imagining “organizations” as social networks), 2) incorporating routine surveys or other methods for soliciting continuous feedback as a metric in the SO-LCA framework to capture the dynamic needs of these social systems over time, and 3) utilizing the indicators from this process as the framework for conducting a sustainability life cycle assessment. Ultimately, this research could be used to inform more targeted and equitable policy and planning approach for agricultural systems at the peri-urban agricultural interface.Item Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center Organic Farm: A Curriculum Evaluation(2015-05) Stewart, Melanie JainWolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center (WRELC), located in Finland, MN, recently developed a new curriculum for their on-site organic farm. Using a one group pre-test/post-test design, this evaluative study investigated the effectiveness of the WRELC Organic Farm curriculum at enhancing participants’ knowledge of the food system. Mean knowledge scores collected from a quantitative survey significantly increased from pre- to post-test among all five knowledge domains measured. Additionally, there were few effects of demographic variables measured, indicating that this curriculum was generally effective for most participants. A qualitative interview with the instructor of the classes lent support to quantitative findings. Results from this study point toward an overall success of this curriculum at enhancing participants’ knowledge of the food system. Recommendations for WRELC were provided, and areas for future research were noted.