The idea of “resilience” increasingly appears in development dialogue and discussion of food systems. While the academic concept of resilience has roots in diverse disciplines, climate change and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have led to a rapid intensification of interest in the concept as it applies to food systems. Both the broad conceptual roots and the swift increase in attention pose dangers of conceptual dilution, contradiction, and confusion as agronomists and other analysts of food systems incorporate the resilience concept into their work. In this publicly funded research, the authors present the results of an extensive search of literature and subsequent analysis. The overview examines conceptualizations of resilience more broadly, followed by a similar review within the food systems domain. The authors consider connections among related concepts under the broader umbrella of food security, such as vulnerability and risk, and discuss challenges and opportunities in the investigation of food system resilience. The review of concepts serves as a precursor to an investigation of measurement options in a rapidly expanding body of empirical research, as measurement should flow clearly from conceptualization. The analysis here presents various resilience measures at different levels and breaks down their components as they apply to food systems, identifying commonalities and divergences. The authors identify a glut of resilience conceptualizations and measurements but indicate avenues for consolidation and precision. The range of options means that researchers can likely find suitable existing subconcepts and measurements for their own work across many different types of shocks. The authors also discuss policy and practical applications, including connections to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and food system responses to climate change and pandemics.

Incorporating narrative elements into risk communication may encourage preparation for environmental hazards in ways that scientific language alone does not. We integrate narrative theory, narrative persuasion, and risk theories into a Narrative Risk Communication Framework and then assess the effectiveness of character selection as a narrative mechanism in scientific risk communication as compared to conventional science messaging alone. We utilize a survey experiment with residents along the flood-prone Yellowstone River in Montana and analyze the resulting data with a parallel and serial mediation statistical model. We find that positive affective response mediates the influence of narratives featuring hero character language. Positive affective response appears to overcome the risk perception paradox both by circumventing rational analysis of risk and by shaping risk perception. Overall, the results suggest that inspirational hero language is superior to language of fear or victimization in encouraging preparation – an important lesson for practitioners working to help citizens prepare for environmental disasters.

Purpose: Agriculture must transform as climate change progresses. The international community has promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as a set of solutions. Previous analyses of opportunities for scaling up CSA have not looked closely at building political and social support for policies, practices and programs. The purpose of this paper is to fill that gap in the case study country of Senegal. Design/methodology/approach: The study applies the conceptual definitions, operationalizations and assessment targets from the political will and public will (PPW) approach to social change. Semi-structured interviews and documents constitute the sources of data and information. Findings: The analysis identifies opportunities to generate political will for supplying an enabling environment for the widespread adoption of CSA. On the public will side, the analysis identifies opportunities to generate and channel demand for CSA. Research limitations/implications: Researchers investigated some definitional components more completely than others due to resource and access constraints. Further, the context specificity of the components limits generalizability of certain findings. Social implications: Social structures may need to change for successful adoption of certain CSA innovations, but improved agricultural outcomes are likely to result. Originality/value: This examination of crucial elements for scaling up CSA efforts constitutes the most extensive application of the PPW approach to date, thus providing an example of this generalizable method.

Instrument fidelity in message testing research hinges upon how precisely messages operationalize treatment conditions. However, numerous message testing studies have unmitigated threats to validity and reliability because no established procedures exist to guide construction of message treatments. Their construction typically occurs in a black box, resulting in suspect inferential conclusions about treatment effects. Because a mixed methods approach is needed to enhance instrument fidelity in message testing research, this article contributes to the field of mixed methods research by presenting an integrated multistage procedure for constructing precise message treatments using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. This work harnesses the power of integration through crossover analysis to improve instrument fidelity in message testing research through the use of natural language processing (NLP).

The global policy community has largely converged on climate-smart agriculture as a solution to various problems driven by climate change, but mass adoption of the crucial innovations presents challenges – particularly in the developing world. Widespread, meaningful, and rapid adoption of climate-smart agriculture will require an appropriate enabling environment. This study uses the political will and public will approach to identify the obstacles and opportunities for upscaling of climate-smart agriculture innovations. In 2015 and 2018, two rounds of semi-structured stakeholder and expert interviews conducted by researchers in Uganda identified four relevant obstacle categories: agricultural extension; communication infrastructure; basic and agricultural infrastructure; and other incentives and disincentives. These categories are related to the five definitional components of public will to reveal pathways for enabling social change. Importantly, both infrastructure and appropriate incentives are necessary for diffusion and then continued use of climate-smart agriculture innovations, often in interrelated ways. The study concludes with a detailed discussion of the implications for industry, government, and donors.