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“How do we measure justice?”: missions and metrics in urban agriculture

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  • Sara Shostak

    (MS 071 Brandeis University)

Abstract

This paper offers a critical analysis of program evaluation in contemporary urban agriculture. Drawing on data from an exploratory study designed at the request of and in collaboration with urban agriculture practitioners in Massachusetts, it describes both their critiques of extant practices of program evaluation and their visions for alternative ways of telling the story of their work. Related, it explores practitioners’ interest in building capacity for policy advocacy, working collectively to create transformative social change, and, related, establishing new kinds of relationships with state and philanthropic funders. Building on scholarship that has observed that urban agriculture is characterized by an internal contradiction—i.e., its simultaneous orientation to “neoliberal” (social service) and “radical” (social justice) agendas (McClintock in Local Environ 19:147–171, 2014)—this analysis calls attention, especially, to the complex role of metrics, which may not only entrench neoliberalism in UA organizations, but also provide a mechanism for challenging its assumptions and advancing the radical project of food justice.

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  • Sara Shostak, 2022. "“How do we measure justice?”: missions and metrics in urban agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 953-964, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:39:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-022-10296-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-022-10296-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alison Hope Alkon & Yahya Josh Cadji & Frances Moore, 2019. "Subverting the new narrative: food, gentrification and resistance in Oakland, California," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(4), pages 793-804, December.
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    4. Helen Coulson & Paul Milbourne, 2021. "Food justice for all?: searching for the ‘justice multiple’ in UK food movements," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 43-58, February.
    5. Alison Hope Alkon & Sarah Bowen & Yuki Kato & Kara Alexis Young, 2020. "Unequally vulnerable: a food justice approach to racial disparities in COVID-19 cases," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 535-536, September.
    6. Rebecca Mino & Kimberly Chung & Dru Montri, 2018. "A look from the inside: perspectives on the expansion of food assistance programs at Michigan farmers markets," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(4), pages 823-835, December.
    7. Yvonna Lincoln & Laurie Thorp & Craig Russon, 2003. "The storied nature of agriculture and evaluation: A conversation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 20(3), pages 267-276, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marilyne Chicoine & Francine Rodier & Fabien Durif, 2023. "The bright and the dark side of commercial urban agriculture labeling," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1153-1170, September.
    2. Daniel C. Kelly, 2023. "Committing to change? A case study on volunteer engagement at a New Zealand urban farm," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1317-1331, September.

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