News

Interdisciplinary Forum, April 18 - 19, 2016
Faculty of Agriculture, Truro, Nova Scotia

This AFW Interdisciplinary Forum will bring together approximately 50 researchers, community, government, and industry, practitioners from various disciplines to explore connections between the economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and political dimensions of food and agricultural systems. This is not a conference; it is a two-part working forum with presentations during the forum, followed up with interdisciplinary papers with creative solutions and preventative strategies for AFW.

TOPICS: We will examine ways to improve wellbeing, through agriculture and food by improving resiliency, prosperity, sustainability and vibrancy. The issues are interconnected, so too must be the solutions. Interdisciplinary topics might include: What food production practices may offer the best health and environmental protection? What policies and practices may mitigate environmental challenges in agricultural and food systems?  What interventions can best serve our communities’ most marginalized to better access and utilize fresh food? How might consumer behaviours be guided by education about health outcomes rather than driven by food marketing? How can the procurement of healthy, local foods be increased in public and private institutions?

PRESENTATIONS: The forum is designed for participants to present in 10-12 minutes their reflections on intersecting issues in AFW that need collaborative solutions. Presentation proposals should be 100-125 words outlining the intersecting issues you are working on and ways to engage collaborators from different fields. Please submit your presentation proposals by January 30^th, 2016 to mfmacmichael@dal.ca

PAPER PROPOSALS: We anticipate this forum will inspire collaborative co-author to produce papers on policies and practices to increase AFW. We are anticipating 5-7 collaborative papers for submission to peer review in the Journal, Agriculture and Human Values and possible publication in a collection in 2017.  Collaborative papers can be developed before as well as after the AFW forum but they must have an interdisciplinary approach. Paper proposals should include names and affiliations of lead author and 2-3 collaborators along with the key issues, challenges and recommended solutions. Paper proposals should be 300-500 words and are due May 30^th, 2016. All submissions will be reviewed by DAL’s AFW Teaching Team and responses sent to co-author teams by June 20, 2016. Final versions of the papers will be due: Nov 1, 2016.

To propose presentations or papers, to register, or for more information, please contact:

Meggie MacMichael   
902.210.3573
mfmacmichael@dal.ca

Dr. Kathleen Kevany
902.893.6725
kkevaney@dal.ca