Recently local grains have become an area of economic growth. Local grain products, including whole-wheat and sourdough products, are increasingly in demand for their health benefits, unique flavor profiles, and association with local food movements. These local grain economies are beginning to boom, but they lack the technical aid that...
A number of researchers view farmers’ markets as an appropriate vehicle for
re-embedding food markets into communities (O’Hara & Stagl, 2001, Feenstra, 2002,
Lyson, 2005). Amidst astounding growth in the number of farmers’ markets in the
United States in recent decades, many markets struggle and fail. Recent research
suggests that...
The mangrove ecosystem has served as a life-support system to large populations of coastal dwellers in Ecuador for many generations. Diverse communities comprised of multi-racial and multi-ethnic groups have formed along the edge of the mangrove forests throughout the Ecuadorian coast. These groups self-identify as being part of an “ancestral”...
Tot Mizaj, a central term in Traditional Uyghur Medicine (TUM) theory, says there are four typical characters in all things in nature; the geography, people, organs, animals, foods, and medicines. It is by maintaining balance of these characters that existence is perpetuated. Each Mizaj, corresponding to one element; fire, air,...
The Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), piloted in Oregon in 2001, provided $100 worth of vouchers (aka coupons) to low-income seniors to buy fresh local produce from farmers at farmers' markets and roadside stands. Presented in a political ecology framework, this research integrated the perspectives of beneficiaries and their...
This research is based on in-depth interviews with 20 women farmers and
ranchers from the state of Oregon. These women employ a variety of methods and
subscribe to a number of divergent philosophies regarding agricultural practices.
The intention of this study is to examine how women who are the primary...
In an effort to supplement the recently completed NOAA fishing community profiles, three coastal Oregon communities were chosen as sites for a collaborative project designed to produce long-form profiles. In order to provide a representation of the coast Newport, Port Orford, and Garibali, Oregon were included based on community size,...
Oregon’s coastal communities grew from the booming logging and fishing industries of the 19th century, but in recent decades have faced not only major declines in both timber and fish resources but also an increasing reliance on tourists and retirees and the resultant glut of seasonal service-sector jobs. As a...
This thesis explores the reasons for conversion to Islam for ten well-educated, Caucasian, American born women of European descent in a small, relatively affluent college town in Oregon, United States. It follows their process of constructing a new identity with their families, with friends, within the Muslim community and within...
Microfinance, or the technique of lending small amounts of money to the world’s poor for productive activities, has become a popular strategy for poverty-alleviation, achieving legislative status as a development strategy in the U.S. in 2000 with the Microenterprise for Self-Sufficiency Act. However, microfinance has increasingly failed to achieve the...