Download or read book Planning Food Systems Change written by Lindsey Day Farnsworth and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an in-depth qualitative case study of the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Community Food Systems Team, an experimental interdisciplinary initiative launched in 2012 to increase the systemic impact of the institution's community food systems work and to foster organizational learning and innovation in relation to interdisciplinary practice. Drawing on in-depth key informant interviews, participant observation, document review, action research, and extant theory, I answer the question: What issues are in play when practitioners work across disciplinary boundaries to promote food systems change? As such, this case study forms the empirical basis for a broader investigation into the mechanics of inter- and transdisciplinary practice in the context of food systems planning and in the service of food systems change, i.e. the alteration of the status quo by transforming and realigning the structure and function of the food system so that all residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice. My empirical findings point to four central lessons regarding the role of interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder food systems initiatives in relation to organizational learning and the development of planning interventions that promote food systems change: (1) organizational innovation and learning require regular feedback mechanisms; (2) systemic change benefits from focused, multi-level interventions; (3) collaborative initiatives are strengthened by engaging partners in defining the work; and (4) outcomes-based objectives may help align work across multiple geographic scales. I then adapt Mitchell, Cordell, and Fam's transdisciplinary outcomes framework for translational and practice-based settings to develop a heuristic for food systems planners who seek to incorporate inter- and transdisciplinarity into their practice. The framework's potential to guide action is consistent with the aims of transdisciplinary practice, i.e. to facilitate transdisciplinary collaboration and translate or apply transdisciplinary research, concepts, and tools to non-research settings. The three components of the adapted heuristic are (1) systems based interventions, (2) knowledge translation and exchange, and (3) mutual and transformative learning.