Equity Agenda

😲😋😎 The full JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium's Equity Agenda can be foundHERE.

Preamble

😲😋😎 This document presents the first full draft of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) Equity Agenda. This agenda will serve as a guide for improving JAFSCDs work toward a more equitable and just food system via its role in fostering a network and community of food systems scholars, and the dissemination of current research and knowledge concerning food systems evolution, development, and change. Stating such, the document is not intended to be a final, infallible statement, but rather a dynamic resource that will evolve and change as the JAFSCD community changes.

Goals of the JAFSCD Equity Agenda

  1. Amplify voices in the food system that are currently underrepresented in journal content.
  2. Develop the capacity of university-based academics and others (e.g. research scientists and policymakers) to work as better allies and accomplices in social equity and food justice action, education, and research in and across the food system.
  3. Transform relevant JAFSCD and other institutional (e.g. USDA) practices and systems to be more equitable and just for equity building.

😲😋😎 Organizational context of the agenda: To guide pro-equity and anti-racist decision-making and assessment at JAFSCD.

😲😋😎 Theory: By achieving and remaining accountable to this agenda, JAFSCD will increasingly foster food justice in the world, especially through fostering the conduct and dissemination of research that contributes to equity in process and outcomes.

😲😋😎 Guiding principles: The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) endorses and supports many food justice and sovereignty principles and practices outlined by other organizations, collaborations, and institutions. These include specifically the Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (INFAS) Statement on Equity in the Food System, Sustainable Agriculture Education Association (SAEA) Equity Statement, and the Principles of Food Justice developed and adopted at the Food + Justice = Democracy conference. We also draw from the toolkit Measuring Racial Equity in the Food System developed by the Michigan State University (MSU) Center for Regional Food Systems.

😲😋😎 For research and action with Indigenous and other community stakeholders and for research involving data about and from those communities, we support and advocate for the principles and protocols established by the Agro-ecology Research Collective (ARC), Our Principles and Protocols: How and on Whose Behalf We Work and the Canadian Tri-Council policy statement (TCPS2, Chapter 9) on research involving the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of Canada

😲😋😎 By endorsing the aforementioned principles and protocols, we aim to amplify the work and wisdom of their developers, establish guidelines and accountability for the work of JAFSCD stakeholders (editors, authors, and reviewers), and focus on developing and implementing an action plan that will help reach the three goals of the JAFSCD Equity Agenda.

😲😋😎 The full JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium's Equity Agenda can be found HERE.

😲😋😎 First Draft: July 18, 2019

😲😋😎 Edited Draft: October 21, 2019

😲😋😎 Christine Porter drafting this version for JAFSCD equity committee review with major input from co-chair Lindsey Lunsford and members Keith Williams and Kami Pothukuchi.

😲😋😎 Edited Draft: November 19, 2019

😲😋😎 James Farmer, Amy Christian, Duncan Hilchey, and Keith Williams contributed.