A growing challenge with industrialized agriculture is compensating farmers for devoting land tow... more A growing challenge with industrialized agriculture is compensating farmers for devoting land towards producing ecosystem services, at a time when global food demands are accelerating. Here, we explore revenue thresholds that Payment for Ecosystem Service programs (PES) must approach to be competitive in present-day crop markets, amalgamating long-term North American data especially from Canada on input costs, crop yields, crop revenues after expenses, government subsidies, and land use. Two trends suggest that PES markets with stable revenues can be increasingly competitive, with inflation-adjusted farm input costs now 50x higher than a century earlier and increasingly high revenue instability including net losses for some crops in some years. Since 1994, crop revenues in some regions have averaged $39 acre− 1 US, peaking at $412 but losing money 25.3% of time. Importantly, these data show how government subsidies have been a major stabilizing force, increasing revenues by 37.6% wh...
Sustainably feeding the next generation is often described as one of the most pressing "gran... more Sustainably feeding the next generation is often described as one of the most pressing "grand challenges" facing the 21st century. Generally, scholars propose addressing this problem by increasing agricultural production, investing in technology to boost yields, changing diets, or reducing food waste. In this paper, we explore whether global food production is nutritionally balanced by comparing the diet that nutritionists recommend versus global agricultural production statistics. Results show that the global agricultural system currently overproduces grains, fats, and sugars while production of fruits and vegetables and protein is not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the current population. Correcting this imbalance could reduce the amount of arable land used by agriculture by 51 million ha globally but would increase total land used for agriculture by 407 million ha and increase greenhouse gas emissions. For a growing population, our calculations suggest that...
This article explores how digital agri-food system transformations are framed and by whom. To ans... more This article explores how digital agri-food system transformations are framed and by whom. To answer these questions, we searched for webpages linked to Twitter and by Google that describe the role of emerging digital technologies in agri-food systems. From these, we characterize three framings of transformation. The first framing proposes that digital tools make farms optimally productive. A second framing emphasizes inequities in access to digital tools and increased farmer participation in tech development. A third framing highlights how technology creates more traceable agri-food systems. We then conducted a social network analysis of webpage authors, finding three network clusters. The largest centres on intergovernmental and international development organizations that typically promote the first and third framings. The second framing is mostly promoted by academic and civil society actors and was least common across webpages, suggesting that digital agriculture trajectories m...
In their ambitious book Empires of Food, authors Evan D.G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas take on a huge... more In their ambitious book Empires of Food, authors Evan D.G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas take on a huge topic: the cause-and-effect relationship between food systems, societies and governments or, as they phrase it in the book's subtitle, "feast, famine and the rise and fall of civilizations." This is historical context as well as advice for college students, who have only a vague idea of where food comes from. One valuable aspect of their writing is the ease with which they move from science to sociology to history to commerce. In a series of specific episodes, they show how the management of food production has both empowered and doomed empires. A second attribute of this work is its present-mindedness, not so much a warning as an explanation of what is happening today in the taxed-to-the-limits global food network, and what is likely to happen tomorrow. I find that few class assignments gain traction with my cadets unless I can show that it can contribute to their immedia...
Abstract Global social and economic changes, alongside climate change, are affecting the operatin... more Abstract Global social and economic changes, alongside climate change, are affecting the operating environment for agriculture, leading to efforts to increase production and yields, typically through the use of agrochemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, expanded irrigation, and changes in seed varieties. Intensification, alongside the expansion of agriculture into new areas, has increased harvest, but has also had numerous well-known impacts on the environment, ultimately resulting in a loss of resilience and lack of sustainability in agro-ecosystems. Combined with features of agricultural systems such as the differential movement of ecosystem services, and interactions among ecosystem services driven in part by management choices, such intensification has disrupted key feedbacks in agricultural systems. These changes have tended to perpetuate the management choices that have led to efficient, productive agriculture, often at the expense of nature and the provision of important nonfood ecosystem services. Here, we explore how agriculture functions as a complex adaptive system. We assess how recent changes have interacted with agro-ecosystem features to result in a loss of resilience, and suggest key research directions to help harmonize production and ecosystem function, drawing primarily on Canadian examples. Enhancing the resilience of agricultural landscapes is critical to the long-term sustainability of agriculture in a rapidly changing world.
To increase donations of nutritious food, Ontario introduced a tax credit for farmers who donate ... more To increase donations of nutritious food, Ontario introduced a tax credit for farmers who donate agricultural products to food banks in 2013. This research seeks to investigate the role of Ontario’s Food Donation Tax Credit for Farmers in addressing both food loss and waste (FLW) and food insecurity through a case study of fresh produce rescue in Windsor-Essex, Ontario. This research also documents the challenges associated with rescuing fresh produce from farms, as well as alternatives to donating. Interviews with food banks, producers and key informants revealed that perceptions of the tax credit, and the credit’s ability to address FLW and food insecurity, contrasted greatly with the initial perceptions of the policymakers who created the tax credit. In particular, the legislators did not anticipate the logistical challenges associated with incentivizing this type of donation, nor the limitations of a donation-based intervention to provide food insecure Ontarians with access to f...
A transition to a more sustainable diet likely requires substituting proteins of animal origin wi... more A transition to a more sustainable diet likely requires substituting proteins of animal origin with alternatives like plant-based foods. Yet consumers are not regularly consuming alternative protein products, and one potential explanation is that the dominant food retail infrastructure is not oriented in favour of these foods. This study provides an in-depth exploration of the role of supermarkets in plant-based protein consumption in a Canadian food retail setting. A mixed-methods approach involving seven supermarket audits, 24 consumer interviews, and five key informant interviews was used to explore the in-store context for plant-based protein purchasing as well as the forms of "fits" and "misfits" between the supermarket's strategies for retailing plant-based protein and consumer strategies when shopping for these products. Our findings suggest that supermarkets are simultaneously enabling and limiting consumers when it comes to alternative protein consumption by increasing the availability of plant-based options, but assuming basic strategies when it comes to marketing these products in-store. We propose several tactics that could facilitate greater uptake of these products, including placing plant-based meat and dairy substitutes on the same shelves as other meat and dairy products and the devotion of more resources to product promotions and the innovation of new varieties. In concluding, we contend that efforts to increase society's consumption of alternative protein products would greatly benefit from better understanding the supermarket's role in mediating this transition.
The livelihoods of people dependent on the Tonle Sap floodplain ecosystem in Cambodia are expecte... more The livelihoods of people dependent on the Tonle Sap floodplain ecosystem in Cambodia are expected to be affected by changes in economic conditions, social circumstances, environmental perturbations, demographic shifts and political climates. This study assesses how small‐scale fisheries’ livelihoods are changing in response to social and environmental conditions using the opinions of fishers collected through an intensive family survey of 514 households from Pursat and Battambang Provinces in Cambodia. Probit modelling approach was used to assess whether a fisher would continue fishing or not in the future when subjected to a variety of shifting conditions and identify the factors associated with their response. It was found that in any future condition about 50% of fishers would likely continue to fish, which suggests how much they love their traditional livelihood of fishing. The remaining 50% considered to diversify their livelihood strategy by shifting towards a combination of fishing, farming, and off‐farm jobs. Furthermore, the analysis found that the fishers will change their fishing practices depending on how other sectors in the region develop. The model showed increasing access to agricultural activities decreased the likelihood of continuing to fish, whereas finding an off‐farm job corresponded to increased likelihood of continuing to fish.
Agriculture stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, and the same technologies that created th... more Agriculture stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, and the same technologies that created the Internet and are transforming medicine are now being applied in our farms and on our fields. Overall, this digital agricultural revolution is being driven by the low cost of collecting data on everything from soil conditions to animal health and crop development along with weather station data and data collected by drones and satellites. The promise of these technologies is more food, produced on less land, with fewer inputs and a smaller environmental footprint. At present, however, barriers to realizing this potential include a lack of ability to aggregate and interpret data in such a way that it results in useful decision support tools for farmers and the need to train farmers in how to use new tools. This article reviews the state of the literature on the promise and barriers to realizing the potential for Big Data to revolutionize agriculture.
A growing challenge with industrialized agriculture is compensating farmers for devoting land tow... more A growing challenge with industrialized agriculture is compensating farmers for devoting land towards producing ecosystem services, at a time when global food demands are accelerating. Here, we explore revenue thresholds that Payment for Ecosystem Service programs (PES) must approach to be competitive in present-day crop markets, amalgamating long-term North American data especially from Canada on input costs, crop yields, crop revenues after expenses, government subsidies, and land use. Two trends suggest that PES markets with stable revenues can be increasingly competitive, with inflation-adjusted farm input costs now 50x higher than a century earlier and increasingly high revenue instability including net losses for some crops in some years. Since 1994, crop revenues in some regions have averaged $39 acre− 1 US, peaking at $412 but losing money 25.3% of time. Importantly, these data show how government subsidies have been a major stabilizing force, increasing revenues by 37.6% wh...
Sustainably feeding the next generation is often described as one of the most pressing "gran... more Sustainably feeding the next generation is often described as one of the most pressing "grand challenges" facing the 21st century. Generally, scholars propose addressing this problem by increasing agricultural production, investing in technology to boost yields, changing diets, or reducing food waste. In this paper, we explore whether global food production is nutritionally balanced by comparing the diet that nutritionists recommend versus global agricultural production statistics. Results show that the global agricultural system currently overproduces grains, fats, and sugars while production of fruits and vegetables and protein is not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the current population. Correcting this imbalance could reduce the amount of arable land used by agriculture by 51 million ha globally but would increase total land used for agriculture by 407 million ha and increase greenhouse gas emissions. For a growing population, our calculations suggest that...
This article explores how digital agri-food system transformations are framed and by whom. To ans... more This article explores how digital agri-food system transformations are framed and by whom. To answer these questions, we searched for webpages linked to Twitter and by Google that describe the role of emerging digital technologies in agri-food systems. From these, we characterize three framings of transformation. The first framing proposes that digital tools make farms optimally productive. A second framing emphasizes inequities in access to digital tools and increased farmer participation in tech development. A third framing highlights how technology creates more traceable agri-food systems. We then conducted a social network analysis of webpage authors, finding three network clusters. The largest centres on intergovernmental and international development organizations that typically promote the first and third framings. The second framing is mostly promoted by academic and civil society actors and was least common across webpages, suggesting that digital agriculture trajectories m...
In their ambitious book Empires of Food, authors Evan D.G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas take on a huge... more In their ambitious book Empires of Food, authors Evan D.G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas take on a huge topic: the cause-and-effect relationship between food systems, societies and governments or, as they phrase it in the book's subtitle, "feast, famine and the rise and fall of civilizations." This is historical context as well as advice for college students, who have only a vague idea of where food comes from. One valuable aspect of their writing is the ease with which they move from science to sociology to history to commerce. In a series of specific episodes, they show how the management of food production has both empowered and doomed empires. A second attribute of this work is its present-mindedness, not so much a warning as an explanation of what is happening today in the taxed-to-the-limits global food network, and what is likely to happen tomorrow. I find that few class assignments gain traction with my cadets unless I can show that it can contribute to their immedia...
Abstract Global social and economic changes, alongside climate change, are affecting the operatin... more Abstract Global social and economic changes, alongside climate change, are affecting the operating environment for agriculture, leading to efforts to increase production and yields, typically through the use of agrochemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, expanded irrigation, and changes in seed varieties. Intensification, alongside the expansion of agriculture into new areas, has increased harvest, but has also had numerous well-known impacts on the environment, ultimately resulting in a loss of resilience and lack of sustainability in agro-ecosystems. Combined with features of agricultural systems such as the differential movement of ecosystem services, and interactions among ecosystem services driven in part by management choices, such intensification has disrupted key feedbacks in agricultural systems. These changes have tended to perpetuate the management choices that have led to efficient, productive agriculture, often at the expense of nature and the provision of important nonfood ecosystem services. Here, we explore how agriculture functions as a complex adaptive system. We assess how recent changes have interacted with agro-ecosystem features to result in a loss of resilience, and suggest key research directions to help harmonize production and ecosystem function, drawing primarily on Canadian examples. Enhancing the resilience of agricultural landscapes is critical to the long-term sustainability of agriculture in a rapidly changing world.
To increase donations of nutritious food, Ontario introduced a tax credit for farmers who donate ... more To increase donations of nutritious food, Ontario introduced a tax credit for farmers who donate agricultural products to food banks in 2013. This research seeks to investigate the role of Ontario’s Food Donation Tax Credit for Farmers in addressing both food loss and waste (FLW) and food insecurity through a case study of fresh produce rescue in Windsor-Essex, Ontario. This research also documents the challenges associated with rescuing fresh produce from farms, as well as alternatives to donating. Interviews with food banks, producers and key informants revealed that perceptions of the tax credit, and the credit’s ability to address FLW and food insecurity, contrasted greatly with the initial perceptions of the policymakers who created the tax credit. In particular, the legislators did not anticipate the logistical challenges associated with incentivizing this type of donation, nor the limitations of a donation-based intervention to provide food insecure Ontarians with access to f...
A transition to a more sustainable diet likely requires substituting proteins of animal origin wi... more A transition to a more sustainable diet likely requires substituting proteins of animal origin with alternatives like plant-based foods. Yet consumers are not regularly consuming alternative protein products, and one potential explanation is that the dominant food retail infrastructure is not oriented in favour of these foods. This study provides an in-depth exploration of the role of supermarkets in plant-based protein consumption in a Canadian food retail setting. A mixed-methods approach involving seven supermarket audits, 24 consumer interviews, and five key informant interviews was used to explore the in-store context for plant-based protein purchasing as well as the forms of "fits" and "misfits" between the supermarket's strategies for retailing plant-based protein and consumer strategies when shopping for these products. Our findings suggest that supermarkets are simultaneously enabling and limiting consumers when it comes to alternative protein consumption by increasing the availability of plant-based options, but assuming basic strategies when it comes to marketing these products in-store. We propose several tactics that could facilitate greater uptake of these products, including placing plant-based meat and dairy substitutes on the same shelves as other meat and dairy products and the devotion of more resources to product promotions and the innovation of new varieties. In concluding, we contend that efforts to increase society's consumption of alternative protein products would greatly benefit from better understanding the supermarket's role in mediating this transition.
The livelihoods of people dependent on the Tonle Sap floodplain ecosystem in Cambodia are expecte... more The livelihoods of people dependent on the Tonle Sap floodplain ecosystem in Cambodia are expected to be affected by changes in economic conditions, social circumstances, environmental perturbations, demographic shifts and political climates. This study assesses how small‐scale fisheries’ livelihoods are changing in response to social and environmental conditions using the opinions of fishers collected through an intensive family survey of 514 households from Pursat and Battambang Provinces in Cambodia. Probit modelling approach was used to assess whether a fisher would continue fishing or not in the future when subjected to a variety of shifting conditions and identify the factors associated with their response. It was found that in any future condition about 50% of fishers would likely continue to fish, which suggests how much they love their traditional livelihood of fishing. The remaining 50% considered to diversify their livelihood strategy by shifting towards a combination of fishing, farming, and off‐farm jobs. Furthermore, the analysis found that the fishers will change their fishing practices depending on how other sectors in the region develop. The model showed increasing access to agricultural activities decreased the likelihood of continuing to fish, whereas finding an off‐farm job corresponded to increased likelihood of continuing to fish.
Agriculture stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, and the same technologies that created th... more Agriculture stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, and the same technologies that created the Internet and are transforming medicine are now being applied in our farms and on our fields. Overall, this digital agricultural revolution is being driven by the low cost of collecting data on everything from soil conditions to animal health and crop development along with weather station data and data collected by drones and satellites. The promise of these technologies is more food, produced on less land, with fewer inputs and a smaller environmental footprint. At present, however, barriers to realizing this potential include a lack of ability to aggregate and interpret data in such a way that it results in useful decision support tools for farmers and the need to train farmers in how to use new tools. This article reviews the state of the literature on the promise and barriers to realizing the potential for Big Data to revolutionize agriculture.
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