The commercialization of fresh vegetables is crucial in enhancing revenues from commercial vegetable farming and ensuring reliable supply of high-quality produce for consumers. However, this is only guaranteed under ethical application of agrochemicals beyond which can lead in a more pronounced public health as well as environmental hazards. The present paper sought to examine the influence of commercialization on food safety. Vegetable samples weighing between 1 to 2 kg were purchased from randomly selected producers in two major producing counties (Kiambu and Kirinyaga) in Kenya. All samples were freeze-dried and stored in an ice chess box, to minimize contamination. Then the samples were labeled, and transported to the laboratory for processing and testing. All approved samples were subjected to the QuEChERS preparation method for pesticides and quantified using gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Lab results tested positive for 13 problematic pesticides including known carcinogens and highly hazardous agrochemicals such as Malathion, chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos. The most common agrochemical was carbofuran (67%) in terms of insecticide. For the case of fungicides, the most common was mancozeb (60%) and metalaxyl (58%). Food safety issues are caused mainly by not observing preharvest intervals, excessive application of chemicals and use of illegal agrochemicals. Chemical residues in food mainly results in carcinogenic diseases (43 to 49%), stomach related problems (15 to 19%), eye related problems (10 to 15%), and skin related problems (11 to 14%) and breathing difficulties (10 to 12%). This study demonstrates that there is a problem of agrochemical use and food safety concerns and kale and tomato value chain.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish factors that influence vegetable commercialization among smallholder farmers of fresh vegetables in Kenya. The present study defined commercialization against farmer characteristics including portion of land committed to vegetable farming, share of household income generated from it, and the producers’ perception that the vegetables they consumed at the farm were produced or procured without any substantial cost. Methodology: The researcher adopted a cross-sectional survey design to randomly recruit a sample of crop farmers (n=118) from Kirinyaga and Kiambu counties in Kenya. Data on agrochemical use, crop diversity and scale as well as logistical issues regarding proximity to markets and social status of the crop farmers were collected using a researcher-administered questionnaire in a one-on-one interview. These data were initially entered on MS Excel spread sheets for cleaning and later transferred to Minitab (Ver 12) for statistical analyses. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to isolate crucial commercialization factors responsible for varying agrochemical use behaviours among crop farmers and later presented in scree plots. Results/Findings: The study revealed that commercialization of tomatoes and kale was real in different areas of study which was influenced by structural and socio-demographic factors. From the study findings, structural policies to promote horticulture and high value crop production had a positive impact on production of vegetables while wildlife conservation and livestock development resulted to human-wildlife conflicts due to agrochemical abuse. Various socio-demographic factors that influence commercialization of vegetables included: household size, farm size, proportion of land used for vegetable production and household income. It emerged that household size (Eigen value EV=3.63), income (EV=2.61) and farm size (EV=1.27) accounted for 68.4% of variability in agrochemical abuse. This finding also explains their marginalization from county government extension services and high costs of market access. Unique contribution to theories, practice and policy: The study finds that vegetable farmers’ perception of commercialization leaned more towards increasing production in response to consumer demand and not necessarily to raise household food supplies. Famers dedicated over two thirds (66.67%) of their land to vegetable farming to support their livelihood (97.1%, SE= 1.30). Commercialization of vegetable farming was influenced by the level of education (SE=3.68). The study found out that that access to ICT equipment, particularly mobile phones, were the prime means via which farming techniques and agribusiness practices were learnt or improved (V= 0.196 Pearson, p=0.11).

Purpose: For many years the failure of actors such as farmers to comply with regulations that promote public good, such as adherence to safe practices in the use of agrochemicals was only understood from a position of weak enforcement and surveillance. The study sought to evaluate agribusiness regulatory compliance and consumers’ willingness to pay for a food safety premium among vegetable producers in Kenya. Methodology: The researcher adopted a cross-sectional survey design to randomly recruit a sample of crop farmers (n=118) and vegetable consumers (n=235) from Kirinyaga and Kiambu counties in Kenya, respectively. Data on consumer willingness to pay for safe agricultural produce as well as logistical issues regarding proximity to markets and social status of the crop farmers were collected using a researcher-administered questionnaire in a one-on-one interview. A similar approach was adopted to interview consumers’ social status and vegetable consumption patterns. Results/Findings: The study found that the present commercialization of tomatoes and kales is driven by low-income earners’ bid to earn a livelihood. However, their capital limitations push them to farm outside planned areas such as forests fringes, riverbanks or low potential zones in which they face extraordinary pressure from pests and diseases, which in turn compel them to abuse agrochemicals. This finding also explains their marginalization from county government extension services, high costs of market access and potential to experiment with classified agrochemicals. The study revealed that high income consumer from Westlands (91.44%) were likely to consider agrochemicals in their decisions to purchase vegetables compared to medium and low-income from Kasarani and Embakasi (2.21% and 6.35%), respectively. Majority of the vegetable consumers were not aware of varied agrichemical used by fathers as well as their health and environmental effects.There is reason to believe that both farmers and consumers could be heavily exposed to which the study proposes a population-based survey to assess agrochemical poisoning. Unique contribution to theories, practice and policy: This study finds compelling evidence to suggest that livelihood and farming outcomes of vegetable farmers are a key consideration among consumers purchase decisions. The findings also suggest that these factors significantly incentivize the farmer to comply with agribusiness ethics regulations. The paper recommends a training of extension officers and advocate for more budgetary allocation on agriculture. The extension officers will in turn train farmers on god farming practices as well as implementation of mitigation measures in relation to toxic pesticides. The researcher feels that there is a need to for a research to be conducted to understand the involvement of farmers in the formulation of policies and agribusiness practices rules in order to gain knowledge on the level of acceptance of these polices among farmers in Kenya. Key words: Consumers, Producers, Food-safety, Premium

The quality of the agri-food product, as well as the attributes that define it, has been developed for decades, where discussions around the theme turned to questions related to the standardization of attributes. It should be noted that the theoretical lines associated with the theme are derived from production systems models where production productivity and distribution on a global scale are the guiding principles of food production. Currently, there is greater demand for products coming from a model that contrasts with the global-scale production model, which emphasizes the aspects of standardization of products and processes. This new model of food consumption highlights specific characteristics of product quality related to the location and proximity to the producer. Discussions about product quality in this new model of production and consumption (agri-food short chains) are recent and need a theoretical and practical deepening, in view of the new demands of consumers for these products. This paper aims to present the development and validation of a scale with quality attributes from the consumer point of view applied specifically to food and beverage products characterized by agri-food short chains. Items were generated (27 quality attributes) from an extensive theoretical review (quality conventions), subjected to face validation, and then used to collect data from 904 consumers in short food distribution channels in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. The data were analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, which resulted in a final scale composed of 20 quality attributes comprising, domestic, civic, regard, institutional, and market conventions.

This study explores opportunities for increasing access to fresh produce by the emergency food system. Results of extensive interviews of managers of farming operations, food bank distributors, food banks, and food pantries were analyzed using thematic analysis to gain insights into the major challenges to increasing access to fresh produce by the emergency food system. The principal recommendations focus on the need to increase the availability of fresh produce in order to meet expected future growth in demand, better utilizing and communicating grower tax incentives, and investing in building the capacity of the food bank system.

Food insecurity is a pervasive problem in the United States and it is particularly acute in high cost areas. This study focuses on the diets and food expenditures of food bank clients in two Northern California counties located in what is commonly known as Silicon Valley. The results indicate that the study group spent 27% more than the federal government’s Thrifty Food Plan, but consumed a lower amount of fruits, vegetables, protein, and dairy than what is needed for a healthy diet. Policies that encourage better nutrition and more balanced diets at affordable prices and which take into account the living and transportation situations of food insecure populations are needed to address these issues.

Prevailing estimates of food loss at the farm level are sparse and often reliant upon grower surveys. A more comprehensive review of food loss at the farm level using field surveys is required to gain an adequate understanding of the depth of this issue. This paper details the results of 123 in-field surveys and 18 in-depth interviews of 20 different, hand-harvested field crops performed largely on midsize to large conventional farms in northern and central California. We also provide estimates of the percentage of fields that go unharvested, commonly known as walk-by fields. The results show that food loss is highly variable and largely dependent upon the crop, variety, market price, labor costs, grower practices, buyer specifications, and environmental conditions. On average, we found 11,299 kg/ha of food loss at the farm level, which equates to 31.3% of the marketed yield. When walk-by losses are included, this figure rises to 33.7%. Our paper also demonstrates that grower estimates are typically very unreliable for estimating on-farm food losses. Actual, measured edible food loss exceeded growers' estimates by a median value of 157%. Strategies to utilize this lost produce could play a significant role in reducing the impact of agriculture on the environment and providing food for the rapidly growing population.

The United States has recorded strong growth in organic produce, as measured both by arable land devoted to organics and the value of the organic products market. Among the countries that produce such products, it is the third largest country in terms of arable land devoted to organic production. Furthermore, the U.S. has the highest consumption of organic products. The decision made by small producers when choosing which sales channels to access is a complicated issue. In California, the state with the largest amount of land used for organic farming, small organic producers use between two and four distribution channels to sell their products. The principal objective of this article is to identify the extent to which the main distribution channels used by producers to sell their products result in value capture by the producer or its distribution channels. The study finds that producers concentrate their sales in channels where they capture the most value and use secondary channels to dispose of product that cannot be readily sold through priority channels. Furthermore, producers use direct sales channels, such as farmers’ markets – despite the highly specific assets involved in this transaction due to the large investments needed to access them – because they provide the greatest return in terms of product value among the various distribution channels.Keywords: organic; produce; value capture; distribution channels; supply chain.SCALCO, Andréa Rossi; BAKER, Gregory A. Value capture analysis of small organic growers and their distribution channels in California. Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura, v. 27, n. 3, p. 566-589, out. 2019.Submitted in March 2019.Accepted in July 2019.

With food security increasingly seen as an urban concern, urban agriculture (UA) has emerged as one strategy for improving access to healthy, affordable food within cities in the Global North. This research evaluates the contributions of three types of urban gardens in Santa Clara County, California, to food security. Survey, interview and harvest data were collected from home gardeners, community gardeners and gardeners participating in community food security (CFS) programs, which provide low-income families with the materials and training to grow their own vegetables. To assess food security we use a multi-dimensional framework that encompasses food availability, accessibility, nutritional adequacy and cultural acceptability as well as agency within the food system. Over the summer of 2015, median garden production ranged from 26 kg for participants in CFS programs to 56 kg for home gardeners. All garden types produced enough produce for at least one adult to consume the number of cups of vegetables recommended by federal nutritional guidelines. Gardening also increased some low-income gardeners' access to healthy food, allowing them to have the diet they wanted-one high in organically grown vegetables-but could not otherwise afford to purchase. Interviews showed that gardeners do not think of cultural acceptability strictly in terms of the presence of certain types of cultural crops; they also articulated a broader set of values concerning the environmental and social conditions of food production. At all income levels, gardeners frequently described a set of food values related to knowledge, control, trust, freshness, flavor, organic production methods and sharing, which they were able to enact through gardening. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the nutritional contributions that urban gardens make but also highlight the importance that low-income gardeners place on having food that aligns with their cultural and ethical values and being able to exercise greater autonomy in making food choices. In conclusion, we suggest that more robust, holistic assessments of UA's contributions to food security will include the subjective aspects of food as well as quantitative measures related to food production.

The International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) and its journal, the International Food and Agribusiness Management Review (IFAMR), has a long and rich history of promoting the use of teaching case studies in the food and agribusiness management profession. IFAMA has encouraged the use of cases in instruction through sessions focusing on teaching with the case method as well as case writing and development. It has also provided an opportunity for students and instructors to showcase students’ analytical skills through the student case competition at the IFAMA annual meeting.

In California, the growing popularity of urban agriculture (UA) has unfolded against a backdrop of historic drought. While UA is often celebrated as an urban sustainability strategy, it must be able to persist during drought if it is to perform these functions. Using Santa Clara County-the geographic core of Silicon Valley-as a case study, we use interviews and surveys to explore the implications of drought for UA. We show how developing an understanding of water access for UA during a drought requires examining the social and institutional context of water management and use. In metropolitan California, the highly decentralised water supply system combined with the diverse institutional arrangements that support UA create an uneven landscape of water access. Consequently, the pressure to change water-consuming practices-that is, the stress that institutional drought responses place on different water users-is geographically and socially differentiated. Among UA water users, responses to drought have also varied, in part because the possibilities for change are constrained by the sociotechnical arrangements of UA sites and the different purposes of UA.

In the United States, food banks served an estimated 46 million people in 2015. A combination of government policy reforms and political economic trends contributed to the rising numbers of individuals relying on private food assistance in the US, the United Kingdom and other high-income countries. Although researchers frequently map urban food environments, this project is one of the first to map private food assistance and potential need at the census-tract scale. We utilize Geographic Information Systems, demographic data, and food assistance locations to develop a rapid assessment tool that could support food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, and government agencies that seek to answer the question of whether people with the greatest need have food distribution sites in close proximity. We define access based on distance and then calculate potential food insecurity using either poverty rates or a food insecurity index. We apply these methods in a case study analysis of Santa Clara County, California. Our findings suggest that food assistance distribution locations match the areas of potential need in more than 80% of urban census tracts. However, there are several potentially underserved locations and populations that could benefit from new food assistance operations. The poverty and index-based approaches show significant spatial overlap in mapped areas of high food insecurity and low access. The poverty only approach produces a higher estimate of food insecurity rates, is easier to calculate, and draws attention to the need to address poverty as a root cause of hunger.

Resumo: Uma das atividades relacionadas às estratégias de captura valor na atividade produtiva de orgânico refere-se à escolha dos canais adequados de distribuição dos produtos. A literatura aponta a importância de analisar os ganhos dos pequenos produtores com respeito aos canais de distribuição de produtos orgânicos. A literatura indica que a comercialização em canais diretos pode fazer com que pequenos produtores possam capturar maior valor e, consequentemente, incrementar sua renda. Foi realizada uma pesquisa empírica no estado da Califórnia, nos Estados Unidos da América, por meio de um survey com 60 produtores de orgânicos, a fim de identificar se os canais de distribuição diretos são prioritariamente utilizados por pequenos produtores. Os resultados indicam que a escolha dos canais de distribuição, venda direta ou indireta, além do tipo de canal dentro dessa categorização, não está diretamente relacionado apenas à renda que o produtor pode obter. Há indicações de que a escolha do canal adequado esteja mais relacionada às motivações do produtor rural, em relação à qualidade de vida e perspectivas de crescimento do seu negócio, além da opção pela diversificação dos canais para diminuir os riscos envolvidos na comercialização de seus produtos.

This case describes a current growth opportunity for Mi Pueblo Food Center, a Hispanic grocery chain with locations throughout the Bay Area, California. The CEO of Mi Pueblo is contemplating opening a new store location in East Palo Alto, CA, which has been without a local, full-service grocery store for over 20 years. Case objectives are for students to develop an understanding of how the grocery industry operates, the risks and opportunities associated with opening a new grocery store location, and the impact on social, environmental, and economic sustainability. The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) framework is used to analyze whether or not it is feasible for Mi Pueblo to open a new location in East Palo Alto. This case may be used with students in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses.

A strategia a szervezetek iranyitasanak, s ezzel a jovő befolyasolasanak legfontosabb eszkoze. Az agrar-kozgazdasagtan tudomanya es gyakorlata sem nelkulozheti a strategiai megkozelitest. A mezőgazdasag jovőjenek alakitasa azonban nagyon osszetett feladat, mivel nemcsak elelmiszer-termelesről, ertekesitesről, a videki lakossag megelhetesenek hosszu tavu biztositasarol, hanem a termeszeti erőforrasok megőrzeseről, a megujulo energia biztositasarol, az okoszisztema gazdagsaganak fenntartasarol es elhető taj kialakitasarol is donteseket kell hozni a strategia kialakitasa soran. Mindemellett a versenykepesseg igenye is felmerul, mivel az egyes orszagok es regiok termeszeti erőforrasaik gazdasagi hasznositasa erdekeben piacaik megtartasara, uj piacok szerzesere torekednek. Ugyanakkor a kornyezeti (politikai, tarsadalmi, gazdasagi, okologiai es technologiai) feltetelek folytonosan valtoznak, amelyekhez alkalmazkodni szukseges, de ugyanakkor celkent tűzhető ki a kornyezeti feltetelek (pozitiv) strategiai befolyasolasa is. Magyarorszagon kulonosen fontos szerepe van a mezőgazdasagnak, ezen keresztul az egesz agrarszektornak es a videki regioknak. Egyes velemenyek szerint termeszeti felteteleink kulonosen kedveznek a mezőgazdasagi termekek előallitasanak, ezert novekvő mertekben kell hozzajarulnunk a vilagszerte gyarapodo lakossag elelmiszerigenyenek kielegitesehez. Masok a termeszeti es biologiai erőforrasok megovasanak, a fenntarthatosag biztositasanak fontossagat hangsulyozzak es ovnak azok intenziv kihasznalasatol. Emellett a megfelelő termelesi formak es szervezetek kialakitasanak, a korlatozott foldvagyon birtoklasanak kerdese is felmerul, amelynek nemzetpolitikai vonatkozasai is vannak. A mezőgazdasagi strategia kialakitasa es a folytonosan valtozo feltetelekhez valo igazitasa mindezek miatt sokoldalu, szeles korű tajekozodast es tudomanyos megkozelitest igenylő feladat, amely nem nelkulozheti a mindenkor rendelkezesre allo legkorszerűbb eszkozok es a szellemi kapacitas, valamint a tarstudomanyok eredmenyeinek felhasznalasat sem.-------Strategy is the most important tool for managing organisations, thereby influencing the future. This approach also plays an important role in the practice and theory agricultural economics. The development of the future of agriculture, however, is a very complex task. During the development of the strategy, decisions have to be made not only about food production, sales and long-term living of the rural population, but also about the conservation of natural resources, providing renewable energy, maintaining the richness of the ecosystem and creating liveable conditions for people in rural areas. It also raises the need for competitiveness, as some countries and regions strive to keep their markets and acquire new ones in order to utilise their natural resources. However, the environmental (political, social, economic, ecological and technological) conditions to which it is necessary to adapt are constantly changing, but at the same time a (positive) strategic influence on the environmental conditions could also be a target. Agriculture, the whole agricultural sector and the rural regions have especially important roles in Hungary. Some people say that the natural conditions in Hungary are particularly suitable for agricultural production and that is why Hungary should increasingly contribute to meeting the world’s growing food needs. Others emphasise the importance of the preservation of the natural and biological resources and the importance of ensuring sustainability, and they warn against their intensive exploitation. In addition, the issues of appropriate production forms and organisations and the ownership of the limited agricultural land also arise, and these have consequences for the national policy as well. Therefore the development of the agricultural strategy and its adaptation to the continuously changing conditions is a versatile, informationintensive task which requires scientific approach. It also requires effective strategic tools and methods, mental capacity and the use of the achievements of the related disciplines.

This research examines the role of government mandated marketing programs in promoting certified organic produce in California. Data were gathered from public documents, interviews, focus groups, and an industry-wide survey. We find that most California mandated marketing programs minimally address organic production. Regarding the value of generic promotion, slightly more than one-third of the survey respondents indicated that they believed that their mandated marketing program's promotion efforts increased the sales of their organic products. Two options were highly ranked as alternatives to promote organic products, setting aside a representative amount of the marketing program's funds for the promotion of organic produce and establishing a non-governmental producer association to promote all organic produce.