Market gardening without motorization (online)

Can an organic market garden without motorization be viable through holistic thinking? The case of a permaculture farm

In industrialized countries, innovative farmers inspired by permaculture claim to design market gardens only based on manual labor. A case study shows that these market gardeners implemented a wide range of strategies embracing ecological, technical and commercial dimensions to increase their production and its value. On a cultivated acreage of 1061m2, they created a monthly net income between 882€ and 2058€. These incomes were generated with an average workload of 43h per week. Such economic performances demonstrated that these initiatives can be viable. Further investigation should be carried out about the way manual and motorized market gardeners can collaborate to build together a satisfying commercial offer.

Permaculture and strategic management (#journal)

Permaculture approach: linking ecological sustainability to businesses strategies

This paper discusses the concept of ecological sustainability in the global business community as the neoclassical approach continues to fail. There is now an emerging need to explore new approaches towards balancing ecological and economic returns. The paper extends the philosophy of Permaculture into business domain and explores its compatibility to be integrated with strategic management perspectives.The study primarily conducts a review of Permaculture and Strategic Management domains and uncovers the compatibility between the two, while arguing that the integration of Permaculture philosophy in business strategy would achieve sustainability.

How local is 'local' food? (#journal)

How local is local? Determining the boundaries of local food in practice

This paper addresses the question of how local can be defined in practice. A dataset of locally oriented farm and food-related establishments in southern New England is used to identify how far local food travels in this region and how interconnected local food establishments are with one another. These two aspects (how far food travels and the number of connections with other local food entities) not only are connected to each other in a complex dynamic, but also are bound up with other structural factors as well (such as size, type of operation, and proximity to an urban center).

Food sovereignty and decolonisation (#journal)

Food sovereignty as decolonization: some contributions from Indigenous movements to food system and development politics

Food sovereignty is centrally about groups of people making their own decisions about the food system. Since people are different, we should expect decisions about food sovereignty to be different in different contexts. This paper looks at the analytical points of friction in applying ideas of food sovereignty within the context of Indigenous struggles in North America. This helps to clarify one of the central themes in food sovereignty: that it is a continuation of anti-colonial struggles, even in post-colonial contexts. Such an examination has dividends both for scholars of food sovereignty and for those of Indigenous politics.

Food banks and local food growing (#journal)

From commodity surplus to food justice: food banks and local agriculture in the United States

Food banks across the United States have increasingly engaged in diverse gleaning, gardening, and farming activities. Some gardening programs seek to build poor communities’ capacity to meet more of their own food needs, signalling new roles for food banks. This article reports the results of a national survey and in-depth case studies of the ways in which food banks are engaging in local agriculture and how this influences food banks’ roles in community food systems. The patterns it reveals reflect broader tensions in debates about hunger relief and food security.

Labour conditions and the alternative food movement (#journal)

Food labor, economic inequality, and the imperfect politics of process in the alternative food movement

There is a growing commitment by different parts of the alternative food movement (AFM) to improve labor conditions for food chain workers, and to develop economically fair alternatives. This article asks what accounts for the variation in AFM labor commitments across different contexts. It then appraises a range of activist perspectives, practices, and organizational approaches. It seems that commitment to fair labor standards varies due to differences in organizational capacity, the degree of dedication to ending economic inequality in local activist culture, and the openness of local political and economic institutions to working class struggles. The article concludes with a discussion of how these findings inform our understanding of the process of cooperation and division in the AFM.

Biosolids on fields increase carbon storage (#journal)

Biosolids amendment dramatically increases sequestration of crop residue-carbon in agricultural soils in western Illinois

In agricultural soils, a large portion of C in crop residues (i.e. non-harvested plant parts) is annually lost to the atmosphere due to the low C use metabolism of soil microorganisms suffering C and N imbalance. In this study  biosolids (treated sewage sludge)  were applied for 13 years (1972–1984). The sequestration rate of crop residue-C in the soils was measured over 34 years (1972–2006), revealing dramatically greater sequestration rate in biosolids-amended soil (32.5% of total crop residue-C) versus unamended soil (11.8%). The study concludes use of biosolids is a valid approach to transform agricultural soils from current C-neutral status to a C sink.