Nanotechnology: The Next Challenge for Organics

Nanotechnology is the fast growing science of the ultra small; it is creating engineered particles in the size range 1 to 100 nanometres. At this size, materials exhibit novel behaviours. Nanotechnology is a rapidly expanding multibillion dollar industry, with research being heavily promoted by governments, and especially the US. Nanoscale materials are already incorporated into more than 580 consumer products, including food, packaging, cosmetics, clothing and paint. Nanotechnology has been cited as the foundation of a new “advanced agriculture”. This technology is advancing without nano-specific regulation and without labelling while, at the same time, public confidence in government regulatory agencies, and in the safety of the food supply, is declining. There is an opportunity, perhaps an imperative, for the organic community to take the initiative to develop standards to exclude engineered nanoparticles from organic products, just as GMOs have been excluded previously

Governing organic food exporting: possibilities for democratic engagement and impacts for smallholder farmers

Export of certified organic agricultural products is one of a number of market-based development strategies for improving the socio-economic and ecological realities of smallholders in the Global South. Yet the outcomes of participation in these export-led initiatives have been mixed. The extent to which organic export agriculture might deliver benefits to smallholders is, at least in part, related to the deliberative capacity of organic governance processes – on which participation in organic exporting relies. Deliberative capacity is taken to include broadly inclusive and authentic inclusion of smallholders, and other local actors, in organic governance processes. This article contributes to understandings of participation in organic governance and its outcomes by evaluating smallholder and other Southern actor engagement in three aspects of organic governance arrangements: organic standards, compliance and inspection requirements. The results presented here – drawing from fieldwork in Uganda and Ghana – demonstrate that, on the one hand, organic governance arrangements are characterized by limited democratic engagement and decision-making; standard-setting processes largely exclude smallholder and other Southern actor interests, as well as creating new forms of dependency between smallholders and export companies. However, and in other circumstances, the introduction of group certification and local inspection services has provided smallholders with bargaining power with export companies and northern buyers. These spaces point to possibilities for organic governance to improve the socio-economic and ecological realities of smallholders in the Global South

The emerging nano-corporate paradigm: nanotechnology and the transformation of nature, food and agri-food systems

Nanotechnology represents the latest in a line of technological innovations set to transform agriculture and food production. From the farm to the table, nanotechnology research and development is being applied across the entire agri-food system. In this paper we outline the contours of what we call the nano-corporate food paradigm . We examine research and commercial applications of nanotechnology in the agriculture and food sectors, and showcase the ways in which the nano-corporate food paradigm is being applied, and at the same time may shape and transform agri-food systems

Nano-in-food - Threat or Opportunity for Organic Food?

Nanotechnology is creating engineered particles in the size range 1 to 100 nanometers. At the nano-scale, materials exhibit novel behaviours. Nine billion dollars is currently invested annually in nano-research, with the explicit intention of rapid commercialisation, including food and agriculture applications. Nanotechnology is currently unregulated, and nano-products are not required to be labelled. Health, safety and ecological aspects are poorly understood, and there have been calls for a moratorium. Two consumer surveys indicate that public awareness of nanotechnology is low, there is concern that the risks exceed the benefits, that food safety is declining along with declining confidence in regulatory authorities. A majority of respondents (65%) are concerned about side effects, and that nano-products should be labelled (71%), and only 7% reported they would purchase nano-food. There is an opportunity, for the organic community to take the initiative to develop standards to exclude engineered nanoparticles from organic products. Such a step will service both the organic community and the otherwise nano-averse consumers - just as GMOs have been excluded previously

Renegotiating gender and the symbolic transformation of Australian rural environments

A notable feature of contemporary approaches to ameliorating rural environmental degradation (such as Australia’s National Landcare Program) is the involvement of women to a degree not witnessed in other mainstream farming issues and organisations. At the same time, rural women’s networks are calling for greater recognition of the contribution women make to agriculture and rural communities – to recognise women as ‘farmers’ in their own right – and for a broadening of the agri-political agenda to give greater recognition to non-‘ production’ issues such as social services, workplace health and safety and environmental care. Given the traditional construction of agricultural labour processes in highly masculinised and phallocentric terms, this raises a number of questions regarding the degree to which rural environments are undergoing a sort of symbolic transformation. More specifically, we might question the degree to which these developments provide evidence that human relationships with rural environments – as embodied in the labour process and other day-to-day activities – are being reconceptualised and restructured. To explore this question, we explore data from a variety of sources including ethnographic research conducted with community Landcare groups and organic farmers, and textual analysis of the popular rural press. We conclude that while the renegotiation of gender relations in the labour process is in itself culturally and socially profound, a range of other sociocultural processes may stand in the way of fundamental transformation of the relationships with rural environments implied in those labour processes

Nanotechnology: The Next Challenge for Organics

Nanotechnology is the fast growing science of the ultra small; it is creating engineered particles in the size range 1 to 100 nanometres. At this size, materials exhibit novel behaviours. Nanotechnology is a rapidly expanding multibillion dollar industry, with research being heavily promoted by governments, and especially the US. Nanoscale materials are already incorporated into more than 580 consumer products, including food, packaging, cosmetics, clothing and paint. Nanotechnology has been cited as the foundation of a new “advanced agriculture”. This technology is advancing without nano-specific regulation and without labelling while, at the same time, public confidence in government regulatory agencies, and in the safety of the food supply, is declining. There is an opportunity, perhaps an imperative, for the organic community to take the initiative to develop standards to exclude engineered nanoparticles from organic products, just as GMOs have been excluded previously

Nano-in-food - Threat or Opportunity for Organic Food?

Nanotechnology is creating engineered particles in the size range 1 to 100 nanometers. At the nano-scale, materials exhibit novel behaviours. Nine billion dollars is currently invested annually in nano-research, with the explicit intention of rapid commercialisation, including food and agriculture applications. Nanotechnology is currently unregulated, and nano-products are not required to be labelled. Health, safety and ecological aspects are poorly understood, and there have been calls for a moratorium. Two consumer surveys indicate that public awareness of nanotechnology is low, there is concern that the risks exceed the benefits, that food safety is declining along with declining confidence in regulatory authorities. A majority of respondents (65%) are concerned about side effects, and that nano-products should be labelled (71%), and only 7% reported they would purchase nano-food. There is an opportunity, for the organic community to take the initiative to develop standards to exclude engineered nanoparticles from organic products. Such a step will service both the organic community and the otherwise nano-averse consumers - just as GMOs have been excluded previously

MRL1: Emory Warren Ross Papers, 1877-1971

Treasurer of Disciples of Christ Congo Mission (1908); Secretary/Treasurer of Union Mission House (1909); Disciples of Christ missionary (1912-1916); Secretary of Conseil Protestant du Congo (1925-1933); Secretary of African Welfare Committee of the Federal Council of Churches and American Committee of Work in the Congo (1933-1936); Executive Secretary of African Committee of the National Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A. (1936-1953); Collection contains publications, articles, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, reports, minutes, maps, photos, and personal correspondence

Supervision Experiences of School Counselors-in-Training: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study

School counselors-in-training receive university and site supervision during their field experiences. University supervision may be provided by a faculty member or doctoral student who lacks school counseling experience. School counselors as site supervisors may not be trained to supervise. Further, the multiple systems may have differing expectations for supervisees. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to explore the lived experiences of eight master’s level school counselors-in-training with supervision. The four super-ordinate themes included: impact of counselor education program, supervisor characteristics, significance of feedback, and characteristics of the supervisee. Findings suggested programmatic changes counselor educators can make to strengthen student preparation

“Forests for life” or forests for carbon markets?The case of Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands

Climate change is widely recognised as one of the biggest threats to livelihoods, security and wellbeing in the Pacific. Carbon markets represent one of a number of global responses, with projects expanding across the Pacific in recent years. This paper focuses upon carbon offset activities in Solomon Islands, including sustainable forestry for carbon trading initiatives. As signatory to the Paris Agreement, Solomon Islands has expanded its activities to support preparedness for entry into global carbon markets, demonstrated via national-level carbonisation of forestry governance. In the context of a resource constrained state, non government organisations (NGOs) occupy a central role in Solomon Islands carbon forestry governance. This paper documents some of the national and international policy settings and policies driving expansion of carbon markets. It takes the case study of Choiseul Province to examine gender sensitive livelihood initiatives introduced by one local NGO, the Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF), as part of preparedness for entry into carbon market initiatives, referred to as REDD type projects. Findings demonstrate positive outcomes associated with livelihood projects – including for women – accrue regardless of participation in carbon markets. The paper argues that climate change mitigation strategies that take a gender sensitive approach, alongside centring local assets, visions and possibilities, as well as the maintenance of communally owned and managed forest resources, are well placed to deliver positive on-ground impacts in Choiseul Province. These findings provide insights for future policy and planning in the Pacific in an era of climate constraint