Working on Wicked Problems in Food Systems

Abstract

Full text of this issue's editorial: Quite by happenstance, the challenges, barriers, and limitations of local/regional food initiatives emerged as a thematic thread in this final issue of 2015. But we're not ending the year on a negative note since, while our authors in this issue do present us with a number of wicked problems, their applied research also sheds light on opportunities, alternatives, new strategies, policies, and research to address them. This positive practicality undergirds our mission with the Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems, and we are pleased that so many applied scholars are taking these issues head-on. Solutions, we hope, will come in time. We start this jam-packed open-call issue with John Ikerd's "The Economic Pamphleteer" column in which he proposes a definition of a Food Ethic that complements Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic. As a seminal and influential concept, this piece should be distributed far and wide—so feel free to share it with your networks! By the way, in the coming year we will be publishing a collection of five years of the "Economic Pamphleteer," which promises to make great reading for students, food policy councils, food bloggers, and others. Next is a viewpoint paper entitled Local Food, Food Democracy, and Food Hubs by Allison Perrett and Charlie Jackson. They argue that food hubs may not, in and of themselves, challenge the fundamental status quo established by mainstream food supply chains. In a paper published under JAFSCD Open Choice, The Unattainable Trifecta of Urban Agriculture, Sarita Daftary-Steel, Hank Herrera, and Christine Porter reflect on the limitation of UA to provide good food, job training, and income to communities without outside funding. This paper is freely available thanks to the authors. The cover image for this issue was supplied by author Jennifer Blecha, who in her paper Regulating Backyard Slaughter: Strategies and Gaps in Municipal Livestock Ordinances identifies five approaches to governing the increasingly contested issue of backyard slaughter. The photo was taken by Jennifer’s colleague Stephanie Carnow; we appreciate her allowing us to use it. Snehalatha Gantla and Larry Lev follow with Farmers' Market or Farmers Market? Examining How Market Ownership Influences Conduct and Performance, in which they reveal how three types of ownership influence market goals and mission, general operations, and performance outcomes. In Rural School Food Service Director Percepti…