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The COVID-19 pandemic fully exposed the vulnerability of the global agri-food system to shocks and stresses, highlighting the need for transformation and action to make it more resilient and inclusive. This paper offers a unique insight into the global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic by examining impacts and responses in the agri-food sector within three very distinct contexts, namely the United States, Norway, and China. Focusing on small, diversified farms, the study builds on prior research with the same farmers and support organizations from an on-going collaboration. Firstly, we conducted a short review of policy adaptations to understand how governments, the private sector, non-profit organizations, and communities “stepped up” to provide emergency relief, specialized training, and recovery support for farmers, support that was instrumental in preventing more devastating impacts in all three countries. Secondly, drawing from in-depth interviews with farmers (23) and government and non-governmental support organizations (19), we mapped the vulnerability and resiliency of selected farmers to shocks that severely disrupted traditional supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected on both the negative and positive impacts of the pandemic to farmer inputs, including labor, operations, and markets, how these changed from the initial lockdowns in early 2020 and through 2021, and on farmer adaptive responses to these impacts. In some contexts, innovation and adaptive responses counteracted negative impacts. We saw diversifying markets, catering to consumer safety concerns, switching to direct and e-markets, hiring in more labor or relying on family labor, and switching to high demand crops and products as the most prominent adaptive responses. Farmers who lacked access to information and government programs, in large part because of language, technology and institutional barriers, missed out on pandemic related opportunities and suffered the most. As we enter the post-pandemic new normal it is important to take stock of lessons learned, and to continue to support those initiatives and innovations that were pivotal not only for weathering the storm, but for building a more inclusive and resilient agri-food system in the long-run. publishedVersion

PURPOSE: Consistency and standardization of radiotherapy plan quality in multi-institutional clinical trials are always challenging, and non-protocol compliant radiotherapy plans have been shown to impact patient outcomes. This study aimed to use knowledge-based planning (KBP) as a method of producing high quality, consistent, protocol-compliant treatment plans, in a complex setting of spine SBRT on NRG Oncology RTOG 0631. METHODS: An internally developed KBP model was applied to an external validation cohort of 22 anonymized cases submitted under NRG Oncology RTOG 0631. The original and KBP plans were compared via their protocol compliance, target conformity and gradient index, dose to critical structures, and dose to surrounding normal tissues. RESULTS: The KBP model generated plans meeting all protocol objectives in a single optimization when tested on both internal and protocol-submitted NRG Oncology RTOG 0631 cases. Two submitted plans that were considered to have a protocol-unacceptable deviation were made protocol compliant through the use of the model. There were no statistically significant differences in protocol spinal cord metrics (D10% and D0.03cc) between the manually optimized plans and the KBP plans. The volume of PTV receiving prescription dose increased from 93.3 ± 3.2% to 98.3 ± 1.4% (P=0.01) when using KBP. High-dose spillage to surrounding normal tissues (V105%) showed no significant differences (2.1 ± 7.3 cc for manual plans to 1.8 ± 0.6 cc with KBP), and dosimetric outliers with large amounts of spillage were eliminated through the use of KBP. KBP plans were also found to be significantly more consistent in several metrics, including target coverage and high dose outside of the target. KBP applied to NRG Oncology RTOG 0631 CONCLUSION: Incorporation of KBP models into the clinical trial setting may have a profound impact on the quality of trial results due to the increase in consistency and standardization of planning, especially for treatment sites or techniques that are non-standard.

Preliminary results of a survey conducted among 50 smallholder upland farmers in the Philippines during the second crop period in 2007 showed early awareness (since 1960-1970) of the integrated vegetable agroforestry system technologies, particularly irrigation drainage, soil conservation and soil fertility management, and the vegetable agroforestry system, which 59-75% of them adopted in their farms. They however, just were aware of the existence of the drip irrigation technology in 2000 and it was adopted by only 25% of farmers. Problems encountered with the technologies included high costs of inputs, low and fluctuating costs of farm outputs and the dry spell during the period. LTRA-5 (Agroforestry and Sustainable Vegetable Production)

To assess the socio-economic impacts of integrated vegetable-agroforestry systems on small women and men farmers in Nanggung Sub-district, socio-economic team has been focused on the monitoring study. This study has three objectives: (a) Identify vegetable cultivation technology on agroforestry system that is socially acceptable, economically feasible, and affordable, (b) gather timely information on technology adoption constraints and (c) provide constraints information to SANREM technical team to inform the on farm research trials . The study was developed by research questions related to farmers' perception and the technology characteristics. Data collection methods include farmer's interview, observation and process documentation of trials plots. LTRA-5 (Agroforestry and Sustainable Vegetable Production)

This brief presentation offers an overview of LTRA-5 activities in the Philippines, with particular attention the TMPEGS framework of technology, markets, policy, environmental impacts, gender and scaling up. The particular location of Lapantan is also fleshed out in detail in terms of its potential for providing access to local and national markets for VAF products. The research affiliated with the presentation was recognized a 2008 Best Paper at Central Mindanao University. LTRA-5 (Agroforestry and Sustainable Vegetable Production)

The paper examines the impact of local institutions on development and poverty in the rural areas of India. Recent research on the role of institutions on the path of economic development indicates the importance of both "macro" and "micro" institutions including local institutions. The study finds a large number of both formal and informal local institutions in the surveyed villages, and a substantial degree of interaction of the households with the institutions. These include both formal institutions such as service cooperatives and dairy cooperatives, as well as informal institutions such as savings groups, community associations and labour groups. The study finds that apart from the standard factors included such as land, capital and labour, the presence and membership in local institutions plays a significant role in explaining the variation in household incomes and gain in capital assets over time. Savings/ micro-credit groups, and dairy cooperatives are found to be particularly important. Further, membership in these institutions is not found to be related to high asset levels or high caste - it is often inversely so. This indicates a stronger developmental role. Recorded opinions of the households supports the findings on the impact and beneficial role of local institutions. The study confirms that institutions do matter, and that local institutions can and do make a significant contribution in helping development in the rural areas, especially so for the lower income groups.

This article examines the priority given to agroindustries in India in the context of their role in rural and small farmer development. The features and constraints of agroindustry are examined to assess their real and potential contribution and challenges faced. Institutional and organizational models that have been tried or proposed in India are evaluated from the point of view of performance and contribution to rural and small farmer development. The article then draws policy and managerial implications