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Blending agricultural education (AE) and environmental education (EE) frameworks is a promising pathway towards the goals of boosting environmental engagement and support for local agricultural systems among broad public audiences. However, thoughtful and intentional collaboration between researchers is needed to facilitate these outcomes. We feel it is important to collapse existing disciplinary walls between AE and EE to effectively reposition both as critical public goods and address inequitable access to environmental and agricultural knowledge among the next generation. In this paper, we outline the historical context for the silos between U.S.-based AE and EE programmatic and research practice. We then present a new collaborative structure for scholars in both fields to work together to build agricultural and environmental literacy in support of environmentally sustainable, economically robust, and socially responsible agroecosystems. Ultimately, we aim to create structures for broader and more collaborative efforts through which to improve agricultural and environmental literacy for new generations of learners.

As the social fabric of US agriculture continues to change, it is important to investigate the set of challenges that minority farmers face. Given women’s increasing leadership in agriculture and their traditional involvement in rural communities, we took an othering lens to position them as the centered voice to evaluate the suite of challenges they perceive to experience as compared to their male counterparts and in relation to other minority farmers. Data collected from 180 women farmers indicated that responsibilities stemming from their family caregiving role and the current agricultural system exert more pressure on women than on men. Yet, family caregiving responsibilities represent a greater burden for women farmers than the current agricultural system, a finding that responding women perceived to be reversed for men. Despite their disadvantaged position in agriculture, participating women perceived they were in better standing than Latin, first generation, transplant, and African American farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much of modern tourism research centers on the tourist as a leisure consumer, workers are frequently overlooked. Despite a recent uptick in attention to tourism work, the primary focus remains on employee's skills and qualifications. In contrast, the key contextual factors of race, ethnicity, and gender that surround tourism work are seldom examined. This comparative study addresses the theme of traditional gender roles, particularly in patriarchal societies, and how they affect tourism work. Specifically, it investigates how the presence of tourism influences cultural norms determining appropriate jobs for men and women. Utilizing an ethnographic field research approach, data were collected from participants in two indigenous Maya communities in Guatemala, each with differing models and lengths of tourism development. Free-listing exercises were used to elicit residents' perceptions of employment as it relates to gender in their community and cultural consensus analysis was used to analyze the data. Results show that neither community shares consensus on jobs for women and only one community shares consensus on men's jobs. Results suggest that tourism disrupts cultural norms related to gender roles; yet this may not always benefit women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public's burgeoning interest in authentic place-based experiences and local foods, as well as farmers' interest in increasing their incomes continue driving the development of agritourism. Although women often initiate agritourism, scant information identifies the factors contributing to or hindering their success. Therefore, this study combines feminist and systems approaches to identify the factors affecting women achievements in their functions as farmers and entrepreneurs and in various aspects of their lives. With such an aim, 216 women farmers in North Carolina (USA) were surveyed in 2017. Descriptive and inferential statistics of data collected indicate that women felt moderately successful in their farmer and entrepreneur roles, while self-fulfillment and business continuance appeared as the most important dimensions of their success. Significant models indicate that attributes at the personal, farm household, and society levels predict women's perceived functional success and the importance of different life aspects to their success. Study results move the literature of women in agritourism beyond entrepreneurial motivations by providing a thorough understanding of how gendered nuances in agriculture affect farm women's success in a holistic manner. This study also contributes to the sustainability of the agritourism practice by identifying attributes that increases chances of success among women farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]