Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies to Restore Individual and Collective Well-Being

This essay begins with Nikole Hannah-Jones's assessment of the solidarity that has sustained African Americans' hope that our country can still make good on the promise of democracy. This social resilience has sustained BIPOC communities through the pandemic in ways that demonstrate how personal well-being is rooted in collective wellness. Research on students' understanding of social resilience has examined how feelings of dignity and self-sufficiency foster hope and enable collective agency. This dynamic is vital to culturally sustaining pedagogies that help students engage with the lifeways that help them feel connected and hopeful. We discuss critical hip hop pedagogy as an example of culturally engaged teaching that can cultivate students' social resilience by acknowledging the dignity of their communal experiences and traditions in ways that can sustain hope and enable collective action.

Taiwan's Food Resiliency - or Not - in a Conflict with China

The US military, intelligence, and diplomatic communities have overlooked a key vulnerability in their assessment of a potential military conflict between China and Taiwan- Taiwan's growing reliance on agricultural imports and its food stocks (except for rice) that could endure trade disruptions for only six months. This article assesses Taiwan's agricultural sector and its ability to feed the country's population if food imports and production are disrupted;identifies the food products that should be prioritized in resupply operations, based on Taiwan's nutritional needs and domestic food production;and outlines the required logistical assets. These findings underscore the urgency for US military planners to develop long-term logistical solutions for this complex strategic issue.

Sustainability assessment of crops' production in India: empirical evidence from ARDL-ECM approach

PurposeThe study aims to evaluate the long- vs short-run relationships between crops' production (output) and crops' significant inputs such as land use, agricultural water use (AWU) and gross irrigated area in India during the period 1981–2018.Design/methodology/approachThe study applied the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to estimate the co-integration among the variables. The study uses the error correction model (ECM), which integrates the short-run dynamics with the long-run equilibrium.FindingsThe ARDL bounds test of co-integration confirms the strong evidence of the long-run relationship among the variables. Empirical results show the positive and significant relationship of crops' production with land use and gross irrigated area. The statistically significant error correction term (ECT) validates the speed of adjustment of the empirical models in the long-run.Research limitations/implicationsThe study suggests that the decision-makers must understand potential trade-offs between human needs and environmental impacts to ensure food for the growing population in India.Originality/valueFor a clear insight into the impact of climate change on crops' production, the current study incorporates the climate variables such as annual rainfall, maximum temperature and minimum temperature. Further, the study considered agro-chemicals, i.e. fertilizers and pesticides, concerning their negative impacts on increased agricultural production and the environment.

Changes in the production and foreign trade of honey in Poland vis-a-vis the European Union and the world market

The aim of the article is to show the development of the volume and value of natural honey production, its import and export, and prices in Poland against the background of the situation in other countries in the European Union in the years 2000-2020 and as part of market changes globally. The study used the source of information from the FAOSTAT 2022 database. The production of honey in Poland, in other EU countries and around the world was characterized by an upward trend in the analyzed period. The biggest problem is China, which supplies the market with every fourth kilogram of honey product, while the EU accounts for about 13%. In the top thirty producers of natural honey, there are 11 European countries, including 9 from the EU - Poland is in fourth position. Self sufficiency in terms of honey is 60%, which is why the turnover in foreign trade of honey is dynamically increasing in terms of quantity and value. Overall, the honey trade balance in the EU was negative. The structure of honey exports and imports from and to the EU has changed, which is the result of random factors, i.e. the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia's aggression in Ukraine, and various economic, demographic, social and environmental factors.

Local Fiscal Pressure and Enterprise Environmental Protection Investment under COVID-19: Evidence from China

Increasing local fiscal pressure and insufficient enterprise environmental protection investment are considerable problems in China. Based on the data of A-share-listed companies in heavily polluting industries in China from 2015 to 2021, this paper uses COVID-19 as an exogenous shock of local fiscal pressure and investigates the impact of local fiscal pressure on enterprise environmental protection investment by the continuous DID method. The study found that local fiscal pressure significantly reduces enterprise environmental protection investment and has a greater impact on non-state-owned enterprises, large enterprises, enterprises located in the "two-control-zone” cities and enterprises located in cities with low fiscal self-sufficiency rates. The mechanism of analysis shows that local governments ease fiscal pressure by "increasing revenue” and "cutting expenditure”. The former increases the non-tax burden of enterprises, while the latter reduces enterprise environmental protection subsidies, which leads to a decrease in environmental protection investment. The findings of this paper indicate that it is necessary to focus on solving the local fiscal pressure dilemma to increase green investment and achieve green development. © 2023 by the authors.

Urban Food Autonomy: The Flourishing of an Ethics of Care for Sustainability

Urban agriculture is often advanced as a sustainable solution to feed a growing urban population, offering a number of benefits: improved fresh food access, CO2 absorption, social justice and social cohesion among others. Going beyond these direct tangible/objective benefits from urban agriculture, in this paper we ask: How can growing food in the cities teach us about taking care of each other and the natural environment? We use the example of urban food autonomy movements to discuss the transformative potential of a grassroots-led initiative promoting permaculture, which is anchored in three "ethics”: care for the earth, care for the people, and fair share. Through examining the philosophical underpinnings of "autonomy” and "care”, we explore how urban food autonomy initiatives can enable the development of an ethics of care, especially using permaculture inspirations. Our theoretical review and case analysis reveal that "autonomy” can never be achieved without "care” and that these are co-dependent outcomes. The urban food autonomy initiatives are directly relevant for the achievement of the three of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals: "Zero Hunger,” "Life on Land” and "Climate Action”, and contribute to a culture of care. Indeed, urban agriculture can act as a powerful education platform for the engagement of diverse stakeholders while also supporting a collective transformation of values.

Entrepreneurial strategies for coping with supply chain disruptions in the grocery-retail sector

PurposeThis study aims to explore business strategies adopted by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK's grocery-retail industry to cope with supply chain (SC) disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted two phases of research methods. In Phase 1, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten SMEs from England. Whilst abiding by national guidelines on the travel restrictions imposed by the government, in Phase 2 email-based interviews were conducted with 22 SMEs across the UK's grocery-retail industry. The thematic analysis technique was adopted to analyse the data.FindingsThis study reveals that SMEs need clearer avenues of communication with the government and better resources for learning and training. SMEs also need to expand their implementation of information technology to improve SC collaboration. In the meantime, they need to improve their power positions in SCs and reduce dependence on SC partners.Originality/valueSMEs in the grocery-retailer industry have been increasingly under pressure to compete with bigger grocery retailers. During the pandemic they have faced great challenges and been looking for strategies to improve their performance. While a major proportion of participants in the grocery-retailer industry are fragmented SMEs, the majority of studies have focussed on larger retailers and end consumers. With the help of the social exchange theory, this research reveals new insights into business strategies to cope with SC disruptions, and offer the foundation for a new line of research on preparation for future disruptions.

Families' Job Characteristics and Economic Self-Sufficiency: Differences by Income, Race-Ethnicity, and Nativity

Policy debates about whether wages and benefits from work provide enough resources to achieve economic self-sufficiency rely on data for workers, not working families. Using data from the Current Population Survey, we find that almost two-thirds of families working full time earn enough to cover a basic family budget, but that less than a quarter of low-income families do. A typical low-income full-time working family with wages below a family budget would need to earn about $11.00 more per hour to cover expenses. This wage gap is larger for black, Hispanic, and immigrant families. Receipt of employer-provided benefits varies—health insurance is more prevalent than pension plans—and both are less available to low-income families, and black, Hispanic, and immigrant working families. Findings suggest that without policies to decrease wage inequality and increase parents' access to jobs with higher wages and benefits, child opportunity gaps by income, race-ethnicity, and nativity will likely persist.

Public Reason, Public Comments, and Public Charge: A Case Study in Moral & Practical Reasoning in Federal Rulemaking.

The "public charge" rule is a long-standing immigration policy that seeks to determine the likelihood that a prospective immigrant will become dependent on the government for subsistence. When the Trump administration sought to expand the criteria that would count against an applicant for permanent residency to include public benefits historically excluded from the calculation, thousands of commenters wrote to oppose or support the proposed changes. This paper explores the moral and practical reasons commenters provided for their position on the public charge rule and considers the value of the public comment process for immigration, health, and social policy.

PV Self-Consumption and Self-Sufficiency for Household and Office Users: The Lockdown Effects During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent adoption of homeworking had effects also on the energy sector, by shifting electrical consumption from tertiary to residential sector. This article analyzes the electric load curves in the office and at home for a group of employees, estimating the change of the Self-Consumption (SC) and the Self-Sufficiency (SS) when PV plants are installed, during the two months of the lockdown period (2020) with respect to the previous year. This investigation can help to explore the impact of homeworking, which is now usually adopted by many employees. For this purpose, the impact of different PV sizes on SC and SS rates, and the improvements due to the adoption of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), are analyzed. Sizing the PV production equal to the annual consumption and the BESS capacity equal to the difference between the average PV production and the average consumption, the annual SC (=SS in this case) increases from 35% to 68% in households and from 50% to 71% in the office building. The lockdown restrictions increase and decrease these rates of about 5-7 points in households and office building respectively. © 2022 WITPress. All rights reserved.

Establishing a National Emergency Medical Team (EMT) in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)

Background/Introduction:The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a Pacific Island nation of just over 100,000 people, with 607 islands spread over an ocean territory of over 2.5 million square kilometers. The nation is regularly struck by disasters and outbreaks - most recently Typhoons Wutip and Maysak, which affected populations on hundreds of islands. To strengthen rapid response to future emergencies, the FSM Government, with support from WHO, Japan, and USAID, is now developing a national Emergency Medical Team.1Objectives:To describe the development of FSM’s national EMT.Method/Description:FSM’s EMT development began with a workshop facilitated by WHO in November 2019, with participants from the National Department of Health & Social Affairs (DHSA) and representatives from all four of FSM’s State Health Departments. A national EMT focal point was jointly hired by WHO and FSM’s DHSA, a Technical Working Group was established, and SOPs developed. WHO initiated procurement of a tailored Pacific EMT cache for FSM’s EMT, along with other Pacific EMTs. FSM’s EMT development has been slowed by COVID-19, but there are plans to train team members from the country’s four States to be ready for self-sufficient national deployments by early 2023.Results/Outcomes:With support from partners, FSM is developing a self-sufficient national EMT capable of rapid response across hundreds of islands spread over a vast ocean territory.Conclusion:FSM is strengthening readiness for future emergencies by developing a national EMT capable of rapid response to the most remote and austere post-disaster conditions, including throughout its remote outer islands.

Current situation of soybean production and consumption in China and strategies to improve self-sufficiency rate

Low self-sufficiency rate and the higher foreign dependence rate of about 87% have seriously threatened the soybean safety in China. In recent years, with the changes of the international situation and the COVID-19 epidemic, soybean production, processing and consumption in China have attracted more attention at home and abroad. China unveiled "No. 1 central document" proposed a soybean revitalization plan in 2019, putting forward the goal of "one expansion and two improvements" to strengthen the competitiveness of China's soybean industry in the international agricultural market. This paper reviewed the current situation of soybean production, processing, trade and consumption in China in recent years, and upgraded strategies to enhance China's soybean industry and enhanced the self-sufficiency rate according to China's national conditions.

Sustainable Food Supply from the Perspective of Paddy Ecosystem Elasticity: Policies and Implications

Rice is the staple food for 2.5 billion people worldwide and most farmers depend solely on rice for their livelihood. This study estimates how paddy ecosystem elasticity and external human activity affect paddy ecosystem sustainable food supply. In particular, we analyzed how sustainable food supply is affected by three key domains of external factors—ecological factors, including the proportion of paddy Area (Are), per capita cultivated land area (Lan), and annual wastewater discharge per capita (Was);economic factors, including the agricultural economy level (Inv) and urbanization rate (Urb);and social factors, including the education of farmers (Edu) and rural medical level (Med). We use ANEV, or net paddy ecosystem services value per unit area, to assess the sustainable food supply, which not only represents the food supply quantity and quality, but also the sustainability of the food supply. Results from our panel and threshold regressions suggest that Lan and Urb have a threshold effect on paddy ANEV;Are, Was, Inv, and Edu have a linear negative correlation with ANEV;and Med has a positive linear correlation with ANEV. Based on our findings, we lay out a series of recommendations that may guide future formulation of policies on paddy ecosystem protection and sustainable food supply.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Cross-Border Cooperations: Focusing on Local Products and Values

. The COVID-19 pandemic has several effects not only on our daily routine but also on world economics, politics and the environment too. The long termeffects of the pandemic are unpredictable yet. Preferences of online shopping were predictable and obvious. To avoid crowded shopping centres many people chose the advantages of online shopping. The new situation changed the buying behaviours and the selling behaviours too. The relations between the countries have also been re-evaluated, thus cross-border co-operation has changed. The present study discusses how the pandemic changed the situation of local production and its distribution especially in the field of cross-border co-operations. The authors briefly describe the impacts of COVID-19 on local values, which is coherently linked to local products and local foods.

Self-sufficiency through the edible landscaping (EL) technology: assessing the promotional activities of EL in the Philippines, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

The sustainability of the food supply seems to be a never-ending concern of many households in the Philippines. This concern is most especially felt in this time of pandemic wherein many Filipinos are struggling on where to get their food to feed their families. The adoption of edible landscaping has become more in demand because of the current situation caused by the pandemic. As such, having a sustainable edible garden is very much recommended because it can provide the household a "garden to table" food which can help in making the household food self-sufficient. There is a current need to promote edible landscaping technology primarily through trainings and seminars and it should be intensified to inform and educate the people on food self-sufficiency amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Edible landscaping (EL) as an approach that merges the science of crop production and the art of landscaping, is continuously being promoted using different strategies and one of which is the conduct of trainings and seminars all over the Philippines. This study assessed the different ways by which the Edible Landscaping Team of the University of the Philippines Los Banos delivered promotional activities such as webinars and e-training amidst the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted using the qualitative approach, specific case studies, and the data gathered were analyzed using thematic analysis. More than 39,000 individuals in the Philippines have already been reached and educated on the technology through the conduct of e-trainings and webinars. The presentations and lectures on edible landscaping were modified based on the needs of the requesting institution and were discussed using a combination of English and Filipino languages. The duration of the eight webinars ranged from a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of almost 5 hours (in discussion is written 'almost 4 hours). Based on the comments, most of the online viewers gave affirmative responses.

Exploring the need for external input through the prism of social, material and sensation seeking input.

External input is any kind of physical stimulation created by an individual's surroundings that can be detected by the senses. The present research established a novel conceptualization of this construct by investigating it in relation to the needs for material, social and sensation seeking input, and by testing whether these needs predict psychological functioning during long- and short-term input deprivation. It was established that the three needs constitute different dimensions of an overarching construct (i.e. need for external input). The research also suggested that the needs for social and sensation seeking input are negatively linked to people's experiences of long-term input deprivation (i.e. COVID-19 restrictions), and that the need for material input may negatively predict the experiences of short-term input deprivation (i.e. sitting in a chair without doing anything else but thinking). Overall, this research indicates that the needs for social, material and sensation seeking input may have fundamental implications for experiences and actions in a range of different contexts.

Analysis on the Steady Growth Effect of China’s Fiscal Policy from a Dynamic Perspective

Under the goal of a “new development pattern”, it is of great practical significance to accurately identify the economic growth effect of fiscal and tax policies. This paper constructs a TVP-FAVAR model to measure the economic effects of China’s fiscal and tax policies at the aggregate and structural levels. The results show that the reduction in total tax has a positive effect on real variables such as output and consumption;especially at the present stage, the promotion effect of total tax reduction on economic growth is relatively strong, but the stimulation effect on price is relatively weak. Further, the tax structure in which the ratio of direct tax to total tax increases and the ratio of indirect tax to total tax decreases is more conducive to the increase in output and consumption, and will not strongly stimulate the rise of price level. Therefore, at this stage, China should continue to vigorously implement the tax reduction policy and ensure the continuity of the tax reduction policy. At the same time, we should continue to optimize the tax structure and give better play to the regulatory role of fiscal and tax policies in income redistribution, so as to achieve the goal that fiscal and tax policies help build a “new development pattern” and promote high-quality economic development.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on prices of potato and onion in metropolitan cities of India. (Special Issue: COVID-19 in Agricultural and Development Economics.)

Purpose: This study focuses on accessing the impact of lockdown implemented to curb the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on prices of potato and onion crops using the time series analysis techniques. Design/methodology/approach: The present study uses secondary price series data for both crops. Along with the study of percent increase or decrease, the time series analysis techniques of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH), as well as machine learning;neural network autoregressive (NNAR) models were used to model the prices. For the purpose of comparison, the data from past years were taken as the period of normalcy. The behaviour of the forecasts for the normal periods and during the pandemic based on respective datasets was compared. Findings: The results show that there was an unprecedented rise in prices during the months of lockdown. It could be attributed to the decline in arrivals due to several reasons like issues with transportation and labour availability. Also, towards the end of lockdown (May 2020), the prices seemed to decrease. Such a drop could be attributed to the relaxations in lockdown and reduced demand. The study also discusses that how some unique approaches like e-marketing, localized resource development for attaining self-sufficiency and developing transport chain, especially, for agriculture could help in such a situation of emergency. Research limitations/implications: A more extensive study could be conducted to mark the factors specifically that caused the increase in price. Originality/value: The study clearly marks that the prices of the crops increased more than expectations using time series methods. Also, it surveys the prevailing situation through available resources to link up the reasons behind it.

The contribution of urban garden cultivation to food self-sufficiency in areas at risk of food desertification during the Covid-19 pandemic

This paper assesses the contribution made by the cultivation of urban gardens to the food self-sufficiency of mountain municipalities at risk of food desertification during 2020 in South Tyrol (Italy). The pandemic-induced economic downturn and mobility restrictions have left more territories severely exposed to the adverse risk of food desertification. A food desert is a territory where people are food-insecure because of job/income loss or through the absence of food retail facilities. During lockdown, many non-essential firms were forced to close. This meant that many workers, especially those in more precarious positions, lost their jobs, while entrepreneurs had consistent financial shortcomings. Local population mobility was restricted to the municipality of residence, with reduced access to grocery stores outside that area. Disrupted food supply chains and panic buying stimulated short-term food shortages, emptied municipal food stores and meant that supplies often failed to meet local needs. This insecurity left mountain municipalities increasingly vulnerable to desertification. The most food-insecure areas are those that depend heavily on the tourism sector and those with limited access to food retail facilities or other organized forms of food supply in proximity. Their challenges through the period of Covid-19 have heightened questions about their access to food and possible initiatives to increase their food self-sufficiency. Among the initiatives most frequently debated in that period, gardening has been highly valued. This paper contributes to the debate by presenting a Decision Support System (DSS) that calculates the land required for food self-sufficiency in South Tyrolean municipalities and the percentage covered by the production of local urban gardens. The results demonstrate that urban gardens’ contribution to local food self-sufficiency is almost insignificant in these municipalities, representing less than 1 % of the municipal needs. Restricting the analysis to self-sufficiency in fruit and vegetable production only, findings derived from the DSS application confirm the insignificance of urban gardens’ production levels, which remains below 1 % of the municipal needs.