Source: PRINCETON UNIV submitted to
INFEWS/T1:SUSTAINABLE URBAN FOOD (SURF) ACTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, EQUITY & RESILIENCE AT THE FEW NEXUS: LINKING DISTRIBUTED AGRICULTURE, NEW TECHNOLOGIES & BEHAVIORAL NUDGES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1020965
Grant No.
2019-67019-30463
Project No.
NJ.W-2019-04589
Proposal No.
2019-04589
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
A3151
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2019
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2023
Grant Year
2021
Project Director
Ramaswami, A.
Recipient Organization
PRINCETON UNIV
(N/A)
PRINCETON,NJ 08544
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Many Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus studies focus on global- or national-scales, or on agricultural production, recognizing that the food system is responsible for >10 million premature deaths globally (Forouzanfar et al 2016), contributes to 15% U.S. energy use (Canning et al 2010), 30% of global GHG emissions, and, water stress, water pollution and land-use change (Vermeulen et al 2012, Hu et al 2018). However, recent studies show cities--where a majority of food consumption and food waste generation, and some agriculture, occurs--can be a large leverage point to transform the FEW nexus. For example, Mohareb et al (2018) estimate that US cities collectively directly influence two-thirds of the food sector GHG emissions. Specifically, three key urban food system actions taken at the city-scale have the potential to substantially improve local and global FEW sustainability outcomes:i) Behavioral nudging toward healthy (H) and environment-friendly (E) diets: Transitions to a 25% vegetarian diet in the US is estimated (methods Boyer & Ramaswami 2018) to reduce GHG emissions by 7%, land-use by 4%, while increasing water use by 9%, and having health benefit (Tilman & Clark 2014). Several communities are implementing promising diet change interventions; however, new science is needed to enhance participation, measure persistence, and assess the extent to which real-world (vs scenario) shifts toward healthy diets intersect with environment-friendly diets.ii) New "fit-for-purpose" food-waste valorization technologies are being developed that generate a range of products, including (at the simplest level) biogas replacing dirty cooking fuels or fossil fueled-electricity; waste-derived liquid fertilizers and biochar combinations that can outperform chemical fertilizers; animal feed that can be cycled back into food production. While preventing waste is best, food-waste valorization technologies can yield exceptionally high environmental (E) benefits at the FEW nexus, given food waste accounts for 34% blue water-, 31% land-, 35% fertilizer, and 35% energy use/GHGs related to individual's food-related resource use (Birney et al 2017). Advanced food waste valorization technologies (e.g., nutrient amended biochars) have the potential to do even better, triggering a virtuous cycle of benefits in FEW systems, by improving farm yield with reduced water and fertilizer use. However, such quantifications require linking lab studies with field studies and systems tools, with actual impact shaped by people participating in waste separation.iii) Localized and distributed urban agriculture are hypothesized to offer many local benefits: local food provisioning/nutrition (benefiting health, H), urban cooling that reduces energy use and human health risks during extreme heat events, enhancing community-resilience (R), and, happiness/wellbeing (W) benefits (Siegner et al 2018). However, there is a fundamental lack of data and science at the much smaller spatial scales of urban farms, and the distributed nature of these farms, wherein hundreds of farmers/gardeners using diverse farming practices are growing food in backyard vegetable gardens, community gardens versus commercial farms in the urban periphery. In contrast, heat island phenomena have been studied at coarser scales often with a focus on ground temperatures (Imhoff et al 2010), while air temperatures are of interest to public health (Xu et al 2017). Such intra-urban spatial detail matters because the spatial distribution of these burdens and benefits impacts social equity, e.City Food System Actions: What would happen if all cities undertook all three actions? They could substantially reduce water-, energy- and fertilizer-use, and associated air pollution and GHG emissions--transforming the FEW nexus at levels comparable with major changes in agriculture. AND, they can advance multiple wellbeing, health, environment, community-resilience, and equity (WHERe) objectives within cities. Thus urban food system actions are large transformative levers in the local-to-global FEW nexus, which are motivated by the promise of advancing multiple WHERe benefits within cities. Indeed, more than 100 US Cities, >1500 world cities and international organizations ICLEI and UN Environment are presently engaged in urban food action planning and finding that the fundamental science, data, and knowledge are lacking. Hence, the focus of this INFEWS proposal on urban food system actions in the context of the local-to-global FEW nexus sustainability.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
70%
Developmental
30%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
7246010301014%
4035370202014%
8056050000114%
1320530207014%
1020530100014%
4020530202015%
9036050302015%
Goals / Objectives
This proposal seeks to develop an interdisciplinary convergence science of Sustainable Urban Food (SUrF) systems to advance wellbeing, health, environment, resilience & equity (WHERe) outcomes at the urban food-energy-water (FEW) nexus, using a trans-boundary coupled social-biophysical systems framework. Specifically, we will integrate different strategies to advance WHERe outcomes in urban food systems including spatial design of distributed urban agriculture, food waste valorization, behavioral nudging for sustainable diet change, and city organizational capacity to implement these actions in city food action plans.The proposal integrates research expertise across environmental science & engineering, climate science, soil science, public affairs, applied economics, and public health. Researchers will engage with city policymakers and practitioners with the goal of engaging 20 cities across the U.S. and 20 cities internationally through partnerships with Minneapolis, ICLEI-USA and the United Nations Environment Program Cities Unit. Educational materials will be developed for professional education drawing upon experiences of this project.This proposal is split into 5 themes, each with specific goals and themes, as outlined below:THEME 1: Distributed Urban Agriculture and Spatial Distribution of WHERe outcomesGoal: Measure and model the spatial distribution of WHER benefits of distributed urban agriculture at fine intra-urban scales considering three types: backyard vegetable gardens, community vegetable gardens, and larger urban farms, informing spatial equity (e).THEME 2: New Fit-for-Purpose Food Waste Valorization Technologies for FEW benefitsGoal: Develop new methods to maximize environmental and circular economy benefits of food waste valorization technologies at the urban FEW nexus. We will quantify linkages among diverse food waste types, microbial conversion pathways and fit-for-purpose end-use options in cities, assessing impacts on water, energy/GHG, nutrients and land, within and outside urban areas.THEME 3: Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet ChangeGoal: Develop a multi-level framework to design customized messages to diverse individuals (w widely varying values, beliefs, norms, and WHERe priorities) that maximizes participation in two key interventions at the Urban FEW nexus (workplace lunch programs and household food waste). The framework integrates intra-personal, inter-personal, contextual and issue-based (WHERe) factors.THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for ConvergenceGoal: Theme 4 seeks to operationalize the systems frameworkby integrating knowledge from each of the Themes 1-3 (related to the three SUrF Actions) into a scenario modeling platform that supports action in cities and communities (Theme 5). To date, cities have been considering the three SUrF actions in a disconnected manner as they influence different parts of the FEW system, unable to make comparisons on a consistent basis. In Theme 4, we seek to demonstrate:Impacts of all three SUrF actions within a specific urban system (specific to each city), to quantify local-to-global FEW linkages with associated environmental footprints (water, energy, GHG, air pollution, nutrients and land), and the local WHERe benefits of each of the interventions.Develop generalizable tools that can be used and disseminated broadly across all US Metro Areas, and in international locations (through partnerships with ICLEI-USA, ICLEI-Global, and UNEP-Cities).THEME 5: Evaluating Co-learning & Convergence Science with CitiesGoal: Theme 5 advances convergence science by developing methods to evaluate 5 dimensions of learning that occur and understanding how structures and processes shape learning in multi-sector-scale urban systems.
Project Methods
THEME 1: Distributed Urban Agriculture and Spatial Distribution of WHERe outcomesThe methods of Theme 1 aim to quantify the multiple outcomes (well-being, health, environment, resilience and equity) of distributed urban agriculture. Specific methods include:Instrumentation of 60 backyard gardens, and 30 community gardens evaluating key biophysical parameters related to soil quality and health, water quality, and ecosystem nutrient cyclingCitizen science engaging ~100 backyard and community gardeners to maintain a daily diary of inputs (fertilizer, labor, gardening supplies) and outputs (harvests and food eaten/purchased) over a 3 week period.Heat island modeling that incorporates distributed urban agriculture: Numerical WRF experiments to assess the determinants of air temperatures, including urban ag by different crops at different scales. The model will include nested multi-scale measurement and modeling protocol to assess interactions among urban form (buildings, shade, trees), land surface features (albedo, roughness, porosity, heat fluxes from vegetated, non-vegetated and irrigated lands), wind velocities and regional climate drivers through new high-resolution spatial mapping of 3-D urban formAssessment of human well-being benefits of urban agriculture to assess experiential well-being (W), with detailed interviews to assess nutrition (H) & livelihood benefits of distributed agriculture to different farmers.THEME 2: New Fit-for-Purpose Food Waste Valorization Technologies for FEW benefitsThe methods of theme 2 test aim to determine the maximize environment and circular economy benefits of food waste valorization technologies at the urban FEW nexus. This includes:Lab-scale benchmarking: We will collect and mix different food wastes to obtain different ratios of carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber. The different ratios lead to variations in conversion products.Systems Analysis of Multiple E Impacts: Data from the benchmarking reactors will feed into systems-level analysis and footprinting which is discussed further in Theme 5.THEME 3: Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet ChangeThe methods of theme 3 will study the impact of two types of behavioral interventions of 1) workplace cafeteria diet change interventions through messaging and price differentiation, and 2) messaging for food waste separation.The cafeteria diet change interventions include1) Multi-dimensional customized messaging using workforce emails addressing intra-personal, inter-personal, contextual and lastly the specific outcomes (e.g. health, environmental & local, etc.) 2) Customized messaging + reducing price risk to customer of purchasing salads. The interventions will take place over a 6 month period. We will be assessing change in diet and persistence of diet change through 2-day food recall surveys before and after the interventions.For food waste, participants will be shown various messages relating to different valorization pathways of food waste end points, comparing locally used electricity or fertilizer in order to determine preferences of consumers, in order to inform city campaigns aimed at increasing participation in food waste separation initiatives.THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for ConvergenceThe methods of theme 4 incorporate insights from Themes 1-3 in systems models to inform food action planning for cities. This will including:Modeling the link between food, nutrition, environment & health risks going from food items eaten (e.g., sandwiches, salads, etc. tracked in Theme 3 cafeteria study) to upstream agri-food production needed to "support" the food.Multiple Environmental Impacts of the FEW nexus across Local-Global Scales will be delineated by assessing local FEW demand (part A); the potential for meeting such demand through local urban agriculture and circular economy options (Themes 1 & 2), and, trans-boundary supplyStakeholder mapping will identify the various actor across scale, relevant to each of the SUrF actions.THEME 5: Evaluating Co-learning & Convergence Science with CitiesThe methods of Theme 5 evaluate the policy process surrounding food action planning in cities. This includes:Assess policy-oriented learning among the various stakeholders involved in the food action planning process- including city, university, community and policy. Surveys and interviews will be conducted to assess stakeholder learning on five key dimensions of learning, with example measuresWe will assess the contexts in which convergence science occurs for Minneapolis and the 40 cities who will engage with this INFEWS in action-oriented learning, to assess how structural aspects influence learning.

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, the team shared results with both academic and public audiences. Academic audiences were reached through publication of peer-reviewed journal articles, presentations at professional conferences, and PhD dissertations. The project also emphasizes reaching public audiences both in the US and internationally. This was accomplished through hosting two US workshops (convened by PI Ramaswami and Sara Elnakib) where we shared educational and actionable information about food systems based on the researchers' findings to community and policy makers. Internationally, PI Ramaswami and Postdoc Kirti Das collaborated with the United Nations International Resource Panel to produce a report titled Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel. Academic: Peer-Reviewed Articles: During the last reporting period, the team published one report, fivearticles to various journals, and currently has one paper under review and eight additional articles in preparation: Leininger, A., Chen, J., Ramaswami, A., & Ren, Z. (2023). Urban circular carbon economy through electrochemically influenced microbiomes. One Earth. Ambrose, G., Das, K., Fan, Y., & Ramaswami, A. (2023). Comparing happiness associated with household and community gardening: Implications for Food Action Planning. Landscape and Urban Planning, 230, 104593. Birkel, J.F.H., T. E. Twine, S. Liess, L. S. Kalkstein, S. Sheridan (2022). Trends in synoptic heat events in four Minnesota urban areas through the 21st century. Urban Climate. Volume 46. Ramaswami, A., Boyer, D., Nixon, P., & Jelinski, N. (2022). A hybrid method to quantify household urban agriculture gardening: Implications for sustainable and equitable food action planning. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6, 997081. Ambrose, G., Siddiki, S., & Brady, U. (2022). Collaborative governance design in local food systems in the United States. Policy Design and Practice, 5(3), 362-383. International Resource Panel (2022). Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel. Ramaswami, A., Ayuk, E.T., Kirti, D., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Ferreira, J. and de Souza Leao, V. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme. Ramaswami, A., Tong, K., Pandey, B., Hawkins, J., Chen, J., Kockelman, K., Leon, M., and Gumus-Dawes, B. Toward Zero-Carbon Resource-Circular Cities and Urban Regions: Multi-Sector, multi-intervention modeling. Under Review at Nature Sustainability. Das, K., Ramaswami, A., Elnakib, S. Quantifying the Nutritional and Well-being Benefits of Urban Agriculture. IN PREPARATION. Jelinski, N.A., Nicklay, J.A., LaBine, K. Spatial distribution of soil carbon, phosphorus, and lead stocks in food-producing and non-food producing areas of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, USA. IN PREPARATION. Pearson, N., LaBine, K.M., LaShae, T., Nicklay, J., Jelinski, N. Impacts of urban agriculture on soil properties, carbon stocks and soil health in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. IN PREPARATION. Pearson, N., Ren, Z, Leininger, A., LaBine, K.M., LaShae, T., Nicklay, J., Jelinski, N. Impact of food-waste amended biochar applications on growth of collard greens in a controlled plot experiment. IN PREPARATION. Leininger, A., et al. Long term anodic regulation of lactic acid microbiomes in wet waste. IN PREPARATION. Chen, J., Ren, J., and Ramaswami, A. Evaluating urban food waste resource circularity options in a zero-carbon future: linking valorization technologies and byproducts utilization pathways. IN PREPARATION. Nixon, P., Ramaswami, A., & Schassler, K. Are Direct-to-Consumer Farms More Sustainable? IN PREPARATION. Nixon, P., & Ramaswami, A. Can Strategic Localization of Agriculture in the US Offer Better Environmental Benefits? IN PREPARATION. Conference Presentations: During the last reporting period, the team made several presentations to diverse audiences: Nicklay, J.A., Jelinski, N.A., Cadieux, K.V. A critical environmental justice analysis of soil carbon storage by urban farms and gardens in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Ecological Society of America Meeting 06-11 August, 2023. Jelinski, N.A., Pearson, N., LaBine, K.M., LaShae, T., Nicklay, J.A. Trends in soil properties across the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area - Implications for Ecosystem Services. 2023 National Cooperative Soil Survey Conference, Bismarck ND 09-13JUL2023. Cadieux, K.V., Murakami, C., Nicklay, J.A., Block, D., Morris, N (Facilitators). Participatory Action Research and Learning in Agri-Food Systems work - Part 1: Sharing Stories, collective description of the scenario and getting key stakeholders to engage. Roundtable Discussion. Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society Conference 31 May - 03 June, 2023. Cadieux, K.V., Murakami, C., Nicklay, J.A., Block, D., Morris, N (Facilitators). Funding Participatory Action Research and Learning in Agri-Food Systems Work - Part 2: Action-Planning Workshop. Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society Conference 31 May - 03 June, 2023. Dinh, Jennifer M., Henderson, Maren G., Ziegenfuss, Jeanette Y., JaKa, Meghan M., Jacobson, Laura J., Kottke, Thomas E, Peterson, Hikaru H., Ellefson, Katy, Kovarik, Stephanie, Anderson, Andrea, Canterbury, Marna M. "A pragmatic survey-based approach to message testing: learnings from WellSpring and PowerUp with Plants" Poster presentation at the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media, Atlanta, GA, July 19-21, 2023. Student Dissertations: During the last reporting period, one PhD student from the University of Minnesota completed their dissertation that incorporates their work on this grant. Heshmatpour, M. 2023. Essays in Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems. PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota. Public/General Interest: Previous food action planning efforts in Minneapolis (led by PI Ramaswami and former INFEWS staff researcher Dana Boyer, with Tamara Downs-Schwei, in 2019-2020) have culminated in the completion of a final draft Minneapolis Food Vision report, developed by the Minneapolis Health Department in partnership with the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, as well as the NSF Sustainable Healthy Cities Network (PI Ramaswami) and INFEWS researchers at Princeton University and University of Minnesota. In 2022, INFEWS PI Hikaru Peterson participated in a survey and community engagement process to gather public feedback on the next-to-final draft developed by the city. The completed Minneapolis Food Vision (MFV) provides a ten-year plan for a resilient, just, and equitable local food system, and will serve as a companion plan to the forthcoming 2023 Climate Equity Plan. This represents the culmination of a significant and robust process of coproduction which engaged community members, policymakers, and academic researchers. In New Jersey, drawing upon Sara Elnakib's (Rutgers) previous work connecting with local community gardens in Newark, Patterson, and Jersey City, the INFEWS team held two events which shared research findings with local food policymakers as well as the general public. The first workshop brought researchers together with food policymakers, and the second workshop featured a deep dive for researchers and food policymakers to lay the groundwork for future coproduction on food action planning. Additional details about the workshops are in the section on "opportunities for training and professional development." Changes/Problems:After postponements due to Covid, we were able to hold in-person events with local policymakers on the campus of Princeton University (described in "What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?") What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. Educational video training modules: INFEWS team members developed educational modules (videos) on the major themes investigated during the course of this project. These videos provide a resource for policymakers, practitioners, and academics to easily learn about some of our findings. Educational video modules are included under "Other Products". 2. Public workshop on food systems and coproduction: INFEWS PIs shared their learnings with other academics and New Jersey-based food policymakers in a workshop held on March 31, 2023 in Princeton, NJ, titled, "Urban Food System Innovations and Knowledge Coproduction." Researchers presented on knowledge co-production and frontier research on sustainable, healthy and equitable urban food systems. Topics included community engaged research on urban food systems; health, wellbeing and equity benefits of urban agriculture; frontier technologies for food waste management; and behavioral nudging for healthy and sustainable diets. The workshop was combined with an NSF SRN workshop held on the previous day (March 30, 2023) to allow participants to attend both days and allow for them to network and make broader connections. In an opening session on coproduction, academics from diverse disciplines discussed how coproduction is defined from different disciplinary perspectives, gave examples of coproduction projects they have engaged in, and shared opportunities and challenges faced during coproduction. Speakers included INFEWS PI Anu Ramaswami and team member Sara Elnakib, along with Alison Isenberg (Princeton University - History), Benjamin Bradlow (Princeton University - Sociology), Mauricio Leon (Metropolitan Council, Twin Cities), and discussant Aaron Shkuda (Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities). The workshop then featured a robust session organized by Sara Elnakib featuring food action planning research priorities of New Jersey communities, with speakers who are active in local government and food organizations, including: Newark food system actors Chesha Hodge, City of Newark Robin Peacock, executive director of MEND NJ, a network of community organization in Essex County NJ Trenton food system actors Matthew Broad, Trenton Health Team Joan Healy, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer County, Department of Family and Community Sciences Hudson County Food System Delma Yorimoto, Hudson County Food Security Taskforce Somerset County Food System Sigrid Solis, Somerset County Jennifer Salt Taylor, Zufall Health Passaic County Food System Mary Celis, United Way Passaic County New Jersey statewide food system Jeanine Cava, NJ Food Democracy Collaborative Representing an international perspective (India) Ashish Rao Ghorpade, ICLEI South Asia National Program Leader James Dobrowolski (USDA) then gave opening remarks (virtually) about the INFEWS program, kicking off a session where PIs presented frontier research in urban food systems. Panels included discussion of current knowledge on urban agriculture and its health and environmental benefits, with presentations on: Mapping agricultural gardens in cities; & who is gardening in urban USA? (PI Ramaswami) Environmental benefits of small versus larger scale agriculture (Peter Nixon) Health and wellbeing benefits (Kirti Das and Graham Ambrose) Climate benefits of urban agriculture and greenery (Tracy Twine) The second panel covered food system interventions, with presentations from: Overview of food waste valorization technologies (Jason Ren) Overview of behavioral nudging for food waste (Hikaru Peterson) Overview of behavioral nudging for dietary changes (Jen Dinh and Andrea Anderson, HealthPartners) Waste valorization (Aaron Leininger) Circularity (Jinjin Chen) Localization scenario models (Peter Nixon) 3. Food action planning framework workshop: A follow-up workshop, held on May 22-23, 2023, brought together a small, focused group of New Jersey-based food policymakers, many of whom participated in the March workshop. This group worked with PI Ramaswami and Rutgers' Sara Elnakib to do an in-depth, two-day deep dive on "Developing a Framework for Multi-objective Food Action Planning: A Participatory Workshop." The workshop helped policymakers to explore topics behind developing a framework, discuss data availability, and explore the possibility of collaborating on future work. PI Ramaswami's team conducted participatory surveys before, during, and after the workshop to measure participants' learning, making this a valuable professional development exercise. A related report is currently in preparation. Topics in the workshop included the below subjects. All sessions had an underlying theme of equity. Multiple objectives in food systems Food Justice & Equity Food Systems, Environment & Health Diets and Food Access Diets & Community Demand Food Access Food Production and Waste Agricultural Food Production (urban & regional) Food Waste Generation & Management Policy and Governance Governance, Finance, & Implementation Synthesis 4. Work with the United Nations Environment Programme: PI Ramaswami and postdoc Kirti Das worked with the United Nations International Resource Panel to produce one reporton Urban Agriculture: International Resource Panel (2022). Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel. Ramaswami, A., Ayuk, E.T., Kirti, D., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Ferreira, J. and de Souza Leao, V. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme. 5. Grants and Invitations: Work on the grant led to participants successfully applying for additional funding to progress work as well as invitations to national summits. PhD candidate Jennifer Nicklay (previously supported on this grant) worked with community partners (Urban Farm and Garden Alliance) to write a successful $249,852 USDA NCR-SARE grant funding for 2023-2025 community research project on utilizing cardboard mulch in urban agriculture, building on prior community-engaged research principles. This including co-developing a budget in which > 40% of the total budget went to support community partners. PhD candidate Jennifer Nicklay was an invited participant in the 2023 U.S. Agroecology Summit, Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Four-day, invitation-only summit of practitioners, researchers, and students to co-develop a roadmap for agroecology research that will ultimately be incorporated into the design of funding priorities and programs in the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture portfolio. 22-25 May. 6. Experience through engagement: Work on the grant led to students gaining unique and practical skills they will be able to utilize to further their careers. Two graduate students were involved in working with HealthPartners on cafeteria intervention. Masoumeh Heshmatpour gained experience in co-designing and implementing the food waste messaging study. Joseph Nowak gained experience in co-designing and obtaining community engagement from different neighborhoods as part of the Minneapolis Food Vision development. Several early career professionals at the HealthPartners Institute and HealthPartners were involved in the red meat messaging study, including Meghan Jaka and Andrea Anderson. Several students attended the two workshops mentioned in this report and gained domain knowledge related to food systems and had the unique experience of hearing from practitioners and researchers across the country. Post-doc Kirti Das at Princeton was able to leverage knowledge gained from engagement in the grant to work with the United Nations International Resource Panel on the report - Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The team engaged with the academic community through the publication of several peer-reviewed journal articles, presentations at conferences and professional societies and a student dissertation publication (see "Target Audience", "Products" and "Other Products"). The team engaged with local policymakers and the public through two workshops held in the spring of 2023 (see also " opportunities for training and professional development"). Our workshop on March 31, 2023, "Urban Food System Innovations and Knowledge Coproduction," was open to the public, as well as live-streamed online for those who could not attend in-person. Attendees included faculty, students, researchers, university staff, NGO representatives, local and state government staff, food nonprofit staff, and community members. Videos from the workshop are available on our INFEWS web page and are viewable to the general public (see Other Products for links): Urban Food System Innovations and Knowledge Coproduction (Frontiers in knowledge coproduction for sustainability) (March 31, 2023) Community Food Action Priorities: Perspectives from New Jersey and India (March 31, 2023) Additionally, a number of educational modules are available online for public viewing (see Other Products for links): Urban Greenery and Air Temperature (Twine and Liess) Fit-for-Purpose Food Waste Valorization (Ren and Leininger) Designing Representative Collaborative Policy Making (Siddiki and Ambrose) Trends in Soil Properties Across the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area - Implications for Ecosystem Services (Jelinski, Pearson, LaBine, LaShae and Nicklay) Who Gardens and How in Urban USA: Informing Social Equity in Urban Agriculture Plans (Das and Ramaswami) Are Direct-to-Consumer Farms More Sustainable? (Nixon, Ramaswami and Schassler) How can Food Waste Valorization Fight Climate Change? (Chen and Ramaswami) Furthermore, previous engagement with the City of Minneapolis, food action planners and residents in Minneapolis culminated in what the city titled as the Food Vision (https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/homegrown-minneapolis/food-vision/food-vision-document/). Now for the past 12 months, the Food Council has been working to identify strategies to prioritize and has started to implement them. Through its work related to Theme 1 (distributed urban agriculture), the team conducted a number of activities that disseminated relevant information to communities of interest. Facilitated 5 workshops for over 70 Twin Cities metro area growers focused on co-developing sustainable practices and peer knowledge exchange. In June 2023, conducted detailed soil lead screening at Tamales y Bicicletas urban farm using innovative portable XRF technology. Mapped results interpreted for farm managers and local partners to guide management decisions reducing contaminant exposure risk. Conducted direct engagement with community members and community partners around urban soil management practices and soil health. We conducted 2 soil screening events in 2023 in conjunction with the community - 1 in association with the St Paul-based Community Stabilization Project and a second community-sourced soil screening event in conjunction with the Urban Farm and Garden Alliance, both in May 2023. In June 2023, conducted detailed soil lead screening at Tamales y Bicicletas urban farm using innovative portable XRF technology. Mapped results interpreted for farm managers and local partners to guide management decisions reducing contaminant exposure risk. Worked closely with the farm manager at Frogtwon Farm (St Paul) to design and implement a soil sampling scheme that would enable data collection to make decisions for the 2023 growing season regarding the prevalence of diesel range organics (DRO) residues in the soil. This was critically timely as Frogtown was involved in internal and community conversations regarding farm plans for the following (2023) season. Supported 3 community events by providing information about urban agriculture best management practices: Frogtown Peace Celebration (16JUN2023), VFest (22JUN2023), Selby Ave Jazz Fest (09SEP2023). Through its work related to Theme 3 (Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet Change), the team conducted a number of activities that disseminated relevant information to communities of interest. Which included: A series of presentations at the Minneapolis Food Council meetings to introduce the framing of the city's food action plan A series of meetings for deep dive conversations on specific pathways A city-wide survey and focused neighborhood engagement to obtain feedback on the proposed pathways A series of discussions at the Minneapolis Food Council to digest and incorporate the feedback into the final Food Action Plan, which resulted in what they ended up naming as the Food Vision https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/homegrown-minneapolis/food-vision/food-vision-document/. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? THEME 1: Distributed urban agriculture Proposed Timespan: Years 1-2 Leads: PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski, Co-PI TWine Spatial mapping of urban farms and well-being studies of farming: This subtopic assesses the size of small farms and their benefits to the environment, health, and well-being. Published-Ramaswami et al. (2022). A hybrid method to quantify household urban agriculture gardening: Implications for sustainable and equitable food action planning. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6, 997081. Spatial mapping of urban farms became an input for WRF modeling. Published-Ambrose et al. (2022). Comparing happiness associated with household and community gardening: Implications for food action planning. Landscape and Urban Planning, 230. Analyzed data in three states to test the hypothesis that small farms practice more environmentally friendly and sustainable actions. Papers in preparation Das, K., Ramaswami, A., Elnakib, S. Quantifying the Nutritional and Well-being Benefits of Urban Agriculture. Nixon, P., Ramaswami, A., & Schassler, K. Are Direct-to-Consumer Farms More Sustainable? Urban farm field tests: Completed soil testing of 40 parks and 4 community gardens (2023), for a whole project total of 132 sites (3 plots per site = 396 plots) sampled by soil core to a depth of 1m. > 2,300 soil samples processed and analyzed for soil health parameters and > 1,000 measurements of hydraulic conductivity made. 132 sites were distributed by land use as follows: community gardens/urban farms (n = 33), parks and green spaces (n = 33), residential lots (including backyard gardens, n = 60). Completed analysis for soil carbon (organic and inorganic, nitrogen, phosphorus, pH, lead and other heavy metals) on > 2,300 soil samples to support assessment of the impact of distributed urban agriculture on soil properties and ecosystem services. Papers in preparation: Jelinski et al. Spatial distribution of soil carbon, phosphorus, and lead stocks in food-producing and non-food producing areas of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Pearson et al. Impacts of urban agriculture on soil properties, carbon stocks and soil health in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Pearson et al. Impact of food-waste amended biochar applications on growth of collard greens in a controlled plot experiment. Fine-scale WRF modeling for urban heat island: Testing complete; model operational w/ updated WRF. WRF ongoing to model MSP urban heat island; quantify cooling effect of green infrastructure/other interventions Published-Birkel et al. (2022). Trends in synoptic heat events in four Minnesota urban areas through the 21st century. Urban Climate. Volume 46. Finalizing draft manuscript describing methods of this fine-scale modeling. Complete: 3D modeling; provided for WRF modeling THEME 2: New Fit-for-Purpose Food Waste Valorization Technologies for FEW benefits Proposed Timespan: Years 1-3 Lead: Co-PI Ren, PI Ramaswami Studied electroactive lactic acid bacteria as a target for electrode-induced tunability through defined culture and microbiome-based approaches for food waste and wastewater fermentations. Consortia assessed included defined culture (model electroactive fermenter Lactiplantibacillus plantarum), model food waste microbiomes (kale juice), and serial operation with enrichment cultures from food waste and food waste digestate. Heme-based respiratory preacclimation was hypothesized to boost lactic acid and chain elongation products from domestic wastewater fermentation but observed to have no impact. Electrolytic dynamic membranes for tunable volatile fatty acid production from domestic wastewater was tested for >50 days but had no impact. Researcher Chen and PI Ramaswami conducted a Life Cycle Assessment of FEW valorization technology. (In progress) Studying performance of defined binary coculture (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum / Propionibacterium freudenreichii) as a novel form of electrode-induced syntrophy towards enhancing propionate production from wet waste. Published-Leininger et al. (2023). Urban circular carbon economy through electrochemically influenced microbiomes. One Earth. Papers in preparation: Leininger et al. Long term anodic regulation of lactic acid microbiomes in wet waste. Chen, J., Ren, J., and Ramaswami, A. Evaluating urban food waste resource circularity options in a zero-carbon future: linking valorization technologies and byproducts utilization pathways. THEME 3: Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet Change Proposed Timespan: Years 1-2 Lead: Co-PI Peterson Coordinate w/ HealthPartners on cafeteria intervention: Messages regarding curbing red meat consumption were developed and tested in collaboration with HealthPartners and their outreach PowerUp network. The messages to encourage substituting plants for red meats were developed in the categories of environmental, health, and financial benefits, and tested using a short survey of a convenience sample. Based on the results, the final study focused on testing two messages: environmental and health motivation. Participants were exposed to one of the two messages through the PowerUp e-newsletter and HealthPartners network to land on an interactive webpage that provided further information about incorporating plant-based protein into their diet and invited to participate in a challenge to complete a set of related activities (e.g., to try a new plant-based recipe). The study was designed to track the type of messages individuals saw, their subsequent interaction with the web-based activity, and a follow-up survey on changes in their interest in diet substitution. Food waste messaging evaluation: The descriptive analysis of the study data was compiled into a report and presented to the collaborating city staff. Data analysis comprised part of a PhD dissertation, which was successfully defended in August 2023. THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence Proposed Timespan: Yrs 1-3 Lead: PI Ramaswami Scenario models were developed combining local agriculture scenarios into a nation-wide localization scenario model. A second scenario model combined food waste valorization technologies into metropolitan zero-carbon pathways. One paper under review and one in preparation: Ramaswami et al. Toward Zero-Carbon Resource-Circular Cities and Urban Regions: Multi-Sector, multi-intervention modeling. Under Review at Nature Sustainability. Nixon, P., & Ramaswami, A. Can Strategic Localization of Agriculture in the US Offer Better Environmental Benefits? THEME 5: Evaluating Co-learning & convergence science with cities Proposed Timespan: Years 2-3 Lead: Co-PI Siddiki Understanding the landscape of food policy councils: 15 food policy councils were identified to understand the landscape of food policy councils. Recruitment in progress in 3 waves (5 councils each; first 2 waves conducted) (1) Minneapolis, Hartford, Winston-Salem, Austin, Colorado Springs; (2) Detroit, St. Paul, San Francisco, New Orleans, Washington, DC; (3) New Brunswick, Lawrence, Ft. Scott, Bridgeport, New Haven Published-Ambrose, G., Siddiki, S., & Brady, U. (2022). Collaborative governance design in local food systems in the United States. Policy Design and Practice, 5(3), 362-383. Pilot questionnaires for evaluating city workshop learning & food policy networks: Local knowledge gaps and policy-oriented learning in the food system were identified through qualitative surveys of the food action planning framework workshop (discussed under opportunities for training and professional development) participants. A related report is currently in preparation.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramaswami, A., Boyer, D., Nixon, P., & Jelinski, N. (2022). A hybrid method to quantify household urban agriculture gardening: Implications for sustainable and equitable food action planning. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6, 997081. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.997081
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ambrose, G., Siddiki, S., & Brady, U. (2022). Collaborative governance design in local food systems in the United States. Policy Design and Practice, 5(3), 362-383. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2022.2109253
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: International Resource Panel (2022). Urban Agricultures Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel. Ramaswami, A., Ayuk, E.T., Kirti, D., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Ferreira, J. and de Souza Leao, V. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ramaswami, A., Tong, K., Pandey, B., Hawkins, J., Chen, J., Kockelman, K., Leon, M., and Gumus-Dawes, B. Toward Zero-Carbon Resource-Circular Cities and Urban Regions: Multi-Sector, multi-intervention modeling.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Das, K., Ramaswami, A., Elnakib, S. Quantifying the Nutritional and Well-being Benefits of Urban Agriculture. IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ambrose, G., Das, K., Fan, Y., & Ramaswami, A. (2023). Comparing happiness associated with household and community gardening: Implications for Food Action Planning. Landscape and Urban Planning, 230, 104593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104593.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Birkel, J.F.H., T. E. Twine, S. Liess, L. S. Kalkstein, S. Sheridan (2022). Trends in synoptic heat events in four Minnesota urban areas through the 21st century. Urban Climate. Volume 46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101307.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jelinski, N.A., Nicklay, J.A., LaBine, K. Spatial distribution of soil carbon, phosphorus, and lead stocks in food-producing and non-food producing areas of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, USA. IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Pearson, N., LaBine, K.M., LaShae, T., Nicklay, J., Jelinski, N. Impacts of urban agriculture on soil properties, carbon stocks and soil health in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Pearson, N., Ren, Z, Leininger, A., LaBine, K.M., LaShae, T., Nicklay, J., Jelinski, N. Impact of food-waste amended biochar applications on growth of collard greens in a controlled plot experiment. IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Leininger, A., et al. Long term anodic regulation of lactic acid microbiomes in wet waste. IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Chen, J., Ren, J., and Ramaswami, A. Evaluating urban food waste resource circularity options in a zero-carbon future: linking valorization technologies and byproducts utilization pathways. IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nixon, P., Ramaswami, A., & Schassler, K. Are Direct-to-Consumer Farms More Sustainable? IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nixon, P., & Ramaswami, A. Can Strategic Localization of Agriculture in the US Offer Better Environmental Benefits? IN PREPARATION.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Heshmatpour, M. 2023. Essays in Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems. PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2878142201?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nicklay, J.A., Jelinski, N.A., Cadieux, K.V. A critical environmental justice analysis of soil carbon storage by urban farms and gardens in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Ecological Society of America Meeting 06-11 August, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jelinski, N.A., Pearson, N., LaBine, K.M., LaShae, T., Nicklay, J.A. Trends in soil properties across the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area  Implications for Ecosystem Services. 2023 National Cooperative Soil Survey Conference, Bismarck ND 09-13JUL2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Cadieux, K.V., Murakami, C., Nicklay, J.A., Block, D., Morris, N (Facilitators). Participatory Action Research and Learning in Agri-Food Systems work - Part 1: Sharing Stories, collective description of the scenario and getting key stakeholders to engage. Roundtable Discussion. Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society Conference 31 May  03 June, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Cadieux, K.V., Murakami, C., Nicklay, J.A., Block, D., Morris, N (Facilitators). Funding Participatory Action Research and Learning in Agri-Food Systems Work - Part 2: Action-Planning Workshop. Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society Conference 31 May  03 June, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dinh, Jennifer M., Henderson, Maren G., Ziegenfuss, Jeanette Y., JaKa, Meghan M., Jacobson, Laura J., Kottke, Thomas E, Peterson, Hikaru H., Ellefson, Katy, Kovarik, Stephanie, Anderson, Andrea, Canterbury, Marna M. "A pragmatic survey-based approach to message testing: learnings from WellSpring and PowerUp with Plants" Poster presentation at the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media, Atlanta, GA, July 19-21, 2023.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Leininger, A., Chen, J., Ramaswami, A., & Ren, Z. (2023). Urban circular carbon economy through electrochemically influenced microbiomes. One Earth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.011


Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Academic Audience: During the duration of the project the team published two reports, 16 articles in journals, and made 40 presentations at local and national conferences. All publications and conference presentations have been listed under products in previous reports. In addition, at the time of the final report the project team currently has one paper under review and eight additional articles in preparation. Public/General Interest and City Food Policy Councils: Our project was aimed at informing food action planning efforts in Minneapolis (led by PI Ramaswami and former INFEWS staff researcher Dana Boyer, with Tamara Downs-Schwei, in 2019-2020) which has culminated in the completion of a final draft Minneapolis Food Vision report, developed by the Minneapolis Health Department in partnership with the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, as well as the NSF Sustainable Healthy Cities Network (PI Ramaswami) and INFEWS researchers at Princeton University and University of Minnesota. In 2022, INFEWS PI Hikaru Peterson participated in a survey and community engagement process to gather public feedback on the next-to-final draft developed by the city. The completed Minneapolis Food Vision (MFV) provides a ten-year plan for a resilient, just, and equitable local food system, and will serve as a companion plan to the forthcoming 2023 Climate Equity Plan. This represents the culmination of a significant and robust process of coproduction which engaged community members, policymakers, and academic researchers. In New Jersey, by partnering with Sara Elnakib's (Rutgers) similar outreach was made to multiple cities and NGOs through two INFEWS workshops held in Princeton in 2023. The first workshop brought researchers together with food policymakers, and the second workshop featured a deep dive for researchers and food policymakers to lay the groundwork for future coproduction on food action planning. Additional details about the workshops are in the section on "opportunities for training and professional development." International Policymakers: Another key audience were international cities which were reached through the United Nations International Research Panel. PI Ramaswami served as a co-lead author on a new United Nations International Resource Panel (IRP) report on urban agriculture, Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: An International Resource Panel Think Piece. The report evaluates to what extent, and in which conditions, urban agriculture can enhance the sustainability of urban-rural food systems and promote a circular economy in cities. An accompanying summary report, Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel, provides recommendations for policymakers. Both publications were launched at a webinar in early 2022 with attendees from around the world. Both publications convey key findings from INFEWS products and papers. Changes/Problems:The project experienced some delays and changes in activities due to COVID. The Theme 3 study of cafeterias was the most impacted by COVID-19 because it would have involved studying peoples' behavior in cafeterias. The cafeteria selected for the study was shut down for an extended period starting in March 2020. While the cafeteria re-opened, its operations were modified to accommodate public health protocols, hindering its efficacy as a study environment. Theme 3 researchers continued to collaborate with HealthPartners and shifted the study toward focus groups to understand behavior levers that could reduce red meat consumption. After postponements due to Covid, we were able to hold in-person events with local policymakers on the campus of Princeton University (described in "What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?") What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided several opportunities for training and professional development during its duration. These include: Training of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in multiple research methods transcending disciplines including: (a) community engaged research with food policy councils; (2) field research including transect studies to map urban farms; (3) field studies of small agricultural plots; (4) surveys on nutrition, well-being and health. Training of undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota mentored by graduate students in Jelinski's lab. Training of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in database management including developing a visualization interface. Educational video training modules for external audiences and the general public: INFEWS team members developed educational modules (videos) on the major themes investigated during the course of this project. These videos provide a resource for policymakers, practitioners, and academics to easily learn about some of our findings. Educational video modules are included under "Other Products". Public workshop on food systems and coproduction: INFEWS PIs shared their learnings with other academics and New Jersey-based food policymakers in a workshop held on March 31, 2023 in Princeton, NJ, titled, "Urban Food System Innovations and Knowledge Coproduction." Researchers presented on knowledge co-production and frontier research on sustainable, healthy and equitable urban food systems. Topics included community engaged research on urban food systems; health, wellbeing and equity benefits of urban agriculture; frontier technologies for food waste management; and behavioral nudging for healthy and sustainable diets. The workshop was combined with an NSF SRN workshop held on the previous day (March 30, 2023) to allow participants to attend both days and allow for them to network and make broader connections. Food action planning framework workshop: A follow-up workshop, held on May 22-23, 2023, brought together a small, focused group of New Jersey-based food policymakers, many of whom participated in the March workshop. This group worked with PI Ramaswami and Rutgers' Sara Elnakib to do an in-depth, two-day deep dive on "Developing a Framework for Multi-objective Food Action Planning: A Participatory Workshop." The workshop helped policymakers to explore topics behind developing a framework, discuss data availability, and explore the possibility of collaborating on future work. PI Ramaswami's team conducted participatory surveys before, during, and after the workshop to measure participants' learning, making this a valuable professional development exercise. A related report is currently in preparation. Work with the United Nations Environment Programme: PI Ramaswami and postdoc Kirti Das worked with the United Nations International Resource Panel to produce two reports on Urban Agriculture: International Resource Panel (2021). Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: An International Resource Panel Think Piece. Ayuk, E.T., Ramaswami, A., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Eckart, E., Ferreira, J., Kirti, D., and de Souza Leao, V. A think piece of the International Resource Panel. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme. International Resource Panel (2022). Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel. Ramaswami, A., Ayuk, E.T., Kirti, D., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Ferreira, J. and de Souza Leao, V. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme. All USA INFEWS PI workshop for reflection and synthesis: The PI workshop co-hosted by Anu Ramaswami and Chad Higgins (Oregon State University), which had been postponed multiple times due to COVID-19, was successfully held in virtual format on Feb. 9-11, 2022, providing an opportunity for researchers affiliated with 128 INFEWS projects (with more than 250 individual registrants) to share project findings and discuss synthesis and convergence science, providing a professional development opportunity for researchers to present and engage at the conference. The INFEWS Workshop Scientific Advisory Committee reviewed abstract submissions and guided the development of the three-day program, formulating session topics and making sure everyone had the chance to present. The event featured 87 speakers (including INFEWS program officers, PIs, policy partners, and students) in 20 sessions, including plenary synthesis panels, breakout panels, and group discussions. There were also 39 posters shared in 2 poster sessions. Synthesis papers from the workshop will disseminate synthesis FEW nexus findings from the overall INFEWS program, with publication costs supported by workshop funding. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The team engaged with the academic community through the publication of two reports, 16 peer-reviewed journal articles, 40 presentations at conferences and professional societies, a student dissertation publication and by creating educational modules related to research conducted for the project (for details see "Target Audience", "Other Products" and project publications). The team engaged with local policymakers and the public through two workshops held in the spring of 2023 (see also "opportunities for training and professional development"). Our workshop on March 31, 2023, "Urban Food System Innovations and Knowledge Coproduction," was open to the public, as well as live-streamed online for those who could not attend in-person. Attendees included faculty, students, researchers, university staff, NGO representatives, local and state government staff, food nonprofit staff, and community members. Videos from the workshop are available on our INFEWS web page and are viewable to the general public (see "Other Products" for links). Additionally, a number of educational modules are available online for public viewing (see "Other Products" for links): Urban Greenery and Air Temperature (Twine and Liess) Fit-for-Purpose Food Waste Valorization (Ren and Leininger) Designing Representative Collaborative Policy Making (Siddiki and Ambrose) Trends in Soil Properties Across the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area - Implications for Ecosystem Services (Jelinski, Pearson, LaBine, LaShae and Nicklay) Who Gardens and How in Urban USA: Informing Social Equity in Urban Agriculture Plans (Das and Ramaswami) Are Direct-to-Consumer Farms More Sustainable? (Nixon, Ramaswami and Schassler) How can Food Waste Valorization Fight Climate Change? (Chen and Ramaswami) Engagement with the City of Minneapolis, food action planners and residents in Minneapolis culminated in what the city titled as the Food Vision (https://www2.minneapolismn.gov/government/programsinitiatives/homegrown-minneapolis/food-vision/food-vision-document/). Now for the past 12 months, the Food Council has been working to identify strategies to prioritize and has started to implement them. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?N/A - This is the final reporting period, and all work is completed.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? THEME1: Distributed Urban Agriculture and Spatial Distribution of WHERe outcomes PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski & Twine (1) Understanding the physical size and distribution of different types of urban agriculture, including household and community gardens and commercial urban farms. (PI Ramaswami) Pioneered street transect mapping, for the first time, to understand the size and distribution of household urban agriculture. See - Ramaswami, A., et al. (2022). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. Worked with the city of Minneapolis to assess the size and distribution of community gardens. Worked with USDA data to explore the size of urban farms and direct-to-consumers farms at the periphery of urban areas in California, New Jersey, and Minnesota. In preparation - Nixon, P., Ramaswami, A., & Schassler, K. Are Direct-to-Consumer Farms More Sustainable? Overall, this is the first study to comprehensively look at the size and distribution of different typologies of farms in urban USA. (2) Assessing environmental impacts of urban farms. (Co-PI Jelinski; PI Ramaswami; Co-PI Twine) Conducted in-depth study of 132 sites, including community gardens/urban farms, parks and green spaces, and residential lots, exploring soil and biodiversity benefits as well as nutrient inputs into agriculture. Co-PI Twine assessed the potential climate benefits by developing the first of its kind ultra fine scale WRF model. The model was demonstrated for the Twin Cities region and various agricultural scenarios are being explored in Theme 5. See - Liess, S., et al. (2022). Authorea Preprints. (3) Well-being benefits of urban farms: PI Ramaswami, PhD student Ambrose, and Postdoc Das collaborated with the Daynamica application team to measure subjective well-being associated with urban farming activities. See - Ambrose, G., et al. (2023). Landscape and Urban Planning. Gardening ranked as one of the top 5 daily activities with the highest net affect; community gardening generated greater net affect; household gardening could specifically improve well-being for women and low-income gardeners. (4) Nutrition and health benefits or urban agriculture: PI Ramaswami and Postdoc Das collaborated with Elnakib to conduct a survey on these benefits. In preparation - Das, K., Ramaswami, A., Elnakib, S. Quantifying the Nutritional and Well-being Benefits of Urban Agriculture. A novel matched sample finds those engaged in urban agriculture have better overall diets and report higher well-being; benefits of home and community urban agricultural gardening are similar. THEME2: New Fit-for-Purpose Food Waste Valorization Technologies for FEW benefits Co-PI Ren, PI Ramaswami (1) Exploring food waste valorization technologies and resource recovery potential at the food energy water nexus. (Co-PI Ren) Conducted laboratory studies of different fit-for-purpose food waste valorization technologies to yield different types of products. Co-PI Ren and graduate student Leininger explored fermentation technologies with different types of bacteria to evaluate the potential for generating biogas. Co-PI Ren and graduate student Leininger also evaluated biochar amended anaerobic digesters and fermenters to produce different products. The idea of urban food waste circularity was published in - Leininger, A., et al. (2023). One Earth. The paper focused on the broad principles for circular economy at the FEW nexus. (2) Biochar produced from food waste in Co-PI Ren's lab was sent to Co-PI Jelinski's greenhouse where it was used as soil. In preparation - Pearson, N., et al. Impact of food-waste amended biochar applications on growth of collard greens in a controlled plot experiment. Preliminary results showed that the biochar applied plants performed much better. (3) Conducted lifecycle assessment using scenario models in real world cities. PI Ramaswami and PhD student Chen conducted material flow analysis and lifecycle assessment to evaluate different food waste valorization and reutilization strategies. The modeling results for the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota showed that biochar amended anaerobic digestion of food waste and the utilization of generated biogas in local district energy systems was the most carbon cost-effective pathway. THEME3: Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet Change Co-PI Peterson (1) Co-PI Peterson explored behavioral factors shaping food related behavior. Initial plans for Theme 3 changed due to COVID-19 related shutdowns. Research shifted from cafeteria-based interventions to focus groups to understand red meat consumption and identify potential messaging for behavioral nudges. Co-PI Peterson collaborated with HealthPartners and their outreach PowerUp network to develop and test dietary messaging to curb red meat consumption. The study was designed to track the type of messages individuals saw, their subsequent interaction with the web-based activity, and a follow-up survey on changes in their interest in diet substitution. (2) Co-PI Peterson and PhD student Heshmatpour studied food waste characterization and segregation behavior related messaging. The descriptive analysis of the study data was compiled into a report and presented to the collaborating city staff. Data analysis comprised part of a PhD dissertation. See - Heshmatpour, M. (2023). THEME4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence Lead: PI Ramaswami (1) Created an overarching model towards zero carbon cities, incorporating integrated modeling of the different technologies, distributed agriculture, food waste valorization technologies, and behavioral nudging. Under review at Nature Sustainability - Ramaswami, A., et al. Toward Zero-Carbon Resource-Circular Cities and Urban Regions: Multi-Sector, multi-intervention modeling. We find resource circularity to be an important pathway towards zero carbon cities and metropolitan regions. (2) PI Ramaswami and PhD student Nixon conducted scenario modeling evaluating different policy scenarios for localizing fresh vegetable production across all US metropolitan regions. In preparation - Nixon, P., & Ramaswami, A. Can Strategic Localization of Agriculture in the US Offer Better Environmental Benefits? We find significant environmental benefits in California metro areas, marginal impacts elsewhere in the country and identify select metro areas where localization of vegetable farming can be harmful. The scenario models are helpful to demonstrate the combination of policy, technology and distributed agricultural pathways towards sustainability. THEME5: Evaluating Co-learning & Convergence Science with Cities Co-PI Siddiki (1) Participated in creating the food action plan for Minneapolis. This was initially led by PI Ramaswami and then by Co-PI Peterson. The engagement successfully resulted in the production of the food action plan. The completed Minneapolis Food Vision (MFV) provides a ten-year plan for a resilient, just, and equitable local food system. (2) Co-PI Siddiki conducted a review of 15 food policy councils to understand the landscape of food policy councils. See - Ambrose, G., Siddiki, S., & Brady, U. (2022), Policy Design and Practice. The study explores council membership, the contexts in which councils are established, the topical foci of councils, and mandated and authorized policy activities. (3) Conducted a food action planning framework workshop with the cities in New Jersey. The workshop, held in May, 2023, brought together a small, focused group of NJ-based food policymakers, many of whom participated in the March workshop. This group worked with PI Ramaswami and Elnakib to do an in-depth, two-day deep dive on developing a framework for multi-objective food action planning. Related report - in preparation. (4) PI Ramaswami and postdoc Das worked with the UN International Resource Panel to produce two reports on Urban Agriculture. See - Ayuk, E. T., et al. (2022) and Ramaswami, A., et al (2022).

Publications


    Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Highlights: We have four main audiences: cities, urban farmers, academic, and international. For cities, we continued food action planning in Minneapolis; created an open source, county-level database on agrifood consumption and production (Nixon & Ramaswami, 2022); and interfaced with ICLEI USA to share the published data. We surveyed 207 participants on urban gardening and completed soil testing of 44 backyard gardens, 33 community gardens, and 4 urban farms. The team conducted field visits to community gardens in Newark, Patterson, and Jersey City, as well as outreach through the Rutgers "master gardener" network in six counties (Union, Passaic, Mercer, Ocean, Essex and Bergen), and presented INFEWS research at the bi-annual meeting of the NJ Food Democracy Collaborative. For academic audiences, we published 5 papers, with 1 additional paper under review, and gave 15 conference presentations (See "Products" section for detailed citations). These publications and presentations feature new methodologies, including: Methodology for mapping urban farms (Boyer et al., 2022 - under review) Survey tool to assess who gardens (Das & Ramaswami, 2022) Methodology to assess consumption and production at the county level (Nixon & Ramaswami, 2022) Advanced laboratory studies to convert food waste to tunable products (Leininger & Ren, 2022 conference presentations) Advanced lifecycle assessment of food waste to biogas and biochar in a zero-carbon future, with greenhouse studies showing the benefits of biochar to farms (Chen & Ramaswami, 2022 conference presentation) Continued finescale modeling of urban heat island benefits of urban agriculture For international policymakers, PI Ramaswami served as a lead author on a new United Nations International Resource Panel (IRP) report on urban agriculture, Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: An International Resource Panel Think Piece. The report evaluates to what extent, and in which conditions, urban agriculture can enhance the sustainability of urban-rural food systems and promote a circular economy in cities. An accompanying summary report, Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel, provides recommendations for policymakers. Both publications were launched at a webinar in early 2022 with attendees from around the world. INFEWS PI Workshop At the closing INFEWS PI Workshop in Feb. 2022 (held virtually) co-hosted by PI Ramaswami and Chad Higgins (Oregon State), our team shared research with other INFEWS projects and PIs through talks and posters. More details on the INFEWS PI Workshop are in the "Accomplishments" section. Ramaswami, A., Twine, T., Jelinski, J., Elnakib, S., Nixon, P., Das, K., Schassler, K., Liess, S., Boyer, D., Ambrose, A. (2022). Sustainable Urban Food Actions: Interdisciplinary Frameworks. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 9, 2022. Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2022). Doubling down on food waste: synchronous as codigestion substrate and biochar feedstock enhances food-energy-water circularity. Poster presentation. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual poster presentation, Feb. 9, 2022. Ren, Z.J. & Leininger, A. (2022). Microbial electrochemical co-valorization of organic waste and CO2. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 11, 2022. Heshmatpour, M. & Peterson, H. (2022). Effects of social norm and educational interventions on household organics recycling: Evidence from two municipal curbside organics recycling programs. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 10, 2022. Changes/Problems:The team requested and received a no-cost extension until August 2023 to allow time to complete all research, which experienced delays due to the pandemic. Also related to the ongoing pandemic, the INFEWS PI Workshop, originally postponed from August 2021 to August 2022, underwent another postponement due to continuing uncertainty around travel. While the event was originally to be held on Princeton University's campus, the university extended restrictions on campus visitors. Therefore, the organizing committee postponed the event again to February 2022 and worked on organizing a hybrid version of the event, with an in-person component at a hotel in Princeton complemented by live streaming and recording of sessions for remote participants. However, new policies from Princeton University announced in December 2021 prohibited events with food, whether on or off campus. Due to the continuing difficulty of hosting in-person visitors, the team, in consultation with NSF/USDA program officers and the INFEWS Workshop Scientific Advisory Board, decided to hold the event virtually. The benefits of holding the event virtually included greater accessibility to participants who may not have been able to travel, ability to host a larger number of participants, as well as certainty of being able to have the event on the dates planned. The event had strong participant turnout and more than 250 registrations, with very positive feedback from PIs and attendees. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?With research delayed by COVID-19 continuing into this reporting period, creation of training materials will take place in the next no-cost extension period. These include the modules identified in the previous annual report: Leverage co-learning workshops to translate deep dive Minneapolis/St. Paul findings for broader general training context Produce beta training modules Engage stakeholders in beta review and revisions Disseminate final training modules Planned graduate and practitioner training modules include: Urban FEW footprinting: assessing direct & indirect city FEW demand (PI Ramaswami) Food waste-to-value technology and policy options (Co-PI Ren) Assessing multiple co-benefits of urban agriculture (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski) Designing and evaluating diet change campaigns (Co-PI Peterson) Urban heat island monitoring network (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Twine) Food policy council decision tools and metrics (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Siddiki) The INFEWS PI Workshop, co-hosted by Anu Ramaswami and Chad Higgins (Oregon State University), which had been postponed multiple times due to COVID-19, was successfully held in virtual format on Feb. 9-11, 2022, providing an opportunity for researchers affiliated with 128 INFEWS projects (with more than 250 individual registrants) to share project findings and discuss synthesis and convergence science, providing a professional development opportunity for researchers to present and engage at the conference. The INFEWS Workshop Scientific Advisory Committee reviewed abstract submissions and guided the development of the three-day program, formulating session topics and making sure everyone had the chance to present. The event featured 87 speakers (including INFEWS program officers, PIs, policy partners, and students) in 20 sessions, including plenary synthesis panels, breakout panels, and group discussions. There were also 39 posters shared in 2 poster sessions. Synthesis papers from the workshop will disseminate synthesis FEW nexus findings from the overall INFEWS program, with publication costs supported by workshop funding. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The team engaged with the academic community through the publication of peer-reviewed journal articles as well as presentations at conferences and professional societies (see "Target Audience" and "Products"). In addition, the INFEWS PI workshop, held virtually on Feb. 9-11, provided an opportunity for the team to discuss findings with other INFEWS projects, which included PIs, their students, and policy partners. PI Ramaswami presented about INFEWS interdisciplinary frameworks, in addition to moderating several sessions.Co-PI Ren shared findings on microbial electrochemical co-valorization of organic waste and CO2, with further Theme 2 work shared in a poster by Aaron Leinginer. Co-PI Peterson's work on social norm and educational interventions on household organics recycling was presented by Masoumeh Heshmatpour. Co-PI Siddiki presented about stakeholder engagement with food policy councils. Overall, the INFEWS PI Workshop represented rich opportunities for synthesis. We plan to disseminate findings and research from the conference further through two avenues. First, conference funds will be used to support publication costs of synthesis INFEWS research articles in peer-reviewed journals published by conference attendees. Second, video recordings of conference sessions will be shared online. Findings have also been disseminated through local-scale interactions in cities, such as through recruiting gardeners for surveys and a presentation to the NJ Food Democracy Collaborative. We plan to further share findings from knowledge co-production with cities through dissemination through ICLEI-USA. In Theme 5's work with food policy councils, practitioner reports have been returned to councils that have engaged in our interview process. These reports offer council specific insights from our engagement. In the next project period, interactions through food action planning in New Jersey will also provide an opportunity to engage local policymakers. For international policymakers, PI Ramaswami served as a lead author on a new United Nations International Resource Panel (IRP) report on urban agriculture, Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: An International Resource Panel Think Piece. The report evaluates to what extent, and in which conditions, urban agriculture can enhance the sustainability of urban-rural food systems and promote a circular economy in cities. An accompanying summary report, Urban Agriculture's Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel, provides recommendations for policymakers. Both publications were launched at a webinar in early 2022 with attendees from around the world. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?THEME 1: Distributed urban agriculture Soil testing: planned testing of an additional 16 backyard gardens and 30 food- and non-food-producing green spaces in 2022 We are consolidating data from these field tests to produce multi-variate analyses of the impact of management and land use on metrics of soil health. These will also include spatial analysis of soil carbon, nutrient, and contaminant stocks in food-producing and non-food producing spaces in Minneapolis-St Paul. We will further develop the fine-scale WRF model to quantify cooling effects and mitigation potential of green infrastructure and other built environment interventions (including white/green roofs). We will conduct a comparison of direct-to-consumer farms with urban agriculture. We will conduct a scenario analysis of different environmental management options by applying the newly developed city-level nutrient footprints tool to evaluate nutrient footprints reduction potentials and provide practical policy suggestions from a city perspective THEME 2: Food waste valorization Continued analysis of experimental protocols for electrofermentation benchmarking Lifecycle assessment of processes and feedstocks THEME 3: Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet Change Write research manuscripts on the food waste data for peer-reviewed publications Evaluate the effectiveness of the identified message on reducing red meat consumption among families with children through PowerUp (HealthPartners) network Collate results of studies and share with Theme 5 THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence Food action planning in New Jersey Ramaswami is in discussion with Angie Fyfe, executive director of ICLEI, to create a virtual cohort of cities interested in exploring and adopting science underlying urban food systems developed in this INFEWS grant (in 2022) Continue ongoing development of analysis methods and tools for scenario modeling THEME 5: Complete analysis of data collected among food policy councils Disseminate research through conference presentations aimed at practitioners and academics and peer-reviewed journal publications Continue to disseminate research through practitioner reports. One report for each of the councils included in the study will be generated and shared with council participants City workshop work to be completed during next reporting period

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Researchers completed the following as of July 2022: THEME 1: Distributed urban ag (Direct & indirect benefits across household, community, commercial gardens) Proposed Timespan: Yrs 1-2 Leads: PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski Urban farm field tests Completed soil testing of 44 backyard gardens, 33 community gardens, 4 urban farms Worked with communities & urban agroecological networks on research, co-learning, data interpretation Jelinski, N, Nicklay, J, Giles, M. (2022). Relationship-based translation & application of ecosystem service research to urban agriculture land use & management in Minneapolis/St Paul. UMN Institute on Environ. Impact Goals Salon. May 2022 Nicklay, J, Jelinski, N. (2022). A Critical Environmental Justice Analysis of Soil C Storage in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Urban Farms & Gardens. Urban Food Systems Symposium, Kansas City, MO Nicklay, J. (2021). Participatory data analysis in urban agroecology: Centering relationships and liberation to envision just food systems. Dimensions of Political Ecology Conf, Virtual, Feb 2021 Nutrition study to assess diet differences of household, community, non-gardeners in NJ with NIH recall survey (ASA24): Completed survey of 207 participants Paper in prep: Das, K, Ramaswami, A, Elnakib, S. (2022). Quantifying Nutritional & Well-being Benefits of Urban Agriculture Spatial mapping of urban farms & 3D urban form Submitted: Boyer, D, Kosse, R, Ambrose, G, Nixon, P, Ramaswami, A. A hybrid methodology to assess frequency of household urban ag gardening: Implications for sustainable food action planning Subjective wellbeing of gardeners: complete In revision: Ambrose, G, Das, K, Fan, Y, Ramaswami, A. (2022). Comparing happiness associated with household & community gardening: Implications for food action planning, Landscape & Urban Planning Understanding who gardens: complete Das, K & Ramaswami, A. (2022). Who Gardens & How in Urban USA: Informing Social Equity in Urban Ag Plans. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Air temp monitoring: Urban heat island Sensors removed Jun 2022; data being processed & analyzed Fine-scale WRF modeling for urban heat island WRF ongoing to model MSP urban heat island; quantify cooling effect of green infrastructure/other interventions THEME 2: Food waste valorization Proposed Timespan: Yrs 1-3 Lead: Co-PI Ren Developing experimental protocols for electrofermentation benchmarking Designed & tested novel fluidized bed electrofermentation reactor to improve tunability of food waste fermentation toward higher molecular weight products and/or inhibit methanogenesis. Experimental results w glucose in PBS & real food waste suggest anodic working electrode potential can shift from acetogenic to lactate-yielding fermentation, opening door for lactate recovery and/or chain elongation Leininger, A & Ren, Z. (2022). Relating product tunability & microbiome assembly in non-axenic fluidized bed electrofermentation, Intl Water Association AD17 Mtg, Ann Arbor, Jun 2022 Leininger, A, Yan, Y, Lu, S, Bian, Y, Strycharz-Glaven S, Ren, Z. (2022). Product tunability in undefined culture fluidized bed electrofermentation is dependant on inoculum and pH. In prep Diverse mixes of food waste inputs & biochar assessment Meso-scale codigestion reactors operated to produce collect food biochar-enriched biosolids Shipped dewatered biosolids to UMN for collard greens study to evaluate efficacy of biochar-enriched biosolids vs traditional biosolids as a soil amendment Leininger, A & Ren, Z. (2022). Food waste-derived biochar as an effective and urban-internal codigestion amendment, Oral presentation, Intl Water Association AD17 Mtg, Ann Arbor, MI, Jun 2022 Leininger, A & Ren, Z. (2021). Doubling down on food waste: Co-use as codigestion substrate and biochar feedstock enhances food-energy-water circularity. Poster, Andlinger Ctr for Energy & Environment Annual Mtg, Oct 2021. Systems-based LCA & footprinting Data to be requested from codigestion matrix experiment & pilot-scale kiln High Plains Biochar THEME 3: Behavioral Nudges for Food Waste Separation & Diet Change Proposed Timespan: Yrs 1-2 Lead: Co-PI Peterson Coordinate w/ HealthPartners on diet change messaging Literature on factors affecting red meat consumption complete (Nov 2021) Interview protocol developed & conducted to gain insight into messaging (Mar-Apr 2022) Survey instrument developed to test viability of messages (Apr-May 2022) Survey administered using mixed mode approach (June 2022) Food waste messaging evaluation Analyzed changes in knowledge, confidence & habits (prelim findings, Aug 2021) Collected responses to analyze amounts of organics waste (May 2022) Full report to cities (Aug 2022) Collate results to share w/ Theme 5 Ongoing THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence Proposed Timespan: Yrs 1-3 Lead: PI Ramaswami Work w/ Minneapolis to co-develop parameters for SUrF convergence science: Complete Expanding food action planning S. Elnakib has network in New Brunswick-Newark NJ for food action planning Ramaswami in discussion w/ ICLEI to create virtual cohort of cities interested in exploring & adopting science of urban food systems Develop analysis methods & tools for scenario modeling Scenario modeling of urban greenery impact on heat islands (Ramaswami, Twine, Liess) Ongoing modeling of impact of increasing urban ag (Ramaswami, Nixon) Nixon, P & Ramaswami, A. (2022). County-level analysis of current local capacity of agriculture to meet household demand: a dietary requirements perspective. Environ Research Letters, 17(4). Analysis of US Ag Census microdata complete, comparing farming practices in 3 states, highlighting differences between farms of different size/output (Ramaswami, Schassler, Nixon) Additional methods development Developing & evaluating a machine learning-based approach to monitor crop burning w high-res satellite data Zeng, L & Ramaswami, A. City-level nitrogen footprints: methodology development & scenario analysis. In prep Synthesis paper: Ramaswami, A & Boyer, D. (2022). Principles for a Sustainable Circular Economy at the Urban-Regional FEW Nexus: Advancing Environment, Health, & Equity. The Bridge, 52(2) Household Demand: Dietary Intake Perspective Statistical framework outlined to analyze implications of dietary intake by demographic (Ramaswami, Nixon, Shah) LCA of bioresource tech in FEW-waste urban-rural systems (Ramaswami, Chen, Leininger, Ren) Chen, J & Ramaswami, A (2022). LCA of byproducts from food waste valorization technologies: Implications for soil, energy use & GHG emissions. Assoc of Environ Engineering & Science Professors Conf, St. Louis, Jun 2022. Implement modeling, share insights, co-develop visuals for community Knowledge co-production in Minneapolis complete Presented INFEWS work at NJ Food Democracy Collaborative meeting THEME 5: Evaluating co-learning & convergence science w cities Proposed Timespan: Yrs 2-3 Lead: Co-PI Siddiki Multi-dimensional learning surveys & interviews Instrument implementation in-progress (Siddiki, Ramaswami, Ambrose) 15 food policy councils identified for implementation 3 food policy councils recruited; interviews complete: Hartford, Minneapolis, Lawrence/Douglas County Practitioner Reports: Completed and returned to Hartford; in prep for Lawrence/Douglas Cty Ambrose G, Siddiki S, Brady U (2022). Assessing Design of Public Food Policy Councils Engaged in Local Food System Governance, accepted in Policy Design & Practice. Data collection almost complete; moving toward analysis, synthesis Streamline questionnaires for evaluating city workshop learning; food policy networks Ongoing Analyze larger n city data for structural/institutional convergence Ongoing discussion w policy partners (ICLEI, UN Environment, ICMA)

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2022). Relating product tunability and microbiome assembly in non-axenic fluidized bed electrofermentation, Oral presentation, International Water Association AD17 Meeting, Ann Arbor, MI, June 2022.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Leininger, A., Yan, Y., Lu, S., Bian, Y., Strycharz-Glaven S., & Ren, Z.J. (2022). Product tunability in undefined culture fluidized bed electrofermentation is dependant on inoculum and pH. IN PREPARATION
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2022). Food waste-derived biochar as an effective and urban-internal codigestion amendment, Oral presentation, International Water Association AD17 Meeting, Ann Arbor, MI, June 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2021). Doubling down on food waste: co-use as codigestion substrate and biochar feedstock enhances food-energy-water circularity. Poster presentation. Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Annual Meeting, October 2021.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ambrose, G., Das, K., Fan, Y., Ramaswami, A. (2022). Comparing happiness associated with household & community gardening: Implications for food action planning. Landscape & Urban Planning. REVIEWED; UNDER REVISION (Moderate revision)
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Das, K., & Ramaswami, A. (2022). Who Gardens and How in Urban USA: Informing Social Equity in Urban Agriculture Action Plans. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.923079
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramaswami, A., & Boyer, D. (2022). Principles for a Sustainable Circular Economy at the Urban-Regional Food-Energy-Water Nexus: Advancing Environment, Health, and Equity. The Bridge, 52(2).
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nixon, P., & Ramaswami, A. (2022). County-level analysis of current local capacity of agriculture to meet household demand: a dietary requirements perspective. Environmental Research Letters, 17(4).
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Chen, J. & Ramaswami, A. (2022). Lifecycle analysis of byproducts from food waste valorization technologies: Implications for soil, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Oral presentation, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors Conference, St. Louis, MO, June 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nixon, P. & Ramaswami, A. (2022). Land, water, and nutrient co-benefits of localizing agriculture in and around US metropolitan areas: Nationwide study. Poster presentation, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors Conference, St. Louis, MO, June 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramaswami, A. (2022). Co-designing urban infrastructure and food systems for sustainability, health, wellbeing, and equity. Workshop presentation, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors Conference, St. Louis, MO, June 2022.
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramaswami, A. (2022). Transboundary urban systems analysis to quantify circularity benefits at the food-energy-water nexus. First Indian Institute of Technology Madras International Conference on Circular Economy for Sustainable Water Management, Keynote address, virtual, March 24, 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Jelinski, N.A., Nicklay, J., Giles, M. Relationship-based translation and application of ecosystem service research to urban agriculture land use and management in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. UMN Institute on the Environment Impact Goals Salon. May 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nicklay, J.A., N.A. Jelinski. (2022). A Critical Environmental Justice Analysis of Soil Carbon Storage in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN Urban Farms and Gardens. Urban Food Systems Symposium, Kansas City, Missouri.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Nicklay, J.A. Participatory data analysis in urban agroecology: Centering relationships and liberation to envision just food systems. Oral Presentation . Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference (virtual), Feb. 2021.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ambrose, G., Siddiki, S., Brady, U. (2022). Assessing Design of Public Food Policy Councils Engaged in Local Food System Governance. Policy Design and Practice, accepted (soon to be in press).
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Boyer, D., Ramaswami, A., Nixon, P., Jelinski, N. (2022). A Hybrid Method to Quantify Household Urban Agriculture Gardening: Implications for Sustainable and Equitable Food Action Planning. Submitted to Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2022). Doubling down on food waste: synchronous as codigestion substrate and biochar feedstock enhances food-energy-water circularity. Poster presentation. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual poster presentation, Feb. 9, 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramaswami, A., Twine, T., Jelinski, J., Elnakib, S., Nixon, P., Das, K., Schassler, K., Liess, S., Boyer, D., Ambrose, A. (2022). Sustainable Urban Food Actions: Interdisciplinary Frameworks. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 9, 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Siddiki, S. & Ambrose, G. (2022). Stakeholder engagement with food policy councils. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 9, 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Heshmatpour, M. & Peterson, H. (2022). Effects of social norm and educational interventions on household organics recycling: Evidence from two municipal curbside organics recycling programs. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 10, 2022.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ren, Z.J. & Leininger, A. (2022). Microbial electrochemical co-valorization of organic waste and CO2. INFEWS PI Workshop, virtual talk, Feb. 11, 2022.
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ramaswami, A., Ayuk, E. T., Das, K., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Ferreira, J., & de Leao, V. S. (2022). Urban Agricultures Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: Policy Guidance from the International Resource Panel . International Resource Panel. https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/38399/urban_agriculture_pol.pdf
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ayuk, E. T., Ramaswami, A., Teixeira, I., Akpalu, W., Eckart, E., Ferreira, J., Das, K., et al. (2022). Urban Agricultures Potential to Advance Multiple Sustainability Goals: An International Resource Panel Think Piece. International Resource Panel. https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/38398/urban_agriculture.pdf
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Zeng,L., Ramaswami, A. City-level nitrogen footprints: methodology development and scenario analysis. IN PREPARATION.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Das, K., Ramaswami, A., Elnakib, S. Quantifying the Nutritional and Well-being Benefits of Urban Agriculture. IN PREPARATION.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Jelinski, N.A., Nicklay, J.A., LaBine, K. Spatial distribution of soil carbon, phosphorus, and lead stocks in food-producing and non-food producing areas of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, USA.


    Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

    Outputs
    Target Audience:During this reporting period, the team worked to share results with both academic and public audiences. Academic audiences were reached through peer-reviewed publications in various journals and presentations at a variety of conferences (held as virtual events, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic). The project also aims to reach public audiences to educate them about food systems and influence behavior at the local scale. Public audiences have been reached through the food action planning effort with the city of Minneapolis, and similar work is now being pursued in other cities. In addition, the gardening life cycle analysis and nutrition studies provided opportunities to engage with members of the public in the geographic locations being studied. Academic: Peer-Reviewed Articles: During the last reporting period, the team published the below articles in peer-reviewed journals: Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2021). Circular utilization of food waste to biochar enhances thermophilic co-digestion performance. Bioresource Technology, 332, 125130 Milnar, M., & Ramaswami, A. (2020). The impact of urban expansion and in-situ greenery on community-wide carbon emissions: Method development and insights from eleven US cities. Environmental Science & Technology, 54(24), 16086-16096 Nicklay, J.A., Cadieux, K.V., Rogers, M.A., Jelinski, N.A., LaBine, K., & Small, G.E. (2020). Facilitating Spaces of Urban Agroecology: A Learning Framework for Community-University Partnerships. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4, 143 Additional papers are in preparation and will be submitted in the next reporting period. Conference Papers: Many conferences were rescheduled as virtual events. This enabled the team to present at a variety of conferences despite continued travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heshmatpour, M., & Peterson, H.H. "Effects of social norm and educational interventions on household organics recycling: Evidence from two municipal curbside organics recycling programs." Paper presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association Joint Annual Meetings, Austin, TX and online, Aug. 1-3, 2021. Liess, S., Twine, T. E., Milnar, M., & Ramaswami, A. "Urban Street-Scale Climate Simulations for Sustainability, Health, and Social Equity." American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, virtual December 1-17, 2020. Liess, S., Twine, T. E., Milnar, M., & Ramaswami, A. "Urban Street-Scale Climate Simulations for Sustainability, Health, and Social Equity." University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute Research Exhibition, April 20, 2021. Milnar, M. "The impact of urban expansion and in-situ greenery on community-wide carbon emissions: Method development and insights from eleven US cities." Paper presented at AGU Fall Meeting. Virtual, Dec. 7, 2020. Nicklay, J.A., & Jelinski, N.A. "Trends in Ecosystem Service Metrics of Urban Agriculture in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN." Urban Food Systems Symposium hosted by Kansas State University. Virtual, Oct. 14, 2020. Additionally, PI Ramaswami gave featured talks about food sytems at high-profile professional society meetings, where she was an invited speaker: Ramaswami, A. "The urban food system and opportunities for circularities." Keynote talk at Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Workshop, session on Circularity in Food Systems. Virtual, Oct. 12, 2020. Ramaswami, A. "Leveraging the Urban Food-Energy-Water Nexus for Sustainability and Health." Keynote talk at American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) Food-Energy-Water Nexus Conference. Virtual, Feb. 10, 2021. Ramaswami, A. "Systems science at the urban Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus for resource circularity with environmental and health co-benefits." Invited presentation at American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2021 Annual International Meeting. Virtual, Jul. 12, 2021. Public: Food action planning in Minneapolis provided engagement opportunities with the public. Food action planning efforts are now being expanded to cities in New Jersey as described in Theme 4, which will include Paterson, NJ, widening the geographic areas reached and increasing the number of people involved. Co-PI Siddiki's work in Theme 5 has involved outreach to public food policy councils. In addition, the gardening life cycle and nutrition studies provided opportunities to engage with members of the public. Participants in the nutrition study will receive a nutrition profile. News coverage of the team's research also reached a wider general audience when journalists interviewed PI Ramaswami for various articles. Recent articles included: Princeton University News (Sept. 21, 2020): The future of food in a changing climate - https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/09/21/future-food-changing-climate Times of India (April 3, 2021): 'Better food waste management will give India both nutritional and environmental security' - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/81876281.cms New Scientist (March 24, 2021): Green spaces aren't just for nature - they boost our mental health too - https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933270-800-green-spaces-arent-just-for-nature-they-boost-our-mental-health-too/ Changes/Problems:The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated some changes to the original research plan. The Theme 3 study of cafeterias was the most impacted by COVID-19 because it would have involved studying peoples' behavior in cafeterias. The cafeteria selected for the study was shut down for an extended period starting in March 2020, as of the writing of this report, has not yet reopened. While the cafeteria plans to re-open in Sept. 2021, its operations will be modified to accommodate public health protocols, hindering its efficacy as a study environment. Theme 3 researchers continued to collaborate with HealthPartners and shifted the study toward focus groups to understand behavior levers that could reduce red meat consumption. Focus group meetings and the identification of messaging strategies will take place in the fall and winter of 2021, followed by interventions that will be evaluated in family settings in the spring of 2022. While the family settings will be less controlled than the originally planned cafeteria study, they will be advantageous in that they likely will produce results with greater generalizability and impact. In line with the original research goals, the interventions will remain multidimensional and will include customized messaging and price differentials. A further change to the plan for this reporting period was that the INFEWS PI Workshop, scheduled for Aug. 11-13, 2021, was postponed to 2022, due to ongoing travel and event restrictions because of the pandemic. Event organizers are now planning a hybrid in-person/online workshop that will take place in early 2022 (January or February), and will present the same opportunities for researchers to share their work, network, hear from speakers, and disseminate their findings after the workshop. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Because of COVID-19, planning and creation of training materials in year 2 was delayed. As such, plans from the last reporting period will take place in year 3. Planned steps include: Leverage co-learning workshops to translate deep dive Minneapolis/St. Paul findings for broader general training context Produce beta training modules Engage stakeholders in beta review and revisions Disseminate final training modules Planned graduate and practitioner training modules include: Urban FEW footprinting: assessing direct & indirect city FEW demand (PI Ramaswami) Food waste-to-value technology and policy options (Co-PI Ren) Assessing multiple co-benefits of urban agriculture (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski) Designing and evaluating diet change campaigns (Co-PI Peterson) Urban heat island monitoring network (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Twine) Food policy council decision tools and metrics (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Siddiki) The INFEWS PI workshop, co-hosted by Anu Ramaswami and Chad Higgins (Oregon State University), was intended to provide an opportunity for researchers to learn about projects across INFEWS and formulate ways to synthesize and carry their research forward. The workshop was originally scheduled for Aug. 11-13, 2022, but due to the ongoing pandemic, has been postponed to early 2022. It will take place in a hybrid in-person/online format and will provide opportunities for participation for both young scholars and professionals working in INFEWS-related fields. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The team has engaged with communities that span both the academic sphere as well as the general public. For academic communities, results have been shared through several publications in peer-reviewed journal articles and conference presentations. As part of the 2022 INFEWS workshop, researchers will produce white papers and/or journal articles synthesizing key takeaways of the event. Findings have been disseminated to the general public through the process of food action planning with the City of Minneapolis and future food action planning to take place in Paterson, NJ. Results will be disseminated to cities in the US and internationally. Findings from knowledge co-production will be shared with cities and disseminated through ICLEI-USA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, in line with the work plan of the proposal, Year 3 work will include: THEME 1 (Distributed urban agriculture) Soil testing: planned testing of an additional 17 backyard gardens and 30 community gardens in 2021 Second round of nutrition study surveys will be conducted between December 2021 and February 2022 to assess differences in diets between household gardeners, community gardeners, and non-gardeners across multiple cities in New Jersey. Data will be used in conjunction with data collected in summer 2021 to assess differences in diets between the growing and non-growing seasons. We will further develop the fine-scale WRF model to quantify cooling effects and mitigation potential of green infrastructure and other built environment interventions (including white/green roofs). We will conduct a comparison of direct-to-consumer farms with urban agriculture. THEME 2 (Food waste valorization) Collecting results for bioreactor benchmarking: Operating fluidized bed electrofermentation reactors with different electrode configurations to optimize product tunability Use of multiomics and material characterization tools to advance understanding of electrofermentation mechanisms Assessment of electrofermentation performance using diverse real food waste feedstocks Randomized complete block experiment using biosolids from codigestion mesocosms as soil amendments planned at UMN Plant Growth Facilities (July-Sept. 2021) w/ collard greens Assess diverse mixes of food waste inputs and biochar assessments in field/greenhouse tests of codigestion biosolids Perform life cycle assessment on different processes and feedstocks THEME 3 (Behavior change for diets and food waste separation) Analyze and report the food waste data Conduct focus groups and identify behavioral change messaging for reducing red meat consumption in family consumption Implement and evaluate family interventions through PowerUp (HealthPartners) network Collate results of studies and share with Theme 5 THEME 4 (Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence) Phase 2 of the food action planning will begin in Fall 2021, based on COVID restrictions in Minnesota, and with new priorities revealed by the pandemic related to food insecurity. This work will be led by Hikaru Peterson with Tamara Downs-Schwei, with periodic participation by Anu Ramaswami Ramaswami is in discussion with Angie Fyfe, executive director of ICLEI, to create a virtual cohort of cities interested in exploring and adopting science underlying urban food systems developed in this INFEWS grant (in 2022) Continue on-going development of analysis methods and tools for scenario modeling THEME 5 (Evaluating co-learning & convergence science with cities) Complete analysis of data collected among food policy councils Disseminate research through conference presentations aimed at practitioners and academics and peer-reviewed journal publications Disseminate research through practitioner reports. One report for each of the councils included in the study will be generated and shared with council participants. City workshop work to be completed during next reporting period

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Each theme achieved the following accomplishments as of July 2021. THEME 1: Distributed urban agriculture (Direct & indirect benefits of household/community/commercial gardens) Proposed Timespan: Years 1-2 Leads: PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski Urban farm field tests Completed soil testing of 43 backyard gardens Worked w/ communities & urban agroecological networks on research, co-learning Nicklay, J., Cadieux, K. Rogers, M., Jelinski, N., LaBine, K., Small, G. (2020). Facilitating Spaces of Urban Agroecology: A Learning Framework for Community-University Partnerships. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4, 143 Nicklay, J., Jelinski, N. (2020). Trends in Ecosystem Service Metrics of Urban Agriculture in Minn.-St. Paul, MN. Urban Food Systems Symposium, Oct. 2020 20-week input diary study (summer 2021) w/ ~150 gardeners to estimate material inputs against yield; develop community/household gardening lifecycle analysis (LCA) (Ramaswami, Milnar, Jelinski, Elnakib) Nutrition study pilot (summer 2021) to assess diet differences of household/community/non-gardeners in NJ cities w/ NIH recall survey (ASA24) (Ramaswami, Das, Elnakib) In the process of creating subcontract (w/ permission of Jim Dobrowolski) to engage Sara Elnakib, family & community health sciences educator, Rutgers NJ Ag Experiment Station, who will connect w/ community gardening organizations to recruit survey participants & assist w/ fieldwork Spatial mapping of urban farms & 3D urban form: complete Complete: 3D modeling; provided for WRF modeling (Ramaswami, Milnar) Paper in prep: Boyer, D., Kosse, R., Ambrose, G., Nixon, P., Ramaswami, A. A hybrid methodology to assess frequency of household urban agriculture gardening: Implications for sustainable food action planning Subjective wellbeing of gardeners: complete Paper in prep: Ambrose, G., Das, K., Fan, Y., Ramaswami, A. (2021). Comparing happiness associated with household & community gardening: Implications for food action planning Understanding who gardens New research Q identified, paper in prep: Exploring demographics of gardeners across US cities (Ramaswami, Das) Air temp monitoring: Urban heat island monitoring network (Ramaswami, Twine) 12 air temp/relative humidity sensors installed summer 2020 Sensors record measurements hourly for block energy usage study; compare neighborhood tree canopy cover & buildings Fine-scale WRF modeling for urban heat island Testing complete; model operational w/ updated WRF WRF ongoing to model MSP urban heat island; quantify cooling effect of green infrastructure/other interventions Liess, S., Twine, T., Milnar, M., Ramaswami, A. "Urban Street-Scale Climate Simulations for Sustainability, Health, & Social Equity." AGU Fall Meeting, Dec. 2020. Liess, S., Twine, T., Milnar, M., Ramaswami, A. "Urban Street-Scale Climate Simulations for Sustainability, Health, & Social Equity." UMN Supercomputing Institute Research Exhibition, Apr. 2021 THEME 2: Food waste valorization Proposed Timespan: Years 1-3 Lead: Co-PI Ren Developing experimental protocols for bioreactor benchmarking & results: complete (Ren, Leininger) Lab testing complete Diverse mixes of food waste inputs & biochar assessment (Ren, Leininger) Investigated food waste-derived biochars in degradation pathways compared w/ biochars across 4 food waste types. Food waste biochar improved biogas production & yield relative to control & other biochar amendments; outperformed wood-based biochar as codigestion amendment across food waste types; could provide circularity advantage Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J., 2021. Circular utilization of food waste to biochar enhances thermophilic co-digestion performance. Bioresource Technology, 332, 125130. Operated meso-scale codigestion reactors to collect food biochar-enriched biosolids; shipped dewatered biosolids to UMN for greenhouse study Developing novel fluidized bed electrofermentation reactor to improve tunability of food waste fermentation toward higher molecular weight products and/or inhibit methanogenesis Systems-based LCA, footprinting of results (Ren, Leininger, Ramaswami) Data to be requested from codigestion matrix experiment & pilot-scale kiln High Plains Biochar THEME 3: Behavior change for diets & food waste separation Proposed Timespan: Years 1-2 Lead: Co-PI Peterson Coordinate w/ HealthPartners on cafeteria intervention (Peterson, Heshmatpour) Cafeteria-based intervention halted; cafeteria closed Mar. 2020 due to COVID-19. Cafeteria announced it would open Sept. 2021 w/ modified operations Research shifted from cafeteria to focus groups to understand red meat consumption; identify potential messaging (fall-winter 2021). Collaboration w/ HealthPartners continued, studying behavioral levers to reduce red meat consumption Food waste messaging evaluation Selected St. Louis Park & Edina, 2 cities near Minneapolis; both offer curbside organics recycling June 2021: ~300 residents from each city participated in 6-week program; received weekly emails w/ video messaging and recorded organics recycling. Residents received social norm messaging, educational messaging and filler messaging (control). Messaging materials developed w/ city staff. Collate results to share w/ Theme 5 Ongoing THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence Proposed Timespan: Years 1-3 Lead: PI Ramaswami Work w/ Minneapolis to co-develop parameters for SUrF convergence science Food action planning phase 1 complete, led by Dana Boyer & PI Ramaswami w/ Tamara Downs-Schwei & Minneapolis Food Policy Council. Knowledge co-production achieved w/ coordination meetings Expanding food action planning Will partner w/ Sara Elnakib (see Theme 1) on Paterson food action planning (2022) Ramaswami in discussion w/ Angie Fyfe, executive director of ICLEI, to create virtual cohort of cities interested in exploring & adopting science of urban food systems (2022) Develop analysis methods & tools for scenario modeling Scenario modeling of urban greenery impacts on heat islands (Ramaswami, Twine, Liess) Conceptual modeling framework paper on GHG impact of urban food systems will incorporate ag innovations & waste resource circularity (Ramaswami, Boyer, Pandey, Nixon) Ongoing modeling of impact of increasing urban ag (Ramaswami, Nixon) Paper in prep: Nixon, P. & Ramaswami, A. County-Level Analysis of Current Local Capacity of Agriculture to Meet Household Demand: A Dietary Intake Perspective LCA of bioresource technologies in FEW-waste urban-rural systems (Ramaswami, Chen, Leininger, Ren) Ongoing modeling of indirect benefits of urban trees on energy system (Ramaswami, Tong) Synthesis paper submitted to Environmental Research Letters Ramaswami, A., Tong, K., Ren, Z.J, Kockelman, K. & Seto, K. (2021). Pathways toward Net-Zero Carbon Cities & Urban Regions Implement modeling, share insights, co-develop visuals for community See knowledge co-production w/ Minneapolis; future activities w/ Paterson NJ THEME 5: Evaluating co-learning & convergence science w/ cities Proposed Timespan: Years 2-3 Lead: Co-PI Siddiki Multi-dimensional learning surveys & interviews Instrument implementation in-progress (Siddiki, Ramaswami, Ambrose) 15 food policy councils identified for implementation. Recruitment in progress in 3 waves (5 councils each; first 2 waves conducted) (1) Minneapolis, Hartford, Winston-Salem, Austin, Colorado Springs; (2) Detroit, St. Paul, San Francisco, New Orleans, Washington, DC; (3) New Brunswick, Lawrence, Ft. Scott, Bridgeport, New Haven Paper in prep: Assessing Design of Public Food Policy Councils Engaged in Local Food System Governance Streamline questionnaires for evaluating city workshop learning & food policy networks Ongoing Analyze larger n city data for structural/institutional convergence Ongoing discussion w/ policy partners (ICLEI, UN Environment) on city partnerships

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Leininger, A. & Ren, Z.J. (2021). Circular utilization of food waste to biochar enhances thermophilic co-digestion performance. Bioresource Technology, 332, 125130.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Nicklay, J.A., Cadieux, K.V., Rogers, M.A., Jelinski, N.A., LaBine, K., & Small, G.E. (2020). Facilitating Spaces of Urban Agroecology: A Learning Framework for Community-University Partnerships. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4:143.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ramaswami, A. Systems science at the urban Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus for resource circularity with environmental and health co-benefits. Invited presentation at American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2021 Annual International Meeting. Virtual, Jul. 12, 2021.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Milnar, M. The impact of urban expansion and in-situ greenery on community-wide carbon emissions: Method development and insights from eleven US cities. Paper presented at AGU Fall Meeting. Virtual, Dec. 7, 2020.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Heshmatpour, M., & Peterson, H.H. Effects of social norm and educational interventions on household organics recycling: Evidence from two municipal curbside organics recycling programs. Paper presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association Joint Annual Meetings, Austin, TX and online, Aug. 1-3, 2021.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Liess, S., Twine, T. E., Milnar, M., & Ramaswami, A. Urban Street-Scale Climate Simulations for Sustainability, Health, and Social Equity. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, virtual December 1-17, 2020.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nicklay, J.A., & Jelinski, N.A. Trends in Ecosystem Service Metrics of Urban Agriculture in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Urban Food Systems Symposium hosted by Kansas State University. Virtual, Oct. 14, 2020.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ramaswami, A. The urban food system and opportunities for circularities. Keynote talk at Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Workshop, session on Circularity in Food Systems. Virtual, Oct. 12, 2020.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ramaswami, A. Leveraging the Urban Food-Energy-Water Nexus for Sustainability and Health. Keynote talk at American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) Food-Energy-Water Nexus Conference. Virtual, Feb. 10, 2021.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Liess, S., Twine, T. E., Milnar, M., & Ramaswami, A. Urban Street-Scale Climate Simulations for Sustainability, Health, and Social Equity. University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute Research Exhibition, April 20, 2021.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ramaswami, A., Tong, K., Ren, Z.J., Kockelman, K. & Seto, K. (2021). Pathways toward Net-Zero Carbon Cities and Urban Regions. Submitted to Environmental Research Letters
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Milnar, M., & Ramaswami, A. (2020). The impact of urban expansion and in-situ greenery on community-wide carbon emissions: Method development and insights from eleven US cities. Environmental Science & Technology, 54(24), 1608616096.


    Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

    Outputs
    Target Audience:We reached bothpublic and academic audiences during the research period. Academic audiences were reached by multiple presentations as well as a contribution by PI Ramaswami to the National Academies "Innovations in the food system" report. Public: The team reached public audiences through a robust food action planning process in the city of Minneapolis. From April 2019-March 2020, the INFEWS team PI Ramaswami and Research Manager Boyermet twice monthy with the Minneapolis Food Policy Council to coordinate and cocreate the food action planning process. Every other month the largerINFEWS team participated in a public presentation of INFEWS research related to food action planning. This process also gathered community input to further shape the food action plan and our INFEWS research.Details of the bi-month presentations are as follows: Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. "Minneapolis Food Action Plan - Topic 1: Food Justice & Equity." Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. May 15, 2019. Ramaswami, A, D Boyer, T Downs-Schwei, T Kottke, M Canterbury. "Minneapolis Food Action Plan - Topic 2: Diets & Community-wide Demand." Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. July 24, 2019. Ramaswami, A, D Boyer, T Downs-Schwei. "Minneapolis Food Action Plan - Topic 3: Agricultural Food Production." Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. Sept. 11, 2019 Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, H Peterson, A Ramaswami. "Minneapolis Food Action Plan - Topic 4: Processing, Wholesale, Retail, Distribution." Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. November 13, 2020. Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. "Minneapolis Food Action Plan - Topic 5: Food Waste Generation & Management." Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. January 8, 2020. Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. "Minneapolis Food Action Plan Meeting, Topic 6: Governance, Finance & Implementation." Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. Ramaswami, A. "Shrink Your Food's Carbon Footprint." Community presentation to Sustainable Princeton. June 4, 2020. Academic: Our ability to reach academic audiences was more limited than expected due to COVID-19 and the canceling of multiple conferences. Despite this challenge, PI Ramaswami was a participant in theNational Academies workshop and subsequent report"Innovations in the Food System: exploring the future of food," along with other academic presentations, with details below: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Innovations in the food system: Exploring the future of food: Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. A Ramaswami Contributor to: "Chapter 3 Innovations in Food Production and Processing and Implications for Food Systems" Ramaswami, A. "Sustainable Urban Food Systems and Food Action Planning in the U.S. and India." Princeton Environmental Institute Faculty Seminar. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. Dec. 3, 2019. Changes/Problems:The project experienced some minor delays in activitiesdue to COVID. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project is currently in the planning stage of creating training materials for broader dissemination in years 2-3. Planned steps include: Leverage co-learning workshops to translate deep dive MSP findings for broader general training context (year 2) Produce beta training modules (year 2) Engage stakeholders in beta review and revisions (years 2 & 3) Disseminate final training modules (year 3) Planed graduate and practitioner training modules include: Urban FEW footprinting: assessing direct & indirect city FEW demand (PI Ramaswami) Food waste-to-value technology and policy options (Co-PI Ren) Assessing multiple co-benefits of urban agriculture (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski) Designing and evaluating diet change campaigns (Co-PI Peterson) Urban heat island monitoring network (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Twine) Food policy council decision tools and metrics (PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Siddiki) Additionally, in the summer of 2021, PI Anu Ramaswami will co-host (with Chad Higgins at Oregon State University) the final INFEWS PI workshop, which will provide an opportunity for researchers to learn about projects across INFEWS and formulate ways to synthesize and carry their research forward. The event plans to provide opportunities for participation for both young scholars and professionals working in INFEWS-related fields. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The team has actively engaged public audiences through a robust food action planning process in the city of Minneapolis. From April 2019-March 2020, the INFEWS team PI Ramaswami and Research Manager Boyermet twice monthly with the Minneapolis Food Policy Council to coordinate and cocreate the food action planning process. Every other month the largerINFEWS team participated in a public presentation of INFEWS research related to food action planning. Going forward,we plan to disseminate results, along with training modules for policymakers and practitioners, to a cohort ofcities (both in the US and internationally)inyears 2-3 of the project. This will include leveraging co-learning workshops to translate deep-dive MSP findings for a broader general training context. To reach academic audiences, our INFEWS team already hastwo publications already under review, and many more in preparation, and plans to present INFEWS research as relevant food-energy-water conferences. As part of the 2021 INFEWS workshop, researchers will produce white papers and/or journal articles synthesizing key takeways of the event. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, in line with the work plan of the proposal, Year 2 work will include: THEME 1 (Distributed urban agriculture) Year 2 will include the second season of urban agriculture field testing, including soil testingand long term gardenerinput diaries Furtherdevelop fine-scale WRF model THEME 2 (Food waste valorization) Collecting results for bioreactor benchmarking; Assess diverse mixes of food waste inputs and biochar assessments in field/greenhouse tests THEME 3 (Behavior change for diets and food waste separation) Implement cafeteria intervention in HealthPartners (once cafeteria activity has resumed post-COVID 19 Expand cafeteria intervention to a city or university collate results of studies and share with Theme 5 THEME 4 (Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence) Continue on-going development of analysis methods and tools for scenario modeling; Continue engaging with the community of Minneapolis to implement modeling, share insights, and co-develop visuals for the community, culminating with the creation of the Minneapolis Food Action Plan. THEME 5 (Evaluating co-learning & convergence science with cities) Multi-dimensional learning surveys and interviews in Minneapolis Streamline questionnaires for evaluating learning in city workshops and broad food policy networks Dissemination: In the next reporting period, we will also begin work on creating training materials (described in "What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?") Additionally, several journal article manuscripts in preparation this year will be completed and submitted in the next award period. Hosting the INFEWS PI Workshop 2021 Lead PI Ramaswami was selected to host the combined 2020-21 closing INFEWS PI workshop in partnership with Chad Higgins at Oregon State University. The event will bring PIs from the 120+ INFEWS projects to Princeton's campus to share and synthesize research across INFEWS projects, with an expected attendance size of 250+ participants.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? The following accomplishments were achieved for each theme as of June 2020. THEME 1: Distributed urban agriculture (Direct & indirect benefits across household, community and commercial gardens) Proposed Timespan: Years 1-2 Leads: PI Ramaswami, Co-PI Jelinski Urban farm field tests Soil testing planned for ~50 gardens in summer 2020, with accompanying diary survey across the summer to estimate yield and material inputs for life cycle assessment (Nic Jelinski, Anu Ramaswami) Six-week garden input diary planned for ~20 gardeners to estimate material inputs against yield to develop a community & household gardening LCA Nutrition study pilot planned for summer 2021to assess differences in diets between household gardeners, community gardeners, and non-gardeners across multiple cities with the use of the NIH dietary recall survey (ASA24) (Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer) Spatial mapping of urban farms and 3D urban form - completed Publication submitted to Landscape & Urban Planning in Feb. 2019 describing method and application to the Twin Cities of mapping household and community gardens (Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer, Rachel Kosse, Graham Ambrose, Peter Nixon) 3D modeling conducted 2019-2020 and provided for WRF modeling (Anu Ramaswami, Mike Milnar) Air temperature monitoring Bicycling heat island study planned for summer 2020 in Minneapolis to assess the potential cooling effects of urban agriculture as a function of plot size and distance from plot (Tracy Twine, Anu Ramaswami) (change from HOBO to bicycling approach, based off a study from Wisconsin, Madison, Ziter et al. 2019, PNAS) Fine-scale WRF modeling for urban heat island WRF modeling on-going to model urban heat island in Minneapolis (Tracy Twine, Anu Ramaswami, Stefan Lies, Mike Milnar) Subjective wellbeing of gardeners - completed Compared community gardeners versus household gardeners tracked with phone app summer 2019 (Publication in prep) (Anu Ramaswami, Graham Ambrose, Kirti Das, Yingling Fan). Publication is in prep, with intent to submit July 2020 THEME 2: Food waste valorization Proposed Timespan: Years 1-3 Lead: Co-PI Ren Developing experimental protocols for bioreactor benchmarking & results Lab testing fall 2019: Matrix experiment with adjustments to feedstock/seed ration for multiple food waste types; developed methods for biogas and primary fermentation products Next steps: Materials classifications and electrofermentation Diverse mixes of food waste inputs and biochar assessment Exploring potential of greenhouse studyin order to increase the amount of yield testing of different combinations than the traditional field plots (Jason Ren, Nic Jelinski) Systems-based LCA and footprinting of above results (Anu Ramaswami, Jason Ren) Planned for late 2020 THEME 3: Behavior change for diets and food waste separation Proposed Timespan: Years 1-2 Lead: Co-PI Peterson Coordinate with HealthPartners for cafeteria intervention Literature review of diet change interventions, identifying key areas to advance science in design of intervention (Hikaru Peterson, Masoumeh Heshmatpour) Ongoing coordination with HealthPartners, Peterson research team, and cafeteria vendors (Hikaru Peterson, Masoumeh Heshmatpour, Tom Kottke, Marna Canterbury) Interventions include: increasing hot veg options; fixed price salad bar; timing of messaging Assessment will include short- and long-term diet changes Expand cafeteria intervention to city or university (Hikaru Peterson, Masoumeh Heshmatpour) Ongoing discussions with Princeton dining services (Smitha Haneef) Conduct food waste messaging pilot w Minneapolis (Hikaru Peterson, Masoumeh Heshmatpour) Pursuing PI Peterson's existing partnership with the city of Maplewood, MN characterizing food waste Collate results of above studies to share with Theme 5 (Hikaru Peterson, Masoumeh Heshmatpour) THEME 4: Coupled Biophysical-Social Scenario Modeling for Convergence Proposed Timespan: Years 1-3 Lead: PI Ramaswami Work w/ Minneapolis to co-develop parameters for SUrF convergence science interactions Twice-monthly meetings (coinciding with executive food council meetings and full council meetings) held since spring 2019 to coordinate food action planning process (Tamara Down-Schwei, Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer) Coordinate w/ Minneapolis to co-develop scenarios Insights from community input gathered from 6 public meetings (2019-2020) (Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer, Tamara Down-Schwei) Establish an agenda for food policy council working group sessions Process for public meetings every other month, matched with debriefing and synthesis meetings on alternative months was co-created with research team, City of Minneapolis and community representatives through the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council. This process was implemented from 2019-2020. (Tamara Downs-Schwei, Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer) Develop analysis methods and tools for scenario modeling On-going modeling of urban farms and greenery impact on urban flooding (Anu Ramaswami, Lin Zeng) On-going modeling of the environmental impacts of increasing urban agriculture (Anu Ramaswami, Peter Nixon) On-going modeling of indirect benefits of urban agriculture and greenery on the energy system (Anu Ramaswami, Kangkang Tong) Implement modeling, share insights and co-develop visuals for the community Select insights shared with community members during 6 public meetings (2019-2020) (Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer, Tamara Down-Schwei) Ongoing community engagement planned with city to reach diverse communities (Tamara Down-Schwei, Anu Ramaswami, Dana Boyer) THEME 5: Evaluating Co-learning & convergence science with cities Proposed Timespan: Years 2-3 (currently in planning stage) Lead: Co-PI Siddiki Multi-dimensional learning surveys and interviews in MSP Instrument in progress (Saba Siddiki, Anu Ramaswami, Graham Ambrose) Streamline questionnaires for evaluating learning in city workshops and broad food policy networks Work on this deliverable will occur in the next reporting period. Analyze larger n city data for structural/institutional convergence factors On-going discussions in policy partners (ICLEI, UN Environment) on city partnerships

    Publications

    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Innovations in the food system: Exploring the future of food: Proceedings of a workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. A Ramaswami Contributor to: Chapter 3 Innovations in Food Production and Processing and Implications for Food Systems
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Boyer, D., R. Kosse, G. Ambrose, P. Nixon, A. Ramaswami (2020). A hybrid transect & remote sensing approach for mapping urban agriculture: informing food action plans & metrics. In revision at Landscape & Urban Planning.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: E. Bell, M. Chaney, T. LaShae, M. Anderson, C. Baglien, N.A. Jelinski. The Future of Urban Agriculture. Panel Session Presentation. 2019 Food Justice Summit, Duluth, MN, Nov. 4-6, 2019.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Nicklay, J.A., V. Cadieux, N.A. Jelinski, K. LaBine, M. Rogers, G.E. Small. Initial trends in ecosystem service metrics of urban agriculture in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Oral Presentation Presenter: J.A. Nicklay. 2019 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, San Antonio, TX, Nov. 10-13, 2019.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jelinski, N.A., K. LaBine. Urban Soil Interpretations. Oral Presentation Presenter: N.A. Jelinski. 2019 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings, San Antonio, TX, Nov. 10-13, 2019.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. Minneapolis Food Action Plan -Topic 1: Food Justice & Equity. Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN, May 15, 2019.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ramaswami, A, D Boyer, T Downs-Schwei, T Kottke, M Canterbury. Minneapolis Food Action Plan -Topic 2: Diets & Community-wide Demand. Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN. July 24, 2019.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ramaswami, A, D Boyer, T Downs-Schwei. Minneapolis Food Action Plan -Topic 3: Agricultural Food Production.Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN.Sept. 11, 2019
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. Minneapolis Food Action Plan -Topic 4: Processing, Wholesale, Retail, Distribution. Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN.November 13, 2020.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. Minneapolis Food Action Plan -Topic 5: Food Waste Generation & Management. Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN.January 8, 2020.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Boyer, D, T Downs-Schwei, A Ramaswami. Minneapolis Food Action Plan Meeting, Topic 6: Governance, Finance & Implementation. Community & stakeholder input meeting for Minneapolis Food Action Plan. Minneapolis, MN.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ramaswami, A. Sustainable Urban Food Systems and Food Action Planning in the U.S. and India.Princeton Environmental Institute Faculty Seminar. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. Dec. 3, 2019.
    • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ramaswami, A. Shrink Your Foods Carbon Footprint. Community presentation to Sustainable Princeton. June 4, 2020
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nicklay, J.A., V. Cadieux, M.A. Rogers, N.A. Jelinski, K. LaBine, G.E. Small. In Review. Facilitating Spaces of Urban Agroecology Learning: a Framework for Practicing Participatory Community-University Partnerships. Submitted to: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems: Agroecology and Ecosystem Services (invited contribution).
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Milnar, M., & A. Ramaswami (2020). The impact of urban expansion and in-situ greenery on community-wide carbon emissions: Method development and insights from eleven US cities. Submitted to Environmental Science & Technology