Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist
Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist
- Ph.D. Wildland Resource Science, University of California, Berkeley
- B.A. Geography/Ecosystems, University of California, Los Angeles
Building equitable, economically viable and culturally relevant food systems in metropolitan areas that contribute to healthy communities
Ecological diversity and sustainable livelihoods
My work engages diverse stakeholders across the spectrum of the food system to build equitable, economically viable and culturally relevant food systems that promote healthy communities, ecological resilience, social justice and sustainable livelihoods. Through participatory and collaborative research methodologies, I co-design research projects with community partners and explore effective communication strategies and culturally appropriate methods, materials and places to ensure diverse representation, input, and participation. My outreach approach is to shift from “extending” knowledge and information toward co-production of knowledge and educational materials that build on community assets and respond to public priorities. I work with beginning farmers and ranchers, as well as tribal, immigrant and urban communities across the state, to enhance and promote sustainable livelihoods, bio-cultural diversity, and community-led efforts in achieving greater sovereignty over their food systems. Areas of research and extension include:
- Improving the economic and ecological viability of historically underserved farmers in metropolitan agricultural regions
- Enhancing tribal health and food security
- Developing youth leadership
- Advancing a community – university partnership at the Gill Tract
- Evaluating laws and regulations that inhibit and enable metropolitan agriculture
- Developing a food safety curriculum for smaller farms with limited resources
- Promoting agro-biodiversity of cultural foods in metropolitan “food deserts”
Sowerwine, J., Sarna-Wojcicki, D., Mucioki, M., Hillman, L., Lake, F. K, Friedman, E. (2019). Enhancing Indigenous food sovereignty: A five-year collaborative tribal-university research and extension project in California and Oregon. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 9: 167-190. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.013
Siegner, A. B., Acey, C., Sowerwine, J. 2019. Producing urban agroecology in the East Bay: from soil health to community empowerment. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2019.1690615
Sowerwine, J., Mucioki, M., Sarna-Wojcicki, D., Hillman, L. 2019. Reframing food security by and for Native American communities: a case study among tribes in the Klamath River basin of Oregon and California. Food Security 11: 579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00925-y. Author’s Accepted Manuscript available below in Publications (attached).
Sarna-Wojcicki, D., Sowerwine, J., Hillman, L., Hillman, L., & Tripp, B. 2019. Decentering Watersheds and Decolonising Watershed Governance: Towards an Ecocultural Politics of Scale in the Klamath Basin. Water Alternatives 12(1), 241-266.
Kim, K., Ngo, V., Gilkison, G., Hillman, L., Sowerwine, J., Karuk Youth Leaders. 2019. Native American Youth Citizen Scientists Uncovering Community Health and Food Security Priorities. Health Promotion Practice. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1524839919852098
Mucioki, M., Sowerwine, J., Sarna-Wojcicki, D. 2018. Thinking inside and outside the box: local and national considerations of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). Journal of Rural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.11.002
Siegner, A., Sowerwine, J., Acey, C. 2018. Does Urban Agriculture Improve Food Security? Examining the Nexus of Food Access and Distribution of Urban Produced Foods in the United States: A Systematic Review. Sustainability 10, 2988.
Gupta, C., Campbell, D., Munden-Dixon, K., Sowerwine, J., Capps, S., Feenstra, G., & Van Soelen Kim, J. 2018. Food policy councils and local governments: Creating effective collaboration for food systems change. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 8(Suppl. 2), 11–28. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2018.08B.006
Baur, P., Getz, C. and Sowerwine J. 2017. Contradictions, consequences and the human toll of food safety culture. Agriculture and Human Values, February 7.
Sowerwine, J., 2016. Enhancing Tribal Health and Food Sovereignty Among the Karuk, Klamath, and Yurok Tribes in the Klamath Basin through Collaborative Partnerships. Rural Connections. https://wrdc.usu.edu/files-ou/publications/pub__3014847.pdf
Sowerwine, J., Getz, C. and Peluso N. 2015. The Myth of the Protected Worker: Southeast Asian Farmers in California Agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9578-3
Sowerwine, J. and Getz, C. 2013. The Changing Face of California Agriculture: Identifying challenges and providing opportunities for Southeast Asian and other minority farmers. Rural Connections.
Sowerwine, J. 2013. “Socialist rules and post‐war politics: Reflections on nationality and fieldwork among the Yao in northern Vietnam” in Red Stamps and Gold Stars: Fieldwork Dilemmas in Upland Socialist Asia, edited by Sarah Turner, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Minkoff, L.A., Peluso, N., Sowerwine, J. and Getz, C. 2011. “Race and Regulation: Asian Immigrants in California Agriculture” in The Food Justice Reader, edited by A. Alkon and J. Agyeman, Boston: MIT Press.
Sowerwine, J. 2011. “The Cultural Politics of Agrarian Change in the Highlands of Ba Vi, Vietnam” in Upland Transformations: Opening Boundaries in Vietnam, edited by T.Sikor, Nghiem, T., Sowerwine, J., Romm, J National University of Singapore Press.
Sowerwine, J. 2011. “The Politics of Highland Landscapes in Vietnamese Statecraft: (re)framing the Dominant Environmental Imaginary” in Upland Transformations: Opening Boundaries in Vietnam, edited by T.Sikor, Nghiem, T., Sowerwine, J., Romm, J National University of Singapore Press.
Sowerwine, J. 2004a. “Territorialization and the Politics of Highland Landscapes in Vietnam: negotiating property relations in policy, meaning and practice”, Conservation and Society, 2 (1): 97-136.
Sowerwine, J. 2004b. “Effects of Economic Liberalization on Dao Women’s Traditional Knowledge, Production and Trade of Medicinal Plants in Northern Vietnam” in Ethnobotany and Conservation of Biocultural Diversity, edited by T. Carlson, and L. Maffi, Advances in Economic Botany, The New York Botanical Gardens Press.
Sowerwine, J. 2001. “Participatory Rural Appraisal Techniques for Evaluating Herbal Medicine Markets”, Advances in Natural Sciences, edited by Djaja Doel Soejarto, Le Thi Xuan and Nong Van Hai, July.
Sowerwine, J. 1999a. “Economic Liberalization, Gender and Traditional Botanical Medicine in Northern Vietnam” in Women's Changing Rights to Housing and Land in Vietnam, Laos, and China edited by Irene Tinker, Lynne Rienner Press.
Extension Publications and Resources
Sowerwine, J. 2020. UCANR blog posting: "Urban Farms, Food Safety, and Food System Resilience During COVID-19"
Sowerwine, J., Oatfield, C., Bennaton, R., et al. 2018. California Urban Agriculture Food Safety Guide: Laws and Standard Operating Procedures for Farming Safely in the City.
Sowerwine, J. 2010. Farm-to-school project opens up new markets for small family farms.
Maps of Strawberry Farm Stands in Sacramento & Fresno.
Youtube video series “New Strategies for Farming in America” a resource for beginning immigrant farmers in California (in English, Mien and Hmong).
Sowerwine, J., C. Ingels, and C. Getz. 2009. Marketing challenges and opportunities for Central Valley Southeast Asian refugee growers. UC Delivers
California Urban Agriculture Food Safety Guide, Contradictions, consequences and the human toll of food safety culture, Food policy councils and local governments: Creating effective collaboration for food systems change, Reframing food security by and for Native American communities, Thinking inside and outside the box: local and national considerations of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, Enhancing Indigenous food sovereignty: A five-year collaborative tribal-university research and extension project in California , Safe Handling Practices for Fresh Produce in a Time of Coronavirus-19_Presentation, Safe food handling hand-out for farm stand customers, Policy and Procedures for Safe Food Handling During COVID-19 for Small and Urban Farms/Gardens, Guidelines for Prevention of Infection to Post at Farm- Social Science Research Council-IDRF Fellowship
- Fulbright-Hayes DDRA Fellowship
- Fulbright-IIE
Current Projects
-
Community-Driven Visioning and Planning for a Just and Sustainable Bay Area Regional Food System. Supported by USDA AMS Regional Food Systems Partnership program grant.
-
Examining tribal sovereignty over cannabis permitting on native ancestral lands. Supported by CA Bureau of Cannabis Control's Public University Research grant.
-
Fostering Innovative, Sustainable Urban Farming Methods to Meet Food Needs. Supported by Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research grant.
- Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience Initiative: xúus nu’éethti – we are caring for it. Supported by USDA-NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Resilient Agroecosystems in a Changing Climate grant.
Previous Projects
-
Enhancing Tribal Health and Food Security in the Klamath Basin of Oregon and California by Building a Sustainable Regional Food System. USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Food Security Grant.
-
Learning Hub Network: Deepening Support for Diverse New Farmers and Ranchers in California. USDA-NIFA, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Grant.
- From Production to the Market: Enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of beginning minority farmers in California. USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Grant.
Contact details
Jennifer Sowerwine
On request
130 Mulford Hall #3114
Berkeley, CA 94720-3114