Thirteen chromosomal loci have been identified which affect acetate metabolism in Coprinus. Mutants at only two loci, acu-l and acu-7, are deficient in isocitrate lyase (ICL) (EC 4.1.3.1) activity. acu-1 mutants are unable to induce ICL because they lack acetyl-CoA synthetase which is required to convert acetate to the metabolic inducer of ICL. acu-7 is the structural gene for ICL. This was shown by selecting temperature sensitive acu+ revertants resulting from a second mutation within the acu-7 gene. One such revertant was shown to produce an ICL protein which was more thermolabile than the wild type enzyme. Other workers have postulated that ICL activity is important during asexual morphogenesis in fungi. No evidence was found for this in Coprinus. The morphological mutant oidial, which produces abundant asexual spores even in submerged culture, had the same low uninduced level of ICL activity as the wild type. Moreover, an acu-7 mutation had no effect on the expression of the oidial phenotype.
COVID-19 has spread beyond China at lightning speed. Fear-based responses have moved even faster. Before we knew the term 'social distancing', Asian restaurants around the world saw a drop in clientele (Yeung 2020) and Asian people a rise in harassment (Yan et al. 2020). This fear of a marked group of people and their food fuels more than individual incidents. We argue that such alimentary xenophobia also leads to calls to eliminate foreign foodways without considering their social, economic and gastronomic values. Subtly embedded in these calls is the presumed superiority of industrialised, corporate foodways. The novel coronavirus likely first appeared at an open-air wet market in Wuhan, China, where meat was sold alongside live animals in conditions conducive to zoonotic viral transmission (Brulliard 2020; Woo et al. 2006). Many have called for the immediate closure of wet markets, reflecting the urgent need to change animal procurement, transport and slaughter practices (Blakeman 2020; Forgey 2020). These 'calls to close', however, homogenise heterogeneous markets around the world, painting them as universally dangerous instead of recognising specific practices within them as predictable catalysts for preventable disease. They also fail to recognise wet markets' social, economic and alimentary functions. 'Traditional' or 'municipal' wet markets are globally critical food centres, serving people and places that supermarkets do not (Figuié and Moustier 2009). From New York to Nairobi, Wageningen to Wuhan, open-air markets selling fruits, vegetables, meats and, in some cases, wild animals are bedrocks of diverse food economies. Broadly dismissing wet markets endangers the foodways of billions of people, from small-scale farmers to market vendors and urban eaters. Calls to close 'filthy' markets in poor countries (e.g. Froelich 2020) also slip into discourses of hygienic racism (Colloredo-Mansfeld 1998) and developmentalism (McMichael 2016). Such tropes shift geographies of blame to foreign foodways. For 'us' to be safe, this logic holds, 'they' must shut their markets. But where should people shop instead?
Sustainable development initiatives that seek to ameliorate global crises require new forms of organization and ways of working for participants. Using an alternative food system initiative in Chiapas, Mexico as an ethnographic case study, this article identifies three forms of labor-physical, organizational, and emotional-that emerge within such projects and explores how these labor forms interact in ways that impact the long-term success of such endeavors. Mujeres y Maíz is a development initiative that seeks to protect Mexico's heirloom maize and the lifeways it supports by building connections between food producers and consumers. Together, tortilla makers and organizers mobilize multiple labor forms to build new economically and environmentally beneficial alternative food systems. These varied labor forms constitute collective wealth-in-people. The group's collaborations require embodied culinary knowledge and physical labor, organizational labor to access resources, and emotional labor to gird trust and cooperation. The analysis of these three types of labor shows how tortilla makers and organizers evaluate each other's different skill sets, shaped by class, race, and gender histories, in their collaborative and understandably contentious development work. The resulting triple labor framework is useful for diagnosing and negotiating tensions that impact the transformative potential of development initiatives within food systems and beyond.For many, global crises of social inequality, economic development, and environmental degradation must be addressed by constructing alternative forms of organization, systems, and values. A contested "sustainability project" (McMichael 2005) has emerged that includes an array of development initiatives like cooperatives, triple-bottom line businesses, alternative food systems, and other social movements that seek to transform exploitative arrangements and ameliorate the aforementioned crises.Such transformation requires the creation not only of new products and services but also of new infrastructures, systems, and subjectivities. However, as such initiatives have gained recognition, efforts to build alternatives in both developed and developing countries (Martínez-Torres and Rosset 2010) are increasingly incorporated into formal development discourse and relations. Projects focused on "local" issues face pressure to "professionalize" (Murdock 2008) as they integrate into international discourses, connections, and funding streams. As they engage in the challenging day-to-day work of constructing and imagining new forms of social organization, many donors expect these projects to present, and be, coherent and polished images to qualify for continued support.This professionalization hides the varied types of labor that such projects entail. Using a case study of a collective in Chiapas, Mexico, this article identifies three distinct and interrelated forms of labor-physical, organizational, and emotional-each of which is necessary to advance sustainable development initiative...
Citation: King, H. (2015). Three strategies to foster diversity in the food movement. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 5(4) AbstractThis commentary explores strategies for coalitionbuilding and reallocating resources across racial divides within alternative food systems. Following analysis of a set of public conversations held in Atlanta, Georgia, in spring 2015, I identify three strategies that may promote greater diversity: (1) the allocation of institutional and academic resources beyond historically privileged spaces; (2) the development of a shared historical context for framing and shaping collaborative, antiracist work; and (3) the commitment of policy-makers to execute the ideas of food producers. These strategies, pursued in conjunction, may aid in addressing regional and neighborhood discrepancies in representation in food system leadership and also foster a stronger, antiracist alternative food system.
Recent decades have led to increased interest in geographically localized food production and consumption systems as a means of supplying healthy food and strengthening local economies. A major pillar of this economic-strengthening is the idea that more direct markets support the development of viable, small-scale farm businesses. However, literature has increasingly shown that even direct sales may prove challenging as an avenue to economic viability for small-scale farmers. This paper contributes to this literature through an examination of market perceptions and pricing strategies used by small-scale farmers engaged in direct sales opportunities. Interviews with nine farm owners and managers, as well as three leaders of local food initiatives, revealed the creative strategies that small-scale food producers use to mitigate costs, set prices and convey the value of their products. Though farmers employ these creative strategies to make ends meet, their ability to become viable businesses is limited by the scope of current opportunities available within Atlanta's local food system, primarily farmers’ markets and Community-Supported Agriculture. In order for local food production to provide viable livelihoods for small-scale farmers, Atlanta's local food infrastructure may need to support small-scale farmers’ access to more diverse direct-market opportunities.
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