Local Food Systems, Ethnic Entrepreneurs, and Social Networks

African immigrants in the United States (U.S.) experience immense challenges in the form of poverty, unemployment, and underemployment. Limited English language proficiency often restricts African immigrants to low-paying, unskilled positions. Ethnic entrepreneurship in the form of small-scale farming provides some African immigrants with an alternative to mainstream employment. Key to the success of many African immigrants is participation in beginning farmer programs. These programs operate as social networks, connecting immigrant farmers to training, farming resources, and members of the local community who provide access to additional resources and markets. Drawing from social capital theory, this mixed methods study investigates economic outcomes and social capital development within immigrant farmer programs. Immigrant farmer programs are analyzed as social networks that connect immigrants to technical training, farming resources, and community members who can provide access to markets. Data were collected through a survey of 112 agricultural educators working with immigrant farming programs across the United States. Data were also collected through case studies of programs in Ohio and Virginia. Bivariate correlation tests found the following agricultural training topics were significantly associated with economic outcomes, specifically training on farm equipment use, organic certification, and pest management. Ten marketing training topics were associated with economic outcomes, including business management, identifying markets, and introduction to direct markets. Social network ties were also associated with economic outcomes. These relationships were with the following organizations: farmers markets, community-supported organizations, the Extension Service, local farm supply stores, restaurants, and the Farm Bureau. Multiple regression tests found that 24.8% of the variance in economic outcomes could be accounted for by social network development, market training, and agricultural training

Surveying Agrifood Stakeholders To Identify Priorities as Part of a Virginia Food System Assessment

Throughout Virginia there are a multitude of social, environmental, and economic challenges facing farmers and communities. In 2010 and 2011, an interdisciplinary team of faculty, practitioners, and graduate students collaborated to address these challenges through the creation of the Virginia Farm to Table Plan. As part of the plan, the team completed a comprehensive food system assessment. Comprehensive food system assessments use qualitative and quantitative methodologies to analyze the systematic nature of a local, state, or regional food system to address the interactions of food with social, environmental, and economic concerns. The overall purpose of this article is to present the results of an online survey of Virginia agrifood system stakeholders that investigated their priorities for strengthening Virginia's local and regional food systems. A total of 1,134 Virginia respondents completed the online survey. Respondents were asked to rank 34 items in four major categories in terms of their level of importance for strengthening Virginia's food systems. Respondents rated increasing the "understanding by government officials of the economic, environmental, and social issues surrounding local food systems" as the most important priority among all of the items listed. The category with the most highly rated items was "food system planning, management, and policy." This survey provided key information for developing the Virginia Farm to Table Plan

Correlation between Eosinophils and Protection against Reinfection with Schistosoma mansoni and the Effect of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Coinfection in Humans

Longitudinal investigations of an adult male population of Kenyan car washers who have heavy and quantifiable occupational exposure to Schistosoma mansoni cercariae revealed that some individuals develop resistance to reinfection while others remain highly susceptible. We sought to characterize immune correlates associated with host protection in this population. Previous studies have demonstrated an association of peripheral eosinophilia with resistance to reinfection with schistosomes. Thus, we investigated the relationship between the percentage of circulating eosinophils and the effect of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) coinfection on the susceptibility of the car washers to reinfection with schistosomes. Elevated percentages of circulating eosinophils were associated with resistance to reinfection by S. mansoni in HIV-1-seronegative persons. In the HIV-1-seropositive cohort, low CD4(+)-T-cell counts were associated with a less intense eosinophilia. Moreover, eosinophils from the car washers expressed high levels of FcεRI β chain, a molecule important in immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated immunity. Levels of FcεRI β chain expression correlated with serum levels of total and antigen-specific IgE for HIV-1-negative car washers, but this was not the case for individuals coinfected with HIV-1. Overall, these data further implicate eosinophils as having a potential role in development of protective immunity against schistosomes and suggest that changes associated with HIV-1 coinfection increase susceptibility to reinfection