Growing food, growing food systems: The role of non-profit farms

Environmental Studies and Science Professor E. Melanie DuPuis, PhD, and Master’s in Environmental Science and Policy student Annie Christian ’22 published an article titled “Growing food, growing food systems: The role of non-profit farms” in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. The authors summarize the article as follows:

“The study of non-profit food organizations has focused primarily on food policy, urban gardens, coops, and farmers’ markets in cities. Despite significant research on these kinds of food non-profits, research specifically on non-profit farms – organizations that produce food for local communities – is nearly non-existent. We argue that non-profit farms are a category that deserves more research attention. This article asks what services non-profit farms see themselves as providing to their communities, along with a supply of local food. We focus on the missions of non-profit farms, using farms on the GuideStar database of non-profit organizations. We also examine, through interviews and website analysis, the role of non-profit farms in the Hudson Valley, long a hub of non-profit farms. We conclude that local non-profit farms are hybrid organizations that perform services that are similar to local community non-profits, supporting local social welfare, environment, education, and community development roles, along with providing local food access and, in some cases, supporting food system change.”

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