Call for Papers

December 13, 2023 -- JAFSCD announces the final call for papers on Community-Based Circular Food Systems after gathering input on the call during fall 2023. Please share and post! View or download the PDF version.

Community-Based Circular Food Systems:

Meeting current and future food needs through local and regional food system development

Presubmission review deadline: May 1, 2024

Submission deadline: June 12, 2024

Circular food systems image from Ellen MacArthur Foundation

(Image: Ellen MacArthur Foundation)

Special Issue Editorial Team

  • Anna Davies, Professor of Geography, Environment and Society, Trinity College Dublin; Royal Irish Academy (2017), Fellow of the International Science Council (2022), and founder and inaugural chair of Future Earth Ireland.
  • Ñawi K. Flores, Founder of Kinray Hub & K’allam’p, Indigenous-led Klimate Research & Resilient Development, Citizen of Apya Yala and Turtle Island, Tawantinsuyu, Kutakachi Kichwa First Nation, Chichupampa Llakta Ñawi, and Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona.
  • Michael Kotutwa Johnson, Hopi tribal member and traditional dryland farmer, Assistant Specialist, Indigenous Resiliency Center, University of Arizona, USA.
  • María Alonso Martínez, Sustainable food systems researcher (Spain), Circular Food Systems Junior Officer, Circular Development, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, Germany.
  • Jacob Park, Associate Professor, College of Business, Vermont State University, Castleton Campus, USA; and Visiting Professor of the Faculty of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Sarah Rocker, National Program Leader, Division of Family & Consumer Sciences, National Institute for Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA NIFA).

Meeting current and future food needs through local, regional, and global food system development will continue to be difficult in a VUCA world — a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (Persis et al., 2021). Climate change, war, pandemics, industrialization and consolidation, land-grabbing, environmental degradation, and growing inequality present both immedi­ate and long-term challenges. As noted in the recent COP28 climate change conference, food systems and agricultural issues are assuming international importance as sources of global climate and environ­mental change — as well as parts of the solution (Cooper, 2023). Better outcomes may result from pursuing opportunities inspired by a dramatic re-envisioning, both locally and across political boundaries.

To this end, the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development announces a call for papers related to community-based circular food systems (C-B CFS). We define C-B CFS as local and regional food systems that emphasize a community’s health and well-being while minimizing waste and protecting shared natural resources. As argued recently by van Zanten et al. (2023), we believe that any meaningful progress toward the wide range of UN Sustainable Development Goals will require a trans­formative change in the food system, including in production, processing, distribution, retailing, consump­tion, and the utilization of waste, while promoting human and planetary well-being.

Moreover, increasing the sustainability of agrifood systems will be critical to averting climate-driven social and ecological disasters in the 21st century. Scenario analyses for Europe conducted by Sandström and Kummu (2023) suggest how changes in food production and consumption toward circularity could save natural resources without compromising the nutrient needs of regional populations. Work like Sandström and Kummu’s reinforces the importance of expanding knowledge about C-B CFS by showcasing scholarly and practitioner perspectives that place community-level circularity in the aggregate at the front and center, as opposed to focusing on circularity at the individual enterprise level.

We are especially (although not exclusively) interested in work that highlights how C-B CFS knowledge can be integrated with Indige­nous, diverse, and inclusive knowledge sources in contributing to the building of equitable and sustainable food systems (Antonelli, 2023). Local knowledge from Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color can offer a deep reservoir of practical and resilient information that can inform food system research, policy, and practice.

The editorial team welcomes manuscripts from original applied research, literature reviews, historical analyses, projections, public policy analyses, case studies, feasibility studies, reflective essays, life-cycle analyses, and other works that reveal the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to current and emerging C-B CFS models. Post-mortem analyses of failed initiatives can also be informative. Research of interest may drill deeply into one component of a C-B CFS (see list below) or focus broadly across production-to-consumption stakeholder groups or value-chain components, including waste. However, JAFSCD’s focus requires that community embeddedness be front and center. Commentaries from grassroots organizations that inform C-B CFS research, policy, and practice are also welcomed.

Common components of C-B CFS or of entities or operations working within C-B CFS (also see the matrix at the bottom of this page):

  • Have a clearly defined geographic, demographic, or cultural focus.
  • Eliminate silos and functions by fostering a network of diverse stakeholders and co-creating applied research and practice.
  • Embrace diversity and bridge cultural divides.
  • Involve grassroots and community groups and nonprofit organizations.
  • Emphasize sustainable food production, sustainable food processing and distribution, and sustainable food consumption and waste utilization.
  • Uplift non-industrial farmers and laborers across the value chain and address the mental health and well-being of these critical stakeholders.
  • Integrate Indigenous People and Local Community (IPLC)/Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) knowledge systems through ethical practices (e.g., research governances, data sovereignty).
  • Encompass social and economic objectives along with environmental objectives.
  • Embrace non-economic transactions, including sharing, reciprocity, and charity, that elevate the dignity of recipients.
  • Consider preproduction impacts (such as resource extraction or equipment manufacturing).
  • Have established evidence-informed objectives.
  • Thwart greenwashing and virtue signaling.
  • Incentivize circularity through public policy and through public and private philanthropy.
  • Emphasize regionality by bridging urban and rural community interests.
  • Engage youth, as they will be impacted by whatever actions we take now.

For more information:

References

Antonelli, A. (2023). Indigenous knowledge is key to sustainable food systems. Nature, 613, 239–242. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00021-4

Cooper, S. (2023, December 7). 10 ways forward to transform food systems for climate and nature [Blog post]. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). https://www.undp.org/blog/10-ways-forward-transform-food-systems-climate-and-nature

Persis, D. J., Venkatesh, V. G., Sreedharan, V. R., Shi, Y., & Sankaranarayanan, B. (2021). Modelling and analysing the impact of Circular Economy; Internet of Things and ethical business practices in the VUCA world: Evidence from the food processing industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 301, Article 126871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126871

Sandström, V., & Kummu, M. (2023). Towards circular food systems in Europe. Nature Food, 4, Article 279. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00732-x

van Zanten, H. H. E., Simon, W., van Selm, B., Wacker, J., Maindl, T. I., Frehner, A., Hijbeek, R., van Ittersum, M. K., & Herrero, M. (2023). Circularity in Europe strengthens the sustainability of the global food system. Nature Food, 4, 320–330. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00734-9

 

We offer this matrix of examples of circularity in community-based food systems:

Matrix of community-based circular food systems