Enhancing Adaptive Capacity in Food Systems: Learning at Farmers' Markets in Sweden

Milestad, Rebecka; Westberg, Lotten; Geber, Ulrika; Björklund, Johanna

doi:10.5751/es-03543-150329

Cited by 45 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The ability to learn from past experiences and share knowledge is what gives an SES its adaptive capacity (Milestad et al 2010). It allows actors in the system and, by extension, the system itself, to anticipate the future based on experience rather than simply react to present conditions.…”

Section: Reflected and Shared Learning Phase In Adaptive Cycle: Reorgmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pest management that allows a certain controlled amount of invasion followed by selection of plants that fared well and exhibit signs of resistance Coupled with local natural capital (Ewell 1999, Milestad and Darnhofer 2003, Robertson and Swinton 2005, Naylor 2009, Darnhofer et al 2010a,b, van Apeldoorn et al 2011 The system functions as much as possible within the means of the bioregionally available natural resource base and ecosystem services Responsible use of local resources encourages a system to live within its means; this creates an agroecosystem that recycles waste, relies on healthy soil, and conserves water Builds (does not deplete) soil organic matter, recharges water, little need to import nutrients or export waste (con'd) Ecology and Society 17(1): 18 http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol17/iss1/art18/ Reflective and shared learning (Berkes et al 2003, Darnhofer et al 2010b, Milestad et al 2010, Shava et al 2010 Individuals and institutions learn from past experiences and present experimentation to anticipate change and create desirable futures…”

Section: Ecologically Self-regulatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indigenous and local knowledge can also contribute much to scientific research and should be sought when building baseline databases for the state of the agroecosystem (Berkes et al 2003, Shava et al 2010). Milestad et al (2010) studied the potential for farmer's markets in Sweden to enhance the adaptive capacity in food systems. They concluded that the face-to-face interaction between producers and consumers that takes place at farmer's markets can lead to greater mutual understanding.…”

Section: Reflected and Shared Learning Phase In Adaptive Cycle: Reorgmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

An Indicator Framework for Assessing Agroecosystem Resilience

Cabell¹,

Oelofse²

2012

E&S

384

431

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ABSTRACT. Taking departure in the theory of resilience in social-ecological systems, we present an analysis and discussion of how resilience theory can be applied to agroecosystems. Building on the premise that agroecosystems are too complex for resilience to be measured in any precise manner, we delineate behavior-based indicators of resilience within agroecosystems. Based on a review of relevant literature, we present and discuss an index of 13 such indicators, which, when identified in an agroecosystem, suggest that it is resilient and endowed with the capacity for adaptation and transformation. Absence of these indicators identifies points of intervention for managers and stakeholders to build resilience where there is vulnerability. The indicators encompass various phases in the adaptive cycle and seek to link core aspects of social-ecological systems. We stress the strong societal need for building resilience in agroecosystems and advocate for a broader way of evaluating resilience in agroecosystems.

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Section: Reflected and Shared Learning Phase In Adaptive Cycle: Reorgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecologically Self-regulatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reflected and Shared Learning Phase In Adaptive Cycle: Reorgmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An Indicator Framework for Assessing Agroecosystem Resilience

Cabell¹,

Oelofse²

2012

E&S

384

431

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“…Educational : There is an educational value related to the reconnection of urban residents to ecosystems through food, as demonstrated through both the growing interest in urban agriculture in Stockholm, Sweden (e.g., allotment gardens) and the increasing number of and popularity of farmer's markets (Milestad et al 2010 ).…”

Section: Cultural Services Related To Feeding Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding Cities: Food Security and Ecosystem Support in an Urbanizing World

Deutsch

Dyball

Steffen

2013

Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities

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In this chapter we take a complex systems approach to exploring the linkages among the phenomenon of urbanization, the changing value systems and world perspectives of urban dwellers, the sometimes distant connections to the food production systems that support cities, and the often invisible ecosystem services that support food production and in turn are affected by food production.After we explore the relationship between a range of ecosystem services and their relationship to food production, we present three cases of economically developed cities that secure their food from global sources. The wealthy urban populations in all our three case cities adhere to the highly commoditized systems of industrial production based on energy-and material-intensive external inputs for the bulk of their food provision. Fully integrated into the global market, trade enables these cities to both consume and produce what their consumers desire without regard to the local capacity of ecosystems in the regions around the cities. Although

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“…Developing new knowledge and learning processes strengthen farmers' capacity to deal with change (Milestad, Westberg, Geber, & Björklund, 2010). However, farmers' own experiments have not been analysed in a resilience framework in any previous study.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Resilience through Farmers’ Experiments in Organic Agriculture: Examples from Eastern Austria

Kummer¹,

Milestad²,

Leitgeb³

et al. 2012

SAR

Self Cite

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Farmers have always lived in changing environments where uncertainty and disturbances are inevitable. Therefore, farmers need the ability to adapt to change in order to be able to maintain their farms. Experimentation is one way for farmers to learn and adapt, and may be a tool to build farm resilience. Farmers' experiments as defined in this paper are activities where something totally or partially new is introduced at the farm and the feasibility of this introduction is evaluated. The theoretical framework applied to study farmers' experiments is the concept of resilience. Resilience is the capacity of social-ecological systems to cope with change, and is a framework used to assess complex systems of interactions between humans and ecosystems. This paper explores to which extent farmers' experimentation can help build farm resilience. In addition to arguments found in the literature, five organic farms in Eastern Austria are used to illustrate this potential. The farmers were interviewed in 2007 and 2008. The respective farmers all worked fulltime on their farms, were between 34 and 55 years old, and owned farms between 15 and 76 ha. These farmers experimented in ways that enhance resilience -at the farm and in the region. The outcome of experiments can be management changes, new insights, or technology that can be passed on and potentially be built into education and advisory institutions. To encourage farmers' experiments, it is important to develop conditions that support farmers in their experimenting role.

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Enhancing Adaptive Capacity in Food Systems: Learning at Farmers' Markets in Sweden

Cited by 45 publications

References 56 publications

An Indicator Framework for Assessing Agroecosystem Resilience

An Indicator Framework for Assessing Agroecosystem Resilience

Feeding Cities: Food Security and Ecosystem Support in an Urbanizing World

Building Resilience through Farmers’ Experiments in Organic Agriculture: Examples from Eastern Austria

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