From the foreword:

The last Science Roadmap for the land-grant university system was prepared nearly 10 years ago. There have been many changes in societal needs and priorities over the past decade. The issues of climate change, energy and food security, environmental and economic sustainability, and globalization have moved to the forefront of concerns for the public and for policy makers in the United States. These issues are highly interdependent, and any attempt to address them will require systematic and science-based solutions. Major investments in scientific research as it relates to food and energy production, utilization of natural resources, and development of individuals, families, and communities will be necessary for the United States to remain competitive, sustainable, and socially responsive to its citizens and the citizens of the world.
This Science Roadmap is very timely and will be an important resource not only for our academic leadership but also for our public and private partners and advocates. It has been developed through a broad consensus of some of our best scientific leaders. As a roadmap, it does not provide direct solutions to problems; rather, it lays out well-thought-out paths the scientific community can take to reach potential solutions.

Quick Facts:

• Author: Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
  
• Published: November 2010
  
• Intended audience: Land-grant university (LGU) administration, academic leadership at
  land-grant universities, "private partners and advocates" of LGUs
  
• Goals / purpose: To highlight the challenges faced by the current food system and offers directions to pursue to develop solutions.
  
• Methods - How would someone know they could trust this?
• Vast number of scientists involved means peer review effective
• More
  than 250 scientists in identifying the focus of the paper means that it
  is relevant subject material
• 7 individual papers means that specific
  information can be identified without reading the whole report
• From 1 (not very well)–4 (very well), how well does this source of food knowledge:
• Engage an adequate range of perspectives and types of knowledge? (3)
• Translate between diverse perspectives? (2)
  
  
• Address conflicts across perspectives? (2)
  
  
• Generate useful information for those affected by the issues addressed? (4)
  
  
• Include an adequate range of relevant stakeholders throughout the knowledge-creation process? (1)
  
  
• Help users of this knowledge source learn from each other? (1)
  
  
• Allow users of this knowledge source to put what they learn into action? (3)
  
  
• Consider the larger context as necessary? (3)
  
  
  
  
• What is useful, meaningful, surprising, or a problem? Questions?
• Its format
  makes it very accessible
• The 7 Grand Challenges along with explanation and
  needs make key points salient.
• The broad assessment of the food system, including environmental impacts
  and food as part of a strong community, makes the report meaningful.
  
• The lack of input from diverse perspectives in the food system (mainly
  LGU scientists) makes the report potentially biased toward LGUs and
  their private partners.

• What do you think could or should be done with this source of knowledge?
• To deal with the narrow scope of the input, submitting it for review to
  LSP, The Land Institute, academic conferences at private universities,
  etc. may help.
• Connecting it to the research being conducted at private
  universities may help, or to the food words glossary, because its a
  veritable trove of food words!
• What has already been done?
• How should we keep track of what this knowledge does as it circulates in the world?
• What connections would you like to see made to other information / people / organizations?

See http://www.hfhl.umn.edu/Publications/PublishedResearch/index.htm for this and other resources from HFHL.

(ID# 2002)

This page annotates:

Comment on this page