Source: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CRUZ submitted to NRP
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0221265
Grant No.
2010-34424-20789
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2010-01448
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2010
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2013
Grant Year
2010
Program Code
[PF]- Sustainable Agriculture, CA
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CRUZ
1156 HIGH STREET
SANTA CRUZ,CA 950641077
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project?Ts goal is to increase the understanding and practice of sustainable food and agriculture systems in California?Ts Monterey Bay region and beyond. The project builds on the research, education, and public service work of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, whose goal is to develop an environmentally sound and socially just food and agriculture system. Project objectives include: 1) increase understanding and literacy about sustainable food and agriculture system practices; 2) increase capacity for engaged deliberation about and implementation of sustainable food systems, and; 3) increase understanding about complex societal issues in sustainable food systems. Using a combination of outreach, on-site interpretation, and education and research development, this project will increase the impact of the program?Ts organic farm facilities for those in the region who are interested in learning more about sustainable food systems, developing their own ecological horticulture skill set, and collaborating on agroecological research projects. The project will expand capacity for understanding and implementing sustainable food systems through a new journal and interactive web site, new UCSC classes, seminars, and community-based workshops, and internships for regional college students. In order to increase our understanding of the many social issues that influence and are affected by the food system, we will work with local communities to identify, learn about, and take action on food issues that affect their well being, and will organize and chair a national research consortium on food systems and health in order to better understand the intersections among food, health and equity.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
50%
Developmental
30%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1026050302033%
8056050302033%
7046050303017%
7036050308017%
Goals / Objectives
Purpose: this project is a multidisciplinary research and education effort designed to increase the understanding and practice of sustainable food systems. While the primary geographic scope for project activities will be the greater Monterey Bay region of California, the results will be useful for those working in many other regions. This project will develop and expand collaborative relationships between the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) and institutions, organizations, and communities in the Central Coast of California to conduct collaborative research and education to improve the practice and understanding of food-system sustainability and sustainable agriculture in the region. The project has three primary objectives: to increase understanding and literacy about sustainable food-systems in the Monterey Bay region; to increase capacity for engaged deliberation about and implementation of sustainable food systems, and to increase understanding about complex societal issues in sustainable food systems.
Project Methods
We will develop on-site interpretive programs on our campus farm to increase understanding about sustainable food systems for the hundreds of visitors that come to our facilities every year. We will work with regional organizations to explore new formats that expand the accessibility and reach of training in ecological horticulture and urban agriculture. We will expand our on-site research by developing a research agenda that reflects whole-system, agroecological thinking and issues, working with campus researchers and regional organizations. We will explore development of a journal and interactive website with University of California Press. We will incorporate sustainable food system course options for undergraduates on sustainable food systems and one on labor, gender, and sustainable agriculture. We will work with regional organizations and leaders to create a series of community-based workshops on sustainable food systems. We will develop research briefs, academic journal articles, and integrated publications that communicate our research results and implications in media appropriate to different audiences. We will organize and chair a national research consortium on food systems and health.

Progress 07/01/10 to 06/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: University undergraduate and graduate students, high school students, faculty, food service directors at schools and hospitals, farmers, gardeners, researchers and the general public. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Undergraduate students are learning organizing and educational outreach through internships with CASFS. They also had an opportunity to learn Critical Thinking processes. Graduate students who received student grants in 2010, and were supported by staff on this grant, learned to do field work, presentations, and research reports. Graduate student researchers learned research skills including, but not limited to: doing literature searches, coding data, using Nvivo and SPSS software for data analysis, developing interview questions, editing manuscripts, analyzing school district statistics and more. Undergraduate students learned gardening skills, and healthy food preparation and activism around food system issues. Food service directors learned about resources for farm to institution supply chain accessibility and strategies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in schools and hospitals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated through the Center’s website and journals within which they are published. The Campus Food and Garden Guides produced annually during the project have been disseminated to all incoming students at UCSC, as well as at numerous on- and off-campus events that promote understanding of food systems and learning opportunities to students and community members who may not otherwise be aware of the numerous issues surrounding the campus and community food systems. The Guides are also posted to the CASFS web site for free download and distributed via a link included in an annual press release on the UCSC News web site. The Self-Guided Tour of the UCSC Farm is distributed free of charge to the over 3,500 annual visitors to the UCSC Farm, and serves as one of the training tools for the UCSC Farm & Garden docent program, which serves a broad audience of visitors annually. The Farm to School Efforts: Innovations and Insights paper, the first in a series entitled Furthering Healthy Food Systems in California, has been disseminated to a broad audience of Food Service Directors and other school administrators interested in this topic, as well as at campus and community events that promote food systems education to a diverse audience. It is also available for free download from the CASFS web site. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The first project objective, to increase understanding and literacy about sustainable food-system practices in the Monterey Bay region was accomplished in a number of ways. The Center’s 25-acre farm, which provides an excellent site for education on the practice and application of sustainable food systems, was well utilized for the campus itself, as well as the broader community to meet this objective. Several workshops were held for students and the public on topics that included fruit tree care, beekeeping, pest control, seed saving, growing herbs, spring and fall garden preparation and care, and small scale raising of chickens and ducks. A successful week-long intensive gardening course was conceptualized and implemented, meeting the goals of providing more in-depth training to those who can’t take off work to attend a 6 month course. This USDA special grant funding, in addition to a successful student ballot referendum that charges students a yearly fee to support more sustainable food education on campus, created many well-attended opportunities for students to experience activities around food justice and sustainability in the food system, including hands on participatory learning in gardening, food preparation, and food justice tours, for students on campus on the CASFS farm resulting in 42 internships over 2010-2012, the development of 7 student gardens across campus, garden training for students and engaging the students to participate in the organizing and implementation of the campus Harvest Festival which was attended by more than 1,300 people in 2011 and student participation increased by 25% in 2011 and over 50% in 2012. This effort also extended to high school students for the Strengthening the Roots event. As part of increasing understanding and literacy, it was an objective to expand our research working with UCSC faculty and other regional organizations. During this project, faculty in the Environmental Studies Department planted organic strawberry pest control research plots for a USDA funded project, and additional research plots were planned at the CASFS farm. Even after this effort ceased to receive funding, the expansion of research acreage and collaboration has continued and expanded significantly. A second objective was to increase capacity for engaged deliberation about and implementation of sustainable food systems. This was accomplished in several ways. First, several academic classes were sponsored, including one on Sustainable Food Systems and one on the Politics of Food. These classes were filled to capacity for both years they were taught. Additionally, a more intentional, formal structure of collaboration was created with the Environmental Studies department (ENVS) for classes, including a senior seminar. This seminar, taught by Patricia Allen, focused on "Sustainable Food Systems and Social Change.” It was rated as "excellent" by all students enrolled. Students commented that it was "life changing," and that "it should be taught at the beginning of their ENVS curriculum." Not only did it provide changes in knowledge, but in behavior. Students organized themselves after the end of the course to continue an ad hoc, independent study and discussion on food system topics. Project staff Jan Perez then developed and facilitated an informal course titled "Critical Thinking about Food System Issues," and it continued with Allen's participation. The objective about increasing capacity for engaged deliberation was also to be addressed by exploring the development of a journal and interactive website with University of California Press. Progress was made in conceptualizing this effort and raising preliminary funds. However, in a tighter funding climate, and issues with staff turnover/departure, this project was put on hold. We also addressed the objective of increasing capacity for engaged deliberation by working with regional organizations and leaders to address sustainable food systems issues. The Center, worked closely with the Central Coast School Food Alliance (CCSFA). This group is comprised of school food service administrators and staff, a regional food bank, and others working in the school food sector. They work to address social, economic, and institutional issues associated with the provision of breakfast and more fresh fruits and vegetables in schools in the region. We sponsored a "Celebrating School Food" event with the Central Coast School Food Alliance, which was attended by students and parents from local school districts. In the following fiscal year, we sponsored a second "Celebrating School Food" event with the Central Coast School Food Alliance which was attended by students and parents from local school districts at the Aptos Farmers Market. This work then attracted 15 school districts and two hospitals to participate in the conceptualization and development of a proposal that would create an interactive learning space, and funding for projects for food service directors to each design model, replicable projects to increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and to address social, economic, and institutional issues associated with the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools in the region. We also assisted the CCSFA to apply for and receive a multi-year grant through Why Hunger on eliminating food deserts and developing community leadership for greater food security. Through this additional support CCSFA invested in regional school districts through purchasing fresh prep equipment, conducting fresh prep & food safety training, hosting broader community building events as well as developing new marketing materials and projects to enhance healthy & culturally appropriate food in the school environment. The third objective, to increase understanding about complex societal issues in sustainable food systems, was met in several instances. First, this funding allowed continued analysis and writing up of several research project efforts. Papers were published, both in academic journals and through the Center, on farm-to-institution issues, gender and labor issues, food security, and human issues in the food system. The research on gender and labor found that gender and race often define the types of jobs held in both farm and restaurant work. However, these roles are often naturalized by both workers and owners. Even though these forms of relations exist, there was evidence of actions that address inequalities. The farm-to-institution analysis explored the opportunities for improving programs through a value based supply chain approach. It was found that value-based supply chains provide communication channels that help trust develop over time, which appears to be an important component of their success. Continued communication, through education establishments and media can help provide connection from the supply chain and the larger public. This final objective was also addressed by the implementation of a national research consortium on food systems and health that addressed research and methodological questions within the interconnected domains of food, health and equity. This grant offered additional support to this conference, which was held in October 2012.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Feenstra G., P. Allen, S. Hardesty, J. Ohmart, and J. Perez, 2011. Using a Supply Chain Analysis to Assess the Sustainability of Farm-to-Institution Programs, Journal of Food Systems and Community Development (4).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Sachs C., P. Allen, J. Hayden, R. Terman and C. Hatcher. 2013. Front and Back of the House: Socio-spatial Inequalities in Food Work. The Agriculture and Human Values Journal. Published online: 04 May 2013
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Perez, J. and M. Brown. 2010. Impacts of the Apprenticeship Program: An Overview and Summary of the Alumni Survey. Research Brief #14, Center or Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Allen P. and H. Melcarek. 2013. "The Human Face of Sustainable Agriculture: Adding People to the Environmental Agenda. Sustainability in the Balance Series. Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Santa Cruz, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Allen, P. 2012. "Social movements and food security: Axes of engagement" International Rural Sociology Association Conference. Lisbon, Portugal. July 30.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Galarneau, T., S. Millward, and M. Laird. 2013. Farm to School Efforts: Innovations and Insights. Part of the series on Furthering Healthy Food Systems in California. Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Galarneau, T. and M. Brown (eds.). 2011. UCSC Campus Food and Garden Guide, 6th edition. Food Systems Working Group and the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Galarneau, T. and M. Brown (eds.). 2012. UCSC Campus Food and Garden Guide,7th edition. Food Systems Working Group and the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2011 Citation: Allen, Patricia. 2011. "Locating justice: The role of localization in sustainable food systems". Presented at Food Justice Conference. Eugene, Oregon. February 2011.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Allen, Patricia. 2012. "Social movements and food security: Axes of engagement." Invited plenary speaker at the World Congress of Rural Sociology, in Lisbon, Portugal, in July 2012.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Allen, Patricia. 2013. "Considerations of food sovereignty" Presented at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Oregon; March 2013
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Allen, Patricia. 2012. Serving food justice: articulating analysis and action, Keynote address at national conference, Food Insecurity: Assessing Disparities, Consequences, and Policies. University of Missouri, Columbia, October 2012.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Allen, Patricia & Hatcher, Christina. 2012. "Binding inequalities: Narratives from the field of food work," Presented at Labor across the Food System Conference, University of California, Santa Cruz, February 2012.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Allen, Patricia. 2012. "Engendering justice in sustainable food systems," invited presentation for the Beatrice Bain Research Group, University of California, Berkeley, April 2012.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2012 Citation: Allen, Patricia. 2012. "Doing food work: The relationship between productive and reproductive labor in the U.S." Presented at the Annual Meeting of Agriculture Food and Human Values. New York, NY. June 2012.


Progress 07/01/11 to 06/30/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: In FY 2011-2012, CASFS delivered a series of intensive workshops for students and the public on farming and gardening topics, in addition to a week-long intensive organic gardening course offered through UCSC's Recreation Dept. in partnership with the Friends of the UCSC Farm and Garden support group. In 2012, Patricia Allen taught a senior seminar for the Environmental Studies Department titled: "Sustainable Food Systems and Social Change." A subsequent ad hoc study group on "Critical Thinking around Food System Issues" was organized by students and facilitated by Jan Perez. We supported two continuing courses at UCSC for undergraduates, both of which were registered, again, to capacity. "Sustainable Food Systems," through Kresge College, and "Politics of Food," a writing course through Oakes College. We held our annual Harvest Fest and due to CASFS's increased on campus efforts around food issue education. Once again, CASFS co-hosted a "Strengthening the Roots Convergence" of high school students and community members, totaling more than 600, from around California to discuss food justice issues. We continued our leadership role in a regional partnership - the Central Coast School Food Alliance - with school food service administrators and staff, a regional food bank, and others working in the school food sector, to address social, economic, and institutional issues associated with the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools in the region. Activities including helping them to submit two grant proposals for funding and sponsoring a second "Celebrating School Food" event with the Central Coast School Food Alliance which was attended by students and parents from local school districts in 2012 at the Aptos Farmers Market. Patricia Allen made a presentation: "Binding inequalities: Narratives from the field of food work," at Labor across the Food System conference, University of California, Santa Cruz, February 2012, which CASFS helped to organize. Also in 2012 Patricia Allen participated at the California Food and Justice Coalition Conference in Oakland, CA; and made a presentation entitled, "Engendering Justice in Sustainable Food Systems," for the Beatrice Bain Research Group, University of California, Berkeley, April 2012. And Allen presented on gender and race inequities for food workers in New York City in June 2012 at the Annual Meeting of Agriculture Food and Human Values. PARTICIPANTS: P.I. Patricia Allen guided overall project development, social justice research and writing and editing articles, teaching undergraduate students and mentoring graduate students, presenting research results and representing Center activities at conferences and teaching a senior seminar called, "Sustainable Food Systems and Social Change." Jonathon Landeck provided operational support and coordination of all CASFS sponsored graduate and undergraduate courses. Martha Brown edited publications, and provided organization for the Harvest Fest. Jan Perez managed social science research activities, including research design, guiding graduate student researchers, participating in research, writing, contributing to the facilitation of the School Food Alliance, teaching a one-day class on social science research design for ENVS, and facilitated discourse on "Critical Thinking in Food System Issues." Timothy Galarneau facilitated student activities Harvest Fest, Strengthening the Roots, worked with facilitators for the hands on learning activities on campus and School Food Alliance activities. Gwendolyn Keith provided academic coordination, interdepartmental collaboration and coordination, event organizing and coordination of NC1196 National Research Group. Orin Martin, Christof Bernau and Elizabeth Milazzo taught gardening, orcharding and other courses to students and the public. Hilary Melcarek did research and writing on urban gardening projects, the human face of agriculture and other articles.Environmental Studies, Sociology, Education, Psychology, Politics, Film and Social Media and Latin American and Latino Studies Departments UCSC; Writing Center, UCSC, Kresge and Oakes Colleges, UCSC; Center for Labor Studies, Office of Physical Education and Recreation, UCSC; UCSC Sustainability Office, Friends of the Farm and Garden, LifeLab, UC Press, California Food Policy Advocates, Second Harvest Food Bank, California Dept. of Education, Bon Appetit Management Company, Alba Organics, UCSC Dining, Cabrillo College Dining, Scotts Valley USD, Santa Cruz USD, North Monterey SD, San Lorenzo Valley USD, Soquel Union ESD, Pajaro Valley USD, Mee Hospital, Natividad Medical Center, Real Food Challenge, World Hunger Year. Environmental Studie Department, Writing Center, Kresge and Oakes Colleges, Center for Labor Studies, Office of Physical Education and Recreation, and the UCSC Sustainability Office. Non-UCSC collaborators include: Friends of the Farm and Garden, LifeLab, UC Press, California Food Policy Advocates, Second Harvest Food Bank, California Dept. of Education, Bon Appetit Management Company, Alba Organics, UCSC Dining, Cabrillo College Dining, Scotts Valley USD, Santa Cruz USD, North Monterey SD, San Lorenzo Valley USD, Soquel Union ESD, Pajaro Valley USD, Mee Hospital, Natividad Medical Center, Real Food Challenge, World Hunger Year. TARGET AUDIENCES: University undergraduate and graduate students, high school students, faculty, food service directors at schools and hospitals, farmers, gardeners, researchers and the general public. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Patricia' Allen's Senior Seminar on "Sustainable Food Systems and Social Change was rated "excellent" by all students enrolled. Students commented that it was "life changing," and that "it should be taught at the beginning of their ENVS curriculum." Students organized themselves after the end of the course to continue an ad hoc, independent study on a "Critical Thinking around Food System Issues" with Allen's participation facilitated by Jan Perez. The Central Coast School Food Alliance provided a forum that attracted 15 school districts and two hospitals to participate in the conceptualization and development of a proposal that would create an interactive learning space, and funding for projects for food service directors to each design model, replicable projects to increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and to address social, economic, and institutional issues associated with the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools in the region This USDA special grant funding, in addition to a successful student ballot referendum that charges students a yearly fee to support more sustainable food education on campus, created many well-attended opportunities for students to experience activities around food justice and sustainability in the food system, including hands on participatory learning in gardening, food preparation, and food justice tours, for students on campus on the CASFS farm resulting in 14 internships over 2011-2012, the development of 11 student gardens across campus, garden training for students and engaging the students to participate in the organizing and implementation of the campus Harvest Festival for which student participation increased by over 50% in 2012 over the previous year. This effort also extended to high school students for the Strengthening the Roots event. A formal structure of collaboration is now being created with the Environmental Studies department (ENVS) for classes, including a senior seminar, and more collaboration in classes, for example, a CASFS researcher now teaches survey design in an ENVS class. The Human Face publication was used as a teaching tool for a senior seminar class. We are continuing to create a formal process to facilitate research projects on the farm, including an organic strawberry pest control research project led by Dr. Carol Shennan, and multiple others which were in the development phase at the time of this report. Faculty and student researchers with ENVS are utilizing the UCSC campus farm as a classroom for teaching research methodologies to enrolled UCSC students. Other projects created more interdepartmental collaboration with CASFS. Research results were presented both nationally and internationally at four academic and activist conferences.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period


Progress 07/01/10 to 06/30/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: In the past year, we developed a new farm and garden self-guided tour brochure for the more than 3,500 visitors that come to tour our UCSC farm yearly, and installed new interpretive signage for the farm and for outreach events. We developed and delivered a series of intensive workshops for students and the public on topics that included fruit tree care, beekeeping, pest control, seed saving, growing herbs, spring and fall garden preparation and care, and small scale raising of chickens and ducks, in addition to a week-long intensive organic gardening course offered through UCSC's Recreation Dept. in partnership with the Friends of the UCSC Farm and Garden support group. We took a leadership role in a regional partnership - the Central Coast School Food Alliance - with school food service administrators and staff, a regional food bank, and others working in the school food sector, to address social, economic, and institutional issues associated with the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools in the region. We supported two courses at UCSC for undergraduates, both of which were registered to capacity. Sustainable Food Systems, through Kresge College, introduced fundamental issues such as food and agricultural systems, consumption, local food systems, alternative food system models and movements, and methodologies for analysis and change. Politics of Food, a writing course through Oakes College, addressed issues about the food economy, food labor, food quality, and the production of food. We are working with the Collaborative Research for an Equitable California to promote the food system as a focal point of a statewide UC action research agenda. With UC Press we have been conceptualizing an online journal and interactive website for information exchange about justice in the food system, for which $50,000 has been raised by UC Press. We hosted three seminars featuring graduate student research on the food system, and an event where students who received CASFS sustainability grants presented different media reports on their projects, which we are featuring on our website. We held our annual Harvest Fest that attracted more than 1,300 student and community participants to the campus farm. We also sponsored a "Celebrating School Food" event with the Central Coast School Food Alliance attended by students and parents from local school districts. We hosted a "Strengthening the Roots Convergence" of high school students and community members from around California in February to discuss food justice issues. One paper has been accepted for publication in an academic journal. Other papers are in progress. Patricia Allen made a presentation on localism and social justice at a Food Justice Conference in Eugene, OR, another at Food Fights, Popular Struggles Beyond California Cuisine conference in Oakland, CA and a presentation on gender and race inequities for food service workers in Missoula, MT at the Annual Meeting of Agriculture Food and Human Values. PARTICIPANTS: P.I. Patricia Allen guided overall project development, social justice research and writing and editing articles, presenting research results and representing Center activities at conferences. Jonathon Landeck provided operational support and development of educational materials and coordination of all CASFS sponsored graduate and undergraduate courses. He also, along with Patricia Allen and Martha Brown, developed the RFP, administered and reviewed and chose the recipients of the CASFS student grants. Martha Brown designed and wrote interpretive signage and a farm and garden guide for UCSC campus in addition to editing publications, and provided organization for the Harvest Fest. Diego Nieto and Janet Bryer developed an agroecological research plan for the CASFS farm. Jan Perez managed social science research activities, including research design, guiding graduate student researchers, participating in research, writing and contributing to the facilitation of the School Food Alliance. Timothy Galarneau facilitated student activities, Harvest Fest, Strengthening the Roots, worked with facilitators for the hands on learning activities on campus and facilitated School Food Alliance activities. Gwendolyn Keith provided academic coordination and supervision for graduate student researchers and interdepartmental collaboration and coordination, final event and support for CASFS sustainability grant recipients. Orin Martin, Christof Bernau and Elizabeth Milazzo taught gardening, orcharding and other courses to students and the public. Hilary Melcarek did research and writing on urban gardening projects, the human face of agriculture and other articles. Graduate Student Researchers were Joanna Ory, Environmental Studies and Randy Cota, Politics. Partner organizations and collaborators: Environmental Studies, Sociology, Education, Psychology, Politics, Film and Social Media and Latin American and Latino Studies Departments UCSC; Writing Center, UCSC, Kresge and Oakes Colleges, UCSC; Office of Physical Education and Recreation, UCSC; UCSC Sustainability Office, Friends of the Farm and Garden, LifeLab, UC Press, California Food Policy Advocates, Second Harvest Food Bank, California Dept. of Education, Bon Appetit Management Company, Alba Organics, UCSC Dining, Cabrillo College Dining, Scotts Valley USD, Santa Cruz USD, North Monterey SD, San Lorenzo Valley USD, Soquel Union ESD, Pajaro Valley USD, Mee Hospital, Natividad Medical Center, Real Food Challenge, World Hunger Year. Training: Graduate students who received student grants learned to do field work, presentations, and research reports. Graduate student researchers learned research skills including, but not limited to: doing literature searches, coding data, using Nvivo and SPSS software for data analysis, developing interview questions, editing manuscripts, analyzing school district statistics and more. Undergraduate students learned gardening skills, and healthy food preparation and activism around food system issues. Food service directors learned resources for farm to institution supply chain accessibility and strategies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in schools and hospitals. TARGET AUDIENCES: University undergraduate and graduate students, high school students, faculty, food service directors at schools and hospitals, farmers, gardeners, researchers and the general public. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The Central Coast School Food Alliance provided a forum that attracted 15 school districts and two hospitals to participate in the conceptualization and development of a proposal that would create an interactive learning space, and funding for projects for food service directors to each design model, replicable projects to increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and to address social, economic, and institutional issues associated with the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools in the region. This USDA special grant funding, in addition to a successful student ballot referendum that charges students a yearly fee to support more sustainable food education on campus, created many well-attended opportunities for students to experience activities around food justice and sustainability in the food system, including hands on participatory learning in gardening, food preparation, and food justice tours, for students on campus on the CASFS farm resulting in 14 internships, the development of 11 student gardens across campus and engaging the students to participate in the organizing and implementation of the campus Harvest Festival which was attended by more than 1,300 people in 2010 increasing the number of student participants threefold. This effort also extended to over 300 high school students for the Strengthening the Roots event. A more intentional, formal structure of collaboration is now being created with the Environmental Studies department (ENVS) for classes, including a senior seminar, and more collaboration in classes, for example, a CASFS researcher now teaches survey design in an ENVS class. We are creating a formal process to facilitate research projects on the farm for faculty and student researchers, and with ENVS, we are designing a model for utilizing the UCSC campus farm as a classroom for teaching research methodologies to enrolled students. Students who received sustainability grants from CASFS reported how important the resources, including CASFS staff support, were to their research projects and dissertations. One CASFS grant recipient, Joanna Ory, was able to leverage a Fulbright Scholarship for her research on "Agricultural decisions in response to atrazine restrictions and the implications for environmental sustainability," and another student, Tracy Perkins, leveraged other funding for a social activism project on activist migrant laborers dealing with environmental toxicity in the Central Valley. Other projects created more interdepartmental collaboration with CASFS.

Publications

  • Perez, J. and M. Brown. 2010. Impacts of the Apprenticeship Program: An Overview and Summary of the Alumni Survey. Research Brief #14, Center or Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
  • Galarneau, T. and M. Brown (eds.). UCSC Campus Food and Garden Guide. 2011. Food Systems Working Group and the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
  • Feenstra G., P. Allen, S. Hardesty, J. Ohmart, and J. Perez, 2011. Using a Supply Chain Analysis to Assess the Sustainability of Farm-to-Institution Programs, Journal of Food Systems and Community Development (4).