183 research outputs found
Modelling Organic Dairy Production Systems
In this study, a large number of organic dairy production strategies were compared in terms of physical and financial performance through the integrated use of computer simulation models and organic case study farm data. Production and financial data from three organic case study farms were used as a basis for the modelling process to ensure that the modelled systems were based on real sets of resources that might be available to a farmer. The case study farms were selected to represent a range of farming systems in terms of farm size, concentrate use and location. This paper describes the process used to model the farm systems: the integration of the three models used and the use of indicators to assess the modelled farm systems in terms of physical sustainability and financial performance
Cultivating diversity and food quality. Proceedings of Diversifood EU Forum, Brussels, 11 April 2018
To tackle this issue, Diversifood team organised a forum with policy makers and stakeholders on the 11th of April 2018, in Brussels.
Diversifood’s aim is to share results and key lessons including new approaches for the management of cultivated biodiversity, for plant breeding for sustainable farming systems, and new relationships among actors of food systems.
In the afternoon, there was time for discussion, knowledge sharing, collecting feedback and extending current policies to include cultivating diversity and food quality (for FP9, CAP 2020, The outputs of this workshop will feed Diversifood’s final recommendations.
The forum was kindly hosted by the European Committee of the Regions (Rue Belliard/Belliardstraat 101, 1040 Brussels)
Phosphopeptide patterns of the ribosomal protein S6 following stimulation of guineapig parotid glands by secretagogues involving either cAMP or calcium as second messenger
AbstractStimulation of secretion in exocrine cells is associated with the incorporation of up to 3 to 4 phosphates into the ribosomal protein S6. This occurs with secretagogues involving either cAMP or free calcium as second messenger. An analysis of the phosphorylation pattern of S6 from stimulated guineapig parotid glands reveals 3 phosphopeptides (termed A,B,C). The phosphopeptide pattern was identical for cAMP- or calcium-mediated stimulation, whereas phosphorylation of the S6 protein in vitro with catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase resulted only in the formation of phosphopeptides A and C. Therefore, secretagogue-mediated phosphorylation is not or not exclusively catalyzed by cAMP-dependent protein kinase even when cAMP is the second messenger
D6.7 Report on the experience of conducting the case studies
One of the main aims of the case studies was to publish improved market reports. The data collected as part of the six case studies have been, or will shortly be, published in the five improved national organic market reports and one first regional market report (MOAN case study). This will make a contribution towards filling the many gaps that continue to exist in organic market data collection in Europe
Recommended from our members
Conflict and Astroturfing in Niyamgiri: The Importance of National Advocacy Networks in Anti-Corporate Social Movements
Traditional models of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and stakeholder management do not capture the nuance and dynamics of (counter-)organising processes around anti-corporate mobilisation. Based on the case of a resistance movement against a planned bauxite mine on tribal land in India, we develop a process theory of interactions between local, national and international actors within transnational advocacy networks. These encounters are not always friendly and are often characterised by conflict between actors with disparate goals and interests. We highlight the importance of national advocacy networks (NANs) in anti-corporate social movements and describe the conflicts and disruptions that result from ignoring them. Our findings also point to the role of corporate counter-mobilisation strategies in shaping resistance movements. Our narrative revolves around a particular focal actor in the anti-mining campaign: a young tribal man who emerged as a passionate spokesperson of the movement, but later became a supporter of the controversial mine. Our findings contribute to a richer understanding of the processes underlying transnational and national anti-corporate mobilisation
Gendering Farmer Producer companies at the Agricultural Frontier of India: Empowerment or Burden?
Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) are driving agricultural frontier expansions in India. Their main objectives are to mobilize small-scale farmers to collectivize and organize in order to gain collective bargaining power, in the process empowering farmers and eliminating middlemen. However, they have not established any demonstrable success in achieving these goals. This chapter seeks firstly, to draw transnational connections between agro-ecological transformations in India and larger market/capital expansions through FPCs, contextualized amidst national development goals for farmer empowerment, changing labor patterns, and ecological degradation. In doing so, it will, secondly, explore the gendered dimension of FPCs in India by analyzing how the process of establishing women-only FPCs by using mandatory inclusion as a participation tool can serve to disempower and further burden women. While mandatory involvement of women farmers on their Board of Directors as an empowerment strategy can prove crucial to enhancing women’s decision-making roles, this chapter asks whether such an inclusionary approach remains meaningful to achieve FPC success in a context where external support for women’s empowerment is not provided
Supporting Innovation in Organic Agriculture: A European Perspective Using Experience from the SOLID Project
Organic farming is recognized as one source for innovation helping agriculture to develop sustainably. However, the understanding of innovation in agriculture is characterized by technical optimism, relying mainly on new inputs and technologies originating from research. The paper uses the alternative framework of innovation systems describing innovation as the outcome of stakeholder interaction and examples from the SOLID
(Sustainable Organic Low-Input Dairying) project to discuss the role of farmers, researchers and knowledge exchange for innovation. We used a farmer-led participatory approach to identify problems of organic and low-input dairy farming in Europe and develop and evaluate innovative practices. Experience so far shows that improvements of sustainability can be made through better exploitation of knowledge. For example, it is recognized that optimal utilization of good quality forage is vitally important, but farmers showed a lack of
confidence in the reliability of forage production both in quantity and quality. We conclude that the systems framework improves the understanding of innovation processes in organic agriculture. Farmer-led research is an effective way to bring together the scientific approach with the farmers’ practical and context knowledge in finding solutions to problems experienced by farmers and to develop sustainability
Exploring the contribution of alternative food networks to food security. A comparative analysis
[EN] Food (in)security has become a challenge not only for developing economies but also for High Income Countries. In parallel, food scholars have actively investigated the contribution of alternative food networks (AFNs) to the development of more sustainable and just food systems, paying attention to drivers, initiatives and policies supporting the development of alternatives to the dominant industrialised food system and its detrimental environmental and socio-economic impacts. However, few studies have directly addressed the contribution of AFNs to food security in the Global North. This paper aims to establish new linkages between food security debates and critical AFNs literature. For that purpose, we conduct a place-based approach to food security in a comparative analysis of initiatives of three different European contexts: Cardiff city-region (UK), the Flemish Region (Belgium) and the peri-urban area of the city of Valencia (Spain). The results unfold: i) how AFNs weave a more localised socio-economic fabric that creates new relationships between food security outcomes and specific territories, ii) hybridization processes within alternative but also conventional systems and iii) the role of advocacy and collective action at different levels. The analysis allows identification of key elements on which food security debates hinge and provides new insights to ground conceptual discussions on territorial and place-based food security approaches.This research is part of the project "Assessment of the impact of global drivers of change on Europe's food security" (TRANSMANGO), granted by the EU under 7th Framework Programme; theme KBBE.2013.2.5-01; Grant agreement no: 613532. Dr. Ana Moragues-Faus also acknowledges the funding of the European Commission and the Welsh Government that currently supports her Ser Cymru fellowship. These results reflect only the authors' view; the funders are not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.Cerrada-Serra, P.; Moragues-Faus, A.; Zwart, TA.; Adlerova, B.; Ortiz-Miranda, D.; Avermaete, T. (2018). Exploring the contribution of alternative food networks to food security. A comparative analysis. Food Security. 10(6):1371-1388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-018-0860-xS13711388106Arcuri, S., Brunori, G., & Galli, F. (2017). Insights on the role of private and public actors in food assistance provision: A literature review for high income countries. Economia agro-alimentare. https://doi.org/10.3280/ECAG2017-001006 .Barca, F., McCann, P., & RodrĂguez-Pose, A. (2012). The case for regional development intervetion: Place-based versus place-neutral approaches. Journal of Regional Science, 52, 134–152. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00756.x .Bauler, T., Mutombo, E., van Gameren, V., Crivits, M., Paredis, E., Boulanger, P., . . . Ruwet, C., (2011). Construction of scenarios and exploration of transition pathways for sustainable consumption patterns. Brussels: Belgian Science Policy.Brown, J. C., & Purcell, M. (2005). There’s nothing inherent about scale: Political ecology, the local trap, and the politics of development in the Brazilian Amazon. Geoforum, 36, 607–624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2004.09.001 .Bourne, N. (2012) Fruit and vegetable community co-ops rise to 350 in Wales, BBC Wales News, Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17938418 . Accessed Sept 2017.Brunori, G., Malandrin, V., & Rossi, A. (2013). Trade-off or convergence? The role of food security in the evolution of food discourse in Italy. Journal of Rural Studies, 29, 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.01.013 .Cistulli, V., RodrĂguez-Pose, A., Escobar, G., Marta, S., & Schejtman, A. (2014). Addressing food security and nutrition by means of a territorial approach. Food Security, 6, 879–894. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-014-0395-8 .Clay, E. (2002). Food security; concept and measurement. Paper for FAO expert consultation on trade and food security: Conceptualising the linkages. Rome http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4671e/y4671e06.htm . Accessed Sept 2017.Cox, I. (2015). Interim report: Adding value and demonstrating sustainable development in the community food co-ops in Wales, EcoStudio.Crivits, M., & Paredis, E. (2013). Designing an explanatory practice framework: Local food systems as a case. Journal of Consumer Culture, 13, 306–336. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540513484321joc.sagepub.com .CSM (2016). Connecting small-holders to farmers: an analytical guide.Dedeurwaedere, T., de Schutter, O., Hudon, M., Mathijs, E., Annaert, B., Avermaete, T., et al. (2015). Working paper: Social enterprise based transition movements between transformation and reform. The case of transition initiatives in local food networks. BRAIN-be. Food4Sustainability annual report 2. Deliverable 2.2.Dixon, J., & Richards, C. (2016). On food security and alternative food networks: Understanding and performing food security in the context of urban bias. Agriculture and Human Values, 33, 191–202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-015-9630-y .Ekers, M., Levkoe, C. Z., Walker, S., & Dale, B. (2015). Will work for food: Agricultural interns, apprentices, volunteers, and the agrarian question. Agriculture and Human Values, 33, 705–720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-015-9660-5 .Elliott, E., Parry, O., Ashdown-Lambert, J. (2004). Evaluation of community food co-ops, Working Paper 85, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.FAO (1998). Report: Sustaining agricultural biodiversity and agro-ecosystem functions. http://www.fao.org/sd/EPdirect/EPre0080.htm . Accessed Nov 2017.FAO (2001). Report: The state of food insecurity in the world. http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/y1500e/y1500e00.htm . Accessed Nov 2017.Gibson-Graham, J. K. (2006). A postcapitalist politics. Minessota: University of Minnesota Press.Goodman, M. K. (2004). Reading fair trade: Political ecological imaginary and the moral economy of fair trade foods. Political Geography, 23, 891–915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2004.05.013 .Goodman, D., DuPuis, E.M., Goodman, M.K. (2012). Alternative food networks: Knowledge, place and politics. Routledge, Oxon, New York. ISBN: 9780203804520.Goodman, D., DuPuis, E. M., & Goodman, M. K. (2013). Engaging alternative food networks: Commentaries and research agendas. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 20, 425–431.Guinot, E. (2008) El paisaje de la Huerta de Valencia. Elementos de interpretaciĂłn de su morfologĂa espacial de origen medieval. Historia de la Ciudad V. TradiciĂłn y progreso, 98–111. Valencia: Icaro-Colegio Territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia-Universidad PolitĂ©cnica de Valencia.Guthman, J. (2004). Agrarian dreams: The paradox of organic farming in California. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN-10: 0520240952.Hubeau, M., Coteur, I., Mondelaers, K., & Marchand, F. (2015). Systeembeschrijving van het Vlaamse Landbouw- en Voedingssysteem: een nulmeting. Merelbeke, Belgie: ILVO.Ilbery, B., & Maye, D. (2005). Alternative (shorter) food supply chains and specialist livestock products in the Scottish - English borders. Environment and Planning, 37, 823–844. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3717 .IPCC (2012). Glossary of terms. In C. B. Field, V. Barros, T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, D. J. Dokken, K. L. Ebi et al. (Eds.), Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), (pp. 555–564). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Jarosz, L. (2007). The city in the country: Growing alternative food networks in metropolitan areas. Journal of Rural Studies, 24, 231–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2007.10.002 .Jones, I. (2012). Evaluation of the community food co-operative programme in Wales, BMG research, Welsh Government social research, 22/2012.Kirwan, J., & Maye, D. (2013). Food security framings within the UK and the integration of local food systems. Journal of Rural Studies, 29, 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.03.002 .Lamine, C. (2015). Sustainability and resilience in Agrifood systems: Reconnecting agriculture, food and the environment. Sociologia Ruralis, 55, 41–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12061 .Loopstra, R., Reeves, A., McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2016). Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: Quasi-natural experiment of Europe’s great recessions 2004–2012. Preventive Medicine, 89, 44–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.05.010 .MacMillan, T., & Dowler, E. (2012). Just and sustainable? Examining the rhetoric and potential realities of UK food security. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 25, 181–204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-011-9304-8 .Marsden, T., Banks, J., Bristow, G. (2000). Food supply chain approaches: exploring their role in rural development. Sociologia Ruralis, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9523.00158Maxwell, S. (1996). Food security: A post-modern perspective. Food Policy, 21, 155–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-9192(95)00074-7 .Mooney, P.H., Hunt, S.A. (2009). Food security: The elaboration of contested claims to a consensus frame. Sociologia Ruralis. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1549-0831.2009.tb00701.x .Moragues-Faus, A. (2016). Participative action research: Transforming Cardiff’s food system through students’ live projects. Report available at http://foodcardiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Report-live-projects-2016-cut-.pdf. . Accessed Sept 2017.Moragues-Faus, A. (2017a). Emancipatory or neoliberal food politics? Exploring the “politics of collectivity” of buying groups in the search for egalitarian food democracies. Antipode, 49, 455–476. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12274 .Moragues-Faus, A. (2017b). Problematising justice definitions in public food security debates: Towards global and participative food justices. Geoforum, 84, 95–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.06.007 .Moragues-Faus, A., & Marsden, T. (2017). The political ecology of food: Carving “spaces of possibility” in a new research agenda. Journal of Rural Studies, 55, 275–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.08.016 .Moragues-Faus, A., Sonnino, R., 2012. Embedding quality in the agro-food system: The dynamics and implications of place-making strategies in the olive oil sector of alto Palancia, Spain. Sociologia Ruralis, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9523.2011.00558.x .Morgan, K., & Sonnino, R. (2010). The urban foodscape: World cities and the new food equation. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3, 209–224. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsq007 .Murdoch, J., & Miele, M. (1999). “Back to nature”: Changing “worlds of production” in the food sector. Sociologia Ruralis, 39, 465–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9523.00119 .Murdoch, J., Marsden, T., & Banks, J. (2000). Quality, nature, and embeddedness: Some theoretical considerations in the context of the food sector. Economic Geography, 76, 107–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-8287.2000.tb00136.x .OECD, FAO, UNCDF (2016). Adopting a territorial approach to food security and nutrition policy. Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264257108-en .Ortiz-Miranda, D., Moragues-Faus, A.M., 2014. Governing fair trade coffee supply: dynamics and challenges in small farmers’ organizations. Sustainable Development, https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1570 .Oxfam and Church Action. (2013). Walking the breadline: The scandal of food poverty in 21st-century Britain. http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/walking-the-breadline-the-scandal-of-food-poverty-in-21st-century-britain-292978 . Accessed 19 August 2014.Padel, S., & Foster, C. (2005). Exploring the gap between attitudes and behaviour: Understandingwhy consumers buy or do not buy organic food. British Food Journal, 107, 606–625. https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700510611002 .Radhika Ch., Hemantha U., 2017. Research study on nutrition security and equity in its access in watershed development programmes. Research reports series 107. National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj. ISBN 978-93-84503-81-9.Renting, H., Marsden, T. K., & Banks, J. (2003). Understanding alternative food networks: Exploring the role of short food supply chains in rural development. Environment and Planning, 35, 393–411. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3510 .Renting, H., Schermer, M., & Rossi, A. (2012). Building food democracy: Exploring civic food networks and newly emerging forms of food citizenship. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 19, 289–307.Romero, J., & FrancĂ©s, M. (Eds.). (2012). La Huerta de Valencia. Un paisaje cultural con futuro incierto. Valencia: Publicaciones de la Universitat de València.Sage, C. (2003). Social embeddedness and relations of regard: Alternative “good food” networks in south-West Ireland. Journal of Rural Studies, 19, 47–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00044-X .Sonnino, R., & Marsden, T. (2006). Beyond the divide: Rethinking relationships between alternative and conventional food networks in Europe. Journal of Economic Geography, 6, 181–199. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbi006 .Sonnino, R., Marsden, T., & Moragues-Faus, A. (2016). Relationalities and convergences in food security narratives: Towards a place-based approach. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 41, 477–489. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12137 .Soriano i Piqueras, V. (2015). La huerta de Valencia un paisaje menguante. Amazon. ISBN-13: 978-1512009231.Stanners, D., & Bourdeau, P. (1995). Europe’s environment: The Dobris assessment. Copenhagen: European Environmental Agency.Tregear, A. (2011). Progressing knowledge in alternative and local food networks: Critical reflections and a research agenda. Journal of Rural Studies, 27, 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.06.003 .Valencia City Council. (2016). Department of Agricultura and Huerta (ongoing review). Pla d’AcciĂł Integral per a la promociĂł de l’activitat i el territori agrĂcola municipal. https://hortaipoblesvalencia.org/es/agricultura-y-huerta/ . Accessed Jan 2018.Van Gameren, V., Ruwet, C., & Bauler, T. (2015). Towards a governance of sustainable consumption transitions: How institutional factors influence emerging local food systems in Belgium. Local Environment: The international journal of justice and sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2013.872090 .Venn, L., Kneafsey, M., Holloway, L., Cox, R., Dowler, E., & Tuomainen, H. (2006). Researching European “alternative” food networks: Some methodological considerations. Area, 38, 248–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2006.00694.x .Vervoort, J., Thornton, P. K., Kristjanson, P., et al. (2014). Challenges to scenario-guided adaptive action on food security under climate change. Global Environmental Change, 28, 383–394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.03.001 .Weingartner L. (2005). Paper I. The concept of food and nutrition security. In: Klennert K, editor. Achieving food and nutrition security: Actions to meet the global challenge: A training course reader. Feldafing: German Society for International Cooperation; p. 3–28. ISBN 3-937235 -71-X.Whatmore, S., Stassart, P., & Renting, H. (2003). What’s alternative about alternative food networks? Environment and Planning, 35, 389–391. https://doi.org/10.1068/a3621 .Zwart, T. A., Mathijs, E., Avermaete, T. (2016). Can alternative food networks contribute to a transition towards sustainability in Flanders: Assessing the marketing functions of Voedselteams. Report available at http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/245069/files/BioeconWP_2016_04_submitted.pdf . Accessed Sept 2017
Recommended from our members
A Multi-Actor Literature Review on Alternative and Sustainable Food Systems for the Promotion of Cereal Biodiversity
Organic and low-input food systems are emerging worldwide in answer to the sustainability crisis of the conventional agri-food sector. “Alternative” systems are based on local, decentralized approaches to production and processing, regarding quality and health, and short supply-chains for products with strong local identities. Diversity is deeply embedded in these food systems, from the agrobiodiversity grown in farmers’ fields, which improves resilience and adaptation, to diverse approaches, contexts and actors in food manufacturing and marketing. Diversity thus becomes a cross-sectoral issue which acknowledges consumers’ demand for healthy products. In the framework of the European project “CERERE, CEreal REnaissance in Rural Europe: embedding diversity in organic and low-input food systems”, the paper aims at reviewing recent research on alternative and sustainable food systems by adopting an innovative and participatory multi-actor approach; this has involved ten practitioners and twenty-two researchers from across Europe and a variety of technical backgrounds in the paper and analysis stages. The participatory approach is the main innovation and distinctive feature of this literature review. Partners selected indeed what they perceived as most relevant in order to facilitate a transition towards more sustainable and diversity based cereal systems and food chains. This includes issues related to alternative food networks, formal and informal institutional settings, grass root initiatives, consumer involvement and, finally, knowledge exchange and sustainability. The review provides an overview of recent research that is relevant to CERERE partners as well as to anyone interested in alternative and sustainable food systems. The main objective of this paper was indeed to present a narrative of studies, which can form the foundation for future applied research to promote alternative methods of cereal production in Europe.Peer reviewe
- …