Latest News from JAFSCD

Food Systems Research Priorities over the Next 5 Years

Call for Commentaries

Submission Due June 5, 2013

2,500 words maximum

Edited but not peer-reviewed; query form required

JAFSCD is soliciting commentaries on food systems research priorities for the next five years. Farm and consumer organizations, research groups, agencies, and any other stakeholders are encouraged to prepare commentaries on what they feel are the key applied research priorities for the community development aspects of food systems. We are interested in helping fill gaps in research and the literature, and this call for commentaries is intended as a way to solicit ideas for research over the next few years.

Additional Calls for Papers!

Land for Food: A Focus on Farmland Protection
and Land Grabbing

Deadline for manuscripts: May 15, 2013, for publication in the fall 2013 issue

Cooperatives and Alternative Food Systems Initiatives

Deadline for manuscripts: August 1, 2013, for publication in the winter 2014 issue (Jan.–Mar. 2014).

7 February 2013 -- We are happy to share a new feature of this website: the JAFSCD Book Nook (found under the Hodgepodge menu at right). This page has 3 sections:

• Books we are interested in having reviewed for publication in JAFSCD. If you're interested in reviewing one of these, email Duncan Hilchey (see details on the page).
• Books by members of the JAFSCD community — authors, reviewers, columnists, and other friends.
• A list of all book reviews published to date in JAFSCD.

If you have book suggestions, please share them with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. !

We are also starting to post papers and columns to the winter 2012–13 issue:

• Challenges and Strategies Among the Poor: Focus on Urban Agriculture in KwaMashu, Durban, South Africa by Hangwelani (Hope) Magidimisha, Lovemore Chipungu, and Rosemary Awuorh-Hayangah
• John Ikerd's latest "The Economic Pamphleteer" column: Reflections on Cooperation

Jan. 11, 2013 -- This notice was just received from the Foodplanning listserv:

Professor Jerry Kaufman, Emeritus at University of Wisconsin, passed away yesterday afternoon at 3:38 Central time peacefully after a nearly two-year battle with lung cancer. His wife, Judy Zukerman Kaufman, and family were with him.

Jerry's contributions to the planning field, both academic and professional, are too numerous to be listed in a quick communication, but many of us have read his writings on food system planning, planning approaches/strategies, ethics, alternative dispute resolution, urban and metropolitan policy in the US and Europe, and pedagogy related to a variety of topics. I was fortunate to work with him on food systems, and was privileged to host him and Judy when they visited our department and the city in 2011 and toured urban agriculture and food system sites here.

There is a CaringBridge website for Jerry. Please visit it to learn more about his last days and leave messages for the family: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jerrykaufman1

This is a sad day, indeed!

Kami Pothukuchi, Ph. D.

Associate Professor, Dept. of Urban Studies & Planning, Wayne State University

We were pleased to publish a paper with a contribution by Jerry in our fall 2011 issue (volume 2, Issue 1) on the topic of Planners Coming to the Table: Food System Planning. We post his paper, "Preparing Future Food System Planning Professionals and Scholars: Reflections on Teaching Experiences

," here for public access in recognition of his work on food systems planning. We add our condolences to Jerry's family and colleagues. At right is a photo of Kami and Jerry.

December 21, 2012 -- The fall 2012 issue is now complete, with 4 papers on the special topic of "sustainable livelihoods in food systems" as well as 10 open-call papers on topics ranging from higher education to statewide food system assessments. You can also read the first column for JAFSCD by Kate Clancy as well as columns by John Ikerd, Ken Meter, and Rami Zurayk reflecting on challenges to sustainable livelhoods.

The issue also includes two book reviews of John Ikerd's most recent book, The Essentials of Economic Sustainability, and a thoughtful guest editorial

on collaborative food decision-making by Ardyth Harris Gillespie, who has recently agreed to serve as co-coordinator of the Journal's Leadership Team.

November 2, 2012 -- Are nonprofits aware of their competitive advantages in today's economy, which is increasingly looking to co-creation of value? Nonprofit Quarterly's fall 2012 issue cites Corbin Hill Road Farm Share as a bringing its social capital to the table in forming a hybrid food value chain that links underserved and overlooked residents of inner city New York to an innovative CSA north of the city.

In "Use It or Lose It: Frittering Away Civil Society's Strategic Advantage," Nonprofit Quarterly editor in chief Ruth McCambridge looks at recent literature indicating that reciprocal engagement with constituents (whether a nonprofit's clients or supporters, or a for-profit's customers) is the way of the future. This is a particular strength of nonprofits, and should be used to our — and society's — advantage.

Nevin Cohen and Dennis Derryck, both at The New School in New York City, are authors of Corbin Hill Road Farm Share: A Hybrid Food Value Chain in Practice

.

October 4, 2012 -- The first papers are posted to the fall issue, both in response to our call for papers on the topic of "food systems and sustainable livelihoods."

• Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches for Exploring Smallholder Agricultural Programs Targeted at Women: Examples from South Africa

• Association Between Duration of Community-based Group Membership and Sustainable Livelihoods for Kenyan Women Dairy Farmers

September 22, 2012 -- The summer issue of JAFSCD has been wrapped up. The papers have a strong theme on food systems policy and practice, from food policy councils to ways to encourage safe re-use of wastewater. The PDF containing the entire issue has been posted. All papers are available as individual PDFs as well.