In This Issue: Peer2Peer

Full text of this issue's editorial:This open call issue of JAFSCD is slightly smaller than our usual 15 to 20 items. We've been busy working to transition our publishing platform to one hosted by Public Knowledge Project (PKP; http://pkp.sfu.ca), as well as preparing to launch our pilot Community Supported Journal campaign. Over the next year we will be experimenting with a new financial model as we explore the feasibility of becoming an open access (OA) journal. We hope that the JAFSCD community of authors, subscribers, institutional libraries, reviewers, and programs related to food systems research, academic, and outreach programs will collaborate to assist us in this endeavor.We start this issue with John Ikerd's Economic Pamphleteer column, entitled Toward an Ethic of Sustainability, the wisdom of which bears repeating here: A thing is right when it tends to enhance the quality and integrity of both human and nonhuman life on earth by honoring the unique responsibilities and rewards of humans as members and caretakers of the earth's integral community. A thing is wrong when it tends otherwise. In addition, Ikerd reminds us to be thankful for the intrepid few who take up the call to farm sustainably and who toil to make the world a little better for all of us, even when it is not necessarily financially rewarding to do so.Our papers in this issue begin with several that are focused on peer-to-peer learning. In West Virginia Farmers Market Training Network: A Case Study in Connecting Markets and Resources, Daniel Eades, Kelly Nix, and Kelly Crane offer an insightful reflective essay about the transition of a conventional technical assistance model to a peer-to-peer learning program that emphasizes knowledge co-creation through collaborative research, and problem solving. Similarly, Georgeanne Artz and Linda Naeve find peer-to-peer equipment sharing yields an even wider range of advantages to collaborators in The Benefits and Challenges of Machinery Sharing Among Small-scale Fruit and Vegetable Growers. In contrast, studying the challenges of on-farm produce safety practices of a farm community that limits it use of machinery is the focus of Understanding Perceptions of Fresh Produce Safety and Barriers to Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) Use Among Amish Growers in the Holmes County Settlement of Ohio by Jason S. Parker, Pamela Schlegel, Douglas Doohan, and Jeffrey T. LeJeune. In Principles Guiding Practice: A Case Study Analysis of the Principles of Sustainable Agriculture for Diverse Farms, Kelly N. Moore, Marilyn E. Swisher, Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Mark Blevins, Michael Hogan, Lauren Hunter, Christine Kelly-Begazo, Stephen Komar, Suzanne Mills-Wasniak, and David Redhage use a guided discovery process to find that, despite considerable diversity in operations, their sample of farms showed remarkably consistent similarities in the sustainability principles that guide their management decisions.Next up, Joseph P. Brewer II and Paul V. Stock discuss the shortcomings in extension programming for Native Peoples in their policy analysis, Beyond Extension: Strengthening the Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program (FRTEP). They make the case for increased resources to have the kind of impact intended by the federal program. Carrie A. Scrufari provides a detailed legal analysis of Walmart's new animal welfare policy in The Tipping Point: Can Walmart's New Animal Welfare Policy End Factory Farming?, and concludes that it may be the U.S.'s best hope for transitioning to more humane animal agriculture. In Locational Advantage and the Impact of Scale: Comparing Local and Conventional Fruit and Vegetable Transportation Efficiencies, Chuck Grigsby and Chad Hellwinckel offer us a modern twist on the old chestnut that the further the distance a producer is from their market, the larger the volume they need to maximize efficiency. Their economic modeling suggests that localized food systems near urban cores are more likely to be resilient to fuel price shocks. In our final paper, Examining Barriers to Implementation of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) in Farmers Markets: Perspectives from Market Managers, authors Anne Roubal, Alfonso Morales, Karen Timberlake, and Ana Martinez-Donate learn from a sample of farmers market managers that compatibility of EBT with market mission, vendor acceptance, and perceived benefit of EBT (among other factors) are important for success of EBT programs.The issue concludes with four book reviews. In Food System Sustainability Standards: Room for Everyone?, Keith Williams reviews FAO/UNEP Workshop on Voluntary Standards for Sustainable Food Systems: Challenges and Opportunities, edited by Alexandre Maybeck and Suzanne Redfern. In Putting the World on a Better Diet, Grace Gershuny reviews Global Eating Disorder, by Gunnar Rundgren. In A Public Health Approach to Our Food System, Gregory Zimmerman reviews Introduction to the U.S. Food System: Public Health, Environment, and Equity, edited by Roni Neff. And finally, in Anticipating a Transformative Future, Fred Kirschenmann reviews How To Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow's World Today, by John Thackara.The coming year promises to be an interesting one, full of challenges for JAFSCD as we try to maximize the impact of our authors' work with an eye toward more ever more sustainable local and regional food systems. We look forward to your collaboration with JAFSCD to make this happen.Publisher and Editor in Chief