Source: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY submitted to NRP
RENEWING AN AGRICULTURE OF THE MIDDLE: VALUE CHAIN DESIGN, POLICY APPROACHES, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0233881
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
NC-_old1198
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2013
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
(N/A)
BERKELEY,CA 94720
Performing Department
Society and Environment
Non Technical Summary
The industrialization of the U. S. food system has resulted in dramatic changes in how food products are produced and distributed. While the numbers of both small and large farms have increased, many mid-sized farms and ranches have disappeared. In the decade from 1997 to 2007, the number of farms grossing between $50,000 and $500,000 decreased by nearly 25 percent. Operations in this sales range are often too large or poorly located to direct market their products and are increasingly unable to compete successfully on price in global commodity markets. Beyond the farm level, the food processing, distribution, and retailing sectors have witnessed similar consolidations. The implications of these structural changes in the food system for stakeholders remain poorly understood. Previous projects investigated the implications of this changing structure of U. S. agriculture and considered potential responses. More specifically, midscale values-based supply chains were examined as an alternative to local direct marketing and global commodity marketing. It is hypothesized that these midscale chains represent strategic business alliances among farms of the middle and other agrifood enterprises that: (a) handle significant volumes of high-quality, differentiated food products, (b) operate effectively at multistate, regional levels, and (c) distribute risk and profits transparently and equitably among the strategic partners. Values-based supply chain business models place emphasis on both the values associated with the food and on the values associated with the business relationships within the food supply chain. In many conventional supply chains, business relationships are framed in win-lose terms. Relationships are constructed as competitive, even adversarial, whereby each company seeks to buy as cheaply and sell as expensively as possible. While this model may be appropriate for undifferentiated commodity supply chains, where each party's goal is profit maximization, it may not perform well for supply chains where differentiation is based primarily on product (including production methods) and relationship qualities. Framed in win-win terms, values-based supply chains are viewed as having the potential to provide commitments to the welfare of all partners in the supply chain, including fair profits, fair wages, and business agreements of appropriate, extended duration. Given the interdependence inherent in values-based food supply chains, participants should have a strategic self-interest in the performance and well-being of the other partners. In these supply chains, farmers and ranchers would be treated as strategic partners, not as interchangeable (and exploitable) input suppliers. These are all statements that can be (and to only a limited extent have been) empirically examined. Over the last five years, project participants have increased the visibility and understanding of values-based supply chain development options through successful advocacy of changes in the language used in USDA RFPs, a series of successful research, outreach, and educational grant proposals, and a range of scientific and popular press publications.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
8036050308050%
6106050308050%
Goals / Objectives
Determine key factors that influence patterns of ownership, control, and business relationships within values-based supply chains and investigate how all three influence economic performance and viability of participating farms and ranches and other chain partners. Identify the community-related goals and needs of values-based supply chains and assess the impact these chains have on the communities in which they operate. Examine labor arrangements throughout these chains. Identify the environmental and natural resource-related goals of values-based supply chains and assess the impact these chains have on the landscapes in which they operate. Determine how existing policies in a number of areas such as commodity subsidies, conservation payments, rural development and others influence the performance of values-based supply chains, and how policies and programs could be redesigned to enhance the future performance of these chains. We will also be identifying policy research topics that can be pursued by participants in this multistate project and others.
Project Methods
Methods for Objective 2 will include: interviews and surveys of key community decision makers in selected communities to identify current needs and long-term goals; in-depth analysis of ten communities to assess impacts of values-based supply chains; focus groups in these same communities to gather additional information about major factors that contribute to success; and analysis and evaluation of labor conditions and arrangements in successful communities. Reevaluate existing values-based supply chain case studies to examine how community-based social concerns, including fair labor practices, are (or are not) explicitly articulated as "values" by supply chain actors. Analyze current standards and certification protocols for agrifood products that incorporate fair labor practices and other community goals into their business operations in order to identify best practice models. Research methods and findings will be shared not only within the multistate teams working together on funded projects but also across teams using the sharing opportunities provided by this NIMSS project. Methods for Objective #4 will include: analyses of a broad range of national and state legislation, policies, and regulations; dialog with bio-physical and socio-economic scientists about the information/research needed to support new legislation and/or regulations; and analyses of the political forces likely to be in support of or opposed to new legislation and/or regulations. Research methods and findings will be shared not only within the multistate teams working together on funded projects but also across teams using the sharing opportunities provided by this NIMSS project.

Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for my efforts during this reporting period includes scholars of agriculture and food systems, small and mid-sized farm operators, and extension personnel who work with mid-sized farm operations. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our co-edited special issue of a journal has been distributed to a range of communities of practice in California and Washington, as well distributed to scholars of the agriculture of the middle research group. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? I co-published a journal article, as well as co-edited a special issue of that same journal, that helps evaluate models for potential values-based supply chain participants. This collection also helped to document in much greater details what values-based supply chains actually deliver. To enhance understandings of barriers faced by mid-scale operations, I began research on a USDA-seed-funded research project to examine the structural barriers of land access for mid-sized producers. This project, funded through a USDA-AFRI, Small and Mid-sized Farms Seed Grant (2017-2019) and entitled "The Financialization of U.S. Farmland: Effects of changing landownership on small and mid-sized farms," is a collaboration with Madeleine Fairbairn (UC Santa Cruz) and Loka Ashwood (Auburn University). Thus far we have analyzed tax parcel data in Illinois, California, and Oregon related to farmland ownership and transfer, to analyze structural barriers for mid-sized farm operations.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ostrom, Marcia, Kathryn De Master, Egon Noe, and Markus Schermer. 2017. Values Based Food Chains from a Transatlantic Perspective: Exploring a Middle Tier of Regional Agrifood System Development, International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 24: No 1: 1-14. Evolutions in the Middle: Transnational Perspectives on Values Based Food Chains, 2017. Co-editor with Marcia Ostrom, Markus Schermer, and Egon Noe. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 24: No 1.


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached during this reporting period include both scholarly audiences and communities of practice. Scholarly products that relate directly or are closely aligned to work for this project include 3 scholarly publications and 2 public talks. The following publications were published in 2016--all three of them pertain to work that either examines barriers to or opportunities for success for small and mid-sized farmers, including: a. small-scale organic strawberry growers accessing organic strawberry supply chains; b. small and mid-sized dairy farmers in Pennsylvania affected by the introduction of hydraulic fracturing operations; and small and mid-sized farmers influenced by changing federal food safety regulations. Calo, Adam and Kathryn De Master. 2016. "Incubating Transitions? How Land Access Barriers Complicate the Path From Farmworker to Proprietor," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, published online March 28, 2016. Malin, Stephanie and Kathryn De Master. 2016. "A Devil's Bargain: Rural Environmental Injustices and Hydraulic Fracturing on Pennsylvania's Farms," Journal of Rural Studies special issue "Rurality as Environmental Injustice," published online January 19, 2016. Daniel S. Karp, Patrick Baur, Edward R. Atwill, Kathryn De Master, Sasha Gennet, Alastair Iles, Joanna L. Nelson, Amber R. Sciligo, and Claire Kremen. 2015. "Unintended ecological and social impacts of food safety regulations in California's Central Coast," BioScience 65: No 12: 1173-1183. I delivered the following public talks related to Agriculture of the Middle NC1198 work--the December 7, 2015 talk was delivered to an audience of faculty, students, and practitioners, and the November 16, 2015 talk was delivered to an audience of freshman students: "Why Does the Middle Matter? Fostering a Diversified U.S. Agriculture." Department of Environmental Studies Seminar Series, University of California, Santa Cruz, December 7, 2015. "Implications of Corporate Concentration for Small and Mid-sized Farmers in the US." Global Environmental Theme House Lecture series, November 16, 2015. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided ongoing mentorship and professional development through interaction and collaboration with more senior personnel associated with this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes, results have been disseminated to communities of interest. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. During the next phase of this work, I aim to make one of my primary contributions to the research a focused investigation into the phenomenon of the financialization of US farmland and its impacts on small and mid-sized farmers in Oregon, California, and Illinois. This will contribute to the work examining regulations such as corporate farm laws and their impacts on mid-sized producers and associated values based supply chains. 2. Deliver at least 2 professional public talks on the agriculture of the middle. 3. Help complete co-editing of a special issue of the Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food Systems on values-based supply chains (this special issue emerged from our panel presentations at the International Rural Sociology Association meeting in Toronto in 2016). 4. Publish at least one peer reviewed publication direct related to this research.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Progress was achieved toward the following goals: 1. Help existing values-based supply chains evaluate and improve their performance: through a participatory mapping project, my research team at UC Berkeley helped provide insights into the performance of small-scale organic strawberry supply chain. Our major finding was that land access to small and mid-sized organic strawberry growers proved a more significant impediment than retailer supply chains. We contributed this finding to ALBA (Agriculture and Land Based Training Association), one of the most recognized incubator farms in the country. This contributes to helping advising beginning farmers in the region. We also developed a database tool to help farmers identify available land parcels and launched an intitiative called the "Farmland Monitoring Project." 2. Provide guidance on the design of appropriate policies: My research team has been evaluating the impacts of federal food safety regulation changes on small and mid-sized farms. I have begun mentoring a new post-doctoral scholar in my lab who will focus on the impacts of the food safety modernization act on small and mid-sized farms. Aforementioned research publications have contributed to scholarly knowledge influencing policies and economic practices for mid-sized farmers and ranchers. These publications include both peer-reviewed academic publications, as well as paper presentations at professional and/or academic conferences/meetings. 3. Five members of our Agriculture of the Middle national research team applied for a USDA NIFA grant to investigate the role of place-based regional products in fostering more resilient supply chains. While we did not receive this grant, we forged an important collaboration that will continue, and we anticipate responding carefully to critics and then resubmitting a revised proposal to the USDA in the future. 4. Informed by the findings of our small research team on the role of land access, I helped to form a collaboration to investigate the financialization of US farmland and its role in creating land access barriers for small and mid-sized US farmers. Our team applied for and received a USDA-NIFA seed grant, and we have begun preliminary investigations.

Publications

  • Type: Books Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Kathryn De Master and Saru Jayaraman: Food Democracy: Winning Back Our Food System from Corporations, co-edited volume, under contract with University of California Press. Will be published in 2018--under contract and now under review.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Co-organized panel session at 2016 International Rural Sociological Association meeting in Toronto: "Assessing the Potential of Values Based Food Chains for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods."
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Calo, Adam and Kathryn De Master. 2016. Incubating Transitions? How Land Access Barriers Complicate the Path From Farmworker to Proprietor, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, published online March 28, 2016.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Malin, Stephanie and Kathryn De Master. 2016. A Devils Bargain: Rural Environmental Injustices and Hydraulic Fracturing on Pennsylvanias Farms, Journal of Rural Studies special issue Rurality as Environmental Injustice, published online January 19, 2016.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Daniel S. Karp, Patrick Baur, Edward R. Atwill, Kathryn De Master, Sasha Gennet, Alastair Iles, Joanna L. Nelson, Amber R. Sciligo, and Claire Kremen. 2015. Unintended ecological and social impacts of food safety regulations in California's Central Coast, BioScience 65: No 12: 1173-1183.


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:During this period I delivered several professional talks on the topic of the agriculture of the middle. The invited talks are listed below, and the target audience included retired members of the community, policymakers and food justice advocates, and fellow scientists: "Why Does the Middle Matter? Transitioning to Just Food Systems for Rural American Farmers." Paper presentation, Harvard Just Food Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 28-29, 2015. "Agriculture, Society, and Food Sovereignty: Transitioning to Just Food Systems for Rural American Farmers." University of California-Berkeley Learning in Retirement Series, September 24, 2015 "Why Does the Middle Matter? Fostering a More Resilient US Agriculture." Women's Faculty Club December 4, 2014 Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project helped me develop professionally in that I have made numerous professional contactsaround the country, and I have helped to organize an international panel (something I had not yet done previously)> How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this work have begun to be distributed to communities of interest, and this will continue. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. Present our panel on the Agriculture of the Middle at the Toronto IRSA conference in August 2016 2. Help to organize a special journalissue pertaining to the Agriculture of the Middle with conference session participants 3. I will re-apply for a USDA-NIFA grant with Agriculture of the Middle collaborators, to explore the connections between heritage and place-based products, agricultural clusters, and renewing an Agriculture of the Middle. 4. I will work with Agriculture Extension (ANR) to disseminate relevant products and results to the public pertaining to this work.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Working with Berkeley's Diversified Farming Systems group, as well as the Berkeley Food Insitute, I helped oversee a research project on Participatory Mapping among beginning organic farmers in the Salinas Valley. Our research team conducted interviews and explored the various barriers new entry former immigrant farmworkers face. We examined some aspects of the values based supply chain and looked at the ways that former laborers are challenged by lack of land access. The land access issue is particularly relevant to the "Agriculture of the MIddle" research team, as land access proves to be a significant issue as midscale producers leave farming. I also incorporated "Agriculture of the Middle" curriculum into my two primary courses taught at UC-Berkeley. I delivered several invited talks on the topic of mid-scale agriculture. I submitted an article for publication on topics related to the Agriculture of the MIddle to the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, and that article was recently accepted for publication. I also incoporated information re: small and mid-scale producers into a publication on hydraulic fracturing. Finally, I have helped to organize a panel that was accepted for the International Rural Sociology Association conference with Marcy Ostrum (Washington State University) and Markus Schermer (Austria) to further document what values based supply chains deliver.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Calo, Adam and Kathryn De Master. Incubating Transitions? How Land Access Barriers Complicate the Path From Farmworker to Proprietor, forthcoming in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.


Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: During this reporting period I applied for one USDA-NIFA grant (under the Rural Development subheading) with several fellow researchers associated with the Ag of the Middle research project, as well as some additional research collaborators who intend to join the project in future years. The co-PIs on this proposed grant included Michelle Miller (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Larry Lev (Oregon State University), Marcy Ostrom (Washington State University), David Conner (University of Vermont), Sarah Bowen (North Carolina State University) and Phil Howard (Michigan State University). This proposed grant was entitled: "Factors Influencing The Resilience Of Multifunctional Agri-Food Clusters In The U.S." The primary focus of the proposed grant was to explore the ways that place-based agri-food clusters could foster rural development and assist in the renewing of the agriculture of the middle. Though this project was not funded, we intend to revise and resubmit it at a later date. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? 1. With members of the related "Healthy Growth" initiative in Austria, I have recently begun a collaboration with Marcus Schermer (Austria) and Marcy Ostom (Washington State University) that will explore the following goals and objectives of the project: "a. Document in much greater detail what these values-based food supply chains actually deliver; b. Help existing values-based supply chains evaluate and improve their performance; c. Provide models for potential values-based supply chain participants." We have proposed a collaborative panel on the ag of the middle and values-based supply chains; if accepted, this panel will be planned throughout the 2015 reporting period and will be conducted in August 2016 2. I will continue to integrate "Ag of the Middle" and values based supply chain ideas into my teaching objectives in two food system-related courses at UC-Berkeley--a large undergraduate course "Sustenance and Sustainability: the Sociology and Political Ecology of Agro-Food Systems" and a graduate seminar in the Sociology of Agriculture. In the undergraduate course, these concepts will be the foundation of a significant course-based research project for undergrad students. 3. I will deliver an invited talk at Harvard University on March 28 on the topic "Why the Rural Middle Matters to Food Justice" 4. I will expand research in California in the Salinas Valley among small and medium sized organic strawberry growers to help achieve the objectives above. 5. I will submit one article for publication on the "Rural Middle" to a sociology of agriculture journal 6. I will work with Ag Extension colleagues to disseminate ongoing research

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Some research helping to identify community goals was conducted to inform the proposed grant proposal. Further, in the CA area, working with the Diversified Farming Systems research group, I have worked to identify several potential policy research topics that may affect the viability of small and medium-sized farms and values-based supply chains. Currently the policy focus in this respect is the impacts of the Food Safety Modernization Act on small and medium-sized producers in the Salinas Valley area. This project should yield interesting and related results.

Publications


    Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

    Outputs
    Target Audience: During this reporting period I gave one public talk for the Berkeley Food Institute series, as a way of introducing this new research area. As I just joined this project in the late Spring of 2013 (having begun my new position at UC-Berkeley January 2013, and signing on to this position later in the Spring), the research is in its very earliest stages. The talk reflected my preliminary ideas, background research, and preliminary research ideas/questions and was titled: "Why Does the MIddle Matter? Fostering an Agriculture of the Middle in the Face of Structural Obstacles." I gave this talk on September 30, 2013, the last day of the reporting period, to an audience of students, faculty, and community members at UC-Berkeley. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? As mentioned previously, I have given one public talk, "Why Does the Middle Matter?" to a group of Berkeley Food Institute researchers, students, as well as members of the public, as a way of introducing this new area of research to the community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? 1. Since the reporting period, I have begun a research collaboration with 5 others who are members of the Agriculture of the Middle research group. We are submitting a NIFA grant during the Spring of 2014 that explores the role of place-based and designation of origina products to foster agricultural clusters in key US regions, with the aim of learning the opportunities and barriers associated strengthening middle-scale agricuture. 2. I will give an additional public talk or talks on this research to communities of interest. 3. I will make progress on evaluating the ways that existing values-based supply chains, in an effort to improve their performance.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Under social objectives and policy objectives, I have begun researching ways that community-related food systems goals may be met by strengthening the agricuture of the middle. Moreover, I have joined a small research group that is exploring the ways that the new Food Safety Modernization Act may impact small and medium-sized farmers, and I intend to investigate ways that these impacts will influence values-based supply chains. I have presented one public talk on this topic. As a very new researcher who just joined this project group, my progress toward these goals has been minimal to start but is now in progress.

    Publications