Developing an Ontario Maple Syrup Sector Profile: A Value Chain Analysis (Executive Summary)

Through a sectorial profile, this study identifies the maple syrup value chain’s key players, processes, activities and inter-intra industry relationships (social capital) providing baseline data on the current status of the industry and an overall picture of the maple syrup value chain for members and new entrants. The study found that a) technological advancements over the years have lead to great efficiencies and eased the labour requirement; b) that strong social connections have great impact on marketing and retail of syrup; c) that innovation is found not only through research and development sectors of large companies but also from a bottom-up approach; d) Producers have aided with innovations with development of technology and processes

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Rural Community Practitioners Workbook

This practitioner workbook draws together the insights from a three-year (2016-19) Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) funded research study. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such collaboration and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of this workbook are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any practitioner recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This report is part of a larger suite of documents on rural Ontario inter-community service cooperation. To access the complete rural ICSC toolkit please visit http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Policy Brief

This policy brief draws together the insights from a three-year (2016-19) Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) funded research study. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such collaboration and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of policy brief are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any policy recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This document is part of a larger suite of documents on rural Ontario inter-community service cooperation. To access the complete rural ICSC toolkit please visit http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications/

Maple Syrup Value Systems and Value Chains - Considering Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Perspectives

Harvested from both intensive sugar maple stands and diverse mixed forest ecosystems across Ontario, maple syrup is an important rural and Aboriginal non-timber forest product that contributes to social, economic and environmental sustainability. This paper presents our ongoing work to map Ontario’s maple syrup value system from two different perspectives, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. In the economic sense, analyses of value systems are useful for members to identify the opportunities and challenges they are facing to advance industry growth and innovation. In the social and environmental sense, these analyses provide a window into how different worldviews and belief systems can lead to more effective and sustainable maple production. A value system is the inter-connected network of firms and activities that comprise an industry from the supplier to the consumer that is focused on quality and efficiency rather than costs. In this project, we pushed the boundaries of the traditional business approach, to incorporate sustainable development thinking and re-imagine the mapping according to Aboriginal ways of knowing. We undertook thirty four interviews representing Aboriginal and rural industry members and other key informants. We compare and contrast the rural and Aboriginal models of the value systems and conclude by providing insights useful for community forestry operations

How Do We Come to Know? Exploring Maple Syrup Production and Climate Change in Near North Ontario

This paper reports on a pilot project exploring the impacts of climate change on maple syrup production in understudied near north, Ontario spaces. Maple syrup is produced by settler, Métis and First Nations communities for commercial distribution and as part of a mixed subsistence economy. The focus on maple syrup is opportune, since syrup production and sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum) are extremely susceptible to climate change and the biophysical and social impacts of climate change on maple syrup production in the near north of Ontario have yet to be understood. Given that the process of developing research is under-reported and that this project has had the opportunity to undertake a funded development process, this paper describes and assesses our process of ‘coming to know’, which has been guided by the following objectives: 1) to undertake an exploratory investigation of the nature of available data about long-term syrup production and climate change in both settler and Indigenous communities, 2) to include and valorize marginalized Indigenous voices and ecologies, 3) to focus on collecting climate change data from understudied near north spaces, 4) to assess the availability and quality of ecological and quantitative data in order to enhance locally-relevant understandings of climate change, and 5) to work towards the development of a cross-cultural and transdisciplinary methodological framework within which to accomplish the first four objectives. We approach these objectives across disciplinary boundaries and cultural perspectives, and with growing relationships with community partners. We describe the rich sources of information found through the pilot study and discuss highlights of our on-going process of developing our research project

Pure genius : Guinness consumption and Irish identity

As an Irish person and as a member of the diasporic space myself, and, it needs to be noted, as a Guinness drinker—I have often asked myself, “Just what is the attachment to Guinness drinking for me or for any other Irish person living in Ireland or outside?” This is not an idle question. The act of consuming that dis- tinctive national product Guinness is intimately bound up with Irish identity. Further, the role that Guinness and its marketing and advertising producers play in evoking Irishness and in-group membership as a strategy constitutes a com- plex and commercially potent element of Irish identity worldwide. In the late s, I undertook a project of comparing the consumption of Guinness as an advertising text by Irish consumers living in Ireland with the meanings given to such texts by Irish immigrants living in London and New York. The findings make it clear that Guinness, its advertising, and the rituals and myths that surround it, play a part in the imagining of a place immigrants call “home.” As it creates a Guinness of its imagination, the audience effective- ly moves the product outside the pub space and outside the text, and in doing so, gives the process of consumption new dimensions, values, and uses. The reader of the text or the consumer of the product is not simply responding to the textual content or the market-led strategies employed by the producer; rather, he or she is usually employing numerous intellectual strategies to read, consume, usurp, critique, and play with these messages.peer-reviewe

‘Power’ and ‘greatness’ : superheroes and masculinities : Guinness as a social and cultural signifier in southern Africa

Guinness and Irishness are inextricably linked both in the popular imagination (Murphy 2003) and through the origins and manufacture of the product in Dublin. In southern Africa, too, this iconic product occupies a position in the lived experiences of both men and women that is cultural, social and economic, as I show in this chapter, which explores Guinness as a cultural artefact in the region. I examine two major sites where Guinness has occupied a role: in the economy, in the guise of brewing, distributing, marketing and advertising; and in the cultural and social spaces, where Guinness has had a role in the lives of the consumers and non- consumers of Guinness. The chapter begins by exploring the changing face of production, the complexities of distribution and the new direction of Guinness marketing strategies (Doyle, interview, 1997).1 In order to understand the role and function of Guinness within the southern African social and cultural framework, the study will then locate itself in the social and cultural space, examining Guinness as a cultural signifier by investigating a series of adverts that have appeared in Africa from the 1950s through to the 21st century, locating some of the myths and rituals that surround Guinness. I shall explore the texts where ‘Guinness’ is produced and reproduced as a cultural commodity in its advertising strategies and content, analyse some of the imagery and promise, and illustrate how the advertising texts support, and possibly generate, consumer readings and meanings.peer-reviewe

The Theatre of Tennessee Williams

In Brenda Murphy's major study of his work she examines Williams' life and career and provides an analysis of more than a score of his key plays, including in-depth studies of major works such as A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and others. She traces the artist figure who features in many of Williams' plays to broaden the discussion beyond the normal reference points. Included are essays by Bruce McConachie, John S. Bak, Felicia Hardison Londré and Annette Saddik, showcasing different critical perspectives and approaches