Food Rx: Integrating horticulture research to improve nutrition and health

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2025-05-19

It is clear that the escalating epidemic of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes has reached a crisis level in the United States, that overweight and obesity are drivers, and that diets and the food system have major roles. It is also clear that nutrition and medical research point to increased healthful fruit and vegetable intake as a key part of any strategy to manage the crisis. But although increasing healthful intake entails both expanding production of fruits and vegetables and improving their healthful characteristics, horticulture has generally been sidelined or taken for granted when strategies are envisioned. This article makes the case that horticulture research and practice can and should be equal partners with nutrition and medicine in the pressing search for effective crisis-management strategies. To do so, it first "runs the numbers" for the scale of the crisis, for trends in fruit and vegetable intake and production, for the scant federal support for horticultural crop production and research, and for horticulture research's high return on investment. The article then sketches a roadmap to integrate horticulture research and community outreach with nutrition and healthcare, stressing new opportunities. The goal is a US food system that i) makes healthful fruits and vegetables accessible, affordable, and appealing for all and ii) complements a healthcare system spanning patient-based to population-based nutrition.

Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels Will Drive Repositioning of Horticulture

HortScience · 2024-03-26 · 3 citations

Like everything for the past 2 centuries, agriculture has depended increasingly on fossil fuel energy. Pressures to shift to renewable energy and changes in the fossil fuel industry are set to massively alter the energy landscape over the next 30 years. Two near-certainties are increased overall prices and/or decreased stability of energy supplies. The impacts of these upheavals on specialty crop production and consumption are unknowable in detail but the grand lines of what will likely change can be foreseen. This foresight can guide the research, extension, and teaching needed to successfully navigate a future very unlike the recent past. Major variables that will influence outcomes include energy use in fertilizer manufacture, in farm operations, and in haulage to centers of consumption. Taking six increasingly popular fruit and vegetable crops and the top two horticultural production states as examples, here we use simple proxies for the energy requirements (in gigajoules per ton of produce) of fertilizer, farm operations, and truck transport from Florida or California to New York to compare the relative sizes of these requirements. Trucking from California is the largest energy requirement in all cases, and three times larger than from Florida. As these energy requirements themselves are all fairly fixed, but in future will likely rise in price and/or be subject to interruptions and shortages, this pilot study points to two commonsense inferences: First, that fruit and vegetable production and consumption are set to reposition to more local/regional and seasonal patterns due to increasing expenses associated with fuel, and second, that coast-to-coast produce shipment by truck will become increasingly expensive and difficult.

Southern Region Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training: Using Pre- and Post-Training Knowledge Assessments to Understand Training Effectiveness

Journal of Food Protection · 2024 · 4 citations

• Business
• Medical education
• Geography

The Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) grower training was introduced in 2016 as the standardized curriculum to meet the training requirements of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act's (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR). The PSR states that at least one supervisor or responsible party from each farm must have successfully completed this food safety training or one equivalent to the standardized curriculum, as recognized by the FDA. This study evaluated the effectiveness of PSA trainings conducted between 2017 and 2019 in the Southern United States by the Southern Regional Center for Food Safety Training, Outreach, and Technical Assistance by analyzing pre- and posttest assessments. Effectiveness was based on a 25-question knowledge assessment administered to participants before (n = 2494) and after (n = 2460) each training. The knowledge assessment indicated the overall effectiveness of the training, with average scores increasing significantly from pretest (15.9/25, 63.4%) to posttest (20.3/25, 81.3%) (P < 0.001). The greatest knowledge gains were seen in the Postharvest Handling and Sanitation, How to Develop a Farm Food Safety Plan, and Agricultural Water modules. Notably, these modules had lower posttest scores compared to the other modules, indicating that the amount of knowledge gained did not necessarily correspond with a sufficient understanding of the material. To ensure that participants understand all aspects of the PSR and best practices to minimize food safety risks, additional or advanced trainings may be needed. Additionally, the current testing instrument (pre-/posttest) used for PSA grower training, while validated, may not be optimal, thus alternative methods to assess the training effectiveness are likely needed.

Editorial Introduction

Culture and Local Governance · 2023-12-19

A word from the new Co-Editors-in-Chief. 15th Anniversary of Culture and Local Governance! Editorial Introduction. An article from journal Culture and Local Governance / Culture et gouvernance locale (How We Work With/in Culture Now: Reimagining Impact Assessment and Governance), on Érudit.

Implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in school and community gardens

UNC Libraries · 2022-03-03 · 6 citations

Interest in school and community gardens has increased over the past decade as a method to connect students and communities with food production. Although data on gardens as a source for foodborne illness is scarce, growing practices and settings are similar to those in small-scale commercial production. The objectives of this study were to (1) create a set of evidence-based best practices for gardens based on established food safety guidance for fresh produce, (2) create an intervention for delivery, and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of the practices. The guidelines were designed to impact garden organizer and volunteer behavior as well as organizational infrastructure regarding site selection, soil testing, handwashing, water, composting, garden design and fencing, sanitation, and volunteer management. School and community gardens (n = SO, 10 of each] were visited twice, using a pre-post design, and a risk-based observation instrument was administered. Sixteen gardens (80%) improved their overall scores. While the findings demonstrated that handwashing behavior could be altered significantly (P < 0.01) through the provision of the designed intervention, they also suggest a suitable means to take steps toward a safer garden.

Grafting watermelon onto interspecific hybrid squash reduces hollow heart disorder

Acta Horticulturae · 2021-01-01 · 2 citations

Non-destructive characterization of grafted tomato root systems using the mini-horhizotron

Acta Horticulturae · 2021 · 1 citations

• Horticulture
• Materials science
• Biology

Cell Wall Polysaccharide Composition of Grafted ‘Liberty’ Watermelon With Reduced Incidence of Hollow Heart Defect

Frontiers in Plant Science · 2021 · 18 citations

• Chemistry
• Food science
• Biochemistry

< 0.05). Mannose is primarily found in heteromannan and rhamnogalacturonan I side chains, while xylose is found in xylogalacturonan or heteroxylan. In watermelon, 34 carbohydrate linkages were identified with galactose, glucose, and arabinose linkages in highest abundance. This represents the most comprehensive polysaccharide linkage analysis to date for watermelon, including the identification of several new linkages. However, total pectin and cell wall composition data could not explain the increased tissue firmness observed in fruit from grafted plants. Nonetheless, grafting onto the interspecific hybrid rootstock decreased the incidence of HH and can be a useful method for growers using HH susceptible cultivars.

Postharvest handling of organically produced specialty crops

Burleigh Dodds series in agricultural science · 2020-01-16

L’ÉVOLUTION DES MISSIONS DES SERVICES CULTURELS MUNICIPAUX AU CANADA : DE L’INSTRUMENTALITÉ À L’INNOVATION SOCIALE

Industrias Culturais (Universidade de Coimbra) · 2020-02-01

Les gouvernements conservateurs des années 1980 ont considérablement transformé le discours sur le patrimoine public qui avait cours depuis la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et le développement de l’État-providence dans les Trente Glorieuses. Les discours néolibéraux de Thatcher (R.-U.), Reagan (É.-U.), ou Mulroney (Canada), ont mené à des politiques d’austérité et à une vague importante de réformes administratives. Si le patrimoine est un domaine essentiellement laissé au secteur privé aux États-Unis, en revanche au Canada et au Royaume-Uni, les années 1940-1980 ont vu la création de structures de soutien au développement des organismes patrimoniaux. Les vastes programmes de développement d’établissements du patrimoine et de financement des arts mis en place en quelques décennies ont été graduellement remis en question, et ceux qui ont survécu sont demeurés sous-financés. La rhétorique de la nouvelle gestion publique a également grandement affecté la manière dont les administrations du patrimoine (musées, bibliothèques, archives, centres d’arts) accomplissent leur mission. Des pressions importantes ont été faites sur ces grands organismes publics afin qu’ils génèrent des revenus autonomes appelés à compenser un déclin continu et annoncé des financements des organismes publics. Le destin des grandes organisations patrimoniales au tournant des années 1980 et 1990 est bien connu et documenté au Canada et au Royaume-Uni. Dans les années 1990, des réformes administratives additionnelles ont fait en sorte d’accentuer la pression mise sur les organisations du patrimoine afin que ces dernières voient leur financement associé à des livrables spécifiques et mesurables. Dans les deux pays de tradition anglo-saxonne, on constate que ces pressions ont favorisé une attitude instrumentale quant aux affaires patrimoniales. Le patrimoine n’est plus une fin en soi, une mission publique digne en elle-même de financement public, mais est devenu un moyen pour arriver à une finalité autre : développement économique, développement social, intégration des migrants, etc. Cet article propose d’apporter à ce débat deux nouvelles dimensions. Dans un premier temps, il s’agit de voir comment ces nouvelles formes de gestion se sont exercées sur les administrations publiques à l’échelle municipale. Ainsi, qu’en est-il des effets de ces réformes sur les services publics municipaux? Dans un deuxième temps, cet article cherche à comprendre les dynamiques, les modes de résistance, et les stratégies créatives qui sont construits par les acteurs, à partir de leurs propres ressources professionnelles et organisationnelles. En analysant les discours d’acteurs de trois grandes municipalités canadiennes, cet article met en relief des formes de résilience et des stratégies de dépassement des contraintes qui semblent caractéristiques du secteur patrimonial.