The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development is pleased to have the support of leading North American university programs focused on food systems, who underwrite JAFSCD on a continuing basis: The University of Vermont Food Systems Research Center, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability (INFAS) and, in a joint partnership, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Food Systems at The University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont, USA
The University of Vermont (UVM) is a public land-grant university with a longstanding commitment to teaching and learning about food systems through academic programs, applied research, and community education and collaboration. UVM faculty from across the campus interact with students and communities through Food Systems on issues as far-ranging and relevant as the ethics of eating, the consumption of energy, the impact of behavior and culture, and the sustainable production of food, as well as other food systems issues facing our world today. Our faculty work with students both domestically and internationally to understand current issues and develop models for our future food system. Food Systems at UVM became a JAFSCD partner in 2013.
UVM offers a comprehensive range of degrees, including interdisciplinary programs for both undergraduate and graduate students though a Food Systems Minor and a Food Systems Master's Program. UVM students are on the cutting edge of food systems innovation in the perfect small, regional food systems testing ground — Vermont.
For more information, contact Dr. Asim Zia, Interim Chair and Professor of Public Policy and Computer Science in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics (CDAE), University of Vermont.
Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Founded in 1996, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) is an interdisciplinary academic center dedicated to conducting research on food security problems, educating students from all walks of life, and advocating for evidence-based reforms. Based within the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the CLF works with faculty, staff, and students throughout Johns Hopkins University to harness the expertise available in a wide range of disciplines and collaborations. The Center for a Livable Future became a JAFSCD partner in 2013.
A leader in research, education, policy, and advocacy, the CLF serves as a critical resource for advocates, policymakers, educators, and students. Its core programs integrate research, education, policy, and outreach in four program areas linked to public health: food production, food communities, food system sustainability, and food system policy. The Center's work is driven by the certainty that we must understand the connections among all four program areas in order to fulfill the right to food.
The CLF explores these interrelationships — and works to improve those systems to assure food security for present and future generations. In a truly livable future, all the systems that sustain us operate synergistically and in balance to support the goals of human and ecosystem health, equity, and resilience.
For more information, contact Shawn McKenzie, associate director, Center for a Livable Future.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Institute for Sustainable Food Systems
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
The Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) is focused on the advancement of regional food systems through integrated education, applied research, and outreach. Collaborations with community, industry, and scholars are an integral component of research and education efforts tackling economic, social, and environmental questions of sustainability. KPU became a JAFSCD partner in 2013.
Through classes, practical training, community engagement, and research projects our Bachelor of Applied Science in Food Systems degree uniquely integrates the science and art of agroecosystem management with deep exploration of the many human and ecological dimensions of food systems. Our outreach programming, exemplified by the KPU Farm Schools, engages and supports people, organizations, community, and industry, striving to advance regional agriculture and food systems.
The Institute for Sustainable Food Systems constitutes the program's research arm. A diverse and dynamic team of agriculturists, economists, ecologists, Indigenous food system specialists, planners, community health specialists, and social scientists pushes the boundaries of food systems research through multifaceted community and regional projects in western Canada. Applied research engages students, community, and the food and farming sector at all stages — forging powerful, effective partnerships in discovery and learning.
Through a truly multidisciplinary, integrated approach KPU's Sustainable Food Systems programs are committed to advancing sustainable food systems as an integral and foundational element of sustainable humanity.
For more information, contact Dr. Kent Mullinix, director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems.
Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability (INFAS)
The Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability (INFAS) connects food system scholars, educators, and action-researcher activists across the United States. INFAS envisions a U.S. food system that is environmentally sustainable and socially just. To accomplish this, INFAS members and working groups collaborate to:
INFAS was established in 2010 with a $1.5 million endowment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation “to respond to emerging needs and opportunities to reduce human and environmental vulnerability across the food system.” The Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at University of California at Davis volunteered to host the network in perpetuity. INFAS became a JAFSCD partner in 2022.
INFAS is led by an executive committee of faculty serving at institutions across the U.S. and operates primarily through working groups in food system research, education, extension, justice and organizational development. INFAS members are eligible to join working groups, as well as engage with INFAS fellowship/mentorship program partnerships and participate in INFAS professional development and networking opportunities.
For more information, contact Ben Cousineau, INFAS coordinator.
Photo: Jim Sutter admiring a gardener's squash as part of the Food Dignity project.
Shared partnership:
Center for Environmental Farming Systems
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) is a joint venture between NC State, N.C. A&T State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Recognized as a national and international leader in the local foods movement, and celebrated for its comprehensive efforts in facilitating a vibrant local food economy, CEFS is one of the nation’s most important centers for research, Extension and education in sustainable agriculture and community-based food systems. CEFS became a JAFSCD partner in 2017. Rebecca Dunning, research assistant professor for food systems and food supply chain development, is representing CEFS in the partnership with JAFSCD.
CEFS extends knowledge from our world-class faculty to farmers, families, and citizens across the state and beyond. We don’t just conduct groundbreaking research; we deliver solutions directly into the hands of North Carolinians, translating campus discoveries into community solutions that help keep North Carolina agriculture growing and sustainable.
For more information, contact Dr. Michelle Schroeder-Moreno, CEFS Director and W.K. Kellogg Endowed Distinguished Chair in Sustainable Community-Based Food Systems, NC State University.
UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill addresses pressing health problems by collaborating with communities to conduct research, provide training, and translate research findings into policy and practice. The Center seeks to reduce health disparities through an emphasis on community-based participatory research to ensure that the community is involved in every stage of research. The CDC selected HPDP to be one of its first three Prevention Research Centers in 1985. Now composed of 26 academic institutions, the PRC program is an interdependent network of community, academic, and public health partners that conduct prevention research and promote practices proven to promote good health.
The vision of HPDP is to work in partnership to bring public health research findings to the daily lives of individuals and their communities with a special focus on North Carolina and populations vulnerable to disease. HPDP became a JAFSCD partner in 2021.
For more information, contact Dr. Alice Ammerman, Director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
FORMER PARTNER
We also acknowledge the contribution of our Founding Partner, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, for its three-year commitment from 2013 to 2016.
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Editor in Chief: duncan@lysoncenter.org
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The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development is published by the Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems, a project of the Center for Transformative Action (a nonprofit affiliate of Cornell University). JAFSCD is published with the support of our organizational and library shareholders, and our annual partners:
