IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v41y2024i3d10.1007_s10460-024-10551-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Equity and resilience in local urban food systems: a case study

Author

Listed:
  • Tiffanie F. Stone

    (Iowa State University)

  • Erin L. Huckins

    (Iowa State University)

  • Eliana C. Hornbuckle

    (Brown University)

  • Janette R. Thompson

    (Iowa State University)

  • Katherine Dentzman

    (Iowa State University)

Abstract

Local food systems can have economic and social benefits by providing income for producers and improving community connections. Ongoing global climate change and the acute COVID-19 pandemic crisis have shown the importance of building equity and resilience in local food systems. We interviewed ten stakeholders from organizations and institutions in a U.S. midwestern city exploring views on past, current, and future conditions to address the following two objectives: 1) Assess how local food system equity and resilience were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2) Examine how policy and behavior changes could support greater equity and resilience within urban local food systems. We used the Community Capitals Framework to organize interviewees’ responses for qualitative analyses of equity and resilience. Four types of community capital were emphasized by stakeholders: cultural and social, natural, and political capital. Participants stated that the local food system in this city is small; more weaknesses in food access, land access, and governance were described than were strengths in both pre- and post-pandemic conditions. Stakeholder responses also reflected lack of equity and resilience in the local food system, which was most pronounced for cultural and social, natural and political capitals. However, local producers’ resilience during the pandemic, which we categorized as human capital, was a notable strength. An improved future food system could incorporate changes in infrastructure (e.g., food processing), markets (e.g., values-based markets) and cultural values (e.g., valuing local food through connections between local producers and consumers). These insights could inform policy and enhance community initiatives and behavior changes to build more equitable and resilient local food systems in urban areas throughout the U.S. Midwest.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiffanie F. Stone & Erin L. Huckins & Eliana C. Hornbuckle & Janette R. Thompson & Katherine Dentzman, 2024. "Equity and resilience in local urban food systems: a case study," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(3), pages 1239-1256, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:41:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-024-10551-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-024-10551-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10460-024-10551-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-024-10551-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Cleveland & Allison Carruth & Daniella Mazaroli, 2015. "Operationalizing local food: goals, actions, and indicators for alternative food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 281-297, June.
    2. Alison Alkon & Teresa Mares, 2012. "Food sovereignty in US food movements: radical visions and neoliberal constraints," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(3), pages 347-359, September.
    3. Schmit, Todd M. & Jablonski, Becca B.R. & Bonanno, Alessandro & Johnson, Thomas G., 2021. "Measuring stocks of community wealth and their association with food systems efforts in rural and urban places," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Gail Feenstra & Shermain Hardesty, 2016. "Values-Based Supply Chains as a Strategy for Supporting Small and Mid-Scale Producers in the United States," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-17, August.
    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. Steven Schnell, 2013. "Food miles, local eating, and community supported agriculture: putting local food in its place," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(4), pages 615-628, December.
    7. George Martin & Roland Clift & Ian Christie, 2016. "Urban Cultivation and Its Contributions to Sustainability: Nibbles of Food but Oodles of Social Capital," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Leticia Canal Vieira & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Michael Howes, 2019. "Local Action with a Global Vision: The Transformative Potential of Food Social Enterprises in Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-16, November.
    9. Megan Horst & Amy Marion, 2019. "Racial, ethnic and gender inequities in farmland ownership and farming in the U.S," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(1), pages 1-16, March.
    10. Megan Horst & Nathan McClintock & Lesli Hoey, 2017. "The Intersection of Planning, Urban Agriculture, and Food Justice: A Review of the Literature," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(3), pages 277-295, July.
    11. Tiffanie F. Stone & Janette R. Thompson & Kurt A. Rosentrater & Ajay Nair, 2021. "A Life Cycle Assessment Approach for Vegetables in Large-, Mid-, and Small-Scale Food Systems in the Midwest US," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    12. Marjolijn Vos & Maria Romeo-Velilla & Ingrid Stegeman & Ruth Bell & Nina van der Vliet & Wendy Van Lippevelde, 2020. "Qualitative Evaluation of the STOEMP Network in Ghent: An Intersectoral Approach to Make Healthy and Sustainable Food Available to All," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-19, April.
    13. Laura DeLind, 2011. "Are local food and the local food movement taking us where we want to go? Or are we hitching our wagons to the wrong stars?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(2), pages 273-283, June.
    14. John J. Green & Jim Worstell & Caroline Canarios & Rachel Haggard & Katrina Alford & Sydney Bush, 2019. "Exploring the relationships between local agrifood system resilience, multiple measures of development, and health in the Southern United States," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 217-237, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    2. Rachel Corry & Jessica Holt & Alexa J. Lamm & Abigail Borron, 2023. "Do You Really Want to Know? Exploring Desired Information Transparency for Local Food Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Naomi Beingessner & Amber J. Fletcher, 2020. "“Going local”: farmers’ perspectives on local food systems in rural Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(1), pages 129-145, March.
    4. Angela M. Chapman & Harold A. Perkins, 2020. "Malign and benign neglect: a local food system and the myth of sustainable redevelopment in Appalachia Ohio," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(1), pages 113-127, March.
    5. Caroline Boules & Yuki Kato, 2023. "Just Transition or Just Transitioning? Potentials and Limitations of Urban Growers’ Adaptations to the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    6. Daniela Soleri, 2018. "Civic seeds: new institutions for seed systems and communities—a 2016 survey of California seed libraries," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 331-347, June.
    7. Clare Hinrichs, 2016. "Fixing food with ideas of “local” and “place”," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 6(4), pages 759-764, December.
    8. Michael Classens, 2015. "The nature of urban gardens: toward a political ecology of urban agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 229-239, June.
    9. Sang-hyoun Pahk, 2022. "Who is ruining farmers markets? Crowds, fraud, and the fantasy of “real food”," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 19-31, March.
    10. Joshua Sbicca & India Luxton & James Hale & Kassandra Roeser, 2019. "Collaborative Concession in Food Movement Networks: The Uneven Relations of Resource Mobilization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Megan Horst & Nathan McClintock & Adrien Baysse-Lainé & Ségolène Darly & Flaminia Paddeu & Coline Perrin & Kristin Reynolds & Christophe-Toussaint Soulard, 2021. "Translating land justice through comparison: a US–French dialogue and research agenda," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 865-880, December.
    12. Leslie Gray & Laureen Elgert & Antoinette WinklerPrins, 2020. "Theorizing urban agriculture: north–south convergence," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 869-883, September.
    13. Larue, Louis & Meyer, Camille & Hudon, Marek & Sandberg, Joakim, 2022. "The Ethics of Alternative Currencies," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 299-321, April.
    14. Jean C. Bikomeye & Sima Namin & Chima Anyanwu & Caitlin S. Rublee & Jamie Ferschinger & Ken Leinbach & Patricia Lindquist & August Hoppe & Lawrence Hoffman & Justin Hegarty & Dwayne Sperber & Kirsten , 2021. "Resilience and Equity in a Time of Crises: Investing in Public Urban Greenspace Is Now More Essential Than Ever in the US and Beyond," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-39, August.
    15. William Lacy, 2023. "Local food systems, citizen and public science, empowered communities, and democracy: hopes deserving to live," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Lesli Hoey & Allison Sponseller, 2018. "“It’s hard to be strategic when your hair is on fire”: alternative food movement leaders’ motivation and capacity to act," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(3), pages 595-609, September.
    17. Melissa N. Poulsen, 2017. "Cultivating citizenship, equity, and social inclusion? Putting civic agriculture into practice through urban farming," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 135-148, March.
    18. David Cleveland & Allison Carruth & Daniella Mazaroli, 2015. "Operationalizing local food: goals, actions, and indicators for alternative food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 281-297, June.
    19. Marina Masso & Christos Zografos, 2015. "Constructing food sovereignty in Catalonia: different narratives for transformative action," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 183-198, June.
    20. Catherine Brinkley & Gwyneth M. Manser & Sasha Pesci, 2021. "Growing pains in local food systems: a longitudinal social network analysis on local food marketing in Baltimore County, Maryland and Chester County, Pennsylvania," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 911-927, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:41:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-024-10551-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.