Agriculture and sustainable development: The role of small scale agriculture in obtaining food security

The international community has expressed a renewed interest in small scale agriculture and the role it plays in long-term food security in the face of climate change and population growth. This interest has led to a new development paradigm in which small scale producers are being brought into the global market. Undoubtedly, small scale agriculture should be pursued as a sustainable form of development which can contribute to poverty alleviation, environmental stewardship, and the preservation of genetic diversity. These unique contributions are inherently threatened by a system captured in the idea of the neoliberal food regime. The ability of small scale agriculture to uphold the goals of food security are dependent on recognition and preservation of these contributions.

Developing Emotional Security Among Children Who Have Been Adopted

This study investigated the development of emotional security among 6-10 year old children who have been adopted by exposing them to an experimental condition during which they could engage with either a live dog or a robotic dog. The live dog was a certified therapy dog; the robotic dog was a FurReal® toy marketed by Hasbro as "Biscuit." Utilizing a mixed-method embedded experimental design, the experimental condition was intentionally structured to promote engagement between the participant and the dog or robot. 43 children who had been adopted from the child welfare system were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was exposed to a therapy dog (n=22), while another was exposed to the social robotic dog (n=21). The development of emotional security was targeted for measurement in this study using the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test," a test of social understanding that has been linked in the literature to oxytocin- a hormone premised to be a marker of the development of emotional security. Physiological anxiety was also measured as an indicator of emotional security using the Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale-2 (RCMAS-2). Both measures were administered before and after exposure to the experimental condition. A linear mixed-effect regression analysis showed that for boys only, there was a significant effect of engagement with either companion on social understanding (p<.01). Social understanding decreased as engagement increased. A second model indicated that for boys only, their history of animal cruelty had a significant effect on physiological anxiety (p<.05). If boys had an animal cruelty history, their anxiety was reduced after the exposure to either the dog or robot. Interpretations of the findings suggest that there are differences among children who have been adopted and have a history of animal cruelty that differentially influences their development of emotional security. Social work interventions designed for practice with children who have been adopted will need to assess the presence of these variations and develop appropriate treatment protocols.

Corn Liberalization in Mexico: The Effects of Neoliberal Policies on Campesino Food Security

Mexico has a long history of structuralized violence against its most vulnerable socioeconomic strata, the peasantry, also referred to as Campesinos. From the Spanish invasion, to the contemporary neoliberal development project, corn production has been intimately associated with disparate power relations both within Mexican society, and without, particularly in relations with the United States. This study sheds light on the incongruities of modernism implicit within neoliberal policy instruments such as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) and free trade agreements. It will demonstrate that while such policies benefit some, they principally exacerbate existing power disparities via disarticulated trade economics, subordinating rather than liberating Mexico's most vulnerable citizenry.