We collaborate with community partners in the greater San Jose, CA area and Central America on research that empowers farmers to develop food justice responses to hunger and economic insecurity and to build resilience to climate change and other hazards. We work with farmer cooperatives, universities, and nonprofits to design, diversify, and evaluate their agricultural and food security programs. We use agroecology and participatory approaches to improve health and environmental outcomes.
Contact: Chris Bacon
Projects
- Santa Clara County Food Systems Equity and Resilience
An SCU research team is collaborating with two nonprofits to create a food worker-owned cooperative and conduct research to support local institutions, such as hospitals and universities, to implement values-based procurement strategies (such as the Good Food Purchasing Program). The team will also organize an agroecology, urban agriculture, and food systems policy short course, support participatory monitoring and evaluation, analyze data, and involve community members in the co-creation and sharing of knowledge for food system change.
SCU Participants: Christopher Bacon, Maria Eugenia Flores Gomez, and multiple student researchers, alumni, colleagues, and partners
Partners: Veggielution (primary), Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI)
Funder: The County of Santa Clara, through the Office of the County Executive for Food Systems Resiliency Grant Program
For more information:
- Learning Resilience while Responding to Environmental and Economic Hazards
A transdisciplinary team is studying how households, small-scale farmers, and institutions are using agroecology and diversification to respond to global climatic, market and political changes. The analysis will identify strategic innovations that build food sovereignty, gender equity, and livelihood resilience.
SCU Participants: Chris Bacon, William Sundstrom, Maria Eugenia Flores Gomez, Raul Diaz, and multiple student co-authors
Partners: CII ASDENIC
Funder: National Science Foundation
For more information:
- Project Summary
- Analyzing diversified farming, food security, & gender in smallholders cooperatives
- Results Poster: Farmers Learning Resilience Nicaragua
- Results Poster: Aprendiendo Resiliencia en Nicaragua
- Results Poster: Exposure to Eta and Iota Nicaragua
- Poster:Exposición huracanes Eta e Iota Nicaragua
- Diversification Strategies among Smallholder Coffee Farmers
This long-term, multi-institutional partnership researched the benefits of diversifying and changing food systems and diets among smallholder coffee farmers in Nicaragua and Mexico for food security, gender equity, and climate resilience.
SCU Participants: Chris Bacon, Maria Eugenia Flores Gomez, and multiple student co-authors
Partners: V. Ernesto Méndez and Martha Caswell (University of Vermont), Rose Cohen (Community Agroecology Network), El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Universidad Nacional Agraria of Nicaragua (UNA), CESMACH, PRODECOOP
Funders: Agropolis Fondation, Fondazione Cariplo, and Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso
For more information:
- Project Summary
- Community based participatory action research (CBPAR) process and agroecology
- Assessing Diversification and Dietary Diversity with Smallholders in Nicaragua
- Food Sovereignty: Transformative Agroecology and Participatory Action Research
- Learning Exchanges in Nicaragua and Mexico
- Calendarios Agrícolas con Enfoque de Género 2023 Nicaragua
- Selected Workshops and Training Events 2016-2022
- Nicaragua 2018 Learning Exchange Proceedings
- Transforming Emergency Food Assistance
This joint project is advancing food justice in the South Bay by employing research-based agroecology techniques to reduce food waste, produce compost, and improve the sustainability of emergency food assistance programs.
SCU Participants: Chris Bacon, Christopher McNeil, and multiple student co-authors
Partners: La Mesa Verde at Sacred Heart Community Services, SCU Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Funder: CalEPA
For more information:
- A Food Justice Response to Covid-19 in California
Faculty, students, farms and food aid organizations in the Bay Area are collaborating to draw lessons from the pandemic about how to improve emergency food assistance and create a more just food system.
SCU Participants: Chris Bacon and multiple student co-authors
Partners: Fresh Approach, Pie Ranch
Funders: The Lawrence Foundation, Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education
For more information:
- Food Justice on Campus
Faculty, students, and staff are collaborating to address student food insecurity, and envision a more sustainable and just food system, at Santa Clara University.
SCU Participants: Chris Bacon and multiple student co-authors
Partners: SCU Office of Student Life Food Insecurity Program, SCU Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship, SCU Multicultural Center, SCU Center for Sustainability, Real Food Challenge,Second Nature Sustainability Indicator Management & Analysis Platform
For more information:
- Food and Water Security in Nicaraguan Farming Communities
An interdisciplinary team of SCU faculty and students has engaged in a multi-year collaboration with Nicaraguan community organizations to improve food and water security for farming communities hit hard by climate-induced drought, and other environmental and economic challenges.
SCU Participants: Chris Bacon, William Sundstrom, Iris Stewart-Frey, Edwin Maurer, Maria Eugenia Flores Gomez, and multiple student co-authors
Partner: CII ASDENIC
Funders: National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences (Grant Number BCS 1539795), Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship
For more information:
