IDENTIFYING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOOD SYSTEM RESILIENCE BY INTEGRATING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL DOMAINS

The goals of this project are twofold. First, my intention is to identify how the economic and social structure of the agrifood system affects food system resilience, particularly in rural areas that may have fundamentally different channels of producing and consuming food. Second, my interest is in identifying potential opportunities for communities to develop new models of food and agriculture in Missouri and across the Midwest that could increase food system resilience.Objectives to meet these goals are to:Identify economic and social structures in the food system that can build food system resilience by:Documenting food system organization at the farm, community, regional, national and global levels;Assessing claims of fairness/unfairness in different agricultural marketplaces;Synthesizing ecological impacts of different farming systems.Identify channels of food production and consumption in remote rural areas in order to understand potential flows and stocks of social, natural and financial capitals and thus impacts on food system resilience through:Documenting participation in informal and formal channels of food system production and distribution;Identifying stocks and flows of social, natural and financial capitals resulting from this participation; andDocument and evaluate emerging food system alternatives that advance food system resilience and community well-being.