Books and Databases
Books can be located through the VLGS Library catalog.
Below is a sampling of databases useful for researching equity issues related to food and agriculture.
Access the Full List of VLGS Environmental Law Databases.
Access the Full List of VLGS Databases
To access databases either on or off campus, log onto the School's portal when prompted.
Also remember to search Westlaw and Lexis.
- Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection This link opens in a new windowThis database includes equity resources in the leading agricultural journals published in North America. Provides full-text resources, scholarly and trade journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, and government publications. If you do a search for : equity, view your results and then open the Subject filter in the left column, related and synonymous terms are listed for you to add to your search.
- Onefile: Agriculture This link opens in a new windowWith emphasis on titles covered in the USDA's Agricola database, Gale OneFile: Agriculture, contains a combination of citations and full text for articles in more than 600 journal titles focused on agriculture-related fields.
- Greenwire This link opens in a new windowGreenWire is an up-to date news service with a useful archive. It provides daily coverage of environment issues, politics and policy. Greenwire not only covers major regulations, legislation and court cases but explains issues with depth and breadth.
Searching, which also includes Climatewire, Energywire, and D.C. focused E & E Daily, goes back to 1996 - Ebook Central This link opens in a new windowA collection of thousands of online books and other materials in a variety of subject areas including food and agriculture. They can be searched full-text. All ebooks are are also listed in the JULIEN library catalog by title, author, subjects, and often table of contents.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowA large collection of full-text journals, book chapters, reports, etc., in many subject areas including Agriculture, Food Studies, Horticulture, Environmental Studies, Business, etc.
- OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy This link opens in a new windowGale OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy includes articles related to environmental concerns from perspectives of the scientific community, governmental policymakers, and corporate interests including Soil, Science and Management; Food, Crops, & Environment; etc..
- Environment Complete This link opens in a new windowEnvironment Complete offers coverage of environmental aspects relating to agriculture, sustainable agriculture, water and agriculture, etc, as well as food, food safety, food additives, dietary supplements, etc. Contains full text (for most) of the thousands of articles included, and a selection of monographs dating back 100 years.
- Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowGale Academic OneFIle covers a number of academic disciplines and includes thousands of articles relating food and agriculture from scholarly as well as general interest journals. Contains full text for most of the articles.
- EcoAméricas This link opens in a new windowEcoAméricas, a monthly publication covering development and the environment, includes food and agriculture news in Latin America for an international audience. The Search option allows searching back to 1998.
- Policy File Index This link opens in a new windowAccess timely information from over 350 public policy think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, university centers, advocacy groups, and other entities. Over 75 public policy topics are covered, including agriculture, energy, environment, food, science/technology, and water. The majority of listings link directly to the full-text report, paper, document, or other source.
Web Sites
VLGS's Center for Agriculture and Food Systems Projects and Resources includes: The Food System Worker Law and Policy Project; The Farmland Access Legal Toolkit which includes a great deal about Heirs' Property; The Healthy Food Policy Project; Towards Equitable and Just Food Systems; Essentially Unprotected: A Focus on Farmworkers Health Laws and Policies, etc.
Also, VLGS's Environmental Law Research Sources (ELRS), a collection of free environmental law sources, links to web sites in subject areas including Agriculture Law , Food Law, and Environmental Justice.
A few relevant ELRS resources:
- Food Policy Networks - Resource DatabaseThis rich Resource Database can be searched by keyword or by topic such as Food Justice/Equity, Hunger, Labor, Economic Injustice, etc. Included are reports, webinars, and slides.
- Castanea FellowshipCastanea Fellowship supports racially just food systems in health, agriculture, environment, regional economies, or community development. Resources on their web site include podcasts, newsletters, impact and immersion reports, and news.
- Food Chain Workers AllianceThe Food Workers Alliance is a coalition of worker-based organizations to improve wages and working conditions. Their members plant, harvest, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food. The Alliance focuses on: growth & learning; campaigns & messages; and movement building. Resources include videos, reports, information guides, and links to other websites focused on food justice, immigration, and labor.
- Black Family Land TrustBlack Family Land Trust Is a coalition of land conservationists, African American farmers, advocates, and academics dedicated to protecting Black-owned farms and family lands.
- Indigenous Food and Agriculture InitiativeIFAI provides Tribal governments, producers, and food businesses with educational resources, policy research, and strategic legal analysis, promoting tribally driven solutions to revitalize and advance traditional food systems and diversified economic development throughout Indian Country. Resources include a Model Tribal Food and Agriculture code, Native Food Safety information, Cultivating Tribal Food Sovereignty Resources, etc.
Search Terms
Some suggested search terms for use in Databases, etc.
These terms should be combined with agriculture or food focused terms such as agriculture, agricultural, agribusiness, farms, farming, farmland, farmers, ranchers, food, food systems, food security, etc.
- Equity, Equitable
- Diversity
- Inclusion
- Inequity
- Equality
- Justice
- Civil rights
- Unequal bargaining power
- Environmental Justice
- Discrimination
- Race, racism
- Ethnic groups
- Minority groups
- BIPOC
- African Americans, Black farmers
- Native Americans, American Indians, Indigenous
- Heirs property
- Laborers, Workers
- Community
- Poverty
- Socioeconomic factors
- NIMBY
- Economic justice