scholarly journals Transforming to a regenerative U.S. agriculture: the role of policy, process, and education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Day ◽  
Sarah Cramer
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Agricultural Education ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Farm Labor ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Labor Conditions ◽  
The People

AbstractU.S. agriculture is both a major source of global food and a key contributor to multiple interconnected crises. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and severe impacts on soil and water quality are among the challenges caused by U.S. industrial agriculture. Regenerative methods of farming are necessary to confront all these challenges simultaneously, in addition to addressing the increasing challenges to farm labor conditions. Transforming U.S. agriculture to a regenerative system will require a focus on creating traction for the values, beliefs, worldviews, and paradigms that effectively support such transformation while decreasing the friction that works against them. With a focus on creating traction for transformation, we review the factors and processes that tend to promote and maintain ecological improvements on farms. Starting from a case study that points to some of the sources of friction and traction in the current U.S. agricultural system, we use the framework of three spheres of transformation to focus discussion on how processes that form beliefs and values shape and can reshape farming. We develop a series of points of entry for engaging the systemic changes that will offer farmers traction for transformation. We review literature on agricultural networks, polycentric governance, social learning, agricultural education, and farmer characteristics that lend themselves to ecologically mindful change, thereby identifying interventions that tend to provide traction for change. These approaches, and the supports that allow rural communities and the people that work in them to survive and thrive, are necessary to create the traction needed for farms to undergo a shift to regenerative agricultural practices. We link these changes to the promise of the twentieth century New Deal agricultural programs and the potential of the Green New Deal.

scholarly journals Employment Opportunities for Graduates of Agricultural TVET Schools in Haiti

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Calixte ◽  
Grady Roberts ◽  
J.C. Bunch
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Extension Agents ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Technical Schools ◽  
Extension Work

The literature suggests that in Haiti, the extension work is primarily conducted by graduates from agricultural TVET schools. However, Haiti is a country with alarming data for food insecurity and severe hunger index. This situation arises questions about the manner in which TVET contributes to the dissemination of best agricultural practices amongst farmers and the role that extension agents play in bringing the scientific discoveries into the rural communities. Moreover, little research has been made about the current situation of Haitian TVET within the agricultural system. This study used basic qualitative methods with a constructivist approach, and backwards design as theoretical framework to explore the employment of TVET graduates within the Haitian agricultural system. Schools’ directors and teachers were individually interviewed, and focus groups conducted with the students, which revealed the employers of TVET graduates, the types of jobs they realize within the system and the external factors that affect employment opportunities. Employers of technicians were most likely public sector, NGOs and IOs as well as entrepreneurship activities. These TVET graduates’ job profiles are in extension performing versatile work, or as entrepreneurs. Their employment opportunities were affected by the overall unemployment, the existing opportunities in agriculture, and lack of government support. Keywords: Haiti; employment; technical schools; agriculture

scholarly journals Exploring the Purpose of Agricultural Technical Schools in Haiti

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Calixte ◽  
Grady Roberts ◽  
J.C Bunch
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Extension Agents ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Technical Schools ◽  
Extension System ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
School Training

Haiti is a country which suffers from food insecurity, therefore, agricultural production and productivity are important to ensure availability of food for the Haitian population. Dissemination of best agricultural practices amongst farmers is crucial, and extension agents bring the scientific discoveries into the rural communities. In Haiti, extension activities are primarily conducted by graduates from agricultural TVETs. However, little is known about the current situation of Haitian TVET within the agricultural system. This study is a basic qualitative research which used constructivism, and backwards design as theoretical framework to explore the purpose of TVET within the Haitian agricultural system. Individual interviews to schools’ directors and teachers, and focus groups conducted with students revealed that respondents thought that TVET helped in students’ social mobility by (a) providing training to disadvantaged youth, (b) helping them get financial independence sooner, (c) provide a path towards higher education, or (d) entrepreneurship; it also allows them to build necessary (e) networking and (f) a reputation for their future. On the other hand, agricultural TVET in Haiti had an important role in improving local communities by (a) ensuring rural development and (b) reducing rural outmigration and poverty. Finally, TVET was also crucial within the agricultural extension system because graduates were responsible for (a) providing technical assistance to farmers, (b) improving production practices, (c) helping protect the environment, and (d) training farmers.  Keywords: Haiti; technical school; training

scholarly journals The Balance of Theoretical and Practical Skills in Agricultural Technical Schools in Haiti: An Exploration of the Curriculum

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Calixte ◽  
Grady Roberts ◽  
J. C. Bunch
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Extension Agents ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Technical Schools ◽  
The People ◽  
Food Security Status ◽  
Participative Methods ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Practical Experiences

Haiti, with its alarming hunger index, and serious concerns for the population’s food security status, suggests that its agricultural production and productivity are insufficient to guarantee availability of food for the people. Increased productivity supposes the dissemination of best agricultural practices among farmers, and enough qualified extension agents carrying the scientific findings into the rural communities. However, studies in Haiti, have found that the extension activities are mostly conducted by graduates from TVET schools. Meanwhile, little is known about the quality of the training provided in these institutions. This study explored the balance of practice and theory in Haitian TVET curricula. Individual interviews to directors and teachers and focus groups with students explained the role of practical experiences in TVET curriculum by emphasizing on the importance, the purposes and the amount of such practical experiences in the program of study. The various instructional methods used to ensure sufficient practices were also revealed, specifically, participative methods, research and various field activities. Nevertheless, many barriers impede more practices, which were (a) scheduling, (b) lack of resources, (c) students’ attitudes, (d) absence of laboratories in Haiti, and (e) the rural reality and environmental issues.  Keywords: Haiti; experiential learning; technical schools; agriculture

scholarly journals EU Rural Policy’s Capacity to Facilitate a Just Sustainability Transition of the Rural Areas

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 5050
Author(s):  
Barbara Wieliczko ◽  
Agnieszka Kurdyś-Kujawska ◽  
Zbigniew Floriańczyk
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Sustainability Transition ◽  
Development Capacity ◽  
Just Sustainability ◽  
The Eu

The sustainability transition of rural areas is a must due to rapid climate changes and biodiversity loss. Given the limited resources of rural communities, policy should facilitate a just sustainability transition of the EU rural areas. The analysis of EU development policies, past performance and the envisaged scope of reform, presented in this study point to a serious inconsistency between the declaration and implementation of relevant policies. Namely, the marginal role rural areas perform in common agricultural policy and cohesion policy; a result of the lack of a complex approach to rural development. The analysis was based on the concept of good governance and took a multi-level perspective. It advocates territorial justice as an approach that should be at the core of creating a comprehensive policy for rural areas in the EU, including their diversity and empowering local communities to choose the transition pathway that is most in line with their current situation and development capacity. This analysis fills a gap in research on the evolution of the rural development policy in the EU. This research can inform the reprioritization and intensification of efforts to create equitable policies for EU rural development.

scholarly journals How to Make Policy-Makers Care about “Wicked Problems” such as Biodiversity Loss?—The Case of a Policy Campaign

2021 ◽  
pp. 527-553
Author(s):  
Agnes Zolyomi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Wicked Problems ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
The People

AbstractPolicy-makers define our lives to a great extent, and are therefore the people everybody wants to talk to. They receive hundreds of messages in various forms day-by-day with the aim of making them decide for or against something. They are in an especially difficult situation as regards the so-called “wicked” or “diffuse” problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss (Millner and Olivier, 2015; Sharman and Mlambo, 2012; Zaccai and Adams, 2012). These problems are limitedly tackled at the policy level despite their major socio-economic and environmental implications, which is often explained by their complexity with a sense of remoteness of effects (Cardinale et al., 2012; WWF, 2018). Communicating advocacy or scientific messages of biodiversity is therefore both a challenge and an under-researched topic (Bekessy et al., 2018; Posner et al., 2016; Primmer et al., 2015; Wright et al., 2017), where both social and natural sciences and both scientists and practitioners are needed to contribute (Ainscough et al., 2019). In order to be successful in delivering messages, communication not only needs to be self-explanatory and easy to consume but novel as well. It additionally helps if the message arrives in a more extraordinary format to draw even more attention. Based on experiences drawn from a conservation and advocacy NGO’s work, this chapter will divulge various socio-economic theories about creative methods, communication, and influencing decision-makers through a campaign fighting for the preservation of key nature legislation. It will be demonstrated how different EU policy-makers, including representatives of the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament, the general public, and other stakeholders, were addressed with various messages and tools (e.g., short films, social media campaigns, fact sheets, involvement of champions). In addition to other key factors such as public support, knowledge of the target audience and political context, the probable impacts and limitations of these messages will also be elaborated. The relevance to the integration and employment of better socio-economic theories into improving communication is straightforward. It is crucial to tailor-make future advocacy work of “wicked problems” such as biodiversity loss and climate change, since these are not usually backed up by major lobby forces and are, therefore, financed inadequately compared to their significance. Understanding the way in which policy-makers pick up or omit certain messages, as well as what framing, methods and channels are the most effective in delivering them to the policy-makers, is pivotal for a more sustainable future.

scholarly journals TRADISI BUDIDAYA KOPI ORGANIK GUNUNG PUNTANG SEBAGAI BENTUK PENGEMBANGAN PARIWISATA BUDAYA BERBASIS KEARIFAN LOKAL DI DESA CAMPAKAMULYA KECAMATAN CIMAUNG KABUPATEN BANDUNG

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Iqbal Fauzi ◽  
Cahya Cahya ◽  
Sukmawati Saleh
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
The People ◽  
Coffee Farmers ◽  
Coffee Cultivation ◽  
Coffee Farming ◽  
Organic Coffee

ABSTRAK Realitas yang terjadi di masyarakat Gunung Puntang telah menjadi tradisi budidaya kopi organik, sebagai lumbung perekonomian rakyat yang berkembang menjadi daya tarik pariwisata berbasis kearifan lokal. Terkait dengan adanya tradisi sistem pertanian rakyat dalam bentuk budidaya tanaman kopi organik tersebut, pada perkembangannya berdampak kepada sektor lain, yaitu bidang pariwisata. Sektor pariwisata yang kini sedang menjadi trand dalam percaturan industri kepariwisataan berbasis kearifan lokal. Isu kearifan lokal yang menjadi daya tarik dan bernilai ekonomis tinggi, menjadi peluang besar untuk dikembangkan oleh masyarakat lokal setempat. Perubahan pada tradisi bertani kopi yang dikembangkan oleh masyarakat desa hutan di Gunung Puntang, bukan semata-mata masyarakatnya untuk mencari keuntungan, namun ada faktor internal yang harus dijaga, bahwa masyarakat petani kopi Gunung Puntang merasa termotivasi dengan situasi alam dan lingkungan yang subur sebagai lahan pertanian. Adapun faktor eksternal yang mempengaruhi terjadinya komodifikasi antara lain dipengaruhi oleh adanya peluang dan tatangan kondisi perekonomian di era teknologi dan informatika sekarang. Itulah yang membuat tradisi bertani kopi organik ini sangat kuat untuk dipertahankan dan sudah melekat di mata masyarakat karena telah memberikan manfaat banyak bagi masyarakat daerah. Tulisan ini merupakan deskripsi ilmiah dari sebuah penelitian lapangan yang menggambarkan peran petani dalam menjaga hutan konservasi atau hutan sosial di Gunung Puntang dinilai penting agar pengetahuan kearifan masyarakat dalam memanfaatkan tumbuhan tersebut tidak hilang oleh adanya arus moderenisasi.Kata Kunci: Tradisi Budidaya Kopi Organik, Komodifikasi, Pengembangan Pariwisata Budaya, Gunung Puntang.ABSTRACT The reality that occurs in the community of Gunung Puntang has become a tradition of organic coffee cultivation, as a barn of the people's economy that develops into the appeal of local wisdom-based tourism. Related to the tradition of the people's agricultural system in the form of organic coffee crop cultivation, in the development impact to other sectors, namely the tourism industry. The tourism industry is now being new in the world of local wisdom-based tourist industry. The issue of local wisdom that becomes an attraction and high economical value, becomes a great opportunity to be developed by local communities. The traditions changes of farming coffee are developed by the community of Forest villages in Gunung Puntang, not merely the people to seek profit, but there are internal factors to be guarded, that the community of coffee farmers Gunung Puntang feel motivated by the situation of natural and fertile environment as farmland. As for the external factors that affect the occurrence of commodification, among others, is influenced by the opportunity and the level of economic conditions in the era of technology and informatics now. That is what makes this tradition of organic coffee farming is very strong to be maintained and already inherent in the eyes of society because it has provided many benefits to the local community. This paper is a scientific description of a field study describing the role of farmers in preserving the forest of conservations or social forests at Gunung Puntang is important to make knowledge of people's wisdom in utilizing the plant is not lost by the presence of modernization.Keywords: The Tradition Of Organic Coffee Cultivation, Commodification, Tourism Development, Gunung Puntang.

scholarly journals Climate Smart Agriculture: A New Approach for Sustainable Intensification

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-147
Author(s):  
Gayatri Sahu ◽  
Pragyan Paramita Rout ◽  
Suchismita Mohapatra ◽  
Sai Parasar Das ◽  
Poonam Preeti Pradhan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Sustainable Intensification ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
World Population ◽  
Resource Degradation ◽  
Security Challenge ◽  
Smart Agriculture

World population is increasing day by day and at the same time agriculture is threatened due to natural resource degradation and climate change. A growing global population and changing diets are driving up the demand for food. The food security challenge will only become more difficult, as the world will need to produce about 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed an estimated 9 billion people. Production stability, agricultural productivity, income and food security is negatively affected by changing climate. Therefore, agriculture must change according to present situation for meeting the need of food security and also withstanding under changing climatic situation. Agriculture is a prominent source as well as a sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs). So, there is a need to modify agricultural practices in a sustainable way to overcome these problems. Developing climate smart agriculture is thus crucial to achieving future food security and climate change goals. It helps the agricultural system to resist damage and recover quickly by adaptation and mitigation strategies. Sustainable Intensification is an essential means of adapting to climate change, also resulting in lower emissions per unit of output. With its emphasis on improving risk management, information flows and local institutions to support adaptive capacity, CSA provides the foundations for incentivizing and enabling intensification. Since climate smart agriculture is defined along three pillars (productivity increases, building resilience and adapting, and GHG emission reduction), key concepts such as productivity, resilience, vulnerability and carbon sequestration provide indicators for future empirical measurements of the climate smart agriculture concept.

scholarly journals Beyond Aid: Sustainable Community-Owned Cooperative Business

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Margaret Scotts
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Community Ownership ◽  
Cooperative Society ◽  
Rural Businesses ◽  
The People ◽  
Cooperative Models ◽  
Successes And Challenges

<p>This thesis seeks to answer the question as to how the Colville Cooperative Society has withstood social and economic change where many other rural businesses offering similar services, in similar rural communities have failed. Joint entrepreneurship is a demanding form of entrepreneurship. Democracy is manage and difficult to sustain. What role does the organisation's cooperative principles and community ownership play in its sustainability? The research seeks to expand the knowledge of community-owned cooperative business as a viable alternative for community economic development; expand the New Zealand research on cooperative models; provide insight for cooperative member's to reflect on past successes and challenges in order to improve practice; and share knowledge about what makes a community-owned business work. The study found that the sustainability of the Colville Cooperative was dependant on several key factors. First amongst these is that the enterprise provides what the community needs. This is the basis of support for the enterprise and can overcome structural disadvantages. Vision and leadership that cleaves to the cooperative's principles, aims and objectives was just as important. To bring to expression and sustain these there had also had to be adequate business skills, and business continuity. It is the thesis of this research that the sustainability of the cooperative rests partly in the core beliefs and organising skills of the people who started it, partly in the resilience of cooperative forms of enterprise, and partly in the willingness and capacity of the community to sustain it. It is argued this type of community owned cooperative, where assets and shares are effectively held in trust on behalf of the community, can create a common wealth which frees communities from unsustainable sources of income, and creates viable enterprises that are independent of changing government policy fashions.</p>

No evidence that earthworms increase soil greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and N2O) in the presence of plants and soil-moisture fluctuations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Ganault ◽  
Johanne Nahmani ◽  
Yvan Capowiez ◽  
Isabelle Bertrand ◽  
Bruno Buatois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Gas Emissions

&lt;p&gt;Accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss calls for agricultural practices that can sustain productivity with lower greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining biodiversity. Biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices have been shown to increase earthworm populations, but according to a recent meta-analyses, earthworms could increase soil CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions by 33 and 42%, respectively. However, to date, many studies reported idiosyncratic and inconsistent effects of earthworms on greenhouse gases, indicating that the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we report the effects of earthworms (anecic, endogeic and their combination) with or without plants on CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions in the presence of soil-moisture fluctuations from a mesocosms experiment. The experimental set-up was explicitly designed to account for the engineering effect of earthworms (i.e. burrowing) and investigate the consequences on soil macroporosity, soil water dynamic, and microbial activity. We found that plants reduced N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions by 19.80% and that relative to the no earthworm control, the cumulative N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions were 17.04, 34.59 and 44.81% lower in the anecic, both species and endogeic species, respectively. CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emissions were not significantly affected by the plants or earthworms but depended on the interaction between earthworms and soil water content, an interaction that was also observed for the N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions. Soil porosity variables measured by X-ray tomography suggest that the earthworm effects on CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions were mediated by the burrowing patterns affecting the soil aeration and water status. N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O emissions decreased with the volume occupied by macropores in the deeper soil layer, whereas CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emissions decreased with the macropore volume in the top soil layer. This study suggests that experimental setups without plants and in containers where the earthworm soil engineering effects via burrowing and casting on soil water status are minimized may be responsible, at least in part, for the reported positive earthworm effects on greenhouse gases.&lt;/p&gt;

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