In 2021, we are publishing the 10th volume of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). That's 10 years' worth of research-based information on best practices, models, case studies, and other ways to strengthen local and regional food systems! In 2018, JAFDSCD became open access — freely available — so it's accessible to everyone doing work in the good food movement, regardless of their resources.
We also facilitate the North American Food Systems Network (NAFSN), which offers professional development and networking for those working in the good food movement.
We are working with colleagues from around the country to create a food systems professional certification program, which will provide recognition for individuals who participate in accredited training programs. Training and certification benefit the individual (giving them greater job security and professionalism) and also benefit the community in which that person works.
We are proud of these innovative programs and hope you agree that we are filling important gaps in research, policy, and practice. We invite you to join friends and colleagues across North America who value Tom Lyson's work — to become a Friend of the Lyson Center.
The photo below shows Tom's family — Loretta Carrillo and their daughters Mercedes and Helena —speaking at the dedication event for the Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems at Cornell University in September 2015. We appreciate their continuing support for our work.
Closing out a Challenging Year by Keeping Busy
December 15, 2020
Is it OK to ask time to hurry by? This year has been such a challenge for all of us and in so many ways.
Fortunately, JAFSCD has been able to play an active role during the pandemic by publishing rapid responses to COVID-19's impact on food systems. We have published 44 commentaries and Voices from the Grassroots essays to date on all kinds of responses to COVID and from around the world—from the U.S. and Canada to China, the Philippines, Brazil, France, Germany, and more places.
The pandemic has brought the global food system into the foreground of many people's day-to-day experiences. It has also manifested its many inequities. The time is ripe to reconsider how food is produced, distributed, and eaten by the world's population.
JAFSCD is publishing a special issue dedicated to COVID-19 (winter 2020-21). Commentaries and essays continue to be submitted. This is keeping us busier than ever, and your contribution helps support that work. Thank you!
The Lyson Center Responds to COVID-19
July 8, 2020
As it did for everyone, the world changed for the Lyson Center with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We quickly realized that we could serve as a vehicle for sharing responses, and so we put out a call for commentaries and Voices from the Grassroots essays for publication in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). The Voices essays are also being posted on the North American Food Systems Network's blog to further amplify the voices from practitioners working on the ground and experiencing the very real effects on the food supply and food access.
Partly due to these responses, the spring issue of JAFSCD was our largest ever: 35 articles adding up to 335 pages. We will be publishing a special issue on COVID-19 and the Food System in the winter of 2020.
Your support helps us publish this time-critical information. We appreciate your support!
Lyson Center at the Community Food Systems Conference
December 16, 2019
We
attended the Community Food Systems Conference, organized by the New
Entry Sustainable Farming Project (affiliated with Tufts University) in
Boston in December 2017. We were gratified to hear opening speaker and
New Entry Executive Director Jennifer Hashley credit Tom Lyson's term
"civic agriculture" as an important concept to the work of attendees. We
were able to follow up on her comments with folks who dropped by our
table in the exhibit area. While we were there, we also had a strategic
meeting for NAFSN.
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