Week Two: Erving Goffman, "On Fieldwork"

Week Two: Erving Goffman, "On Fieldwork"

"There is a freshness cycle when moving into the field. The first day you'll see more than you'll ever see again," says Goffman (p. 130). Take these wise words of this famous field researcher as good advice--be observant at each site visitation!

Read about Goffman here.

--Brent W.

Week Two: O'Hara and Stagl, "Global Food Markets and Their Local Alternatives"

Week Two: O'Hara and Stagl, "Global Food Markets and Their Local Alternatives"

When I consider sustainability, I think about the confluence of ecology, economy, and society. The authors reveal the often-overlooked social value of community supported agriculture in this article. While Robers addresses the economic and environmental limits of global markets, here we find a focus on the social implications of an industrialized food system. Trust and interdependence within a food system are perhaps just as valuable as the food itself.

Link: Video discussing the CSA concept

--Brent W.

Week Two: Agricultural Highlights Brochure

Week Two: Agricultural Highlights Brochure

The top export markets are fascinating to review. It is amazing to consider how widely California agricultural products travel.

This brochure also suggests the immense amount of government supervision, control, and intervention in California agriculture. As secretary of agriculture AG Kawamura said, if you took just the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley alone, they would be more productive than any other state in the country. This is a precious resource.

--Brent W.

Week Two: Marcel Mazoyer and Laurence Roudart, A History of World Agriculture

Week Two: Marcel Mazoyer and Laurence Roudart, A History of World Agriculture

The authors write that "the ratio of gross productivity between the least productive manual agriculture and the most productive motorized agriculture is today on the order of more that 1 to 1000!" (Mazoyer, 441). This disparity is amazing, and the economic inequality that results from this wide cleft in agricultural technology has had devastating effects on parts of the underdeveloped world. How do you relate the agricultural trends in the United States to this global outcome?

--Brent W.

Week One: Paul Starrs and Peter Goin, Field Guide to California Agriculture

Week One: Paul Starrs and Peter Goin, Field Guide to California Agriculture

Growing up in California, I never quite realized the benefit of living in a place with such diverse agriculture. This time of year, for example, the clementines popular on the East Coast are from Morocco or Spain. In California, however, they come from Placer County, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the picture: garlic in bins from the San Joaquin Valley, in Gilroy, CA.

--Brent W.

Week One: Gail Feenstra and Christopher Lewis, "Farmers' markets offer new business opportunities for farmers"

Week One: Gail Feenstra and Christopher Lewis, "Farmers' markets offer new business opportunities for farmers"

What is the significance of a certified farmers' market? Is it always beneficial for farmers to sell at public markets? I think it is important to ask this question, because it is easy to overlook the labor and potential food waste created by public markets. Farmers' markets do provide one good alternative to commodity or wholesale channels, however. In the picture: figs and plums at the Davis farmers' market in August, a certified farmers market.

--Brent W.

Week One: Paul Roberts: Chapter Two, The End of Food

Week One:
Paul Roberts: Chapter Two, The End of Food

When I think about the relationship of food consumers with food producers, Roberts' discussion of brand image captures many of my concerns of how that relationship has deteriorated. He writes, "...food companies must differentiate their products through heavy promotion, bribing consumers with outright financial incentives...or, more often, inducing consumers to associate a product with a cluster of potent and attractive ideas such as "quality," or "health," or "good parenting..." (p. 37). I find it especially alarming to realize that these noble attributes so easily become tools of deception, or, at very best, hollow signifiers of lost ideals. In this picture from the Ferry Building farmers' market in San Francisco, notice how the anxiety created by this estrangement results in heavy labeling in an effort to affirm a producer's authenticity and good intention.

--Brent W.

Week One: Whither California Agriculture: Up, Down, or Out? Some Thoughts about the Future

Week One: Whither California Agriculture: Up, Down, or Out? Some Thoughts about the Future.

California produces approximately 400 different food crops, with more than 25 million acres under cultivation. The range of climates and geography in the state make it one of the most diverse agricultural regions in the world, but it faces challenges. Competition for resources such as water, land, and labor, and increasing global competition are making agriculture in Califonria increasingly difficult. The picture in this post shows an artichoke picker outside of Castroville, the self-proclaimed "artichoke capitol of the world."

--Brent W.

Week One: Paul Roberts: Prologue to The End of Food

Week One:
Paul Roberts: Prologue to The End of Food

Roberts' outlook for the food system is rather bleak. How do you respond to his message that the current industrialized food economy is endangering us? What do you believe the future of food to be in the United States and globally? In the picture: at an almond processor in Sacramento, each concrete silo holds one million pounds of almonds. Did you know that all almonds sold in the US have either been fumigated or heat-treated as a kill step against harmful pathogens?

--Brent W.

Blog Assignment

Hello Class,

This blog is a means for us to share ideas about the readings. Your participation by way of posting comments following a specific format will be evaluated as part of your final grade. A description of the format follows. You are expected to post comments on a weekly basis. You are also welcome to go beyond the required number of comments. Hopefully you will find this to be a creative and fun way to communicate!

ASSIGNMENT
The blog comment assignment is worth a total of ten points.

Over the duration of the class you are expected to post a minimum of ten comments on ten different readings; each comment is worth one point. You are expected to post one comment per week, at the conclusion of the week's readings. The deadline for posting will be Monday nights at 11:59 PM.

Each comment you post must refer to one specific reading from class. Choose a new readings for each comment. Your comment should follow a particular format:

1) Select a quote from the reading that you believe captures an important idea from the piece. Enter this quote, indicating the author, the source, and the page number in the reader.

2) Explain how this quote represents the reading.

3) Explain your impression of the entire reading. Do you agree or disagree with the author? What did you find to be provoking or challenging about the piece?

4) Sign your name in the comment, using your first name and last initial.

You are welcome to post more free-form comments as long as you post the minimum ten comments following this format.

Please always sign your first name and last initial.

--Brent W.