Ashton, B. (2019). Nature of Innovation in Food Processing in Manitoba, Canada. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 14(1).
Abstract
Innovation among food processing firms is their lifeblood and commonly referred to as PPD—product and process development. For others—including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] (2005) besides PPD innovation—this also includes marketing and organizational development. This paper examined the extent to which these other dimensions of innovation are evident in this sector based on eight actual commercialization experiences. Data was obtained from 61 in-depth interviews with senior executives of firms and those along their respective supply chains, including customers. The data revealed commercialization results from multiple advances, called innovative initiatives. This research found the presence of the PPD definition, but it alone is insufficient to explain the more robust nature of innovation. Food processors are successful when they co-invent with customers and seek expertise beyond their firms to those across their supply chains and engage specialists, such as researchers and industry organizations. Further research needs to examine how innovators balance both PPD with other business activities, the importance of trusted relations, and decisions about resource allocation over 2 to 12 years. These are all critical when commercializing innovation in the food processing sector. Keywords: PPD innovation, multiple definitions of innovation, commercialization of innovation, agri-food processing sector, Manitoba Canada, case study research
Buse, C. G., Sax, M., Nowak, N., Jackson, J., Fresco, T., Fyfe, T., & Halseth, G. (2019). Locating community impacts of unconventional natural gas across the supply chain: A scoping review. The Extractive Industries and Society.
Abstract
Unconventional natural gas (UNG) refers to a suite of technologies that aid in the exploration, extraction, and transportation of natural gas resources. This paper reports on the results of a scoping review examining peer-reviewed articles published between 2009–2018 on the impacts of UNG activities on communities located across the supply chain (i.e. “upstream” communities adjacent to the point of gas extraction, “midstream” communities located near pipelines, and “downstream” communities that are cooling natural gas into liquid form for international export). Our review identified 523 articles, 68% of which focused on the United States. The majority of articles (77%) highlighted community impacts adjacent to the point of extraction, with only 11% and 6% addressing midstream and downstream supply chain impacts. Results classified 28 unique types of community impacts conceptualized within the literature, organized into four categories: environmental impacts; impacts to infrastructure and service delivery; impacts on policy, regulation and participation in decision-making; and socioeconomic impacts. We provide a narrative review to clarify the socioeconomic impacts and possible policy mitigation efforts across the UNG supply chain.
Daxini, A., Ryan, M., O’Donoghue, C., Barnes, A. P., & Buckley, C. (2019). Using a typology to understand farmers’ intentions towards following a nutrient management plan. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 146, 280–290.
Abstract
Optimising resource use efficiency is high on many national policy agendas. Inappropriate management in agricultural production can result in increased risk of nutrient loss to the environment. Best practice in nutrient management can help to mitigate this. However, policy initiatives aimed at encouraging farmers to follow a nutrient management plan (NMP) appear to be limited in their success. We employ a typology to classify farms/farmers based on a number of policy relevant farm and farmer characteristics. The theory of planned behaviour is applied to understand the variables which influence farmers’ intentions to follow a NMP across the Republic of Ireland. The typology resulted in a total of three classes of farmers, namely ‘traditional’, ‘supplementary income’ and ‘business-orientated’. The findings from the regression analysis reveal that attitude towards the outcomes of following a NMP is a weak predictor of intentions whereas subjective norm (social pressure) and perceived behavioural control (ease/difficulty) are strong predictors of intentions across the classes. Furthermore, contact with agricultural extension (a combination of one-to-one and group based extension) is found to be critical in determining the intentions of both traditional and supplementary income classes of farmers. The results also indicate that policy, which requires certain farmers in Ireland to develop a NMP on a mandatory basis, has consistent but mixed levels of influence on intentions. Initiatives designed to further encourage farmers to follow a NMP must account for the diversity that exists among the farming population and how different groups of farmers may respond to such initiatives.
Gupta, J., Hurley, F., Grobicki, A., Keating, T., Stoett, P., Baker, E., … Ekins, P. (2019). Communicating the health of the planet and its links to human health. The Lancet Planetary Health, 0(0).
Abstract
The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health1 in 2015 argued that although human health has improved dramatically between 1950 and 2010, this gain was accompanied by unprecedented environmental degradation that now threatens both human health and life-support systems. The sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6)—Healthy Planet, Healthy People—a report adopted by 193 countries in March, 2019, reinforces this message by showing how the state of the environment has further deteriorated with increasing consequences for human health.
Hallstrom, L. K., Hvenegaard, G., Gould, J., & Joubert, B. (2019). Prioritizing Research Questions for Protected Area Agencies: A Case Study of Provincial Parks in Alberta, Canada. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 0(0).
Abstract
Although there are frequent and recurring calls for the use of evidence to support conservation, recreation, and planning in a range of sectors, the transition to actually doing so can be challenging. In Canada, both national and provincial parks systems have faced budgetary and practical challenges to management yet establishing linkages to support the strategic application of research and evidence has remained a long-standing priority. In Alberta, this priority is set by the provincial Plan for Parks, and a Science Strategy. However, while these documents do provide direction, they do not include a mechanism for identifying the practical and research priorities, themes, and questions to better link parks management with the scientific community, nor do they necessarily outline a way to establish complementarity between regional, provincial, and research communities. As a practical means of addressing this gap, between 2012 and 2014, Alberta Parks initiated a collaborative project with the University of Alberta (based in Edmonton, Alberta) in order to create both regional and provincial lists of priority research and policy questions. Drawing from the methods used elsewhere by Sutherland and others in Europe, the USA, and Canada, this project asked: What research and/or policy questions, if answered, could advance the knowledge base for policies, management, and research strategies that would support the relevance, accessibility, and decision-making of Alberta Parks. Based upon a series of well-attended workshops held at both the provincial and regional scale with parks’ management, researchers, and local stakeholders, this article presents the “Top 20 Questions” process, and results, within a broadly comparative framework across regions, and between province and regions. While the results point to priorities of parks’ conservation, experience management, and mandate fulfillment more generally, there are also differences between regions. These differences are most pronounced in terms of larger issues of management and climate change, but at the same time there are also commonalities between regions in terms of better assessing user needs, public support and the implications of socioeconomic and demographic changes. A key finding of this project is the prevalence of questions grounded in the social, rather than ecological, or environmental sciences, and the subsequent need to identify and operationalize methods to better link the social sciences with parks’ management and research.
Hvenegaard, G. T., Hallstrom, L. K., & Brand, K. L. (2019). Implementation Dynamics for Sustainability Planning in Rural Canada. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 14(1). Retrieved from
Abstract
Many municipalities across Canada have prepared sustainability plans, but there is limited knowledge about the extent to which actions in those plans have been implemented. Based on 40 semi-structured interviews with rural leaders across Canada, we examined sustainability priority areas, rates of implementing actions, and the factors supporting and hindering implementation. Within the 5-dimension model for sustainability, the target areas, based on priorities and actions identified, were economic, environmental, and social dimensions, but governance was perceived to be important to facilitate the others. More than 75% of the sustainability actions had been completed. The key reasons for completion were community priorities, political will, available capacity, and available funding. The key reasons for non-completion were lack of capacity, lack of funding, lack of political will, and the lack of community priorities. Keywords: Sustainability planning; Canada; priorities; implementation; citizen engagement
O’Donoghue, C., Li, J., Cserháti, I., Elek, P., Keresztely, T., & Takacs, T. (2018). The Distributional Impact of VAT Reduction for Food in Hungary: Results from a Hungarian Microsimulation Model. International Journal of Microsimulation, 11(3), 2–38.
Abstract
In this paper we illustrate how the incorporation of behavioural responses and dynamic effects alters the conclusions of static household microsimulation models on the distributional impacts of economic policies. Based on Hungaryâs Household Budget and Living Conditions Survey, we model household consumption using the demand system approach of Creedy, 1998. This method makes it possible to obtain reasonable price elasticity estimates of consumption from cross-sectional data by combining them with Frisch-parameter values obtained from cross-country studies. With this consumption module, we simulate the distributional impacts of a hypothetical food VAT rate change in Hungary and show how the static and behavioural impact estimates differ according to income decile. We examine the sensitivity of our results to the choice of the country-level Frisch-parameter and to a realistic allowance for household-level variation in the Frisch-parameter.
Parkes, M. W., Allison, S., Harder, H. G., Hoogeveen, D., Kutzner, D., Aalhus, M., … Hallstrom. L.K., … Vaillancourt, C. (2019). Addressing the Environmental, Community, and Health Impacts of Resource Development: Challenges across Scales, Sectors, and Sites. Challenges, 10(1), 22.
Abstract
Work that addresses the cumulative impacts of resource extraction on environment, community, and health is necessarily large in scope. This paper presents experiences from initiating research at this intersection and explores implications for the ambitious, integrative agenda of planetary health. The purpose is to outline origins, design features, and preliminary insights from our intersectoral and international project, based in Canada and titled the “Environment, Community, Health Observatory” (ECHO) Network. With a clear emphasis on rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, environments, and health, the ECHO Network is designed to answer the question: How can an Environment, Community, Health Observatory Network support the integrative tools and processes required to improve understanding and response to the cumulative health impacts of resource development? The Network is informed by four regional cases across Canada where we employ a framework and an approach grounded in observation, “taking notice for action”, and collective learning. Sharing insights from the foundational phase of this five-year project, we reflect on the hidden and obvious challenges of working across scales, sectors, and sites, and the overlap of generative and uncomfortable entanglements associated with health and resource development. Yet, although intersectoral work addressing the cumulative impacts of resource extraction presents uncertainty and unresolved tensions, ultimately we argue that it is worth staying with the trouble.