Future of Food: Journal on Food

Sustainability Assessment for Asparagus Farms that Work with a Community-Supported Agriculture Model in Turkey

Sevil Acar
Bogazici University
Banu Özden

Due to the diversified nature of agricultural systems, it is difficult to handle the sustainability aspects of different farming practices. With an intention to evaluate the sustainability of the com-munity-supported agriculture (CSA) model in Turkey, the current study focuses on asparagus farms and designs farm-specific sustainability indicators that would be helpful for the farmers. The framework developed for this purpose consists of 20 environmental, 8 economic, and 17 social sustainability indicators derived and adapted from an extensive literature. The indicators are then used to form survey questions to gather data directly from the farmers. The results show that these farms are sustainable in some aspects, mostly from a social sustainability perspective, and not in others. In order to be fully sustainable, they need to make alterations in some of the agricultural practices on the farm, diversify their production, measure their environmental impacts on the air, soil, and water, and most importantly define successors for their farms in order to keep asparagus production for the years to come.

Keywords : sustainability, small farms, community-supported agriculture, asparagus farms .

Myanmar High School Students’ Perceptions of College and International Readiness in Western Society

Mark Speckien
Louisiana Tech University
Mark Speckien
Louisiana Tech University
International students are more likely to experience mental health issues and increased stress. Mental health is often surrounded by negative societal stigmas that act as barriers to seeking support and tend to lead to greater mental health concerns. International students tend to seek socioemotional support from other international student peers rather than seeking out counseling services. However, this study shows that LGBTQIA+ international students were less likely to seek socioemotional support from other international student peers due to fear of their sexual orientation being discovered and their families finding out about their identity. This study examines how LGBTQIA+ international students talk about their experiences on and off campus in relations to their socioemotional well-being. Specifically, this study sought to better understand the complexities of LGBTQIA+ students’ identities, and the challenges they faced in terms of their socioemotional well-being. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Keywords : international students, socioemotional well-being, mental health, identity development, intersectionality, LGBTQIA