Browsing by Subject "Food security"
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Item Open Access Agriculture in a Changing Landscape: Modeling shifts in the geospatial distribution of crops in response to climate change(2014-04-17) Morse, NoraAltered patterns of temperature and precipitation associated with global climate change are expected to affect the productivity of agricultural regions around the world, with varying regional impacts. Since ideal environmental conditions vary depending on the physiological needs of specific plant types, the regions where we grow different crop varieties are likely to shift in response. This shift will have profound implications for rural landscapes and communities, as well as global food supply and international markets. In this research I use Classification and Regression Tree (CART) modeling to investigate whether changes in climate over the past 50 years have contributed to shifts in the distribution of crops in Minnesota. I incorporate climate, soil, and agricultural management data to create a time series of regression tree models which predict the acreage of three different important commodity crops, corn, soy, and wheat, for each county. The resulting models indicate that farmers’ decisions to grow corn are positively associated with warmer winter temperatures, and that the temperature threshold has increased over time. Soil quality is the primary predictor of soybean acreage, with a stable threshold over time. Wheat models produced inconsistent results, possibly due to displacement by conversion of wheat acreage to corn acreage. This suggests that farmers are already employing crop-switching strategies in response to recent changes in climate. As the impacts of climate change increase in severity, additional research and investment will be needed to help agricultural producers continue to adapt.Item Open Access Effects of Fuel Costs and Market Product Price on Catch of Small Pelagic Fish: Market Study of the Sardine Fishery in the Gulf of California(2017-04-28) Arenas, EstebanFrom a management perspective, what is the best use of forage fish? Global landings of forage fish comprise approximately 16% of the global wild marine fish catch. Forage fish provide livelihoods and a protein source for millions of people worldwide. Also, forage fish are a critical food source for transferring energy from plankton to higher trophic levels in marine ecosystems. Knowing their significance, should forage fish be made into fish meal and used in agriculture, canned for domestic human consumption, frozen fresh as feed for blue fin tuna mariculture, or left in the ocean to serve ecological functions? Recognizing that this is a complex topic, this projects aims to analyze the sardine Mexican fishery solely from an economic standpoint and identify externalities or relationships in the market that, if managed differently, could have significant effects on economic incentives for the use of sardines. Fuel subsidies are analyzed as a potential tool to influence fishing behavior. It’s found that higher fuel prices and differences between high and low quality market sardine prices, incentivize a greater percent catch of high quality sardines. This implies higher production of canned sardine products and thus potentially addressing food security concerns. This economic analysis of the use of the sardine resource in Mexico can consequently be complemented by social, environmental, or other tailored analyses.Item Open Access Equity in Global Food Systems Change: A Cross-Country Analysis of the Drivers of Food Insecurity(2021-04-21) D'Angelo Campos, AlineSince the middle of the 20th century, policy makers have prioritized high agricultural productivity to maximize the production of a handful of staple crops used in the production of ultraprocessed foods and animal products. As a result, our food system produces large externalities for public health and the environment that are not currently priced in the market. Among many calls for change to this mode of production, there are also valid concerns about the impacts of such change on food security. This study sought to contribute to the debate around this topic by analyzing the relationship between food prices and food insecurity at the country level. Through multiple regression analysis, we find that higher food prices are associated with larger increases in food insecurity rates in lower-income settings than in higher-income settings. We also find that several others factors, such as GDP per capita, poverty rate, portion of rural population, and portion of population under 15 years old are significantly associated with food insecurity. These results suggest that focusing policy efforts on non-price related drivers of food insecurity may be effective in combating it, especially in higher-income settings – while offering the important added benefit of minimizing public-health and environmental damage.Item Open Access Evaluating Contributions of Small-Scale Fisheries on Food Security via Fisheries Indicators, Economic Inequalities, and Gender(2023-04-28) Huff, Arianna; McFarland, Tyler; Martinez, Laura; Laspada, ChristianThe contributions of small-scale fisheries (SSF) to food security are underappreciated globally. This issue is further exacerbated in the Galapagos Archipelago, where the majority of food sources are imported from mainland Ecuador. In collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), our report underscores the contributions of SSF in the Galapagos through the lens of food security, economic inequalities, and gender. Using the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) four pillars of food security – availability, use, access, and stability – we identified catch, price of fish, access based on income, consumption patterns, and nutrition to be the most significant indicators of SSF contributions in the Galapagos. Furthermore, our report includes a toolkit that measures the contributions of SSF, geospatial figures, and policy recommendations to CDF. Our recommendations seek to promote the health of permanent residents through direct access to fresh seafood and to promote sustainable fisheries practices through legislation.Item Open Access The Best Ground for Triangle Land Conservancy’s Good Ground Initiative: Assessing North Carolina Lands for Conservation and Agricultural Value(2023-04-27) Garabadu, ReemaLand access is a critical part of maintaining our nation’s food system and fostering the growth of a new generation of farmers. Access to farmland has long been an issue for farmers of color, along with affordability and generational and long-standing institutional biases. The Good Ground Initiative was formed by the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) to pair high-value conservation land to historically underserved farmers in the Triangle region. Using the buy- protect-sell approach, TLC purchases land, puts it under conservation easements to protect it from development (which decreases the price of the land below market value), and resells the land to underserved farmers. As a result, this initiative will help increase access to land while conserving rapidly depleting farmland in the area. This project examined the criteria to find high-value land for conservation purposes, as well as social and economic criteria for retention of marginalized farmers. Components of this template include assessment of farmland production suitabilities, neighbor land use, conservation benefits, and more. The approach can be replicated in other regions to foster both farmer diversity and farmland conservation across the United States.Item Embargo The Justice Equation(2023) Everett, JeremyPolitical polarization and regional conflict have directly contributed to global destabilization. This has resulted in extreme global hunger. Meanwhile, siloed approaches to addressing social issues, the Covid-19 pandemic, a rapid downturn in agricultural production due to climate change, and inflation have all exacerbated the tragedy of hunger. This set of conditions is often referred to as the Five C’s- Conflict, Covid, Climate Change, Rising Costs, and Corruption. The antidote to the Five C’s is Multisectoral Collaboration. I propose that applying the Shared Power Theory of Change with a Collective Impact programmatic model design to the issue of hunger is the most effective pathway forward in promoting food access among the U.S. and global population suffering from food insecurity (800 million people worldwide and 35 million Americans), as well as those on the brink of starvation (350 million people globally). This model creates pathways for multisectoral collaboration that will drastically reduce hunger and its contributing causes. To achieve the lofty goal of a world without hunger, we must also expand our theological, sociological, and political frameworks of mutuality and the practical implications of loving our neighbors as ourselves.