NCDC223: Advancing Research, Education, and Policy to Support Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle
(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
NCDC223: Advancing Research, Education, and Policy to Support Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle
Duration: 08/06/2010 to 08/06/2012
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
The importance of the work
Long-term USDA data clearly show that the industrialization of the U. S. food system has resulted in dramatic changes in how food products are produced and distributed. While the numbers of both small and large farms have increased, many mid-sized farms and ranches have disappeared. These operations are often too large or poorly located to direct market their products and are increasingly unable to compete successfully in global commodity markets. Beyond the farm level, the food processing, distribution, and retailing sectors have witnessed similar consolidations. The results of these changes have broad and diverse including declining food costs as a percentage of income, freeing of labor for other uses, growing concerns over the management of rural landscapes, and the disappearance of many rural communities.
NC 1036 ( Research and Education Support for the Renewal of an Agriculture of the Middle , 2006-2010) was formed to investigate the implications of this changing structure of U. S. agriculture and to consider alternative responses. Over the five-year span of the multistate project, participants brought a new focus to these issues as demonstrated by changes in the language used in USDA RFPs, a series of successful research, outreach, and educational grant proposals, and a range of scientific and popular press publications (see for example, Lyson, Stevenson, and Welsh, 2008 or the publications available at http://www.agofthemiddle.org/). From the perspective of stakeholders, the work initiated under NC 1036 is significant because it addresses three key elements that have been inadequately considered in other efforts the plight of mid-sized farms, the performance of alternative food supply chains, and the importance of differentiated food products.
Two studies completed in 2010 provide insights that supplement what has been learned from more targeted projects -- NC 1036 commissioned a report on priority research and policy issues facing agriculture of the middle (http://www.agofthemiddle.org/pubs/AOTM_research.pdf) and the USDA/ERS issued a report that compares local and mainstream food supply chains (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR99/). The proposed two-year North Central Development Committee will provide the time needed to analyze carefully what we have discovered and define the next steps.
Technical feasibility of the research/outreach and justification of a multistate effort
Within the academic community, the expertise exists to both conduct appropriate studies and provide technical assistance to agricultural sector participants. The work conducted to date clearly demonstrates that excellent opportunities exist to match existing producers with a growing demand for high quality differentiated products. Many of researchers and outreach specialists who have expressed an interest in working on these topics have limited opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in their own state and therefore they will benefit greatly from the opportunity to network with NCDC participants from other states and regions. The NC 1036 experience of the last five years has been that the most successful efforts have crossed geographic, disciplinary and commodity boundaries. The NC 1036 members will participate in an effort to recruit new participants to work on this topic.
Successful completion of this two-year NCDC effort will result in a well defined proposal to pursue either a new research project or a new coordinating committee. In the long run the set of multistate efforts that began with NC 1036 will provide a better understanding of both the opportunities to expand agriculture of the middle supply chains and the implications of these supply chains for producers, supply chain participants and society as a whole.
Reference:
Lyson, Thomas A., G. W. Stevenson, and Rick Welsh. 2008. Food and the Mid-Level farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.