IN THIS ISSUE: Organic research networks and more!

Abstract

First paragraphs:

This fall 2023 issue of JAFSCD (volume 13, issue 1) includes open-call papers on a wide range of topics spanning the three main domains of a food system: production, marketing, and consumption. It also includes additional articles in response to our special call for papers on “Fostering Socially and Ecologically Resilient Food and Farm Systems Through Research Networks,” sponsored by INFAS, eOrganic, and USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

On our cover we see Michael Gavin, owner and operator of Root and Regenerate Urban Farms, using a seeder to plant a spring crop in one of the SPIN (Small plot IN-tensive) back yard plots in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He collaborated with co-author Chelsea Rozanski, who is Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of Calgary, on the article in this issue mentioned below.

We begin the issue with John Ikerd’s Economic Pamphleteer column. In this first in a new series of columns he has titled “Perspectives on Agriculture, Food Systems, and Communities,” Ikerd calls for reforms requiring “changes in culture that prioritize resourcefulness, resilience, and regeneration over extraction, exploitation, and extermination.” I have more to say about John’s new series at the end of this editorial.