The CIFAR Arrell Future of Food Initiative has selected 7 interdisciplinary research teams as part of its multi-year effort to address mounting pressures on the global food system, including rising food insecurity, declining biodiversity, and intensifying climate shocks. Selected from a competitive international applicant pool, those selected join teams spanning 13 countries, and 21 disciplines.
Joshua Arnold, recently hired to the Stockbridge School of Agriculture as an Assistant Extension Professor of Urban Agriculture, is excited to be chosen. Arnold, along with 4 other scholars from MIT and institutions in Canada and Denmark, are newly assigned to the Urban Future of Food research team.
The project will further increase Stockbridge's visibility on urban food systems work.
“The team will meet with other invited scholars, several times in the coming years, and could lead to long-term research and knowledge generation,” says Arnold.
Arnold’s home field is agroecology—a science applying ecological principles alongside holistic, sustainable approaches to agriculture, so that farming works with nature rather than against it. Agroecologists pursue such goals as enhancing biodiversity, restoring soil health, and strengthening food system resilience.
At Stockbridge, Arnold combines research, extension, and teaching to impact the health of cities, and to increase food security. He specializes in integrated pest management, soils, and the social-ecological factors that influence and create urban agro-ecosystems.
Arnold hopes to leverage the CIFAR project to maximize the effectiveness of his Urban Agriculture course (STK 258).
In their proposal, Arnold and his team explain that in the 1960’s fear of ecological limits such as “peak soil,” along with increased population growth, justified the industrialization of agriculture to meet growing food needs. “Industrializing agriculture pushed more people from rural to urban areas,” they write.
To address the “looming polyfood crisis and ongoing urbanization,” the team’s research asks “Is there a value to descaling and recentering agriculture in cities?”
“The sheer complexity of the global food crisis demands collaboration across traditional boundaries,” says CIFAR President Stephen J. Toope. “I congratulate these exceptional researchers on reaching this critical milestone.”
Speaking about the research teams, Toope says “Their innovative ideas, ranging from programmable plants to child-first policy frameworks, promise to unlock new pathways to knowledge that will shape a healthier, more equitable future for all.”
About CIFAR
Since 1981, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), has been building an integrated approach that acknowledges the complexity of these problems, and brings together diverse voices to reimagine the future, including how we grow, share and sustain food in a rapidly changing world.
Today, CIFAR connects more than 1000 of the world’s best scholars and scientists, from across 30 countries, funding and developing future research leaders to address high-risk, important, and complex questions—many around the sustainability and reliability of global food sources.