Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

Promises and pitfalls: Small-scale farmers’ perspectives on market access initiatives in Jozini, South Africa

2026-06-01T21:24:45+00:00

Small-scale farmers remain systematically excluded from formal markets due to a combination of structural constraints, such as inadequate infrastructure, poor institutional support, and asset-related vulnerabilities that limit their ability to compete. Despite numerous public and private interventions designed to improve market access, these initiatives often fail to address the complexity of farmers’ challenges and their long-term impact. This study critically examines market access interventions affecting the participation of small-scale producers in the Jozini Local Municipality, a socio-economically marginalized rural area in northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, to determine whether they effectively reduce systemic barriers or reproduce inequalities. Guided by the asset vulnerability analytical framework (AVAF), this study examines the relevance, implementation, and sustainability of these interventions. We used focus-group discussions and semi-structured interviews to investigate how farmers experience and interpret interventions aimed at improving market participation. The findings reveal widespread dissatisfaction with many programs due to poor implementation, limited reach, lack of coordination, inadequate maintenance, insufficient training, and weak communication. These shortcomings continue to limit farmers’ ability to accumulate and effectively utilize physical, financial, and human assets, thereby reinforcing existing vulnerabilities. While the AVAF has been widely used to analyze livelihood and climate-related vulnerabilities in the region, its explicit use in examining market access interventions targeting small-scale farmers appears limited. This study, therefore, extends the application of the AVAF by examining how market access interventions shape producers’ asset vulnerabilities and market participation from their perspectives. The study concludes that, while multiple market access interventions are present in the Jozini Local Municipality, they have not yielded meaningful improvements in farmers’ participation in formal markets and are therefore unlikely to reduce vulnerability. The study notes that market access interventions in highly marginalized rural contexts are unlikely to reduce vulnerability unless they move beyond fragmented, project-based delivery toward institutionally coordinated, accountable, and context-responsive strategies that support sustained asset accumulation and meaningful integration into formal markets.

Real-time image sharing system

2026-05-18T20:27:48+00:00

Direct sales of agricultural products account for a significant portion of sales in urban areas; therefore, efficient management contributes to the sustainability of urban farming. Recent innovations in real-time image sharing (RTIS) have emerged as tools for urban farmers to improve their direct sales efforts, allowing both farmers and customers to view real-time images of their farm stands. However, how farmers manage information for direct sales within their business models remains poorly understood. In particular, little is known about how RTIS implementation improves farm stand management and how farmers’ information resources and market orientation influence this process. To investigate this, we conducted qualitative longitudinal data collection using a case study approach, interviewing nine farmers in Tokyo who used RTIS for direct-sales marketing. We assessed their information resources, market orientation, and firm performance before and after adopting RTIS. Our findings indicate that RTIS usage helps farmers gather information resources and subsequently adopt a market-oriented approach. Farmers can improve their shipping efficiency after accumulating information resources and enhancing market orientation, especially if they initially have limited information resources but a certain degree of market orientation at the time of RTIS implementation. Farmers also develop process innovation as a strategy integrated with their information resources and market-oriented approach. Additionally, farmers who optimize their shipping systems can improve their farm stand sales, particularly if they adopt process innovation after RTIS implementation. We conclude by discussing the academic and practical implications of our study, along with agricultural policies that support effective RTIS use, considering regional characteristics.

Potential, precarity and persistence: What British Columbia’s Food Hub Network tells us about resilient food systems

2026-05-18T20:20:37+00:00

Food systems are increasingly complex and face threats from interconnected shocks with cascading effects. There is a need for strategies that increase food system resilience, including food hubs—a type of alternative food network that aims to enhance food system resilience through closer connections between producers and consumers. However, there is a knowledge gap between theory and practice related to the impact of alternative food networks that necessitates further study. In the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC), the emergence of the BC Food Hub Network and its atypical definition of food hubs provided a natural experiment through which to explore the roles food hubs play within regional food systems and their relationships to greater food system resilience. This paper explores how food hubs emerge with both potential and precarity, unpacking the role their aspirational potential plays in food system resilience, how the precarity of the hubs themselves can stand in the way of their success, and how their persistence is itself an expression of resilience. Our findings reveal that the role of food hubs in resilient food systems is partial, precarious, and contingent. Food hubs are not yet powerful actors within the market system, but they persist and hold aspirational potential. There is an irony inherent in this as food hubs emerge to address gaps that result from food systems not being resilient, while the food hubs themselves are not resilient and are highly precarious. This research illustrates the interplay of potential, precarity, and persistence that shapes and embodies the ongoing pursuit of food system resilience.

Advancing wholesale market access

2026-05-14T01:14:20+00:00

This pilot study examines the technical assistance (TA) needs of Black, Hispanic, and Tribal agricultural producers seeking to access wholesale markets, and the core competencies required of TA providers working to support these objectives. The study draws upon a literature review, a secondary analysis of TA programs across the U.S., and interviews with 20 TA providers from the Southern, Southeastern, and Midwest/Great Lakes regions. It identifies key challenges that underserved producers face in accessing wholesale markets, factors that determine the adoption of TA resources, and the challenges associated with program delivery by TA providers. To meet these objectives, the study uses reflexive thematic analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation. Findings show that regulatory complexity, limited capital, land tenure insecurity, infrastructural deficiencies, and information asymmetry were major barriers for producers in accessing wholesale markets. Skepticism about federal programming, navigating bureaucracy, operational challenges, and cultural factors were reported as barriers preventing producers from accessing available TA. The overarching theme of structural discrimination and historical distrust of federal agencies further exacerbate these barriers, leading to exclusion from both market opportunities and TA resources. Further, limited capacity, insufficient funding, and cultural barriers affect the TA providers’ ability to develop and provide tailored programming to support underserved producers and build long-term relationships. The providers identified cultural competency, technical expertise, and communication skills as critical competencies in working with diverse producers. This research underscores the need for culturally responsive TA models, capacity building of producers, place-based infrastructure and provider investment, greater access to secure land and financial capital, and more inclusive communication channels and grant structures. This study contributes to a growing body of work calling for systemic reforms in agricultural support systems. Future research that is conducted on a larger scale, that includes producer perspectives and examines impacts of policy shifts on TA programming is needed.

Improving nutrition in Massachusetts emergency food systems

2026-05-11T17:48:07+00:00

Introduction

Massachusetts faces a worsening food insecurity crisis: 37% of households were food insecure in 2024, up from 19% in 2019, with four regional food banks serving 882,000 people (Greater Boston Food Bank, 2025). Yet quantity alone does not ensure health. Food pantry clients consume diets high in processed foods, with Healthy Eating Index scores up to 20 points below national averages (Simmet et al., 2017), and face elevated rates of diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (Eicher-Miller, 2020). Massachusetts bears over US$41.4 billion in annual chronic disease costs; preventing just 1% of new diabetes cases statewide would save an estimated US$66 million annually (American Diabetes Association, 2025; Massachusetts Department of Public Health, n.d.). . . .

Growing food and radical hope in Glasgow

2026-05-07T15:58:28+00:00

First paragraph:

In the Practice of Collective Escape: Politics, Justice and Community in Urban Growing Projects, Helen Traill gives us a personal tour through the social complexities of community growing projects, accompanied by the rich insights of her ethnographic work over six years in Glasgow, Scotland. She follows two community growing sites during the Brexit transition and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her analytical lens weaves the work of authors who have navigated topics of inclusion and exclusion in the Commons, negative and positive freedom, social justice and political activism, and the overall benefits and challenges of urban agriculture projects. The author illustrates her claims with illuminating stories and choice quotes from gardeners and the wider community connected to the case studies. Truly, reading this as a researcher who has spent both a fair amount of time with my hands in the soil in urban growing projects and behind the desk reading about them (studying public health benefits and governance challenges), Traill’s book stands apart as an illuminating examination of an infrastructure feature increasingly accepted as a net positive in cities. Yet, these gardens are rarely critically looked at as Petri dishes for individual and community transformation, which this book does through examining concepts of inclusion, individual escape, and political activism. . . .

Atsalugpiaq awareness: Food agency of cloudberry subsistence to support Indigenous food sovereignty

2026-05-04T22:24:29+00:00

This study examines food agency of atsalugpiaq subsistence practices in the Indigenous community of Kuinerraq, Alaska. Food agency is the capacity of individuals or communities to define and achieve food and diet-related goals. While past research literature has limited the theoretical scope of food agency to cooking and consumption, this study expands the concept to encompass provisioning, addressing a theoretical gap in the literature. Through participatory co-developed research led by Nalaquq LLC, oral histories with Alaska Native community members identify new components of food agency: ethics, science and knowledge, and autonomy. These findings build upon and extend the existing framework of food agency that emphasizes individual skills, attitudes, and structural barriers, and offers a more holistic understanding of the drivers of food security in rural and Indigenous communities. Kuinerraq is committed to carrying forward yuugnagpiallerput (living a proper Yup’ik life) in response to environmental and social change to ensure their future generations’ prosperity. The study highlights that efforts to build food security must center on supporting cultural enrichment, relational values, and lived practices rather than relying solely on externally imposed metrics and theoretical concepts.

“It’s not just about groceries”: Understanding perspectives on a planned food co-op in West Charlotte, North Carolina

2026-05-01T02:11:38+00:00

Food insecurity is a serious issue in the U.S., particularly in communities that have experienced long-standing disinvestment and racial segregation. In historically Black neighborhoods in West Charlotte, North Carolina, supermarket redlining and urban neglect have contributed to limited access to affordable, healthy, and culturally relevant foods. In response, the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition (WBNC), a local nonprofit, developed the Three Sisters Market, a planned community-owned food cooperative (co-op) designed to address food insecurity, promote economic development, and serve as a community gathering space for West Charlotte residents. While community-owned food co-ops present a promising solution by expanding access to affordable food options in areas where no grocery store has been sited, there is a significant gap in research documenting resident perspectives on co-ops, particularly those planned in historically marginalized Black communities. To address the gap, this study used a community-engaged research approach in partnership with WBNC to explore local perspectives on the planned West Charlotte co-op. It aimed to answer the questions: (1) How do residents perceive community food co-ops; (2) What are the perceived benefits and challenges of a co-op in West Charlotte; (3) What services, attributes, and amenities do residents consider important for the success of the planned co-op. We conducted 34 semi-structured interviews with West Charlotte residents and local workers, and individuals from surrounding areas. Thematic analysis revealed both opportunities and concerns, that most participants were unfamiliar with food co-ops but would “very likely” shop there after learning more. Participants prioritized fresh produce, culturally relevant foods, and ready-to-eat healthy meals. They also envisioned the co-op as a hub for cooking classes, health education, and social connection in general. Concerns about the co-op’s ability to sustain itself financially, affordability, and transportation access underscored the importance of inclusive planning and engagement. This study contributes to food justice and co-op development literature by centering resident voices and offering practical insights for community-driven food access solutions in historically marginalized communities.

THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: The need for radical changes in community development policies

2026-05-01T02:04:28+00:00

First paragraphs:

This is the final installment in a series of Economic Pamphleteer columns advocating radical changes in government policies. Previous columns have made the case for changing policies that affect farming and food production. This column focuses on additional policy changes needed to revitalize communities—both rural and urban. When I began writing this series, it seemed as if the current political turmoil had created an opportunity for changes that would not have been possible earlier. With growing cultural division and social dissent, it appears we are nearing a time when radical changes in government policies will no longer be optional but necessary. Anything less may be too little, too late.

I concluded my previous columns with policy proposals to empower people to create more sustainable agri-food systems locally, within their communities. People in like-minded food communities could then form networks to create bioregional, national, and global sustainable food systems. Over the years, I have become convinced that community-based food networks are the key to creating sustainable food systems. I believe the same is true for economies and societies. Authentic sustainability begins with committed individuals but grows within and among caring communities. Government policies can not create sustainable communities, but radical changes in community development policies could replace current obstacles with opportunities. . . .

IN THIS ISSUE: Righting systemic food and farming inequalities

2026-04-08T02:18:43+00:00

First paragraph:

The spring 2026 issue of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development brings together a set of contributions that, while they are open-call and not in response to a specific call for papers, collectively examine how food systems are governed, how access and equity are structured, how agroecological transitions unfold, and how knowledge systems and cultural values shape transformation. Across its entire content, the issue reflects a strong throughline of systems thinking, place-based analysis, and an expanding recognition of the wide range of ways of knowing and acting within food systems. . . .