Doctoral Dissertation Research: Evolution of Food Networks: Foodscale Connectivity, Egocentric Networks, and Social Contagion in Community-Supported Agriculture

博士论文研究：食品网络的演变：食品规模连通性、自我中心网络和社区支持农业中的社会传染

• 批准号: 1030451
• 负责人: Philip Steinberg
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1030451&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Evolution; Food

A variety of subscription-based agricultural organizations have developed in North America. They are collectively referred to as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSA growers make a promise to provide produce to individual consumer subscribers who pay fees for CSA membership at the start of the growing season. The adoption of CSA-style strategies is often rationalized by its reported ability to restructure the producer-consumer relationships in mutually beneficial ways. For example, CSA organizations may be fostering greater viability with regards to the economic status of small farms, facilitating sustainable farming practices, and improving access to fresh food. However, the ways in which these food networks emerge, evolve, and shape existing food networks have not been characterized. Moreover, questions about the equitability of access to fresh food have arisen, suggesting that CSAs may have the propensity to shape outcomes that are in contradiction with their popular image. A better understanding of the dynamics and efficacy of CSA networks holds potential to improve food security and accessibility to food. Doctoral student Michael Nesius under the guidance of Professor Jon Stallins in the Department of Geography at Florida State University is studying the food networks in the Tallahassee, Florida metropolitan area. The objectives of this study are to explore changes in food networks associated with CSA formation in terms of connectivity to access points offering locally grown produce, to customer-oriented consumption networks, and to the specific mechanisms responsible for the detected changes. A mixed-methods approach is used to synthesize quantitative analysis with qualitative contextualization and to counterpoise hypothesis testing with fundamental description. A GIS-based, graph theoretical analysis will be employed to characterize the network connectivity of Tallahassee's local foodscape and to examine its influence on the existence of food deserts. Multidimensional scaling will validate the structural changes of egocentric food networks hypothesized to accompany CSA formation. Using a case study of a newly emerging CSA, the role of social contagion in network evolution will be assessed.The merit of this research stems from its central task of uncovering the dynamics manifest in the evolution of food networks. Network mapping will quantify the changes of food networks that have previously only been captured in a qualitative manner. This research will facilitate understanding of the role that food networks play in the achievement of desirable social outcomes. Restructuring the current centralized food system into one that comprises multiple tiers of sustainable and uncorrelated food networks could reduce network vulnerability to disruption. Having viable local food networks that coexist with large-scale supply chains can mitigate the risk associated with the propagation of food-borne disease throughout the food system and help achieve national security goals.

在北美发展了各种以订阅为基础的农业组织。这些措施统称为社区支持农业（CSA）。CSA种植者承诺向在生长季节开始时支付CSA会员费的个人消费者订户提供农产品。CSA式战略的采用往往是合理的，因为它能够以互利的方式重组生产者-消费者关系。例如，CSA组织可能正在促进小农场经济地位方面的更大可行性，促进可持续农业做法，并改善获得新鲜食品的机会。然而，这些食物网络的出现，演变和塑造现有食物网络的方式尚未被描述。 此外，关于获得新鲜食物的公平性的问题已经出现，这表明CSA可能倾向于形成与其流行形象相矛盾的结果。更好地了解CSA网络的动态和效力，有可能改善粮食安全和粮食获取。 博士生Michael Nesius在佛罗里达州立大学地理系Jon Stallins教授的指导下，正在研究佛罗里达大都市区塔拉哈西的食物网络。本研究的目的是探讨与CSA形成的接入点提供当地种植的农产品，以客户为导向的消费网络，并负责检测到的变化的具体机制方面的食物网络的变化。采用混合方法，将定量分析与定性情境化相结合，将假设检验与基本描述相平衡。一个基于GIS的，图论分析将被用来描述塔拉哈西的当地食物景观的网络连接，并研究其对食物沙漠的存在的影响。多维扩展将验证假设伴随CSA形成的自我中心食物网络的结构变化。使用一个新出现的CSA的案例研究，社会传染在网络evolution.The研究的优点源于其核心任务，揭示了在食物网络的进化动力学表现的作用进行评估。网络制图将量化以前仅以定性方式捕获的食物网络的变化。这项研究将有助于理解粮食网络在实现理想的社会成果方面发挥的作用。将目前的集中式粮食系统重组为一个由多层可持续和不相关的粮食网络组成的系统，可以减少网络对破坏的脆弱性。拥有与大规模供应链共存的可行的地方粮食网络，可以减轻食源性疾病在整个粮食系统传播的风险，并有助于实现国家安全目标。