Call for Abstracts: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems

Posted by on February 04, 2013

Call for Abstracts/Papers for Special Issue:

Innovations and Trends in Sustainable Urban Agriculture (nationally and internationally)
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems

Special Issue Editors: Carolyn Dimitri (New York University, carolyn.dimitri@nyu.edu), Andy Pressman (National Center for Appropriate Technology-ATTRA project, andy@ncat.org), Lydia Oberholtzer (Penn State, lso3@psu.edu)

Interest in urban food is growing, not only on the part of consumers, but also on the part of federal and local policymakers. While policymakers typically focus on the food access aspect of urban farming, growth in urban and suburban agriculture can provide new opportunities for small and medium-sized farmers. Worldwide, according to the United Nations Development Programme, an estimated 15 to 20 percent of food is raised in urban settings. Urban agriculture is best known for its widespread adoption in developing country where often many urban residents rely on urban farms as a key source of food. Recently, however, attention has turned to urban agriculture in the United States, and other developed countries, where it has been offered as a solution to increase the food security of low-income households in cities.

We are seeking papers for a special issue of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (RAFS) focusing on sustainable urban agriculture production systems, as well as the social/economic underpinnings of these systems in North America and abroad. This is a great opportunity to highlight your research or reviews, as special issues usually lead to comparably higher citations of your work. RAFS has an international reach, and we are looking to ensure that this special issue addresses international urban agriculture as well. We are also particularly keen on addressing sustainable urban agriculture production systems, as these are often overlooked in other Journals.

We welcome both research and review papers on these topics, as well as papers that fit the Journal’s other manuscript categories. Of particular interest to researchers with research ongoing in the field or young investigators would be “From the Field” papers, which are a bit more informal and shorter (see http://journals.cambridge.org/images/fileUpload/documents/RAF__ifc.pdf for more information).

Some possible topics for the Journal special issue would include:

• Trends in urban farming both in North America and internationally
• Social and economic factors for urban farming
• The extent of urban farming’s role within the city: food security, green space, markets for farmers, revitalization to name a few
• Sustainable production innovations in urban farming in developed
• Urban farming and sustainable production methods in developing/emerging countries
• Information and technical assistance for urban farmers

If you would like to be considered for this special issue, please send the guest editors (email addresses above) a short abstract of the paper you suggest by February 28, 2013. Please provide some information on background and methods. Include any additional information you think we should know.

We will be looking to have submissions to the Journal by late-summer 2013, out for review and revision in Fall 2013, and publication 2014. Please note that all manuscripts will go through peer review and there is no guarantee that those papers invited to take part in the special issue will be published does not result in a successful outcome.

Please contact us with any questions.