CNH-S: Socio-Economic Factors, Land and Water Quality, and the Dynamics Between Rural and Urban Zones of Food Production and Consumption.

This project will model linkages between biophysical processes and socio-economic factors and how these impact regional agricultural production and food consumption patterns that contribute to regional food security. The model will simulate the dynamic relationships and interactions between agricultural producer's decisions, food consumer's decisions, and the processes that influence land and water quality, and how these interact, resulting in areas with low food accessibility. The research will be conducted in geographically varied settings in North Carolina with changing demographic profiles. The project will be conducted by investigators at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities and will help develop scientific research capacity. The project will include research and educational experiences for underrepresented undergraduate as well as graduate students, and will also provide research training for a post-doctoral fellow, further building research capacity. The project will also include stakeholder (local and state planning agencies, extension agents, agricultural producers, and food retailers) engagement and contribute to facilitating the design, development, and delivery of policy-relevant information, specifically identifying policies that either support or hinder food security.

The existence of areas with low accessibility to healthy foods, often referred to as food deserts, have been identified as a serious issue contributing to food insecurity in both urban and rural areas in the U.S, especially in areas where minority populations reside. More integrated and interdisciplinary research is needed to examine and understand the multi-dimensional and complex problems that lead to this condition, and ways to mitigate it. The goal of this project is to better understand the factors that contribute to improving food accessibility, while maximizing agricultural production and minimizing negative environmental impacts on the land and water used in food production. Specifically, the objectives of the project are to (1) build an integrated modeling framework that includes natural system models (biophysical model, GIS land use model), human system models (production model, consumption model), and integrated procedures (multi-agent simulation) to link human systems to natural systems; (2) to validate the reliability and the robustness of the database and the integrated modeling framework in selected study areas; and (3) to create a geo-coded spatial-temporal database for both human factors and natural factors.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.