Ithaca-based academic journal features agriculture & food systems

A new online, Ithaca-based academic journal features agriculture and food systems research.  The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) is an international, peer-reviewed publication focused on the practice and applied research interests of agriculture and food systems development professionals.

Publisher Duncan Hilchey started the journal with his wife Amy Christian in 2010. Hilchey says starting the journal made a lot of sense -- he had years of experience at Cornell working on food and agriculture issues, and Christian was a freelance editor.  Hilchey, the son of a tenant-farm cotton picker and an entomologist, says that combining their passions was "a dream come true."

The journal emphasizes topics that bring producers and residents together, like farmland protection, public policy, distribution systems, and local food marketing strategies and campaigns.

For example, in the inaugural issue, authors of one paper analyzed results from interviews with farmers in the Northeastern US, discussed factors related to success in farm start-ups (social context, personal characteristics, business characteristics, and luck) and then made recommendations for policy-makers, farm start-up advisors, and beginning farmers (advising and mentoring, conceiving of farms as parts of a larger food system, and focus on playing to strengths).

For more info, see the JAFSCD website.