ABSTRACT This article presents results from a survey of community food projects, and explores the... more ABSTRACT This article presents results from a survey of community food projects, and explores the relationships between organisational type, rationales and the barriers that prevent each from increasing the scale of their operations. Organisations were divided according to their primary rationale (e.g. rural economic development and distribution), and then subdivided – by form – as a non-profit, private business, governmental agency or cooperative. Data from the interviews and surveys were coded using a qualitative grounded theory approach, to reveal the barriers experienced by each. Overall, access to long-term stable income is a recurrent theme across all types of projects, but income sources dramatically change how these organisations prioritise barriers. Similarly, the organisation's primary rationale and experiences influence the interpretation and approach to collaboration and education. Despite these differences, our results suggest a large degree of convergence that cuts across organisational forms and rationales, and offers a base for broader regional food system conversations.
ABSTRACT Although it is the most widely accepted form of organic guarantee, third party certifica... more ABSTRACT Although it is the most widely accepted form of organic guarantee, third party certification can be inaccessible for small-scale producers and promotes a highly market-oriented vision of organics. By contrast, participatory guarantee systems (PGS) are based on principles of relationship-building, mutual learning, trust, context-specificity, local control, diversity, and collective action. This paper uses the case study of the Mexican Network of Local Organic Markets to explore how PGS can be used to support a more alternative vision of organics, grounded in the notion of food sovereignty. It presents some of the key challenges and opportunities associated with the approach, and highlights its potential to serve as a locally-based institution for collective action, thereby offering some structural support to alternative agri-food initiatives.
ABSTRACT Data collected in 14 southwestern Ontario counties and regional municipalities demonstra... more ABSTRACT Data collected in 14 southwestern Ontario counties and regional municipalities demonstrated that the development of community food initiatives is not happening uniformly across the region. Rather, some areas (notably Wellington and Norfolk counties and Waterloo Region) are home to a wide variety of projects that, in many cases, are woven together into networks and enjoy relatively broad-based support from local communities. In contrast, in other places (for example, Dufferin, Elgin, and Kent counties), efforts to foster the development of alternative food systems are fewer and farther between, more fledgling in nature, and appear subject to more constraints than their counterparts in neighbouring parts of the region. This paper will explore the uneven geography of community food projects in southwestern Ontario, and discuss how the presence of social capital structured around an alternative food system vision can help expand the realm of possibility for such initiatives.
As climate change impacts are felt around the globe, people are increasingly exposed to changes i... more As climate change impacts are felt around the globe, people are increasingly exposed to changes in weather patterns, wildlife and vegetation, and water and food quality, access and availability in their local regions. These changes can impact human health and well-being in a variety of ways: increased risk of foodborne and waterborne diseases; increased frequency and distribution of vector-borne disease; increased mortality and injury due to extreme weather events and heat waves; increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease due to changes in air quality and increased allergens in the air; and increased susceptibility to mental and emotional health challenges. While climate change is a global phenomenon, the impacts are experienced most acutely in place; as such, a sense of place, place-attachment, and placebased identities are important indicators for climate-related health and adaptation. Representing one of the first qualitative case studies to examine the connections among climate change, a changing sense of place, and health in an Inuit context, this research draws data from a multi-year community-driven case study situated in the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Data informing this paper were drawn from the narrative analysis of 72 in-depth interviews conducted from November 2009 to October 2010, as well as from the descriptive analysis of 112 questionnaires from a survey in October 2010 (95% response rate). The findings illustrated that climate change is negatively affecting feelings of place attachment by disrupting hunting, fishing, foraging, trapping, and traveling, and changing local landscapesdchanges which subsequently impact physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. These results also highlight the need to develop context-specific climate-health planning and adaptation programs, and call for an understanding of place-attachment as a vital indicator of health and well-being and for climate change to be framed as an important determinant of health.
ABSTRACT This article presents results from a survey of community food projects, and explores the... more ABSTRACT This article presents results from a survey of community food projects, and explores the relationships between organisational type, rationales and the barriers that prevent each from increasing the scale of their operations. Organisations were divided according to their primary rationale (e.g. rural economic development and distribution), and then subdivided – by form – as a non-profit, private business, governmental agency or cooperative. Data from the interviews and surveys were coded using a qualitative grounded theory approach, to reveal the barriers experienced by each. Overall, access to long-term stable income is a recurrent theme across all types of projects, but income sources dramatically change how these organisations prioritise barriers. Similarly, the organisation's primary rationale and experiences influence the interpretation and approach to collaboration and education. Despite these differences, our results suggest a large degree of convergence that cuts across organisational forms and rationales, and offers a base for broader regional food system conversations.
ABSTRACT Although it is the most widely accepted form of organic guarantee, third party certifica... more ABSTRACT Although it is the most widely accepted form of organic guarantee, third party certification can be inaccessible for small-scale producers and promotes a highly market-oriented vision of organics. By contrast, participatory guarantee systems (PGS) are based on principles of relationship-building, mutual learning, trust, context-specificity, local control, diversity, and collective action. This paper uses the case study of the Mexican Network of Local Organic Markets to explore how PGS can be used to support a more alternative vision of organics, grounded in the notion of food sovereignty. It presents some of the key challenges and opportunities associated with the approach, and highlights its potential to serve as a locally-based institution for collective action, thereby offering some structural support to alternative agri-food initiatives.
ABSTRACT Data collected in 14 southwestern Ontario counties and regional municipalities demonstra... more ABSTRACT Data collected in 14 southwestern Ontario counties and regional municipalities demonstrated that the development of community food initiatives is not happening uniformly across the region. Rather, some areas (notably Wellington and Norfolk counties and Waterloo Region) are home to a wide variety of projects that, in many cases, are woven together into networks and enjoy relatively broad-based support from local communities. In contrast, in other places (for example, Dufferin, Elgin, and Kent counties), efforts to foster the development of alternative food systems are fewer and farther between, more fledgling in nature, and appear subject to more constraints than their counterparts in neighbouring parts of the region. This paper will explore the uneven geography of community food projects in southwestern Ontario, and discuss how the presence of social capital structured around an alternative food system vision can help expand the realm of possibility for such initiatives.
As climate change impacts are felt around the globe, people are increasingly exposed to changes i... more As climate change impacts are felt around the globe, people are increasingly exposed to changes in weather patterns, wildlife and vegetation, and water and food quality, access and availability in their local regions. These changes can impact human health and well-being in a variety of ways: increased risk of foodborne and waterborne diseases; increased frequency and distribution of vector-borne disease; increased mortality and injury due to extreme weather events and heat waves; increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease due to changes in air quality and increased allergens in the air; and increased susceptibility to mental and emotional health challenges. While climate change is a global phenomenon, the impacts are experienced most acutely in place; as such, a sense of place, place-attachment, and placebased identities are important indicators for climate-related health and adaptation. Representing one of the first qualitative case studies to examine the connections among climate change, a changing sense of place, and health in an Inuit context, this research draws data from a multi-year community-driven case study situated in the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Data informing this paper were drawn from the narrative analysis of 72 in-depth interviews conducted from November 2009 to October 2010, as well as from the descriptive analysis of 112 questionnaires from a survey in October 2010 (95% response rate). The findings illustrated that climate change is negatively affecting feelings of place attachment by disrupting hunting, fishing, foraging, trapping, and traveling, and changing local landscapesdchanges which subsequently impact physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. These results also highlight the need to develop context-specific climate-health planning and adaptation programs, and call for an understanding of place-attachment as a vital indicator of health and well-being and for climate change to be framed as an important determinant of health.
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Papers by Karen Landman