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Christy Anderson Brekken; Joe Hobson. Getting Organized Subtitle: Business Organization and Succession Planning for Oregon Family Farms and Ranches. Getting Organized Subtitle: Business Organization and Succession Planning for Oregon Family Farms and Ranches 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleChristy Anderson Brekken, Joe Hobson. Getting Organized Subtitle: Business Organization and Succession Planning for Oregon Family Farms and Ranches. Getting Organized Subtitle: Business Organization and Succession Planning for Oregon Family Farms and Ranches. 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChristy Anderson Brekken; Joe Hobson. 2020. "Getting Organized Subtitle: Business Organization and Succession Planning for Oregon Family Farms and Ranches." Getting Organized Subtitle: Business Organization and Succession Planning for Oregon Family Farms and Ranches , no. : 1.
There is an expanding interest in Local Food Systems (LFSs) in Vermont, along with a growing effort to create adaptive governance to facilitate action. In this case study, we investigate how adaptive governance of LFS can provide ideas and act as a catalyst for creating resilience in other social-ecological systems (SESs). By participating in meetings and interviewing stakeholders inside and outside the Vermont LFS network, we found that consumers were highly motivated to participate by supporting environmental issues, the local economy, and interactive communities, as well as building social relationships. Farmers experienced better income and increased respect in the local community. All participants found adequate “safe space” to share new ideas and explore partnerships. Their identities and values were also place-specific, reflecting the working landscape of Vermont. Adaptive governance was built on equal partnerships, where problems were discussed and responsibilities were shared among many stakeholders across geographic areas and multiple sectors. Some skepticism was expressed towards mainstreaming local food production and sales. Challenges remain to more fully include farmers, for-profit players, and low-income consumers in the network. This might limit the resilience and sustainability of the LFS. Because SESs are held together by common culture and identities, the risk of non-adaptive social patterns exemplifies one key challenge for future adaptive management towards resilient and sustainable outcomes. There is a critical need for developing relevant theory and conducting further research on LFSs and their potential roles in local SESs.
Kristine Lien Skog; Stine Elisabeth Eriksen; Christy Anderson Brekken; Charles Francis. Building Resilience in Social-Ecological Food Systems in Vermont. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4813 .
AMA StyleKristine Lien Skog, Stine Elisabeth Eriksen, Christy Anderson Brekken, Charles Francis. Building Resilience in Social-Ecological Food Systems in Vermont. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (12):4813.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKristine Lien Skog; Stine Elisabeth Eriksen; Christy Anderson Brekken; Charles Francis. 2018. "Building Resilience in Social-Ecological Food Systems in Vermont." Sustainability 10, no. 12: 4813.
In 2011, the Oregon legislature passed the Farm Direct Marketing Law (FDML), which took effect in 2012. The law clarified licensing and food safety requirements for direct-to-consumer sales at farmers markets, farm stands, and similar venues. It also included a “cottage food” provision allowing farms to make and sell certain low-risk, value-added products from farm-grown ingredients, direct to consumer, without a food processor’s license. Advocates predicted enhanced small farm viability through new products and revenue streams, market season extension, reduced processing costs, test marketing opportunities, and other avenues. Detractors warned the deregulation would cause outbreaks of foodborne illness. In 2016, the law’s fifth year, we explored these predictions and early outcomes. We conducted a focus group with stakeholders and semistructured interviews with two key informants, 18 farmers, and 24 farmers market managers around Oregon. We found farmers making and selling a variety of value-added products under the FDML. We found no foodborne illness linked to FDML products. Interviewees described multiple benefits resulting from the law, many corresponding to predicted benefits. They also described unanticipated benefits at the community level. Interviewees identified barriers and recommended changes related to the law and related education. We discuss the feasibility of these recommendations as well as the long-term potential of the cottage food provision. We end by reflecting on the FDML as a whole, as it supports Oregon’s direct market farming sector.
Lauren Gwin; Christy Anderson Brekken; Lindsay Trant. Farm Direct at Five Years: An Early Assessment of Oregon's Farm-Focused Cottage Food Law. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 2018, 8, 1 -20.
AMA StyleLauren Gwin, Christy Anderson Brekken, Lindsay Trant. Farm Direct at Five Years: An Early Assessment of Oregon's Farm-Focused Cottage Food Law. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2018; 8 (3):1-20.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLauren Gwin; Christy Anderson Brekken; Lindsay Trant. 2018. "Farm Direct at Five Years: An Early Assessment of Oregon's Farm-Focused Cottage Food Law." Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 8, no. 3: 1-20.
The sustainability of the food system is at the forefront of academic and policy discussions as we face the challenge of providing food security to a growing population amidst environmental uncertainty and depletion, social disruptions, and structural economic shocks and stresses. Crafting a sustainable and resilient food system requires us to go beyond disciplinary boundaries and broaden critical and creative thinking skills. Recent literature calls for examples of pedagogical transformations from food systems courses to identify successful practices and potential challenges. We offer a recipe for what to teach by framing systems thinking concepts, then discuss how to teach it with five learning activities: deductive case studies, experiential learning, reflective narrative learning, system dynamics simulations and scenarios, and inductive/open-ended case studies, implemented with collaborative group learning, inter/trans-disciplinarity, and instructor-modeled co-learning. Each learning activity is animated with concrete examples from our courses at Oregon State University, University of Minnesota, and University of Vermont, USA. We discuss opportunities and challenges implementing these strategies in light of student, instructor, and institutional expectations and constraints. But the challenge is worth the effort, because food system transformation requires active learners and systemic thinkers as engaged citizens, food system advocates, entrepreneurs, and policy makers.
Christy Anderson Brekken; Hikaru Hanawa Peterson; Robert P. King; David Conner. Writing a Recipe for Teaching Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons from Three University Courses. Sustainability 2018, 10, 1898 .
AMA StyleChristy Anderson Brekken, Hikaru Hanawa Peterson, Robert P. King, David Conner. Writing a Recipe for Teaching Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons from Three University Courses. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (6):1898.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChristy Anderson Brekken; Hikaru Hanawa Peterson; Robert P. King; David Conner. 2018. "Writing a Recipe for Teaching Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons from Three University Courses." Sustainability 10, no. 6: 1898.
We conducted interviews with 18 direct market (DM) farmers to explore the implications of the Oregon minimum wage (MW) increase for the state’s DM agricultural sector. How, if at all, will DM farms in the Willamette Valley (OR, USA) adjust their production and marketing practices in response to the MW increase? How will these adjustments affect DM farm viability, farmworkers, the environment, and the communities in which the farms are embedded? This region has a vibrant food system with many small-to-mid sized, diversified farms that sell through direct and intermediated marketing channels. The diversified production and marketing practices of these DM farmers are labor intensive and, in many respects, environmentally friendly. These practices result in relatively high costs and the farmers’ ability to respond by increasing prices is constrained by mainstream retail prices. Most growers reported that they will adjust to the MW increase by reducing their production and marketing costs with a decrease in total labor hours being an important strategy. This study, while small and exploratory, is the first in Oregon (and perhaps nationally) to collect empirical farm-level data about how DM farms will adjust to a MW increase. It sets the stage for future research.
Lindsay Trant; Christy Anderson Brekken; Larry Lev; Lauren Gwin. Implications of the 2016 Oregon Minimum Wage Increase for Direct Market Farmers, Farmworkers, and Communities. Sustainability 2018, 10, 370 .
AMA StyleLindsay Trant, Christy Anderson Brekken, Larry Lev, Lauren Gwin. Implications of the 2016 Oregon Minimum Wage Increase for Direct Market Farmers, Farmworkers, and Communities. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (2):370.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLindsay Trant; Christy Anderson Brekken; Larry Lev; Lauren Gwin. 2018. "Implications of the 2016 Oregon Minimum Wage Increase for Direct Market Farmers, Farmworkers, and Communities." Sustainability 10, no. 2: 370.
Rural communities have faced significant socio-economic challenges for the past several decades due to structural shifts and changing social expectations regarding the management, production of, and markets for natural resources, including production agriculture. The New Natural Resource Economy (NNRE) is an economic development approach to the use of natural resources, including agriculture, in ways that can build healthy environments and healthy, resilient local economies (Hibbard and Lurie, 2013). A major attribute of the NNRE is its focus on very small businesses, the predominant business type in rural settings. Emerging trends, such as regional food networks (RFNs) that connect food producers to consumers within a state or local region, may provide opportunities for rural communities to diversify and expand local businesses around the use of natural resources, thereby helping to restore greater capacity for self-direction and adding to local community vitality. Thus, we address whether RFNs in rural Oregon counties display characteristics of an NNRE development strategy through the relationships between agricultural producers and consumers that support very small agricultural enterprises. Based on analysis of Oregon producer survey data from 2016 in the more rural resource-dependent Oregon counties, we find that the RFN producer survey respondents are indeed very small businesses engaged in small-scale, multifunctional agriculture. They are motivated by economic, social, and environmental concerns as they contribute to the economic activity in their communities. We also surveyed Oregon consumers, finding that although consumer survey respondents in the same region are not primarily driven to buy local based on environmental considerations, they are nonetheless interested in supporting agriculture and local businesses. The demand for local products can create a virtuous cycle contributing to the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of the community. Given appropriate policy and program support, there is fertile ground to create new opportunities to generate farm income and acquire food within the NNRE healthy environment-healthy economy paradigm for rural economic development.
Susan Lurie; Christy Anderson Brekken. The role of local agriculture in the new natural resource economy (NNRE) for rural economic development. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 2017, 34, 395 -405.
AMA StyleSusan Lurie, Christy Anderson Brekken. The role of local agriculture in the new natural resource economy (NNRE) for rural economic development. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2017; 34 (5):395-405.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSusan Lurie; Christy Anderson Brekken. 2017. "The role of local agriculture in the new natural resource economy (NNRE) for rural economic development." Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 34, no. 5: 395-405.