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Background There is recognition that a reduction of consumer demand for foods that have large environmental footprints is necessary. Recent innovations in food production technologies (“food frontiers”) claim to offer gains in ecological sustainability and global food security, thereby transitioning our food system toward a more sustainable future. Yet, scientific evidence to support these claims has not been critically reviewed for several high-profile innovations. Scope and approach In this paper, we undertake a critical review of the literature on five food frontiers: cellular agriculture, climate-driven northern agricultural expansion (NAE), controlled environment agriculture (CEA), entomophagy, and seaweed aquaculture. We estimate the feasibility of each frontier’s widespread implementation by 2050 and their potential positive impacts on food system sustainability. We highlight uncertainty regarding ecological tradeoffs and future production potential in the literature, research gaps, and policy pathways that may maximize the benefits of these food frontiers. Key findings and conclusions Entomophagy, cellular agriculture, CEA, and seaweed aquaculture have similar positive impact values. Yet, CEA appears to be the most feasible technology to implement at scale. The mixed potential impacts of NAE suggest that such expansion poses multiple risks to the global food system. Standardized approaches to modeling environmental parameters in life cycle analyses are required, so that predicted impacts can be reasonably compared within and among these bodies of literature. Further critical social scientific engagement is needed to better understand the political and institutional frameworks in which these food frontiers will be implemented.

The application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, cellular agriculture, and big data analytics to food systems has been described as a digital agricultural revolution with the potential to increase food security and reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. Yet, the scientific evidence informing how these technologies may impact or enhance ecosystem services has not been comprehensively reviewed. In this scoping review, we examine how digital agricultural technologies may enhance agriculture’s support of ecosystem services. Keyword searches in academic databases resulted in 2337 records, of which 74 records met review criteria and were coded. We identify three clusters of digital agricultural technologies including those that make farm management more precise, increase connectivity, and create novel foods. We then examine modelling and empirical evidence gaps in research linking these technologies to ecosystem services. Finally, we overview barriers to implementing digital agricultural technologies for better ecosystem services management in the Canadian context including economic and political systems; lack of policies on data management, governance, and cybersecurity; and limited training and human resources that prevents producers from fully utilizing these technologies.

Climate change will create warmer temperatures, greater precipitation, and longer growing seasons in northern latitudes making agriculture increasingly possible in boreal regions. To assess the potential of any such expansion, this paper provides a first-order approximation of how much land could become suitable for four staple crops (corn, potato, soy, and wheat) in Canada by 2080. In addition, we estimate how the environmental trade-offs of northern agricultural expansion will impact critical ecosystem services. Primarily, we evaluate how the regulatory ecosystem services of carbon storage and sequestration and the habitat services supporting biodiversity would be traded for the provisioning services of food production. Here we show that under climate change projected by Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM2) Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, ∼1.85 million km2of land may become suitable for farming in Canada’s North, which, if utilized, would lead to the release of ∼15 gigatonnes of carbon if all forests and wetlands are cleared and plowed. These land-use changes would also have profound implications for Indigenous sovereignty and the governance of protected and conserved areas in Canada. These results highlight that research is urgently needed so that stakeholders can become aware of the scope of potential economic opportunities, cultural issues, and environmental trade-offs required for agricultural sustainability in Canada.

The development of modern, industrial agriculture and its high input-high output carbon energy model is rendering agricultural landscapes less resilient. The expected continued increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, in conjunction with declining soil health and biodiversity losses, could make food more expensive to produce. The United Nations has called for global action by establishing 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), four of which are linked to food production and security: declining biodiversity (SDG 15), loss of ecosystem services and agroecosystem stability caused by increasing stress from food production intensification and climate change (SDG 13), declining soil health caused by agricultural practices (SDGs 2 and 6), and dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to maintain high productivity (SDG 2). To achieve these SDGs, the agriculture sector must take a leading role in reversing the many negative environmental trends apparent in today's agricultural landscapes to ensure that they will adapt and be resilient to climate change in 2030 and beyond. This will demand fundamental changes in how we practice agriculture from an environmental standpoint. Here, we present a perspective focused on the implementation of an agrosystem approach, which we define to promote regenerative agriculture, an integrative approach that provides greater resilience to a changing climate, reverses biodiversity loss, and improves soil health; honors Indigenous ways of knowing and a holistic approach to living off and learning from the land; and supports the establishment of emerging circular economies and community well-being. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1199-1205. © 2021 SETAC.

The study aims to deepen understanding of how Early Generation Seeds value chain constraints impede commercialization and adoption of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) or improved Maize seeds by smallholders in Ghana within the broader strategies of a “Green Revolution for Africa”. Using qualitative and quantitative information obtained through one-on-one interviews with 15 key informants, a household survey from 110 smallholder farmers and document reviews, we discuss constraints and bottlenecks engendered by value chain structures, processes and mechanisms in Ghana's formal seed distribution system. Seven main challenges were identified that undermine trust and hinder the expansion of HYVs: (1) the limited capacity of public institutions, (2) constrained capacity of the emerging private sector, (3) a lack of well-defined, fair and enforceable contracts between stakeholders in the delivery system, (4) land-tenure limitations, (5) poor forecasting of farmers' demands for seeds by research institutions and seed producers, (6) sparse marketing arrangements for improved maize seeds, and (7) concentration of power to control seed supply in the hands of few institutions. We argue these seven issues weaken power asymmetry within the maize seed value chain's governance mechanism to create nodal points that give prominence to key public institutions, NGOs, and research institutions who control the production and distribution of improved seeds. Ultimately, trust among actors and its value chain outputs is undermined, negatively affecting the commercialization, availability, and adoption of improved seeds. Moving forward, upgrading the maize seed value chain must be pursued through targeted public and private sector relationships that acknowledge diverse actors' critical roles in the value chain.

In recent years, Smart Farming (SF) and Precision Agriculture (PA) have attracted attention from both the agriculture industry as well as the research community. Altogether, SF and PA aim to help farmers use inputs (such as fertilizers and pesticides) more efficiently through using Internet of Things (IoT) devices, but in doing so, they create new security threats that can defeat this purpose in the absence of adequate awareness and proper countermeasures. A survey on different security-related challenges is required to raise awareness and pave they way for further research in this area. In this paper, we first itemize the security aspects of SF and PA. Next, we review the types of cyber attacks that can violate each of these aspects. Accordingly, we present a taxonomy on cyber-threats to SF and PA on the basis of their relations to different stages of Cyber-Kill Chain (CKC). Among cyber-threats, we choose Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) for further study. Finally, we studied related risk mitigation strategies and countermeasure, and developed a future road map for further study in this area. This paper’s main contribution is a categorization of security threats within the SF/PA areas and provide a taxonomy of security threats for SF environments so that we may detect the behavior of APT attacks and any other security threat in SF and PA environments.

To increase donations of nutritious food, Ontario introduced a tax credit for farmers who donate agricultural products to food banks in 2013. This research seeks to investigate the role of Ontario’s Food Donation Tax Credit for Farmers in addressing both food loss and waste (FLW) and food insecurity through a case study of fresh produce rescue in Windsor-Essex, Ontario. This research also documents the challenges associated with rescuing fresh produce from farms, as well as alternatives to donating. Interviews with food banks, producers and key informants revealed that perceptions of the tax credit, and the credit’s ability to address FLW and food insecurity, contrasted greatly with the initial perceptions of the policymakers who created the tax credit. In particular, the legislators did not anticipate the logistical challenges associated with incentivizing this type of donation, nor the limitations of a donation-based intervention to provide food insecure Ontarians with access to fresh, nutritious food.

Background Modern food supply chains are complex and contain numerous stakeholders, with each performing specific roles pertaining to food production. As food supply chains become more complex, the importance of food production transparency increases. Several factors contribute to the need for transparency such as an increase in the global population, detection of foodborne illness outbreaks, efficient management of risks and recalls, and satisfying consumer demand. A case in point is the necessity that food production systems become more sustainable through improvements in production efficiency and reducing the wasting of resources and food. Other examples include the need for timely identification of the source of food production, in addition to requiring a more rapid knowledge of the cause of contamination during outbreaks of foodborne illness. Scope and approach This review sets out to describe enabling technologies, provided by the Internet of Things (IoT), which have the potential to increase food production transparency. In addition, other technologies important for managing and using food supply chain data, such as blockchain and Big Data analytics, are reviewed. The IoT is the overarching technology which allows for data collection from multiple phases within supply chains leading to data driven transparent systems of food production. Key findings and conclusions Enabling transparency in food supply chains via implementation of technologies will require considerable effort from all stakeholders involved, resulting in many new challenges and requirements that must be addressed. These challenges and requirements range from technical issues, such as Internet connection, storage requirements, device security, and government requirements and regulations, to those concerning consumer acceptance.

Digital technologies are being developed and adopted across the agro‐food system, from farm to fork. Within decision‐making spaces, however, little attention is being paid to political factors arising from such technological developments. This review draws from critical social sciences to examine emerging technologies and big data systems in agriculture and assesses some key issues arising in the field. We begin with an introduction and review of the so‐called ‘digital revolution’ and then briefly outline how political economy is effective for understanding major challenges for governing technologies and data systems in agriculture. These challenges include: (1) data ownership and control, (2) the production of technologies and data development, and (3) data security. We then use literature and examples to consider the extent to which the political and economic landscape can be shifted to support greater equity in agriculture, while reflecting on structural challenges and limits. In doing so, we emphasise that while there are significant systemic tensions between digital ag‐tech development and agroecological approaches, we do not see them as mutually exclusive per se. This article intends to provide decision‐makers, practitioners and scholars from a wide range of disciplines with a timely assessment of agro‐food digitalisation that attends to political economic factors. In doing so, this article contributes to policy and decision‐making discussions, which, from our perspective, continue to be rather technocentric in nature while paying little attention to how digital technologies can support agroecological systems specifically.

The livelihoods of people dependent on the Tonle Sap floodplain ecosystem in Cambodia are expected to be affected by changes in economic conditions, social circumstances, environmental perturbations, demographic shifts and political climates. This study assesses how small‐scale fisheries’ livelihoods are changing in response to social and environmental conditions using the opinions of fishers collected through an intensive family survey of 514 households from Pursat and Battambang Provinces in Cambodia. Probit modelling approach was used to assess whether a fisher would continue fishing or not in the future when subjected to a variety of shifting conditions and identify the factors associated with their response. It was found that in any future condition about 50% of fishers would likely continue to fish, which suggests how much they love their traditional livelihood of fishing. The remaining 50% considered to diversify their livelihood strategy by shifting towards a combination of fishing, farming, and off‐farm jobs. Furthermore, the analysis found that the fishers will change their fishing practices depending on how other sectors in the region develop. The model showed increasing access to agricultural activities decreased the likelihood of continuing to fish, whereas finding an off‐farm job corresponded to increased likelihood of continuing to fish.

Global social and economic changes, alongside climate change, are affecting the operating environment for agriculture, leading to efforts to increase production and yields, typically through the use of agrochemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, expanded irrigation, and changes in seed varieties. Intensification, alongside the expansion of agriculture into new areas, has increased harvest, but has also had numerous well-known impacts on the environment, ultimately resulting in a loss of resilience and lack of sustainability in agro-ecosystems. Combined with features of agricultural systems such as the differential movement of ecosystem services, and interactions among ecosystem services driven in part by management choices, such intensification has disrupted key feedbacks in agricultural systems. These changes have tended to perpetuate the management choices that have led to efficient, productive agriculture, often at the expense of nature and the provision of important nonfood ecosystem services. Here, we explore how agriculture functions as a complex adaptive system. We assess how recent changes have interacted with agro-ecosystem features to result in a loss of resilience, and suggest key research directions to help harmonize production and ecosystem function, drawing primarily on Canadian examples. Enhancing the resilience of agricultural landscapes is critical to the long-term sustainability of agriculture in a rapidly changing world.

In most climate change research, agricultural yields are explained as a function of climatic and biophysical factors such as soil, rainfall and temperature. However, the increased use of integrated sensors, digital technologies and robotics within the agricultural sector has dramatically altered the way in which we produce food. Considering both the agriculture industry’s continuing widespread technological innovation and a rapidly changing biophysical environment, there is a need to explore how sociotechnical and climatic variables interact to determine yield. In this paper, we present a regression model derived from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) yield data, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) climate and land capability data, and Statistics Canada Census of Agriculture databases that include sociotechnical variables such as farms that use GIS and GPS had access to high-speed internet alongside more traditional biophysical factors to predict canola (rape seed) yields in the southern prairies of Canada. We demonstrated that about 38% of canola yield variability could be explained by temperature and rainfall during the growing season (defined as 3 months of June, July and August) and access to high-speed internet, application of chemical fertilizer, fungicides and average age of farm operators. While of a preliminary nature, our results demonstrate that a better understanding of how climatic and sociotechnical factors interact is necessary to anticipate how climate change may affect the crop yield.

Meeting future food demands for 9 billion people in the next 30 years will require either agricultural expansion or intensification to increase production. However, agriculture is already a major driver of biodiversity loss, as well as freshwater withdrawals, nutrient inputs, and greenhouse gasses, among other pressing environmental issues. In this paper, we look for solutions to this production-conservation challenge at the subfield scale. We use precision agriculture yield data from three farms in Southern Ontario and convert them into “profit maps” that show which regions of a field have management costs that exceed the market value of the commodities produced. We analyse the profit of three farms over time and identify areas that consistently show low or negative profit and thus constitute a compelling case for taking these areas out of production. We find, for example, that up to 14% of farmland can result in money loss and even more than 50% of the land might still not meet minimum revenue expectations. Further, we assess the economic feasibility of conservation strategies on these set-aside lands and find that investing in environmental benefits (even minimally) can often times be inexpensive when compared with economic losses due to failed harvests. We argue that profit mapping can serve as a management tool for farmers that will allow them to identify optimal crop areas, optimize nutrient inputs, plan for ecological intensification, and avoid economic loss all while providing ecosystem services at the local scale.

Agriculture stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, and the same technologies that created the Internet and are transforming medicine are now being applied in our farms and on our fields. Overall, this digital agricultural revolution is being driven by the low cost of collecting data on everything from soil conditions to animal health and crop development along with weather station data and data collected by drones and satellites. The promise of these technologies is more food, produced on less land, with fewer inputs and a smaller environmental footprint. At present, however, barriers to realizing this potential include a lack of ability to aggregate and interpret data in such a way that it results in useful decision support tools for farmers and the need to train farmers in how to use new tools. This article reviews the state of the literature on the promise and barriers to realizing the potential for Big Data to revolutionize agriculture.

Agricultural digitization is revolutionizing food production with promises to increase both yield and environmental sustainability through the reduction of chemical inputs. However, it is unclear whether the adoption of digital agricultural technologies can also play a role in preventing or reducing food loss and waste. Examples of technologies used in food loss and waste reduction include ‘smart packaging’ that changes colour as food spoils, or Blockchain and radio-frequency identification tags that track information to identify potential sources of contamination along the food supply chain. Here, a systematic literature review was conducted to investigate the role of digital agricultural technologies in enabling food loss and waste prevention/reduction or lack thereof from a global perspective. To explore the digital agricultural technologies-food loss and waste dynamics, this review employed four conceptual frameworks relevant to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 12 and Target 12.3 to foster responsible consumption and production patterns and to halve per capita food waste respectively by 2030. The four frameworks include (i) environmental sustainability, (ii) economic efficiency, (iii) social equity, and (iv) substantive governance and policies. The review findings demonstrate that prohibitive investment costs and the digital divide between technology adaptors limit the wide uptake of digital agricultural technologies. Where adoptions were evident, the rationale to do so was centered on boosting economic gains, reducing food production costs, and/or alleviating food insecurity. Food loss and waste prevention was rarely the principal technology adoption driver. The dynamics between digital agricultural technologies and food loss and waste prevention deserve rigorous examination to support practical policy options that invigorate sustainable food systems.

A “digital revolution” in agriculture is underway. Advanced technologies like sensors, artificial intelligence, and robotics are increasingly being promoted as a means to increase food production efficiency while minimizing resource use. In the process, agricultural digitalization raises critical social questions about the implications for diverse agricultural labourers and rural spaces as digitalization evolves. In this paper, we use literature and field data to outline some key trends being observed at the nexus of agricultural production, technology, and labour in North America, with a particular focus on the Canadian context. Using the data, we highlight three key tensions observed: rising land costs and automation; the development of a high-skill/low-skilled bifurcated labour market; and issues around the control of digital data. With these tensions in mind, we use a social justice lens to consider the potential implications of digital agricultural technologies for farm labour and rural communities, which directs our attention to racial exploitation in agricultural labour specifically. In exploring these tensions, we argue that policy and research must further examine how to shift the trajectory of digitalization in ways that support food production as well as marginalized agricultural labourers, while pointing to key areas for future research—which is lacking to date. We emphasize that the current enthusiasm for digital agriculture should not blind us to the specific ways that new technologies intensify exploitation and deepen both labour and spatial marginalization.

It is well-recognised that to achieve long-term sustainable and resilient land management we need to understand the coupled dynamics of social and ecological systems. Land use change scenarios will often aim to understand (i) the behaviours of land management, influenced by direct and indirect drivers, (ii) the resulting changes in land use and (iii) the environmental implications of these changes. While the literature in this field is extensive, approaches to parameterise coupled systems through integration of empirical social science based models and ecology based models still need further development. We propose an approach to land use dynamics modelling based on the integration of behavioural models derived from choice experiments and spatially explicit systems dynamics modelling. This involves the specification of a choice model to parameterise land use behaviour and the integration with a spatial habitat succession model. We test this approach in an upland socio-ecological system in the United Kingdom. We conduct a choice experiment with land managers in the Peak District National Park. The elicited preferences form the basis for a behavioural model, which is integrated with a habitat succession model to predict the landscape level vegetation impacts. The integrated model allows us to create projections of how land use may change in the future under different environmental and policy scenarios, and the impact this may have on landscape vegetation patterns. We illustrate this by showing future projection of landscape changes related to hypothetical changes to EU level agricultural management incentives. The advantages of this approach are (i) the approach takes into account potential environmental and management feedbacks, an aspect often ignored in choice modelling, (ii) the behavioural rules are revealed from actual and hypothetical choice data, which allow the research to test the empirical evidence for various determinants of choice, (iii) the behavioural choice models generate probabilities of alternative behaviours which make them ideally suited for integration with simulation models. The paper concludes that the modelling approach offers a promising route for linking socio-economic and ecological features of socio-ecological systems. Furthermore, our proposed approach allows testing of the underlying socio-economic and environmental drivers and their interaction in real environmental systems.

For farmers in rural Africa, climate change could significantly alter the natural environment, leading to a loss of income, food security and well-being; however, much remains unknown about the way a change in climate may affect a person's decision to migrate away from their home. Using a framework based on migration aspirations and capabilities, this paper examines how climate stresses (such as droughts that cause a long-term decline in harvests) and climate shocks (i.e. acute food shortages and sudden flooding) may affect migration decision-making in rural Malawi. Drawing on survey (n = 255), interview (n = 75) and focus group (n = 93) data from rural and urban dwellers, we find that climate stresses typically do not change rural dwellers’ aspiration to leave their homes, except for a small group of younger farmers from better-off households. However, these same stresses may erode human, financial and social capital, thus reducing migration capability. Data also reveal that acute shocks erode both the m...

While experts agree that poverty, population, energy prices, climate change, and socio-political dynamics undermine global food security, there is no agreement on effective strategies to meet this challenge. For example, some promote “high tech” solutions (e.g. biotechnology) designed to boost yield while others prefer local food systems. To better understand these debates, this article explores four perspectives from the literature: (1) technology to increase food production; (2) equitable food distribution; (3) policies to reduce pollution and waste; and (4) community action to promote sovereign food systems. The paper concludes with recommendations on how food scientists can navigate these controversies to help research and policy making.

The Internet of things (IoT) aims to connect everything and everyone around the world to provide diverse applications that improve quality of life. In this technology, the preservation of data privacy plays a crucial role. Recently, many studies have leveraged machine learning (ML) as a strategy to address the privacy issues of IoT including scalability, interoperability, and resource limitation such as computation and energy. In this paper, we aim to review these studies and examine opportunities and concerns related to utilizing data in ML-based solutions for privacy in IoT. We, first, explore and introduce different data sources in IoT and categorize them. Then, we review existing ML-based solutions that are designed and developed to protect privacy in IoT. Finally, we examine the extent to which some data categories have been used with ML-based solutions to preserve privacy and propose other novel opportunities for ML-based solutions to leverage these data sources in the IoT ecosystem.

As the world’s population increases, demand for poultry products will continue to increase. To meet this demand, one candidate mechanism to increase production is to increase housing and manage more birds. However, this practice, along with labour shortages and increasing biosecurity practices will make it increasingly difficult for producers to monitor the production, health, and welfare status of all their birds. Employing smart poultry management systems is necessary to increase production while minimizing costs and the use of resources. Smart poultry management systems include precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies such as smart sensors, automation of farm processes, and data driven decision making platforms. Many new technologies will have great implications for poultry production in the areas of the poultry house environment, bird welfare, precision feeding, and rapid detection of infectious disease. As smart sensors collect data in real-time on a variety of parameters from poultry operations, large amounts of data will be generated. To make best use of this data, big data analytical tools must be employed to produce data driven decisions. Additionally, the devices that will be incorporated into smart poultry management systems will be connected to the Internet allowing for the formation of Internet of things (IoT) farm networks. IoT technologies allow for communication between farm sensors, devices, and equipment, and will lead to the automation of multiple farm procedures. The following review discusses the areas of impact that new smart sensor technologies will have on poultry operations and describes how sensor technology is related to big data analytics and IoT systems, and how these technologies can enhance production in the poultry industry. Additionally, challenges to the described systems and technologies will also be highlighted and discussed.

Future demands for food will place agricultural systems under pressure to increase production. Poultry is accepted as a good source of protein and the poultry industry will be forced to intensify production in many countries, leading to greater numbers of farms that house birds at elevated densities. Increasing farmed poultry can facilitate enhanced transmission of infectious pathogens among birds, such as avian influenza virus among others, which have the potential to induce widespread mortality in poultry and cause considerable economic losses. Additionally, the capability of some emerging poultry pathogens to cause zoonotic human infection will be increased as greater numbers of poultry operations could increase human contact with poultry pathogens. In order to combat the increased risk of spread of infectious disease in poultry due to intensified systems of production, rapid detection and diagnosis is paramount. In this review, multiple technologies that can facilitate accurate and rapid detection and diagnosis of poultry diseases are highlighted from the literature, with a focus on technologies developed specifically for avian influenza virus diagnosis. Rapid detection and diagnostic technologies allow for responses to be made sooner when disease is detected, decreasing further bird transmission and associated costs. Additionally, systems of rapid disease detection produce data that can be utilized in decision support systems that can predict when and where disease is likely to emerge in poultry. Other sources of data can be included in predictive models, and in this review two highly relevant sources, internet based-data and environmental data, are discussed. Additionally, big data and big data analytics, which will be required in order to integrate voluminous and variable data into predictive models that function in near real-time are also highlighted. Implementing new technologies in the commercial setting will be faced with many challenges, as will designing and operating predictive models for poultry disease emergence. The associated challenges are summarized in this review. Intensified systems of poultry production will require new technologies for detection and diagnosis of infectious disease. This review sets out to summarize them, while providing advantages and limitations of different types of technologies being researched.

Global food security and agricultural land management represent two urgent and intimately related challenges that humans must face. We quantify the changes in the global agricultural land footprint if the world were to adhere to the dietary guidelines put forth by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), while accounting for the land use change incurred by import/export required to meet those guidelines. We analyze data at country, continental, and global levels. USDA guidelines are viewed as an improvement on the current land-intensive diet of the average American, but despite this our results show that global adherence to the guidelines would require 1 gigahectare of additional land-roughly the size of Canada-under current agricultural practice. The results also show a strong divide between Eastern and Western hemispheres, with many Western hemisphere countries showing net land sparing under a USDA guideline diet, while many Eastern hemisphere countries show net land use increase under a USDA guideline diet. We conclude that national dietary guidelines should be developed using not just health but also global land use and equity as criteria. Because global lands are a limited resource, national dietary guidelines also need to be coordinated internationally, in much the same way greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly coordinated.

Sustainably feeding the next generation is often described as one of the most pressing “grand challenges” facing the 21st century. Generally, scholars propose addressing this problem by increasing agricultural production, investing in technology to boost yields, changing diets, or reducing food waste. In this paper, we explore whether global food production is nutritionally balanced by comparing the diet that nutritionists recommend versus global agricultural production statistics. Results show that the global agricultural system currently overproduces grains, fats, and sugars while production of fruits and vegetables and protein is not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the current population. Correcting this imbalance could reduce the amount of arable land used by agriculture by 51 million ha globally but would increase total land used for agriculture by 407 million ha and increase greenhouse gas emissions. For a growing population, our calculations suggest that the only way to eat a nutritionally balanced diet, save land and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to consume and produce more fruits and vegetables as well as transition to diets higher in plant-based protein. Such a move will help protect habitats and help meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

Increasing on-farm crop diversity is one agroecological approach to enhancing food self-sufficiency that helps small-scale farmers keep their food systems stable by reducing risks associated with stressors, such as a pest outbreaks or droughts. But understanding how crop diversity and food self-sufficiency are related is unknown. To explore this complex relation, this study presents household data (n = 1664) from Nepal to test the hypothesis that families with high crop diversity enjoy greater household food self-sufficiency. Data are presented for three districts that are representative of three distinct agroecological regions of the country: (1) Sarlahi, which is affluent, market-oriented, and on the plains; (2) Makwanpur District in the hills, which has well-developed integrated farm production; and (3) the mountainous District of Humla, which has the poorest quality environment and is the most remote. Results show that in the Humla District, families with greater crop diversity were more self-sufficient. In contrast, farmers in Makwanpur, who have already established a high degree of crop diversity based on vegetable production, do not benefit from additional crop diversity in terms of their ability to provide for themselves. Finally, data from Sarlahi show that families’ food self-sufficiency benefits from crop diversification. We conclude that boosting crop diversity is a viable strategy for maintaining stability in food systems, but this varies depending on the accessibility of a farm and, in particular, access to markets.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how socioeconomic and technological shifts in Canadian and American food production, processing, and distribution have impacted resilience in the food system. First, we use the social ecological systems literature to define food system resilience as a function of that system’s ability to absorb external shocks while maintaining core functions, such as food production and distribution. We then use the literature to argue that we can infer food system resilience by exploring three key dimensions: (1) the diversity of the food system’s components, (2) the degree to which the components are connected, and (3) the degree of decision-making autonomy within the food system. Next, we discuss the impacts of industrialization on these three factors within Canada and the USA. Specifically, we show how processes of corporate concentration, farm-scale intensification, mechanization, and the “cost-price squeeze” have led to a decrease in ecological and economic diversity, a high degree of spatial and organizational connectivity, and a diminished decision-making capacity for individual farmers. While this analysis is qualitative and heuristic, the evidence reviewed here leads us to postulate that our food system is becoming less resilient to external shocks such as climate change. We conclude by discussing four possible strategies to restore resilience and suggest a more transformational shift in food system politics and practice. Specifically, we argue that publicly led multifunctional policies may support more diversified production while programs to promote food system localization can increase farmer autonomy. However, these shifts will not be possible without social-structural corrections of current power imbalances in the food system. This policy discussion reinforces the value of the social ecological framework and, specifically, its capacity to produce an analysis that interweaves ecology, economy, and power.

Many are worried that the global food system is entering a period of intense volatility driven by a combination of climate change and population growth. One way to address this problem is for governments and the international community to store more food as a buffer against crisis. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of food storage as a component of a robust food security strategy in the twenty-first century. We do this by first drawing on historical examples from ancient Rome and China, where preindustrial government designed extensive systems that ensured adequate food storage to keep food systems stable. Next, we review the links between food storage and price volatility in the last 20 years and demonstrate that the size of food stores (and in particular grain reserves) directly relates to price volatility. Third, we explore three different types of policies designed to promote grain reserves, the US’s “ever-normal granary” policy, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, and the Strategic Grain Reserve in Africa. In this third section, we show how there has been a decline from state-owned strategic grain reserves in favor of a more market-oriented approach that is dominated by a handful of powerful corporations who maintain sophisticated supply chains. Because data on the amount of food supply these corporations hold in storage are proprietary secrets, it is impossible to assess how resilient or vulnerable this makes our food system. Finally, we conclude that over time, food storage has fallen in and out of favor, criticized for being expensive yet often shown to play an important role in protecting poor consumers in times of food crisis. Given the lack of data on current levels of supply chain and household storage, more research is needed to evaluate the scale at which food storage systems should be implemented to ensure food system resilience as well as the most effective mechanisms to govern and manage them.

Transcending disciplinary boundaries is becoming increasingly important for devising solutions to the world’s most pressing issues, such as climate change and food insecurity. Institutions of higher education often present challenges to teaching students how to work and innovate on transdisciplinary teams. We first define transdisciplinarity and like concepts, using these to review databases of three major funding agencies (CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC) for awards given to inter- and transdisciplinary programs across ten fiscal years beginning 2005-2006 and ending 2014-2015 to identify trends in funding as an indicator of skill need. We then search for programs offering transdisciplinary learning opportunities at Canadian universities accounting for 71% of all students. Though the proportion of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary funded research grants has risen considerably, we found only a few examples of interdisciplinary learning opportunities for students in post-secondary education programs. Generally, while students were able to take a range of courses, instruction remained discipline-specific. Specifically, Canadian undergraduates lack an in-program, experiential, transdisciplinary learning opportunity. We propose a framework (ICON) as a solution to fill this gap. Using senior independent study courses, which often have built-in curricular flexibility, students can participate with ICON while still obtaining credit towards their degrees. We conclude that transdisciplinary education opportunities are an essential part of the undergraduate experience and should be recognized across degree programs.

Current agroecological approaches to farming have provided a limited understanding of transformations to sustainability, particularly in subsistence agrarian economies of geographically isolated regions of the world. Some suggest mitigating social and ecological impacts of modern industrial farming while others advocate for local adaptation to changes in socioecological systems, such as climate change, extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss. This article investigates effective pathways of fundamental transformations in technologies, livelihoods, and lifestyles referred to as “agricultural sustainability transitions” in the Karnali Mountains, the most impoverished region of Nepal. Findings suggest that neither management of change referred to as transition management nor adaptation to change referred to as adaptive management effectively leads to agricultural sustainability transitions in this region of the country. An integration of these two approaches, which this article theorizes as “adaptive tr...

This paper examines four broad policy and public responses to the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s as a way of exploring how society today could address our own “food crisis”. More particularly, in the Dust Bowl some argued that solutions would be found by engineers and farmers who would develop new ways of watering dry fields. A second group believed that inappropriate political and economic incentives had led to bad farming practices prior to the drought and this contributed to wide-spread erosion. To this group, the best solutions included governmental regulation of farm practices. A third group focused on the welfare of individuals, arguing that creating a social safety net to protect marginalized families was the highest priority. Finally, there were commentators who advocated for a smaller scale, ecological, and holistic approach to farming. Today, the same four perspectives are present in debates about how to maintain global food security in light of population growth, high energy prices and climate change. Exploring the similarity of the discourses between today's food crisis and the one that hit American society 80 years ago reveals that advocates of the four different camps are motivated by very different principles. Briefly, proponents of technological solutions base many of their arguments on the assumption that human ingenuity is capable of producing extremely productive food systems. The managerial arguments, by contrast, are based on the idea that the natural environment can be rationally and efficiently managed using scientific principles. The social welfare narrative seeks to create a more equitable food system. Finally, the ecological and holistic narrative argues that diverse, small scale and local food systems are a prerequisite for long term sustainability. The primary contribution of this paper, therefore, is to expose these deeply held ontological tensions as a way of arguing that policy makers today must de-politicise arguments and use the principles embedded in all four narratives when designing programmes to ensure that the 21st century does not face a repeat of the crisis of the 1930s.

A methodological framework is proposed for participatory scenario development on the basis of evidence from the literature, and is tested and refined through the development of scenarios for the future of UK uplands. The paper uses a review of previous work to justify a framework based around the following steps: i) define context and establish whether there is a basis for stakeholder engagement in scenario development; ii) systematically identify and represent relevant stakeholders in the process; iii) define clear objectives for scenario development with stakeholders including spatial and temporal boundaries; iv) select relevant participatory methods for scenario development, during initial scenario construction, evaluation and to support decision-making based on scenarios; and v) integrate local and scientific knowledge throughout the process. The application of this framework in case study research suggests that participatory scenario development has the potential to: i) make scenarios more relevant to stakeholder needs and priorities; ii) extend the range of scenarios developed; iii) develop more detailed and precise scenarios through the integration of local and scientific knowledge; and iv) move beyond scenario development to facilitate adaptation to future change. It is argued that participatory scenario development can empower stakeholders and lead to more consistent and robust scenarios that can help people prepare more effectively for future change.

When food prices spiked in 2007–8, urban Africa experienced more instances of food riots than any other part of the world. Problems were then encountered again during the 2010–11 food price spikes. This paper explores the cases of 14 African countries where food riots occurred during these two periods by presenting a qualitative content analysis of news reports on the riots drawn from both global and local African news sources. This analysis highlights the ways in which the media portrayed the links between food price rises and food riots in Africa. Briefly, our results show that the international media generally portrayed poverty and hunger as the factors that linked the incidence of food price rises with the occurrence of riots. By contrast, the African media tended to portray food riots as being caused by a more complex set of factors, including citizen dissatisfaction and people’s ability to mobilize. Exploring both the international and local interpretations of the drivers behind the food riots is important for the understanding of the multi-scalar and multifaceted factors that shape increasing food insecurity in urban Africa.

This article presents results from a survey of community food projects, and explores the relationships between organisational type, rationales and the barriers that prevent each from increasing the scale of their operations. Organisations were divided according to their primary rationale (e.g. rural economic development and distribution), and then subdivided – by form – as a non-profit, private business, governmental agency or cooperative. Data from the interviews and surveys were coded using a qualitative grounded theory approach, to reveal the barriers experienced by each. Overall, access to long-term stable income is a recurrent theme across all types of projects, but income sources dramatically change how these organisations prioritise barriers. Similarly, the organisation's primary rationale and experiences influence the interpretation and approach to collaboration and education. Despite these differences, our results suggest a large degree of convergence that cuts across organisational forms and rat...

Understanding farmers’ perceptions of how rainfall fluctuates and changes is crucial in anticipating the impacts of changing climate patterns, as only when a problem is perceived will appropriate steps be taken to adapt to it. This article seeks to: (1) identify southern African farmers’ perceptions of rainfall, rainfall variations, and changes; (2) examine the nature of meteorological evidence for the perceived rainfall variability and change; (3) document farmers’ responses to rainfall variability; and (4) discuss why discrepancies may occur between farmers’ perceptions and meteorological observations of rainfall. Semi-structured interviews were used to identify farmers’ perceptions of rainfall changes in Botswana and Malawi. Resulting perceptions were examined in conjunction with meteorological data to assess perceived and actual rainfall with regards to: what was changing (onset, duration or cessation), and how it was changing (amount, frequency, intensity or inter-annual variability). Most farmers pe...

The purpose of this paper is to identify which of the world's cereal producing regions are likely to become vulnerable to climate change over the 21st century by identifying those regions that will be (1) exposed to climatic stress and (2) have a limited capacity to adapt. First, we use a global hydrological model to identify regions likely to be exposed to drought, defined here as a location where the available soil moisture is projected to decline by the 2050s and 2080s relative to the mean soil moisture observed between 1990 and 2005. Second, we use agricultural, meteorological and socio-economic data to develop models of adaptive capacity and run these models to show where adaptive capacity is likely to decline by the 2050s and 2080s relative to the baseline period of 1990–2005. Third, we contrast the hydrological and adaptive capacity model outputs to identify “vulnerability hotspots” for wheat and maize. Here, a vulnerability hotspot is defined as a region that the models project as likely to experience both a decline in adaptive capacity and in available soil moisture. Results from the hydrological model project significant drying in many parts of the world overt the 21st century. Results from the adaptive capacity models show that regions with the lowest overall adaptive capacity for wheat include much of western Russia, northern India, southeastern South America, and southeastern Africa. In terms of maize, regions with the lowest adaptive capacity include the northeastern USA, southeastern South America, southeastern Africa, and central/northern India. When taken together, this study identifies five wheat and three maize growing regions likely to be both exposed to worse droughts and a reduced capacity to adapt. For wheat, these are: southeastern USA, southeastern South America, the northeastern Mediterranean, and parts of central Asia. For maize, our analysis suggests that vulnerability hotspots are: southeastern South America, parts of southern Africa, and the northeastern Mediterranean.

The long-term viability of pastoralism has been a constant theme for discussions. The progress of knowledge on the sustainability of pastoralism under global environmental change has been notable in the last years. To better characterize this vulnerability, we have examined the existing scientific knowledge about the three dimensions of vulnerability, being exposure illustrated by the existing climate trends and non-climate transformations, sensitivity by the impacts of these on pastoral resources and pastoral land conversions, and adaptation by the adaptation strategies developed by the pastoral communities. A qualitative meta-analysis was conducted to explore patterns and trends across the literature. From this, six different pathways of vulnerability being followed by pastoral communities were identified: Encroachment, Re-greening, Customary, Polarization, Communal and No-alternative. The results point that the livelihood options of pastoralists are generally becoming narrower. Four major forces are identified as exerting determinant influence on the co-production of the vulnerability of pastoralism: (i) the double exposure to climate and non-climate transformations, (ii) the persistence of unfavorable development policies, (iii) the great vitality of adaptation, and (iv) the multifaceted role of markets. We point that it is crucial to distinguish between the component of vulnerability inherent in any economic activity devoted to the use of natural resources, which is the usual business of pastoralism, and the component of vulnerability linked to external forces that disturb the usual working of the pastoral production strategies., FLG has a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral contract financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and financial support by SUR and Departament d’Economia i Coneixement of the Catalan Government.

This paper builds on national- and regional-level vulnerability assessments by developing and applying a livelihood vulnerability index at the community and household scales to explore the nature of climate vulnerability. It provides innovative methodological steps in relation to livelihood assessment to identify the vulnerability of households and communities to drought. This will help to improve drought vulnerability assessments in Ghana and more widely as it shows extra information can be obtained from local-level vulnerability assessment that may be lacking in national- and regional-level analysis. The research employs quantitative and qualitative data collected through participatory methods, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey with 270 households across 6 communities in two regions in Ghana. Results show that within the same agroecological zone, households and communities experience different degrees of climate vulnerability. These differences can be largely explained by socioeconomic characteristics such as wealth and gender, as well as access to capital assets. Results identify vulnerable households within resilient communities as well as more resilient households within vulnerable communities. These outliers are studied in detail. It is found that outlier households in vulnerable communities have an array of alternative livelihood options and tend to be socially well connected, enabling them to take advantage of opportunities associated with environmental and economic changes. To sustain and enhance the livelihoods of vulnerable households and communities, policymakers need to identify and facilitate appropriate interventions that foster asset building, improve institutional capacity as well as build social capital.

Many studies warn that climate change may undermine global food security. Much work on this topic focuses on modelling crop-weather interactions but these models do not generally account for the ways in which socio-economic factors influence how harvests are affected by weather. To address this gap, this paper uses a quantitative harvest vulnerability index based on annual soil moisture and grain production data as the dependent variable in a Linear Mixed Effects model with national scale socio-economic data as independent variables for the period 1990–2005. Results show that rice, wheat and maize production in middle income countries were especially vulnerable to droughts. By contrast, harvests in countries with higher investments in agriculture (e.g. higher amounts of fertilizer use) were less vulnerable to drought. In terms of differences between the world’s major grain crops, factors that made rice and wheat crops vulnerable to drought were quite consistent, while those of maize crops varied considerably depending on the type of region. This is likely due to the fact that maize is produced under very different conditions worldwide. One recommendation for reducing drought vulnerability risks is coordinated development and adaptation policies, including institutional support that enables farmers to take proactive action.

This study evaluates new multi-scale, multi-indicator methods for assessing the vulnerability of crop production to drought at a national and regional scale. It does this by identifying differences across and within ten regions of Ghana, a country that faces many climate and crop production challenges typical of sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, we illustrate how a quantitative national and regional study is a critical first step in assessing differences in the drought sensitivity of food production systems and show how such an assessment enables the formulation of more targeted district and community level research that can explore the drivers of vulnerability and change on a local-scale. Finally, we propose methodological steps that can improve drought sensitivity and vulnerability assessments in dynamic dryland farming systems where there are multiple drivers of change and thresholds of risk that vary in both space and time. Results show that the vulnerability of crop production to drought in Ghana has discernible geographical and socioeconomic patterns, with the Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions being most vulnerable. Partly, this is because these regions have the lowest adaptive capacity due to low socioeconomic development and have economies based on rain-fed agriculture. Within these regions we find considerable differences between districts that can be explained only partly by socioeconomic variables with further community and household-scale research required to explain the causes of differences in vulnerability status. Our results highlight that national and regional scale multi-indicator vulnerability assessments are a vital (and often ignored) first step in assessing vulnerability across a large area. These inputs can guide both local-level research and also demonstrate the need for region-specific policies to reduce vulnerability and to enhance drought preparedness within dryland farming communities.

Support of urban agriculture can be used as a route to reducing urban poverty across Sub-Saharan Africa. However policy makers require more precise information on how it contributes to alleviating food insecurity and poverty problems. This study in Malawi's two main cities (Lilongwe and Blantyre) revealed two predominant 'types' of urban farmers: (i) low-income, less educated, often female-headed households, who use urban agriculture as an insurance against income losses and who can employ skilled workers to support their livestock activities; and (ii) middle- and high-income, often male-headed households, that undertake urban agriculture for personal consumption and hire significant numbers of unskilled workers. Within the low-income group, there are some female headed-households who are now receiving significant income from livestock programmes having been provided with initial external support from a non-governmental organisation. Our findings suggest a need for a two- pronged policy approach to try and improve the overall effectiveness of urban agriculture support, namely to (1) target poor women with extension and development project support; and (2) support wealthier farmers to increase the employment opportunities associated with urban agriculture. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Why is it that sometimes small droughts trigger serious crop losses while in other cases even large droughts do not have such a major effect? In this paper, we identify socio-economic indicators associated with sensitivity and resilience to drought for each of China's main grain crops (rice, wheat and corn). Provincial harvest and rainfall data (1961–2001) are used to calculate an annual “crop-drought vulnerability index”. We separate “sensitive cases” (where significant harvest losses occurred in years with only minor droughts) and “resilient cases” (where harvest losses were minimal despite there being a major drought) and explore the socio-economic characteristics of these different situations. Results show that sensitive cases were particularly common in economically poor landlocked provinces and in wealthy coastal areas that have a limited land base. In such “sensitive cases”, the size of the rural population and the quantity of agricultural inputs were negatively correlated with drought vulnerability, while for resilient cases, vulnerability was negatively correlated with the abundance of land. This leads us to propose a series of drought-vulnerability typologies based on the extent to which land, labour, capital, agricultural technology, and infrastructure buffer or exacerbate the effect of a drought event.

Land use patterns influence the long-term productivity of agro-ecosystems and result from socio-economic as well as biophysical and climatic drivers. This paper qualitatively examines how past demographic and political-economic changes in southern Romania twice led to vulnerable socio-economic and agro-ecological systems. Drawing on this case study, we establish broad-brush hypotheses identifying some of the potential causes of vulnerability. We suggest that vulnerable systems appear more likely to occur when socio-political uncertainty combines with a lack of off-farm employment in regions where there are abundant natural capital stocks that can be quickly liquidated.

In some cases, even relatively minor perturbations to growing season rainfall cause major harvest losses. In other cases, harvests are unaffected even by major rainfall perturbations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible socioeconomic reasons why some regions' harvests are especially sensitive to changes in rainfall using rainfall and agricultural data from eastern China. Results suggest that for wheat and maize farmers, technical inputs were significant factors for maintaining harvest levels in low rainfall years. Rice harvests were more dependent on indicators related to access to labour. This work provides a preliminary step to quantitatively assess characteristics that enhance adaptive capacity in different cropping systems.

Moorlands are unique environments found in uplands of the temperate zone including in the UK, New Zealand and Ireland, and in some high altitude tropical zones such as the Andean paramos. Many have been managed through grazing, burning or drainage practices. However, there are a number of other environmental and social factors that are likely to drive changes in management practice over the next few decades. Some moorlands have been severely degraded and in some countries conservation and restoration schemes are being attempted, particularly to revegetate bare soils. Native or non-native woodland planting may increase in some moorland environments while atmospheric deposition of many pollutants may also vary. Moorland environments are very sensitive to changes in management, climate or pollution. This paper reviews how environmental management change, such as changes in grazing or burning practices, may impact upon moorland processes based on existing scientific understanding. It also reviews the impacts of changes in climate and atmospheric deposition chemistry. The paper focuses on the UK moorlands as a case study of moorland landscapes that are in different states of degradation. Future research that is required to improve our understanding of moorland processes is outlined. The paper shows that there is a need for more holistic and spatial approaches to understanding moorland processes and management. There is also a need to develop approaches that combine understanding of interlinked social and natural processes.

Throughout human history, food production has had to adapt to continuously changing environmental circumstances. In most cases, these challenges are met without any great hardship. In other cases, seemingly small environmental problems (such as droughts or floods) have devastating consequences. This suggests some food systems are more vulnerable than others. Assessing and identifying which regions are vulnerable to environmental problems, however, is challenging because food systems represent constantly evolving systems where farmers continually make decisions that help adapt to changing circumstances. Many existing theoretical frameworks to assess vulnerability fall along a continuum from those that are too macro (because they are based on large-scale generalizations that ignore local contextual issues) or are too micro (because they are so site specific that they obscure general trends). A landscape ecology approach offers an interesting compromise whereby scholars have used a small number of local variables (such as the diversity of species present in the system and the extent to which individuals in the system are connected to other individuals) to characterize the vulnerability of ecosystems to shocks such as wildfires and pest outbreaks. However, preliminary research suggests this approach may not work particularly well on human managed ecosystems. As such, this paper uses a range of historical examples (such as the Irish Potato Famine and El Nino induced famines in the late 18th century) to integrate these frameworks to help identify vulnerability within food systems to environmental changes.

Sustainability indicators based on local data provide a practical method to monitor progress towards sustainable development. However, since there are many conflicting frameworks proposed to develop indicators, it is unclear how best to collect these data. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the literature on developing and applying sustainability indicators at local scales to develop a methodological framework that summarises best practice. First, two ideological paradigms are outlined: one that is expert-led and top–down, and one that is community-based and bottom–up. Second, the paper assesses the methodological steps proposed in each paradigm to identify, select and measure indicators. Finally, the paper concludes by proposing a learning process that integrates best practice for stakeholder-led local sustainability assessments. By integrating approaches from different paradigms, the proposed process offers a holistic approach for measuring progress towards sustainable development. It emphasizes the importance of participatory approaches setting the context for sustainability assessment at local scales, but stresses the role of expert-led methods in indicator evaluation and dissemination. Research findings from around the world are used to show how the proposed process can be used to develop quantitative and qualitative indicators that are both scientifically rigorous and objective while remaining easy to collect and interpret for communities.

Some models anticipate that liberalized agricultural trade will lead to increased crop diversity, while other models make the opposite claim. These positions were explored in southwestern British Columbia, Canada where, between 1992 and 1998, government subsidies and other measures designed to protect horticultural farmers were lifted, exposing these farmers to foreign competition. Public hearings on the future of agriculture provided an opportunity to tap the knowledge and experience of people affected by this transition. Analysis of transcripts from these hearings, which was confirmed by industry data, shows that trade liberalization has led to the loss of the local fruit and vegetable processing industry. Stakeholders saw the loss as a major factor affecting the choice of crops grown locally. To test this assertion, crop diversity data were analyzed, differentiating crops grown for the processing industry from those grown for the fresh market. Results show that crop diversity increased for processing crops but not for fresh crops. Farmers who used to produce commodities for the fruit and vegetable processing industry seem to have been forced to find new crops to cope with the decline in the processing industry. Here then is a case where the effects of trade were indirect (they were mediated by another variable: the loss of the processing industry) and variable (they differed for the two groups of crops). This may have significant environmental implications as scientific research shows that diverse agro-ecosystems are better able to withstand pest outbreaks and require less agri-chemicals than simple systems.

The modern environmental management literature stresses the need for community involvement to identify indicators to monitor progress towards sustainable development and environmental management goals. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of participatory processes on sustainability indicator identification and environmental management in three disparate case studies. The first is a process of developing partnerships between First Nations communities, environmental groups, and forestry companies to resolve conflicts over forest management in Western Canada. The second describes a situation in Botswana where local pastoral communities worked with development researchers to reduce desertification. The third case study details an on-going government led process of developing sustainability indicators in Guernsey, UK, that was designed to monitor the environmental, social, and economic impacts of changes in the economy. The comparative assessment between case studies allows us to draw three primary conclusions. (1) The identification and collection of sustainability indicators not only provide valuable databases for making management decisions, but the process of engaging people to select indicators also provides an opportunity for community empowerment that conventional development approaches have failed to provide. (2) Multi-stakeholder processes must formally feed into decision-making forums or they risk being viewed as irrelevant by policy-makers and stakeholders. (3) Since ecological boundaries rarely meet up with political jurisdictions, it is necessary to be flexible when choosing the scale at which monitoring and decision-making occurs. This requires an awareness of major environmental pathways that run through landscapes to understand how seemingly remote areas may be connected in ways that are not immediately apparent. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modern society depends on complex agro-ecological and trading systems to provide food for urban residents, yet there are few tools available to assess whether these systems are vulnerable to future disturbances. We propose a preliminary framework to assess the vulnerability of food systems to future shocks based on landscape ecology's ‘Panarchy Framework’. According to Panarchy, ecosystem vulnerability is determined by three generic characteristics: (1) the wealth available in the system, (2) how connected the system is, and (3) how much diversity exists in the system. In this framework, wealthy, non-diverse, tightly connected systems are highly vulnerable. The wealth of food systems can be measured using the approach pioneered by development economists to assess how poverty affects food security. Diversity can be measured using the tools investors use to measure the diversity of investment portfolios to assess financial risk. The connectivity of a system can be evaluated with the tools chemists use to assess the pathways chemicals use to flow through the environment. This approach can lead to better tools for creating policy designed to reduce vulnerability, and can help urban or regional planners identify where food systems are vulnerable to shocks and disturbances that may occur in the future.