Author: ecogrow

These simulations suggest the direction of farmland adjustment, which serves as a measure of private adaptation to respond to projected climate changes. Our projection results suggest that a potential decrease in winter chill hours could result in an increase in the percentage of perennial crops grown in the Central Valley.Our outcome variables are the land use shares of perennial, annual, and non-cultivated crops at the parcel level in our study region. To determine these agricultural land use, we rely on Cropland Data Layer , a raster-based land-use map, at 30×30 meter resolution for 2008 through 2021. The USDA, National Agricultural Statistic Service publishes CDL products using a machine learning model based on a combination of satellite imaging and agricultural ground data collected during the growing season . CDL products are available for the contiguous United States at a 30 m spatial resolution annually since 2008.7 Despite the widespread use of CDL data in agriculture climate research, CDL data has inherent errors that could potentially lead to uncertainty in land use change calculations . Although there are limitations, grow strawberry in containers the CDL data is still the primary source of land use information at the micro-level and is frequently used in the literature to influence land use policies . We are cautious in the use of CDL data in our study region and take the following steps to minimize any potential errors that may arise from using CDL data.

First, following Lark et al. and Reitsma et al. , we combine CDL classes into perennial, annual, and non-cultivated to minimize any errors related to CDL ability to distinguish spectrally similar land cover classes. Second, we use time-series CDL data for a given parcel to derive parcel-specific crops. Third, we compare the construction validity of the derived crop acreage in our sample by taking the ratio of the parcel area derived from the geographic information system to the parcel area reported in the assessor’s data. Any value greater than one means that the area of the parcel from the GIS exceeds the area reported in the assessor’s table. We drop observations above 95% of the distribution of measurement errors. Fourth, we compare aggregated crop types acreages obtained from CDL data to administrative data at the county level. To compare the satellite-derived Cropland Data Layer with administrative data, we obtained the county-specific annual crop statistics for California from the National Agricultural Statistics Services . The NASS report is based on the yearly crop reports of the California County Agricultural Commissioners. Specifically, we use county-level data on total harvested acres from annual crop reports between 2008 and 2021 to estimate the total harvested acres for particular crops in each county of California. We present two comparison plots using the CDL and NASS dataset that has been aggregated. First, a time series of total cropland from perennial and annual crop acreage obtained from the CDL and harvested acres from the NASS datasets. Second, we present the time series of the detrended CDL cropland area and detrended time series of NASS cropland area.

These figures are shown in Appendix Figure A2. We find that CDL cropland acreage data reflects NASS harvested acres from 2008 to 2021, except for 2009, 2018 and 2019. In 2009, the aggregated acreage obtained from CDL data had a substantial drop, while in 2018 and 2019, NASS harvested acres had a significant rise. Overall, we find that the CDL data in our sample is most comparable to the NAAS data for the years 2010 through 2017. In our robustness checks, we perform regression analysis on the main specifications for the years 2010 to 2017. Lastly, we take advantage of a stable climate regime and homogeneous biophysical characteristics of our study region, which also reduce false positives, which reduce inaccuracy in cropland data.Our main climate variables are growing degree days during summer and winter , the accumulated annual precipitation, and accumulated chill hours during winter derived at the parcel-level using the PRISM daily dataset for the years 2008–2021. For the purposes of our analysis and to preserve complete cropland data from 2008-2021, we define the climate normals over 27 years. The PRISM data is a high-resolution dataset that is suitable for agricultural-climate analysis and is utilized by researchers to design climate policy for California .The winter chill hour is a critical climate variable in the fruit and nut growing region of the Central Valley. We follow Jackson et al., to calculate the daily chill hours using the daily minimum temperature, mean temperature, daily maximum temperature, and the reference temperature . Winter chill hours are the sum of daily chill hours during plant’s dormancy period of November through February. Depending on the variety, a tree crop can require anywhere from 200 and 1500 chill hours during winter to produce flowers and fruits .

Appendix Figure A5 highlights the spatial variations in growing season used in our study region. During summer, there are significant variations in degree days in the central and southern parts of Central Valley, while there are small variations in degrees days in winter in the southern parts of Central Valley . In the northern and southern parts of the Central Valley, the change in average annual precipitation over a long period is greater, whereas in the central part, there is a decrease in average annual precipitation. The northern and central parts of the Central Valley experience a greater increase in winter chills hours. Overall, there are enough variations in our study region to identify long-term climatic impacts in our empirical design.To assess parcel’s suitability for agricultural production, we link the parcel-level cropland data to the dominant land capability class , an integrated measure of soil quality and agricultural potential, which is widely used in literature to measure land quality. We obtained LCC data for California from the California Soil Resource Lab at UC Davis, which is available in grid cells of 800 meters . We construct one indicator for high quality land and two indicators for low-quality land . On average, more than half of the sample is on high-quality land , while 40% of the sample is on low-quality land, and only 4% of the sample is on the lowest-quality land.Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics of 657,554 observations from 2008 to 2021. Perennial crops have the highest land-use shares on average at 0.52, followed by annual crops , and non-cultivated crops . About 21% of parcels do not have any share of perennial crops, while 34% and 41% of parcels do not have any share of annual crops and non-cultivated crops, respectively. In appendix Table A2, we present the annual composition of our dependent and explanatory variables. The share of perennial crops increased by 29 percent from 0.48 in 2008 to 0.62 in 2021, while the share of annual crops declined by 32 percent from 0.38 in 2008 to 0.26 in 2021. The non-cultivated crop shares, which include fallowed/idle land and natural vegetation, varied between 0.11 to 0.20, with more fallowed land during drought years. Overall, these descriptive statistics demonstrate that perennial crops have replaced annual crops. We explore further to examine crop-specific variations over time. For illustration purposes, we randomly split the sample into two periods: the first period from 2008 to 2014 and the second period from 2015 to 2021 . The land share allocated to perennial crops, particularly almonds, pistachios, and nuts, hydroponic nft channel increased by 8% in the second period. This increase was predominantly in high-quality land and in low-quality land . The land share allocated to annual crops declined by 12%, with a reduction of 10% in high-quality land and a 6% and 2% decline in low-quality land . Together, the trends in agricultural land use shares indicate further that substitution of annual crops for perennial crops, particularly allocation to almonds, pistachios, and nuts, has occurred on both high-quality and low-quality land . Next, we discuss the climate variables used in the study. As previously mentioned, we define climate normal over 27 years. During our study period, on average, there were 2,083 degree days in summer and 415 degree days in winter.

The long-term average total precipitation was 346 mm. Moreover, in winter, the Valley accumulates 962 hours of long-term chill hours, on average. The average degree days for both summer and winter are fairly uniform over the study period, with the summer average values between 2000 and 2200 degree days and the winter average between 400 and 4300 degree days . The precipitation levels in the long run fluctuated between 350 and 370 millimeters, but in 2009, they decreased significantly to almost 291 millimeters from 363 millimeters the previous year. The winter chill hours have decreased over time, from 1006 cumulative hours in 2008 to 892 cumulative hours in 2021. Although winter chill hours have decreased, the values for most tree crops are still above the upper bound thresholds. Finally, we use the appraisal value of farmland, divided by the acreage of the lot, to calculate the variable appraisal value per acre as a measure of net returns from the farmland. On average, the appraised value of farmland in the study area and period is 7.31 thousand dollars per acre. The dollar values are adjusted for inflation. The annual Gross Domestic Product obtained from the Federal Reserve Economic Database is used to convert nominal values to 2017 U.S. dollars .We first present a simple correlation analysis between agricultural land-use shares and the climate variables. Second, we present the transition probabilities among major crops grown in the Valley. Third, we present combined regression results to examine changes in parcel-specific crop types and the probability of switching between crop types. Fourth, we perform two robustness checks: we use restricted sample to address measurement error in land use change CDL data; and we include an additional regressor for distance to control for the correlation between the proximity of parcels to one another. Lastly, using the estimated coefficients from our econometric models, we simulate the changes in parcel-specific agricultural land-use shares across northern, central, and southern parts of the Central Valley in response to future climate projections. Appendix Figure A4 and present scatter plots that show a correlation between the share of perennial and annual crops and climate variables such as degree days in summer and winter, annual precipitation, and winter chill hours. During the summer, the share of perennial crops increases at an increasing rate, while it decreases during winter. The relationship between perennial crops and total annual precipitation shows a flat to downward slope, suggesting that excess precipitation may decrease the share of perennial crops. The relationship between annual crop shares and summer degree days and total precipitation decreases, but it increases with winter degree days.We present a probability estimate for the likelihood of a crop being grown in the next period among the major crops by land quality in our study region. In order to do that, we split the land use shares of perennial and annual crops into crop-specific land-use shares by land quality and year in the study region, as shown in the Appendix Table A3. The changes in land-use shares are displayed for two periods to maintain readability. Appendix Table A4 displays the probability that a typical grower in our study region will continue to grow the same crop in the next period . The probability of a grower cultivating almonds, pistachios, and nuts in the next period is 92% . Furthermore, growers are 63% and 37% likely to cultivate grapes, citrus, and other subtropical fruits respectively in the next period. The probability of annual crops growing in the next period is low , with the exception of alfalfa . Lastly, land that was fallowed or idled in the first period has an 80% probability of continuing to be fallowed or idled.We repeat the assessment of transition probabilities to examine how crops transition between different land classes . Columns 2, 3, and 4 of Appendix Table A4 report the results. The key findings are as follows. Almonds, pistachios, nuts, and crops like alfalfa have a very high probability of being grown in low quality land in the next period. While rice crops have the least probability of being grown on high quality land in the next period .Table 2 presents combined regression results to examine changes in parcel-specific crop types and the probability of switching between crop types . Quantitatively, the marginal effects derived from the panel fixed effects model and fractional multinomial logit model are alike, expect for annual precipitation.

The visual appeal of raspberry fruit decreases with time after harvest, along with increased levels of certain anthocyanins . In our study, total anthocyanins increased over time, except in raspberries stored in 15 kPa atmosphere; storing raspberries in 15 kPa atmosphere maintained the anthocyanin content close to the levels at harvest. In agreement with our finding, Gil et al. found that high CO2 concentrations inhibited the increase in anthocyanin content after harvest by affecting its biosynthesis, degradation or both. These results indicate the ability of high CO2 atmospheres to maintain raspberry fruit color tone, even after two weeks of storage. Anthocyanin content is also related to raspberry skin color. Palonene et al. found a significant correlation between anthocyanin concentration and color values, as the darkest raspberries had higher anthocyanin content. In our research, we also found higher anthocyanin content and low hue angle in raspberries stored in air or low CO2 atmospheres. Moore also stated that the hue angle or a*/b* could predict raspberry anthocyanin content. We observed an increase in raspberry discoloration after harvest, dutch bucket for tomatoes which has not been reported previously to our knowledge. Discoloration occurred when the raspberry drupelets changed color from red to light pink. In blackberries, a similar phenomenon, red drupelet reversion , occurs, a type of physiological disorder . Edgley et al. reported RDR was associated with a decrease in anthocyanin content and was primarily caused by mechanical damage during harvest which causes lost membrane integrity and a decrease in cellular structural integrity.

There may also be some change in pH from membrane leakiness leading to colorchanges in the anthocyanins. Slight changes in pH significantly impact anthocyanins, as acidity of the solution impacts the ratio between different forms of the pigments . In our study, discoloration increased with time in storage, but was inhibited by high CO2; anthocyanin content was also maintained close to harvest levels with high CO2. Also, high CO2 atmospheres maintained fruit firmness and the integrity of the cell wall, and reduced senescence. It seems that these effects may be related to the decrease in discoloration development with high CO2 atmospheres. Overall, high CO2 atmospheres were effective in increasing raspberry shelf life and maintaining postharvest quality. Raspberries held in 15 kPa atmosphere maintained the highest firmness and glossiness, and the brightest red color, with the least leakiness and decay, followed by raspberries held in 8 kPa atmosphere. Total anthocyanin content increased over time after harvest in all raspberries, regardless of storage atmosphere, but the increase was greatly inhibited by high CO2 in a concentration dependent manner. Raspberry visual attributes deteriorated over time after harvest, but the atmosphere influenced the rate of deterioration. High CO2 slowed ripening and created fungistatic conditions. Air stored raspberries rapidly lost shelf life and quality after five days at 5℃ and should not be stored longer without modified or controlled atmospheres. As little as 5 kPa atmosphere can contribute to maintaining raspberry quality for very short periods and 8 kPa atmosphere can maintain quality for up to 10 days be potential an alternative to 15 kPa atmosphere for storing below 10 days. It would be beneficial to investigate the effects of these atmospheres on the sensory quality of raspberry, to ensure that flavor quality is maintained.

Visual appearance, texture, flavor, and nutritional compounds are generally considered as fruit quality . Visual quality is indicated by color, absence of disease or decay, texture, and aroma, which altogether appeal to consumers as freshness. ‘Texture’ is a qualitative characteristic of fruit appreciated by the consumer, including firmness, juiciness, and crispness. Multiple irreversible physiological and biochemical changes occur during ripening that impact fruit quality . According to Ponder et al. the ratio of sugar and organic acid determines raspberry taste. De Ancos further reported that total soluble solids content ranges between 9 and 10 % and titratable acidity between 1.5 and 1.8% for good raspberry taste. Raspberry aroma is composed of volatile chemicals . Raspberry volatiles are vital for olfactory sensory quality perception as well as mold resistance . It has been reported that raspberry has approximately 200 aromatic volatiles. . The main volatile compounds contributing to raspberry flavor are α and β-ionone, linalool, α and β- pinene, caryophyllene and citral . As a non-climacteric fruit, raspberry taste and flavor mostly develops while they are ripening on the plant. Kader suggested that berries should be picked when fully ripe to ensure good flavor quality. Some raspberry research has focused on three phases of ripeness: semi-ripe, ripe, and over-ripe and suggested that semi-ripe fruit may be more suitable for shipment and good sensory quality . Wang et al. evaluated raspberry fruit harvested at 5%, 20%, 50%, 80% and 100% ripe. They concluded that 50-80% ripe berries developed the same level of TSS, TA and sugars as 100 % ripe berries but, 5-20% ripe berries never attained those qualities.

High CO2 atmospheres can be beneficial to extend the postharvest life of raspberry fruit, slowing further ripening and reducing decay development . However, high CO2 concentrations have the capacity to disrupt enzyme systems, including the lipoxygenase pathway which is involved in the formation of aromatic volatile compounds . In addition, use of high CO2 atmospheres can result in off-flavor development, which might be due to initiation of fermentative respiration. Earlier research by Li and Kader reported higher accumulation of ethanol in strawberries treated with low O2 and/or high CO2 than air stored berries. Ke et al. suggested that low O2 and high CO2 concentrations contribute to alcohol production. Oxygen levels less than 2 kPa can result in fermentation of raspberries . The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of a range of CO2 atmospheres during cold storage on raspberry fruit sensory quality.Freshly harvested raspberries were obtained immediately after harvest in Fall 2021. Berries were commercially field packed into clamshells and precooled at a commercial facility in Watsonville, California. Cooled fruit were transported on the same day in an air-conditioned vehicle to the UC Davis postharvest pilot plant within 3 hours. Raspberries were held at 5℃ overnight, and the next day, a fruit sample was analyzed for objective and sensory quality to determine the baseline quality. The remaining clamshells of fruit were randomly assigned to different atmosphere treatments at 5℃. Fruit were removed from the atmosphere treatments after 5, 10, and 13 days and immediately evaluated to assess changes in the fruit’s objective and sensory quality over time in storage.A descriptive sensory analysis was performed with 12 panelists who were trained ahead of the sensory evaluations to align their sensory perception. There were four one-hour training sessions over two weeks. During the training, panelists were provided with references for each attribute to compare against the training samples. The sensory evaluations took place in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences Sensory Lab, equipped with five separate evaluation booths with individual computers with sensory analysis software . Samples were prepared the morning of evaluation and stored at 5℃. The samples were brought to room temperature before being tasted by the panel. One sample included 3-4 raspberries and was provided to the panelists in sealed sensory tasting cups. Each sample was blinded with random 3-digit codes generated by the software .Panelists tasted three replications of raspberries at harvest , and again for each treatment after 5, 10, blueberry grow pot and 13-days in atmosphere storage and evaluated their taste, texture, and flavor. The panelists were instructed to cleanse their palates with crackers and water in between samples. On day 10, there was only one replication of the air treatment and two replications each of 15 kPa and 5 kPa atmospheres appropriate for sensory evaluation due to decay growth. On day 13, there were no samples of the air treatment, 5 kPa treatment had two replications, 8 kPa treatment had thee replications and 15 kPa treatment had two replications.

The panelists measured the intensity of sensory attributes of the raspberry samples and marked their score for each given attribute on a 10 cm straight line anchored with less and more using sensory evaluation software . This software transmuted the markings for each attribute into a numerical value ranging from 1 to 10 units, where 1 was less and 10 was more intensity. The tasted attributes were sweetness, acidity/tartness, firmness , juiciness, raspberry flavor, and off-flavor. The tasting lexicons were decided and agreed upon during the training.Data were analyzed using R statistical program . A total of 4 treatments and 3 replications across the four evaluation dates were analyzed for instrumental and sensory qualities of the raspberries. Data were assessed through ANOVA followed by Fishers Least Significance Difference test to reveal significant differences among treatments and evaluation times. A correlation analysis was also conducted to investigate the relationship between volatile compounds and sensory attributes. The sensory data was analyzed using principal component analysis using R and R Studio software and PCA plots are presented for 5- and 10-day evaluations. The sensory data on day 13 was insufficient for analysis due to decay.Raspberry fruit mouthfeel firmness, raspberry flavor and TSS decreased over time and juiciness and off-flavor increased over time . Firmness scores, both hand and mouthfeel, were significantly higher in raspberries stored in 15 kPa atmosphere followed by fruit held in 8 kPa atmosphere. The trend was opposite for juiciness and sweetness, where raspberries held in 0.03 kPa or 5 kPa atmosphere had the highest juiciness scores, and fruit held in 15 kPa atmosphere had a lower sweetness score than fruit held in air atmosphere. Tartness score was higher in fruit held in 8 kPa or 15 kPa atmosphere than fruit held in 0.03 kPa atmosphere. Raspberry flavor was significantly higher in fruit held in 8 kPa atmosphere than in 5 kPa atmosphere . After five days of storage, the PCA biplot showed that raspberry firmness was strongly associated with the 15 kPa atmosphere treatment, and less so with the 8 kPa atmosphere treatment . Fermentative volatiles: acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, and ethanol were also clustered with the 15 kPa atmosphere treatment, and less so with the 8 kPa atmosphere treatment. Raspberry flavor was most closely associated with sweetness and tetradecane at the bottom of the biplot. No treatments were closely associated. Tartness, TA, TSS, heptanol, α-terpineol and limonene were associated with each other and the 5 kPa atmosphere treatment at the top of the bi-plot. Sweetness, off-flavor, and juiciness were clustered with each other and the 0.03 kPa atmosphere treatment. Most of the aromatic volatiles were associated closely with the 0.03 kPa and 5 kPa atmosphere treatments, and on the opposite side of the bi-plot from firmness and 8 kPa and 15 kPa atmosphere treatments. After ten days, firmness remained associated with treatments with high CO2 concentrations . Raspberry flavor, TSS, TA, and tartness were associated with each other and the 8 kPa atmosphere treatment, and raspberry flavor shifted to the top of the bi-plot. Juiciness, sweetness, tetradecane and heptanone were clustered on the top left with the 5 kPa atmosphere treatment. At the bottom of the bi-plot, ethanol and ethyl acetate were associated with the 15 kPa and 0.03 kPa atmosphere treatments, respectively, and acetaldehyde was in between 15 kPa and 0.03 kPa atmosphere. Aromatic volatiles maintained their association with lower CO2 atmosphere treatments, and were also associated with off-flavor as at ten days .Across evaluation days, total soluble solids and juiciness were positively correlated . Sweetness was negatively correlated with hand firmness and tartness, and mouthfeel firmness and juiciness were negatively correlated. Acetaldehyde and ethanol were negatively correlated and tetradecane was positively correlated with juiciness and TSS . 2-Heptanol was positively correlated with juiciness. Hexanal, hexanoic acid, α-ionone, linalool, and α-terpineol were negatively correlated with hand firmness, and all but hexanal were positively correlated with sweetness. Limonene was the only volatile significantly correlated with off-flavor , and α-terpineol was the only volatile correlated with tartness .Raspberry firmness remained stable or decreased more slowly with increasing CO2 concentration in storage, with the highest firmness in 15 kPa CO2. In agreement with our results, Haffner et al. , found that an atmosphere of 15% CO2, 10% O2 maintained the firmness of five raspberry cultivars stored for seven days at 1℃.Strawberries exposed to high CO2 exhibited changes in apoplastic pH, which may have induced cell to cell adhesion by precipitation of soluble pectin .

The European elderberry is the most frequently used subspecies in commercial elderberry-based products and has been extensively studied for its composition, anthocyanin stability, and health benefits in European black elderberry-based products. S. nigra ssp. canadensis is commonly referred to as the American elderberry, a subspecies native to the eastern and central regions of North America. There are several cultivars of the American elderberry, including “Johns” and “Bob Gordon”. The American elderberry, which is utilized in small-batch products, has also been evaluated for its composition 49,50,52,54 and health-promoting properties . The acreage grown of this subspecies has been increasing rapidly and there is a goal to grow over 2,000 acres by 2025, according to the Midwest Elderberry Cooperative. Currently, there is no information on the chemical composition of the fruit of the blue elderberry . With the recent increase in demand for elderberry, blue elderberry grown in hedgerows may be an additional and valuable source of bioactive phenolics and natural colorants. The objective of this study was to determine the moisture content, soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, and establish the anthocyanin and phenolic profiles of blue elderberries grown in Northern California to support the use of this robust, nft growing system native crop in commercial products.Hedgerows of S. nigra ssp. cerulea were identified on five farms near Davis, California in Spring 2018 with the assistance of an experienced agronomist at The Cloverleaf Farm .

Farm, hedgerow, and harvest information is presented in Table 1. Blue elderberries were determined to be ripe when the berries in a cyme were deep purple, with or without the white bloom, and had no green berries present. Ripe elderberries were harvested by hand from all four quadrants of the elderberry shrub, totaling approximately 3 kg of elderberries. The berries were placed in clear plastic bags, stored on ice, and transported to the laboratory. A subsample was separated for moisture analysis, while the rest was de-stemmed and stored at -20 °C until analyzed.In addition to anthocyanins, elderberries contain other phenolic compounds, such as flavonols and phenolic acids, which also contribute to the health promoting properties of elderberry. Phenolic compounds are responsible for organoleptic properties and can help protect foods against lipid oxidation. Therefore, TPC can be useful for making approximate comparisons, for example, between varieties of the same fruit, between similar fruits or in the evaluation of a processing step . It is important to note that the TPC assay is a non-selective assay and is easily impacted by extraction conditions and interfering substances, such as ascorbic acid and reducing sugars. Although there is no evidence that the beneficial effects of polyphenol-rich foods can be attributed to the TPC of a food, it can be a useful measure for making general comparisons with other studies in the literature which reported these values but should be supported by quantitative HPLC data. Herein, the range of TPC measured in the blue elderberries was from 514 ± 41 to 791 ± 34 mg GAE per 100 g FW in 2018 and from 459 ± 50 to 695 ± 41 mg GAE per 100 g FW in 2019 . TPC in the blue elderberries was significantly higher in 2018 than in 2019 . While there were significant differences found between the farms in both years , most hedgerows were not significantly different than most other hedgerows in the given year when evaluated together .

Although the farms in this study were near each other and experience similar climates, there can still be differences in growing conditions for each hedgerow, such as water availability, which has been shown to influence the levels of phenolics in blueberries 101 and strawberries 102 . Hedgerows 2 and 14 were not significantly different from other hedgerows in 2019, indicating that the blue elderberries can be harvested earlyin the plant’s lifetime, which allows farmers to earn an early return on the investment of establishing hedgerows. The TPC in blue elderberry is similar to those found in other elderberry species. These comparisons show that blue elderberries from hedgerows are a rich source of phenolic compounds.Phenolic compounds were identified and quantified in the blue elderberry based upon retention time, absorbance spectra and authentic standards when available. Concentrations for samples from 2018 are presented in Table 4, while samples from 2019 are presented in Table 5. Two peaks with significant area were observed in the HPLC chromatograms at 6.96 min and 11.70 min that did not correlate to standards or library matching. Both compounds eluted between the retention time of gallic acid and protocatechuic acid. The first eluting compound had a maximum absorbance at 300 nm while the second compound had a maximum absorbance at 280 nm. These peaks were collected individually and further evaluated by accurate mass quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry . TOF acquires mass spectral data by pulsing ions entering the flight tube in an orthogonal beam, therefore full spectra are collected. The data captured is accurate enough to determine the elemental composition therefore allowing identification without standards. The two compounds were tentatively identified using high mass accuracy as 5-hydroxypyrogallol hexoside, a tetrahydroxybenzene , and protocatechuic acid dihexoside .

Accurate mass was especially helpful since commercial standards for these compounds are not available. 5- HPG hexoside was identified by its fragmentation pattern , showing a precursor ion [MH]- at m/z 303.0723 and product ion [M-hexose-H]- at m/z 141.0 . This compound was one of the most abundant phenolic compounds in the blue elderberry. While no evidence of5-HPG glycoside was found in the literature, the aglycone has shown to have a high radical scavenging activity compared to other simple phenols .The elderberry is a deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub or small tree. It can grow several meters high and in diameter and produces hundreds of clusters of aromatic flowers in the spring, that mature into small berries in summer. The plant grows well in a variety of soils and climates, and is a native of Northern America, Europe, and parts of Asia. While there are many subspecies within Sambucus nigra, the primary subspecies widely grown and commercially cultivated include S. nigra ssp. nigra found across Europe, and the “American” subspecies S. nigra ssp. canadensis, which is native to the eastern regions of North America. The blue elderberry , is a drought-tolerant subspecies native to the western region of North America. The blue elderberry grows in riparian ecosystems from southern British Columbia, Canada to northwest Mexico. In California, there have been efforts for more than a decade to increase the levels of blue elderberry planted in hedgerows on farms because of its environmental benefits, such as improving the air, water, and soil quality, as well as providing food and shelter for pollinators. It is now recognized that these mature hedgerow plants can be a source of locally grown elderberries and elderflowers to increase income and sustainability for the farm. However, to date there is no data on the concentration of the aroma or phenolic compounds in the flowers from this hardy heat-tolerant subspecies. The berries, flowers and bark of the elderberry plant have a long history of use by humans as both food and traditional medicine. Seeds have been found in archeological sites that date to the late stone age and their medicinal use is documented in the writings of Theophrastus , Pedanius Dioscorides and Gaius Plinius Secundus . Elderflowers are frequently used in medicinal and herbal teas, tonics, liqueurs, lemonades, and sparkling waters for their subtle and unique floral, fruity, and green aromas andmedicinal properties. Infusions of elderflowers have been used in many cultures for the treatment of inflammation, colds, fever, and respiratory illness and for their diuretic and antidiabetic effects. Some studies have found evidence to support their use, such as antimicrobial activity of elderflower extract against Gram-positive bacteria and high vitro antioxidant activity. Much of the interest for using elderflower in health-promoting applications is based on the high content of biologically active phenolic compounds in the flowers. European and American elderflowers contain an array of phenolic compounds, such as phenolic acids , flavonols , flavonol glycosides [isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside , rutin ], flavan-3-ols [-catechin, -epicatechin], and flavanones. In European-grown elderflowers, nft hydroponic system the dominant phenolic acid and flavonol glycoside include chlorogenic acid and rutin, although isoquercetin, isorhamnetin-3-rutinoside and kaempferol-3-rutinoside are also present. For example, in a study of European elderflowers grown in different locations and altitudes, the dominant class of phenolic compounds were the flavonols, namely rutin , whereas chlorogenic acid levels were lower . 

This study also found that the flowers contain four times more chlorogenic acid than the leaves or berries. The predominant phenolic compounds identified in elderflower syrup, a traditional herbal beverage, include chlorogenic acid and rutin . There has been only one study on the phenolic profile of the flowers of S. nigra ssp. canadensis which appears to be similar to the European subspecies, in that rutin and chlorogenic acid are the primary flavonol and phenolic acid identified, respectively. The aroma of the elderflower is derived from the volatile organic compounds in the flower and is an important characteristic to understand for consumer acceptance in applications.To date, only the VOCs of elderflowers from the European subspecies have been studied. The American subspecies S. nigra ssp. canadensis has not yet been investigated. As fresh flowers are highly perishable, many commercial products rely on dry, and in some cases, frozen flowers. Thus, it is important to understand how the organoleptic properties of elderflowers change in response to processing. The VOC profile of tea made with elderflowers of three European cultivars using dynamic headspace sampling revealed compounds important to the characteristic aroma to be linalool, hotrienol, and cis– and trans-rose oxide. Similarly, studies indicate that in fresh and dried flowers analyzed by headspace solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography mass spectrometry , linalool oxides are the main aroma compounds. Linalool oxide has a floral, herbal, earthy, green odor. In hexane extracts of dry elderflowers analyzed via HS-SPME/GC-MS, cis-linalool oxide and 2-hexanone were the primary volatiles. The compound 2-hexanone has a fruity, fungal, meaty, and buttery odor. In syrups made from elderflowers, terpene alcohols and oxides were identified as the primary aroma compounds. Studies of the impact of drying on volatiles in the flowers demonstrate that nearly all types of drying change the volatile profile significantly. The aim of this study was to characterize the composition of phenolic compounds and VOCs in flowers of the blue elderberry , and to determine how these compounds change in response to drying and in the preparation of teas. Understanding how the aroma and phenolic compounds compare with current commercially available European and American subspecies will help to establish a role for blue elderflowers in commercial applications such as herbal teas and as a flavoring for beverages, as well as identify unique compositional qualities of this native and underutilized flower.Elderflowers were harvested from hedgerows on a farm in Winters, CA in May and June 2021. The latitude and longitude coordinates of the hedgerow are 38.634884, -122.007502. Flowers were harvested between 8 and 10 am and were picked from all sides of the shrub. Picked flowers were placed in plastic bags, immediately put on ice, and transported to the laboratory at the University of California, Davis. Flowers were either dried at 25 °C for 24 h in a dehydrator or analyzed fresh. Once dry, stems were removed, and flowers were stored in oxygen-impermeable aluminum pouches. Triplicate samples of fresh flowers were analyzed for their moisture content by drying 1 g of fresh flowers at 95 °C until a consistent weight was achieved so that the same amount of dry matter could be used for fresh and dry flower analyses. The optimal mixture of ethanol to water was determined by extracting flowers in 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% ethanol. Solvents also contained 0.1% HCl and 0.1% ascorbic acid . For each extraction, 0.25 g dry flower material and 25 mL solvent were added to 50 mL Eppendorf tubes. The dry flowers with solvent were homogenized for 1 min at 7000 rpm with a 19 mm diameter probe head in the 50 mL tubes. Homogenized extracts were refrigerated overnight at 4 °C, then centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 7 min . The supernatant was filtered through 0.45 µm PTFE, then diluted 50% with 1.5% phosphoric acid before analysis.

The plant itself has been revered by many cultures, with a story about the “Elder Mother” living within the plant would protect those near the plant. It was even expected to ask the Elder Mother for the berries or flowers before taking them; without permission, she may seek revenge. The leaves, branches, flowers, and berries were believed to have protective powers for a home and the leaves were also used during burial rituals by some Celtic people. The personification and deep reverence for the elderberry show the importance of the plant through generations. Hippocrates and Pliny the Elder both wrote about elderberry and its medicinal properties. Tribes indigenous to North America used flowers and fruit for medicinal and beverages. Berries were also used as a natural dye for baskets and branches were used to make musical instruments.Elderberry is a perennial, deciduous plant native to many regions of the northern hemisphere. Elderberry plants are neither tree nor bush, as the plant sends new canes up each season, large round pot which without pruning, can lead to a large, shrub-like plant that can be several meters tall and wide. They prefer to grow in sunny, riparian climates with moist, well-drained soil, though subspecies in North America can be drought-tolerant.

While pruning even down to the ground level of the elderberry can improve yield and accessibility for harvesting, there is a limitation on pruning of the blue elderberry in the Central Valley of California. Due to the threatened status of the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle , which lives only in the elderberry, branches larger than one inch in protected areas should not be pruned or removed from a growing site. Elderberry shrubs typically produce small white flowers with five petals in the spring, though the elderflowers of the blue elderberry are a creamy yellow color. Small, dark blue-purple berries ripen in the summer in large clusters called umbels or cymes, though there are examples of subspecies that have some variation to these morphologies, such as the blue elderberry that has a white bloom on the berries, causing the berries to look blue, and S. racemosa, which are red. Variation can also occur within a subspecies due to growing conditions, such as soil type, precipitation, and temperatures, as well as a key differentiation tool: cultivars or genotypes. There are established cultivars or genotypes of the European subspecies , such as Sambu or Haschberg, as well as of the American subspecies , like Bob Gordon or Wylewood. Cultivars can have more consistent growing patterns, such as blooming or ripening all at once, and desired chemical compositions, such as increased anthocyanins, thus are more desirable to use in large scale growing of elderberry for commercial use. Blue elderberry does not have any established genotypes to date. If commercial interest inthis subspecies continues to expand, effort should be made to develop cultivars with consistent quality and improved harvestability, which is hampered right now due to flowers and berries ripening throughout a season, instead of a smaller window of time like the American and European subspecies.

Indeed, starting this work can help increase the commercial interest viability of the blue elderberry.A primary driver in interest in the composition of elderberry and elderflower is for their potential health benefits. Several reviews have recently been published on this topic; thus, it will not be explored in depth here. European elderberry has been studied for its antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, immunomodulatory, and antidiabetic properties, as well as neuroprotection and cardiovascular protection in vitro and in vivo. These activities have been mainly attributed to the phenolic compounds like cyanidin 3-glucoside and cyanidin 3- sambubioside, but some other compounds have been shown to be bioactive as well, including terpenes, lectins, pectin, peptides, and malic acid. Using data from randomized, controlled clinical trials, a recent review found that elderberry could reduce symptoms from upper respiratory viral infections, providing support for the use of elderberry supplements by consumers to combat colds and flus without the use of antibiotic medicine. In a more unique application, elderberry and elderflower extracts have both shown to be effect in combatting gingival inflammation using a topical herbal patch and elderflower tea, respectively. A study of the mechanism of cyanidin 3-glucoside to treat against the influenza virus showed that elderberry extract had some inhibitory effect during the early stages of virus cyclewith stronger impacts during post-infection. The mechanism proposed was that the elderberry extract blocks viral glycoproteins which prevent the virus from attaching or entering cells to replicate, and increases expression of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF. Inflammatory modulating activity of elderberry and elderflower extracts have been investigated. Results showed that quercetin, rutin, and kaempferol are strong inhibitors of nitric oxide production, and metabolites from phenolic degradation including caffeic acid and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid were also strong inhibitors without cytotoxicity.

Only a few studies have been done on the bioactivity of S. nigra ssp. canadensis. In one, the fruit was evaluated for anticancer properties, which showed chemo-preventative activity by inducing quinone reductase and inhibiting cyclooxygenase-2, as well as inhibiting ornithine decarboxylase. These activities are attributed to flavonoids and lipophilic compounds. Another study evaluated two Canadian cultivars of this subspecies evaluated the antiproliferative efficacy of the fruit and flowers on glioma and brain endothelial cells and results showed that elderberry and elderflower extracts inhibited the proliferation of cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The elderberry extracts performed the best and the bioactivities were attributed to the synergistic work of cyanidin 3-sambubioside-5-glucoside and rutin content of the berries, though the rutin concentration in the flowers still had beneficial effects. Blue elderberry has only been evaluated as antioxidant activity using the ABTS assay, which indicated that this subspecies has 11.62 ± 0.38 mM Trolox kg-1 FW, roughly one third of S. nigra ssp. nigra evaluated in the same study, where all fruit samples were grown in Slovenia. Further work on elucidating the biological activity of this subspecies through in vivo assays and preferably clinical trials should be explored, especially using blue elderberry plants growing in North America to support its use in supplements.Elderflowers have also been evaluated for their biological activities. A review of antioxidant activity in S. nigra ssp. nigra flowers has recently been published 2 , including ABTS, DPPH, FRAP and CUPRAC assays, therefore it will not be re-summarized here. In general, the data showed that elderflower has higher levels of antioxidant activity compared to the elderberry. Similarly, elderflower extracts had higher nitric oxide inhibition compared to elderberry extracts in vitro. Elderflower is antidiabetic by increasing insulin-dependent glucose uptake, diuretic, big round plant pot treat respiratory infections, antiviral. While phenolic compounds like flavonols are presumed to be the most active compounds, pectic polysaccharides are also bioactive in elderberry and elderflower, inducing complement fixing and macrophage stimulation. Flowers of the blue elderberry have been evaluated for their antioxidant activity using the ABTS assay, which showed they have 44.87 ± 0.54 mM Trolox kg-1 DW, significantly less than flowers of S. nigra ssp. nigra . Aqueous extracts of wild elderflowers of this subspecies were also found to have neuroprotective effects, especially related to Parkinson’s disease, by increasing the antioxidant response mediated by Nrf2 in cortical astrocytes and improving mitochondrial function in neurons.13 Unfortunately, that study did not include any growing information about the elderflowers or the concentration of the phenolic compounds in the extract, which would have helped other researchers replicate and expand on the results. While there have been promising studies on the impact of elderberry and elderflower extracts to combat illness and disease, more in vivo studies and clinical trials should be performed to better understand the mechanisms of the bioactivity as well as to determine which compounds are responsible for the bioactivity, particularly in the lesser-known subspecies canadensis andcerulea. This can better inform people involved with the cultivation of elderberry to select for varieties that have the compounds of interest.The market for herbal supplements has been growing in the recent decade and immune system-supporting supplements had a huge spike in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elderberry products are a popular option of alternative medicine in hopes of improving and protecting health.33 Beverages are a popular use of the elderberry, including syrup or other tonics made by soaking the berries in water or alcohol. It can also be found as an ingredient in various kombuchas, juices, energy drinks, wine, and tea. Elderberry is typically mixed with a variety of other ingredients, including but not limited to ginger, honey, echinacea, and other spices. More recent products using elderberry include gummies typically marketed as health supplements, lozenges, tablets, and powdered berries especially as part of a drink mix. Elderberries are also frequently used in jams and jellies. Pomace, the byproduct of juicing, has been studied for its benefits when incorporated into other products just as baked goods. Beyond its potential for bioactive products to benefit consumers, elderberry can also be used as a natural food dye due to the high concentration of anthocyanins , which can be used in place of artificial red or purple food dyes, particularly in acidic foods. Its application in edible films has recently been investigated, explored various biopolymers that could retain the phenolic compounds of elderberry in the film so that they can remain active to protect foods. Active edible films can be an effective solution to reduce plastic packaging and food waste due to spoilage.Cosmetic and skin care applications are also an area of interest, and current products on the market that include elderberry include lip color, toner, face mask, and Epsom salt.Future chapters will focus on evaluating the blue elderberry and elderflower for their composition. Herein, the data available on the other elderberry subspecies of interest are summarized to provide a basis of the expected composition as well as information to compare the subspecies for their composition. Elderberries have a high amount of water, at about 80%. The main sugars in elderberry are glucose and fructose, with some small amounts of sucrose. Sorbitol was also measured, which was very minor compared to the other three sugars and was seen in the highest concentrations in the wild elderberry. Citric acid is the main organic acid in elderberry, with malic acid the next highest acid. Small amounts of shikimic, tartaric, and fumaric acid have been measured in elderberry as well. Only data on European elderberry is available for microconstituents such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids. Vitamins found in elderberry include various B vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin E. The main minerals are magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Because studies of these micronutrients have only been performed on the European elderberry, it is important for further work to include other subspecies, including the American and blue elderberry so that better comparisons can be made.An important group of bioactive compounds found in fruit and vegetables is phenolic compounds, which consist of one or more phenolic groups . Types of phenolic compounds include phenolic acids and flavonoids; flavonoids can be further separated into groups such as anthocyanins, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, and flavones. Phenolic compounds may have some biological activity, although bioavailability can be very low. A common, albeit imperfect, way to measure phenolic content of elderberries is using a colorimetric method like Folin-Ciocalteu which can measure a complex that forms between phenolic compounds and molybdenum-tungsten at 765 nm. Because this method measures all reducing agents in the matrix, reducing sugars and ascorbic acid will also react and increase the absorption thus inflating the total phenolic content . Standard curves are typically constructed using gallic acid, hence the units for TPC are gallic acid equivalents . One study has included blue elderberry grown in Slovenia, which had a TPC of 416 ± 31. However, because of the imprecise nature of this assay, it is important to identify and measure the concentration of each phenolic compound present whenever possible, the results of which is explored in the following sections.Parts of the elderberry plant are known for having toxic compounds called cyanogenic glycosides that, if consumed, can be dangerous due to the release of cyanide. The stems and leaves have the highest concentration of CNGs, followed by unripe berries and flowers, followed by ripe berries and cooked juices. The primary CNG in elderberry is sambunigrin, which is a diastereoisomer of the more commonly known CNG prunisin. Amygdalin is the next most common CNG, though it is not often measured.

A Caucasian man ran over and into the garden, from the direction of the condos on the corner, according to one version. The man slapped her and took the greens away from her. I was told this story twice by different parties, and am not sure what to make of the truth or fiction contained within. One group of African-American men who hang out at the garden regularly, “entrepreneurs” who sell a variety of goods in the park, initially relayed the story to me shaking their heads angrily and looking pissed. The second time I heard the story from a homeless man, Kenny, who was in tears. He said, “A black woman was harvesting and a man ran out of the condo at the corner and hit her, slapped her. A white guy. Kenny cried. We was gonna do something real bad to [the man who hit her]. She just wanted some greens for the Fourth of July.” When I relayed the story to the white CSF employee in charge of maintaining the urban farm,she was disbelieving. The “truth” of the story matters less than what it reveals in the telling: clear tensions between the local residents of newer, more costly housing and those who live in the adjacent spaces and who may sleep underneath the nearby overpass or in the garden itself. The story illustrates racial tensions inscribed in space. It is an overt telling of the policing of space along race and class lines, square plastic plant pots projecting the idea that material changes in the space result in changed regimes of discipline for local residents – with that discipline reinforced physically if necessary.

Neighborhood power and race divides are embodied in the nameless African-American woman and Caucasian man. Although City Slicker Farms tries to maintain a neutral stance and explicitly and repeatedly states that they don’t want to displace anyone, this tension is played out in a structure – both the physical infrastructure and the rules of use – laid out by the nonprofit. Thus they are seen as inevitable arbiters, and have drawn ire from all sides. They strive for a neutral stance, but I would argue that even the attempt to remain neutral is a political stance in and of itself, embedded in a place of privilege. Many of their attempts at neutrality ended up directly affecting the access of various groups.Confronted with a cacophony of voices and opinions, often at odds with one another, I fell back on some traditional social science methodology: the survey. For years, I had been volunteering and walking neighborhood streets, chatting with residents and park users, and attending neighborhood meetings. To reach a different segment of the population and ask a broader group a consistent set of questions, I abandoned any attempts to “blend in” and explicitly took on the mantle of the social scientist, with credentials on my name tag. I designed a 34 question survey to try to tease out who used the park and their understanding of the park’s purposes. I completed a survey of 44 park users and neighborhood residents from July – September of 2011, focusing on those within a two-block radius of the park.

Survey topics included the nonprofit’s community outreach, understanding of the urban farm’s purpose, attitudes towards the project, access to fresh food, and demographics. I talked to homeowners, renters, people I encountered on the street, and people actively using the park, taking care to vary survey times and days of the week to be inclusive of a wide variety of people. It became clear early on in the survey process that any assumptions which I had held – with regards to race, class and length of time in the neighborhood, for example – did not easily map onto people’s opinions about the park. Survey responses showed shifting categories of “them” versus “us.” I completed most of the surveys while hugely pregnant, which I believe was an asset. Without the belly, I was just a white girl with a name tag. A face would peer at me reluctantly from behind a door open just a slit, and then change expression dramatically after glancing downward. The door would open wider, and people would want to talk. I didn’t look dangerous, and the belly created a visible point of connection. My survey research showed that many residents who live within a few blocksof the urban farm do experience food insecurity. While almost half of local residents and park users never experience food insecurity, a large portion do: 39% lack money to buy food on a monthly basis, and in that group 21% lack money for food on a weekly basis. Therefore, the survey determined that a large percentage of those surveyed were food insecure and their diet could possibly benefit from increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables grown at the Union Plaza urban farm. As I completed the surveys, I met an Asian-American filmmaker who had been making a documentary following several of the scavengers in the area.

Clearly well-educated and from a middle-class background, he had spent a lot of time with the scavengers, interviewing them, getting their life stories and following them in their daily labor. He felt aligned with them, and angry on their behalf. He commented that an urban farm is essentially a perfect front – innocuous, hard to criticize – for wealthy and educated new residents to use to push out scavengers and homeless people. He alleges that Nadel, in order to represent the condo owners, is using CSF and their good intentions to drive out people the Council member sees as “undesirables” and to gentrify the neighborhood. He thinks Nadel sees the garden as a “progressive solution for a non-progressive problem. It’s brilliant in its deviousness. It’s conservatism in the guise of progressivism.” These sentiments were echoed by several respondents that might be categorized as a “hipster” presence in the neighborhood. These tended to be young people, mostly white, who dress in distinctively styled clothes often culled from thrift stores. In gentrification literature, “hipster” and artist presence in a neighborhood is often a precursor to changing demographics and rising real estate prices, but these groups are in turn often resentful about the more affluent and older condominium residents who follow them into the neighborhood . A self-identified Caucasian youth living across the street from Fitzgerald Park in a cooperative house identified the biggest problem in the parks as “displacing people.” Specifically: “Make sure there’s still places for people to use the parks. That it’s not just exclusively for gardening.” Every Thursday, the organization Food Not Bombs hands out a hot meal, and is often staffed by those who might be categorized as “hipster.” The organization has a strong anarchist presence and the folks involved tend to be skeptical of authority in all forms. The young, Caucasian, dread locked and pierced folks handing out food were initially very hesitant to talk to me or give any information to a survey, square pot plastic and had to be assured that I wasn’t from either the city government or the nonprofit who ran the local garden. But after being assured of their anonymity, they proceeded to express doubt about whether the garden was helping folks or merely nudging them out. Use and access in the park is important to City Slickers; it surfaced repeatedly in interviews with their Executive Director and several of their employees, and it continues to be a sticking point. A question I heard again and again from employees and neighbors was: If you don’t use the park, should you have a say in what happens there? Perceptions of illegality and danger persist, especially among more recent residents, and are repeated as a justification for not using the park. The creation of the Union Plaza Urban Farm increased self-reported use of the park substantially: 39% used the park before the urban farm was built, but 66% report visiting the park after its construction – a 27% increase. Park use increased for sitting and walking dogs, with slight increases for games and meeting with friends, but organized sports such as football, baseball, or kickball were no longer possible in the space.

Park uses also changed when the public water fountain was removed and when new park rules forbid barbequing. Both changes occurred at around the time that the urban farm was constructed. It is my understanding that these were city-level decisions, yet they coincided with and therefore became connected to the appearance of the urban farm project and any disgruntlement the new rules generated was directed at the nonprofit. I completed several more in-depth interviews with CSF employees and former employees, including Makena Scott, an African-American woman who had formerly been coordinator of the Union Plaza and Fitzgerald Urban Farm project. For her, only actual use of the park justified who should be in control of the space, a point she returned to again and again.By rearranging physical space in order to install a garden, CSF has reordered racial and class relationships within the neighborhood, highlighting and therefore heightening them. Their presence makes more visible in contrast people whose main tool is invisibility, thereby creating a situation where it becomes more and more uncomfortable for them to be in the space over time. I am struck by the ways that small material changes can dramatically reorder space, behavior and relationships. City Slickers built a wooden platform in the Fitzgerald Park space, outside of the fenced urban farm, nearer to Alliance Recycling, for the eventual purpose of environmental education. It was part of the City Slickers imagined landscape, and a way that they were trying to increase interactivity and incorporate people and education into their design. I was told that the initial plan was to cover it with a trellis – they envisioned beautiful, vine-covered classroom – but it was not a top priority amid many competing needs and was left unfinished, with only the low, bare wooden platform completed. There remains much less seating in the parks than before the urban farm was constructed, so understandably this platform has proved to be a magnet for homeless and scavengers who use it for sitting, sleeping and talking. However, if they do lie down on it, they are technically breaking the law and can get ticketed by the police, who regularly come through to remove them. They are also much more visible there as opposed to stretching out in bushes or under freeways. But it is in some ways irresistible – a clear, open space elevated off the ground in the area they gravitate towards daily after selling scrap metal to Alliance. And while it may be easier to ignore someone sleeping in a less visible place, the police don’t feel they can ignore people sleeping on the platform, a few feet away from the sidewalk. It is a natural focal point for sociality as structures such as bandstands, platforms and stages are meant to be in parks around the world, yet because it results in a congregation of homeless and scavengers, most of whom are people of color, police and some neighbors perceive it as a threat to social order. In this case, the imaginings of City Slickers, local homeowners, the police, and the homeless were at odds due to material enactments of those imaginings. It does not seem an overstatement to say that, while unintentional, CSF created a situation of increased conflict between the homeless and the police by the way they structured the space.Fences are another clear example of ways that landscape mediates relationships; choices about space send clear messages about social interactions. Even when unlocked and not physically a barrier, fences create an inside and outside. Because most of CSF’s staff and volunteers are white, and they control the inside, it is hard to avoid the visual appearance of white in/black out. Crucially, prior to the farm stand’s move, many park users and local residents had expressed confusion or disbelief that the produce from the farm was going to feed West Oakland residents, so moving the farm stand there provided direct proof that it was feeding local residents, allowing them to tangibly benefit.

Histories of architecture, city planning, and public works contain many examples of physical arrangements with implicit or explicit political purposes and desired behavioral modifications. For instance, Baron Haussmann’s broad Parisian thoroughfares were engineered at Louis Napoleon’s direction to prevent any recurrence of street fighting of the kind that took place during the revolution of 1848 . The belief that spatial arrangement influences human behavior would probably be one of the few points Moses and Jacobs could agree upon. Blight, however, is not simply a metaphor – it is also a legal definition with real-world consequences. Both the Union Plaza Farm project and mural projects undertaken by the Community Rejuvenation Project were financed in large part through Redevelopment funding, with its roots in the aforementioned Housing Act of 1949. Redevelopment funding came from a Tax Increment Financing structure that kept property taxes within the city where they were paid instead of paying them out to other entities. Taxing agencies continue to receive the same property tax revenues they received when the redevelopment plan was adopted . The local Redevelopment Agency is allocated any increases in property taxes resulting from a reassessment of property, which they can spend to try to raise property taxes in areas they have labeled “blighted.” As Jon Kindleberger of the City of Oakland’s Community & Economic Development Agency explained in a 2011 interview, “The rationale is that by spending money on Redevelopment projects, black plant pots plastic the property values will eventually go up, so redevelopment areas kind of borrow against that increase in property taxes.”

City governments bear much of the risk and cost of infrastructure development for these projects, in the hopes that property taxes will increase after the new development.The effects of what is termed “economic blight” are cumulative over decades and generations, and embed long-term effects of racism in neighborhoods. As Pulido says, “Since landscapes are artifacts of past and present racisms, they embody generations of sociospatial relations, what might be called the ‘sedimentation of racial inequality'” . In many cases, areas labeled blighted under the Redevelopment definition are those which historically had been “redlined” by banks, as discussed above. Redlining was outlawed in subsequent years and the practice violates both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act , but the process often continued more informally. In some forms it continues today, illustrated most recently by the $125 million settlement by Wells Fargo in 2012 for charging higher fees and rates based on race . Of course, in many cases, what is termed “redlining” was less about individual acts of overt racism and more about patterns of large-scale structural racism, where individuals may or may not have been aware of the overall effects of their actions . Redlining effectively segregated many American cities long after more overt forms of segregation were deemed illegal, and also led to disparities in neighborhood amenities such as banks, supermarkets or other businesses. It also led to a systematic lack of investment in the housing stock in these neighborhoods because residents did not have access to credit. In short, blight is often a self-fulfilling prophesy. The legal use of the term blight has shifted under the program from meaning primarily substandard housing to a broader definition of “sub-optimal” local economic development, in large part due to intense competition among municipalities for TIF funds used to attract large corporations to their city .

It is, in effect, public financing of private economic transactions and in some cases has been described as a “tax grab.” As California Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg lamented in 1995, “Somewhere along the way. . .defining blight became an art form.” Funds originally intended to address deteriorating housing conditions and the alleviation of poverty are now routinely used to create suburban shopping malls, in the process often defunding local schools and publicly-funded social services . The term blight in this legal context has been carried over from Progressive Era reform movements, where blight was viewed not as synonymous with “slum,” but as a set of conditions often analogized as a disease or a cancer, which resulted in slums . California pioneered the adoption of TIF funded Redevelopment programs, but I do not mean to imply that California is an exception in using this type of funding to support “urban revitalization” projects. By 2000, only three states had not passed laws supporting TIF-funded Redevelopment Agencies . Gordon argues that the inclusion of “economic blight” into the qualifying definition which originally was solely focused on health and welfare concerns, effectively diluted and undermined the original purpose of the laws . Instead of focusing on inner-city poverty alleviation, they could then be used to grant tax cuts to large corporations, with minimal positive impact on the lives of those living in poverty, but major impacts in the form of land clearance through eminent domain and the de-funding of local schools and social services, which also rely on property taxes for their funding, many of which were effectively capped due to Redevelopment Funds. The friction inherent in the term “blight” is evident in its wide variety of definitions. Use of the term blight can quickly shift from talking about unkempt places to unkempt people. Both City Slickers and CRP had projects funded by the Redevelopment Agency that were in effect hoping to change the behavior of those living in the surrounding neighborhood. CRP’s murals were funded in the belief that local taggers would respect them more due to incorporation of local themes and community involvement – and therefore, tag them less.

City Slickers’s Union Plaza Urban Farm was funded in the hope that surrounding residents would be encouraged to eat more vegetables but also, I argue, because it was believed that their presence would have a “domesticating” effect on the neighborhood. One part of the legal definition of blight, discussed above, allows the label to indicate the result of systematic disinvestment in an area to the point that basic services are unavailable such as banks and supermarkets . Gardenprograms from the 1970s onward have been framed as proactive grassroots responses to “the abandonment of urban land in the face of suburbanization, disinvestment and decay” . The nonprofit groups I followed, CRP and City Slickers, both use images of deserts and barrenness to dramatize and highlight the problems their actions alleviate. The term “food desert” is one that was first reportedly used by a low-income housing activist in Scotland in the early- 1990s, and quickly moved into policy circles in Great Britain . The term became more widely used in the United States in concert with the rise of the food justice movement in the mid-2000s and is a term now widely used in Oakland, especially among activist circles but also now part of the vocabulary of many community members . Its use can in some locations belie its outsider status because some long-term residents resent the judgment it implies and do not see their neighborhood as a desert. Several studies have begun to question the assumed link between lack of access and low consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits . Evaluations of the health of neighborhood residents in a Philadelphia food desert added no increase in fruit and vegetable consumption or improvement in the health of local residents after a grocery store was added . The term “food desert” has in some areas became a convenient shorthand for a complex problem . Some studies have concluded that if getting vegetables into low-income neighborhoods doesn’t make people healthier, that food is not the problem – poverty is . I believe that is again a simplification which elides the important cultural component. While my research did not directly seek to elucidate the cultural components of the makings of a food desert, in examining nonprofit efforts to engage with such neighborhoods, I saw a clear cultural basis for why certain efforts were more well-accepted than others and did or did not lead to behavioral changes. Therefore my research can shed some light on why a family’s vegetable consumption can be about more than simply access. CRP and City Slickers see themselves as cultivating color and life in the midst of barrenness, concrete expanses, and wastes of blight. City Slickers explicitly works to rectify what they see as the problem of food deserts, or the lack of access to healthy foods within certain neighborhood due to the absence of grocery stores and markets offering fruits and vegetables for sale. They would see desertification, large plastic pots for plants or the process of creating deserts, as the flight of grocery stores from and a lack of green spaces in low-income urban neighborhoods; as the city stops maintaining parks and they get closed and fenced off the desertification metaphor becomes more apt.

CRP would see the process of desertification as the painting over of urban artwork, both legal and illegal, which the city has seen as one of its maintenance tasks labeled “blight abatement.” However, CRP has a different definition of blight, and sees their murals and aerosol artwork as rejuvenation for neighborhoods. They’ve successfully proposed the creation of murals as an alternative form of blight abatement. How is space marked and claimed by these different groups? How do material effects of imaginings, rooted in contrasting theories of order and disorder, remake the world?The process of transforming and inscribing space and people begins through imaginaries that are enacted to varying degrees depending on the power and resources of the groups in question. As people imagine the world around them into existence, they alter their surroundings in order to insert themselves within it. In Oakland, the imaginaries of each of the players are in conflict. Here, I outline the contentious visual imaginaries at work. I will first delve into the visual imaginaries of the organizations with whom I worked most closely: the City of Oakland, the Community Rejuvenation Project, and City Slicker Farms. Then I discuss the visual imaginaries of some of the groups of people these organizations must engage with in order to transform spaces and some of the people they hope their spaces will transform. The City of Oakland, as with most cities, has a fundamental purpose of maintaining order and cleanliness. In practice, one of the ways of upholding values is through combating “blight,” which manifests in many forms: trash-strewn lots, abandoned buildings often indicated by broken windows or graffiti tags, or crime such as drug dealing, panhandling or prostitution. The visual imaginary for the city, in order to combat this blight, would include rows of well-kept houses, with beautiful plantings , and when artwork is considered it is officially sanctioned, such as a sculpture on a corner or a mural on a school wall. Murals they envision are usually on a square or rectangular surface , showing imagery of people and recognizable design elements. People are allowed into the landscape, but only if using public space inanticipated ways: swinging on swing sets, sitting on benches, walking fluffy dogs. The City strives for a clean, orderly, legal, pretty space. They are the upholders of safety, and they are the official definers of space, so they work within their own definitions: contained walls, contained people, projecting symbolic safety through visual/spatial arrangements and signifiers. A representation of the City’s visual imagination can be found in the photo montage header for the West Oakland Plan Newsletter, which gives updates on the process of creating the City’s West Oakland Redevelopment Plan . It shows four photos: a closeup of the West Oakland BART sign ; an architectural rendering of their vision for 26th Street from Mandela Parkway, showing a new condominium/commercial development prominently, with a few tiny people, whose heads appear at the very bottom of the drawing; the historic Oakland Train Station, long abandoned and fallen into disrepair ; and another architectural rendering of a new commercial development on Seventh Street, where the historic center of African American culture is referenced in the Blues Cafe. People are crossing the street and using the sidewalks in this vision, but the focus is clearly on attracting new commercial development. In all of these pictures, homes and families are conspicuously absent; the people who are portrayed are so small that race and class indicators blur. The new architecture portrayed is very reminiscent of the condos which surround Fitzgerald and Union Plaza Parks.The visual imaginary for the aerosol muralists highlights reclamation of space, in what they see as a colonized landscape.

The yield penalty of high amylose crops may be alleviated by picking an ideal AP/AM ratio through a coordinate change in the relative balance of starch biosynthetic enzymes. In the case of potato, it is plausible that downregulation of SBEs not only produces healthy fiber-starch, but also lessens the CIS severity and acrylamide problem . However, the sugars derived from starch during CIS may be an adaptive mechanism to enhance plant chilling tolerance. Rapid sugar accumulation upon cold stress have been reported in fruit. The sugars freed from starch may promote metabolic activity and serve as an osmoprotectant, thus alleviating chilling injury. The major functional SBEs were found to be upregulated in cold-stressed banana fruit, potato tuber, and Arabidopsis leaf, which may facilitate the ‘sugaring’ process. Modulating SBE activities may alter the rate of sugar released from the highly digestible starch polymers, thus changing the fruit/tuber cold responses. In fruiting species, the importance of ‘transitory-storage starch’ may be underestimated due to the lack of enough direct knowledge of its function, gained from experimental data. Tomato serves as a functional genomics model for fleshy fruit, as it is easily transformed and genetically manipulated. The putative function of ‘transitory-storage starch’ in fruit ripening, respiration, and sweetness enhancement may be revealed by engineering AP/AM ratio through over expression or suppression of SBEs. We hypothesize that high amylose, resistant starch tomato fruit may have reduced available starch, sugars, square plant pot and changes in fruit ripening and other processes that are dependent on starch as a carbon supply and source of energy postharvest.

Tomato SBEs may not reflect the functionality of all fruit SBEs, but it would produce fundamental knowledge and expand our understanding of species-, organ- and developmental-specific regulations of the core starch biosynthetic enzymes.The potential for warmer temperatures to expand pathogen ranges and alter epidemiology is an important consequence of global climate change for human populations and the environment . Plant pathogens influence large-scale forest mortality events, so understanding their future range and impacts will assist conservation planning . Plant pathogens also impact agricultural production, meaning their response to climate change threatens global and regional food security . Pathogens are sensitive to multiple climatic and environmental factors, as reflected in the ‘disease triangle’ , a conceptual model that states that disease is the outcome of the presence of a virulent pathogen, a susceptible host, and suitable environmental conditions. Theoretical and empirical studies addressing climate change impacts on plant disease tend to focus on individual environmental factors such as temperature , elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and water availability , despite the likelihood that climate change will alter temperature, precipitation, potential evaporation, and ecological regimes simultaneously. Retrospective analyses show that multiple environmental drivers and their interactions influence expansion of disease ranges . Understanding these interactions remains an area of outstanding research need . Climatic and edaphic factors could limit Phytophthora cinnamomi range in several ways. First, Pc is sensitive to cold temperatures . Exposure to sufficiently cold temperatures for sufficiently long durations during winter will kill Pc .

Temperatures warm enough to permit survival of Pc may still be cold enough to suppress its ability togrow, reproduce, and cause disease to hosts . Previous modeling studies considering temperature effects on Pc range in Europe suggest the potential for considerable expansion in warming climates . However, Pc growth rates also display a threshold-like response to soil moisture in laboratory conditions. Dry soils also inhibit reproduction, survival, dispersal, and development of symptoms in host plants . Soil moisture conditions experienced by the pathogen themselves arise from interactions among the precipitation regime, soil depth, drainage, and atmospheric evaporative demand, and thus reflect the interplay of edaphic and climatic conditions. Finally, Pc disease is also often suppressed in rich soils where organic matter content exceeds 5% , probably because of predation by other soil organisms in the diverse microfaunal communities sustained in these soils . Projections of potential future risk therefore require techniques to assess the impact of multiple environmental changes and their interactions on pathogen range and epidemiology. Here, we apply a mechanistic modeling approach to explore how climate change could impact pathogen range and activity. We explore how simultaneous changes in temperature, precipitation, snow-pack extent, and evaporative demand might impact the range of a well-characterized pathogen under different climate scenarios. To do this we couple two existing models that describe controls on the range of the generalist root pathogen Pc in the state of California and surrounding regions in the states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona in the southwest USA. Pc occurs in this region but its range is poorly delineated. In other warm climates such as southern Australia and Hawaii, Pc has had a devastating effect on timber production, natural forests and agriculture € . Modeling the climatic and edaphic limits on its potential range in the US southwest will help determine the risks posed by this pathogen, particularly since there is not as yet a detailed understanding of the susceptibility of native species to Pc infection.The effects of a warming climate on Pc risk vary depending on the risk factors and specific climate scenario being assessed. Warming changes winter survival in a straightforward fashion: under the A2 scenario survival increases dramatically so that the region in which more than half of a Pc population would survive the winter increases from 43% to 72% of the study area. More modest increases in winter-survival probabilities arise under the B1 climate scenario, in which Pc winter survival becomes probable over 65% of the study area . The effects of climate change on soil moisture and Pc spring activity are more complex. At the regional scale, climate change reduces the risk posed by Pc across the majority of the study area. However, the changes are spatially variable. Pc risk declines markedly in the Central Valley. It is largely unchanged in coastal northern California and Oregon, where rainfall levels are projected to remain high. Its range is also unchanged in the south-eastern part of the region, which is significantly water limited under contemporary scenarios and projected to remain so. Pc risk increases in the north-eastern extent of the study area. The increase in Pc risk in this area is greatest in the high emissions scenario. In the lower emissions scenario, comparable increases in Pc extent occur inland in the southern extent of the range. In both cases, these increases indicate an interaction of warmer temperatures with unchanged or slightly enhanced rainfall. The potential complexity of the interactions between changing water and temperature in one of these southern locations is illustrated in Fig. 5 for a site in the southwestern part of the region. In this location, Pc risk increases under the B1 scenario but decreases under the A2 scenario. Figure 5 shows a decomposition of the projected changes into those due to temperature and those due to changes in soil moisture. As shown, square pot increasing temperatures increase Pc risk from the baseline case for both A2 and B1 scenarios, but in the A2 scenario, a decrease in soil moisture more than offsets the effect of warmer spring conditions.

Conversely, under the B1 conditions, the slight increase in soil moisture increases pathogen risk at this location, but only when both temperature and soil moisture increase together does the large predicted increase in pathogen risk occur. While these threshold-dynamics are not general across the study range, they illustrate the potential for highly nonlinear pathogen responses to interactions in changing temperature and moisture conditions, and highlight the importance of considering the impacts of synchronous changes in climate on pathogen dynamics. As summarized in Table 2 and illustrated in Fig. 2, water limitation reduces Pc risk over a range of 340 000 km2 across the region for the high emissions scenario, with an average decrease in the Pc risk of 0.28. Pc risk is reduced over 40 000 km2 for the low emissions scenario, by 0.26 on average. Alleviation of thermal limitations on Pc growth rates increased the predicted Pc risk in an 470 000 km2 area for the high emissions scenario with a projected mean increase of 0.08. For the low emissions scenario, Pc risks increase over a 390 000 km2 area for the low emissions scenario, with an average 0.05 increase in the Pc risk. Overall, the total area where Pc risks exceed 0.5 declines to approximately 164 000 km2 or 13% of the study region for the B1 scenario. The decline in spatial extent under a high emissions scenario is actually slightly less pronounced, with the predicted Pc range being 170 000 km2 or 13.7% of the region. This occurs even though the area where there is sufficient water for high spring Pc activity declines more for the high emissions scenario than for a low emissions scenario. The results reflect the importance of a tradeoff between increased winter survival range and decreased spring water availability. At the scale of the Bay Area, future climate projections contain considerable uncertainty associated with climatic downscaling. Broadly, however, the B1 scenario represents a case with warmer spring temperatures but without considerable reduction in rainfall,while the A2 scenario represents a situation with reduced rainfall and warmer temperatures. As shown in Fig. 3, the effects are quite striking: an increase in temperature without a large decrease in rainfall results in an increase in the area that is vulnerable to Pc by approximately 20% . Conversely, a decline in rainfall and increase in temperature result in a large decline in Pc risk, to approximately 3800 km2 , about half of its contemporary range.The modeling study indicated four different controls on modeled Pc range, which interacted to generate complex spatial patterns of Pc response to projected climatic changes. The first control was the proportion of soil organic carbon, which provided a static template of areas in which Pc would not establish. The second control was winter temperatures which impede pathogen over-winter survival. The range over which the pathogen survived winter expanded sequentially from contemporary conditions to the B1 and then A2 climate scenarios. The third and fourth controls on pathogen range lay in spring temperature and rainfall which together controlled spring Pc activity. Declining precipitation in the B1 and A2 scenarios inhibited Pc growth. The implications of drier climatic conditions in the study area varied depending on the absolute local Pc risk in a given area. Thus, little change in Pc risk was predicted in wet regions such as the northern coast, where drier spring conditions under B1 and A2 climate futures were still wet enough to support Pc activity. In the driest limits of the current Pc range, contemporary rainfall was too limited to support Pc activity, and further drying of the climate under B1 and A2 scenarios did not alter the pathogen risk. In mesic regions, progressively dry springs reduced overall Pc risk under the B1 scenario, relative to contemporary conditions. Despite further reductions in rainfall under the A2 scenario, however, only minor further decreases in Pc spring risk were predicted compared to the B1 scenario. This we attribute to increasing spring temperatures enhancing the rate of Pc expansion during spring, which increased disease risk over part of the model range. The spatial locations where warmer spring temperatures under the B1 and A2 scenarios caused increases in Pc risk were spatially separated from the locations where decreases in rainfall reduced Pc risk, so the overall pattern of Pc risk during spring under contemporary, B1 and A2 scenarios differs: the B1 case primarily reflects reductions in the contemporary area of high risk, while the A2 scenario continues this reduction but also leads to expanded regions of moderate Pc risk in the north-eastern part of the study region. The interactions of these controls lead to a decrease in Pc range under both B1 and A2 scenarios compared to contemporary conditions, but, surprisingly, less of a reduction in total Pc range under the more extreme warming scenario. The modeling study ignored several factors that impact dynamic Pc risk – that is, the risk of Pc developing in uninfected areas. Proximity to roads, streams, soil disturbance, innoculum sources, and high vehicle or pedestrian traffic are highly likely to impact these risks.

This application filters plant photo data from websites like Flickr and Twitter as simply searching for plant photos on websites like Flickr and Twitter results in a lot of images that are not of plants, let alone the plant the user is searching for. Xin was able to filter out the “bad data” with inclusion and exclusion tag lists so that the results are more relevant. I am currently implementing the functionality of Xin’s “Tag your plants” application into the database so that users can add photos from Flickr and Twitter without having to search through large amounts of irrelevant data.While I have developed the SAGE Plant Database for crowd participation, the SAGE Plant Database is not yet ready for deployment for crowdsourcing input. For the initial implementation of this design, the technology steward has depended on a “test” crowd that does not overlap with the potential “homegrown” crowd so that the homegrown crowd does not fatigue during testing. Presently the database is seeded with data for the region that the Manzanita community is located within from four sources: the USDA Plant Database, the Natural Capital Plant Database, a list created by students in a local permaculture class, and data created by three offerings of a UCI undergraduate course about global change, sustainability, and information technology. Data from these resources have been translated into our database to maintain the terminology convention I created. The data is sparse and incomplete, blueberry grow bag containing 35402 data points for 4224 plants, but serves as a starting place.

Tolerance, products, and services are the least provided plant properties. The most concerning issue with this initial population of plant data was that some of the specified uses of plants were dangerously wrong. For example, some participants stated that toxic plants were edible. It is imperative that we update the crowd sourcing methodology to prevent the occurrence of incorrect data that could lead to harmful effects. We must identify which of these data properties requires specialized knowledge and have critical impacts. Consequentially, acquiring accurate tolerance, product, and service data poses one of the most significant challenges of this research. The next chapter reviews each of the challenges and limitations of this research that motivate my anticipated future work for the SAGE Plant Database. Before that, I review of the contributions of the research presented in this dissertation.Reports from the US National Research Council also underscore the importance of creating databases and the other tools within the envisioned SAGE suite for agricultural sustainability. The report titled Toward Sustainable Agriculture in the 21st Century argues that landscape-scale planning tools supported by relevant databases “could contribute to effective targeting of efforts at the farm, community, and watershed levels” . Databases, the report argues, are a part of research platforms that “encourage and support interdisciplinary research beyond traditional biological integration to economics and social sciences” . The report titled Computing Research for Sustainability argues that databases and other “fundamentals of the computer science field … offer unique and important contributions to sustainability” . Specifically, “databases play a crucial role in the understanding of ecosystems” , from storing raw measurements of the environment to providing inputs to and recording outputs of predictive models of ecological functions.

The report further explains that computing methods, such as “queryable structured data,” are essential to coping with vast amounts of unstructured data that is now available within sustainability research . Though this dissertation ends with the initial implementation of the SAGE Plant Database, it primarily demonstrates the stakeholders’ practices, values, and information needs, the database design, and the need for such a system in the presence of other databases. In the next section, I review the distinct contributions of this research to the scientific community and the participating sustainable agriculture communities. Then I summarize the issues encountered in this research and limitations of this work. Finally, I present a roadmap for future work on SAGE.This dissertation set out to understand the information needs and practices of sustainable agriculture communities and sought to demonstrate how to involve sustainable agriculture communities in the development of information technologies for their practice. Through this process I became intimately familiar with the practices of two sustainable agriculture communities. I presented their practices throughout the dissertation, from Prologue to the Comparative Analysis . These observational accounts are themselves a significant contribution to research, as so few formal inquiries into permaculture communities exist . In addition to this inherent contribution, there are six distinct contributions, for both research and grassroots sustainable agriculture more broadly, that I would like to call special attention to: definition of information challenges and community values; the formation of goals, requirements, domain knowledge and design of the SAGE Plant Database; grounded development of a plant ontology for agroecosystems; a comparative analysis of databases used by and designed for the communities; and an implementation of the SAGE Plant Database. The definition of information challenges and community values, and the formation of goals, requirements, and domain knowledge contribute to an understanding of an under-explored set users in the HCI domain. The design and implementation of the database contributes to knowledge about systems, tools, architectures and infrastructure at the intersection of agriculture and HCI domains.

The grounded development of the plant ontology contributes a high-level model to the agriculture domain that can support the education of newcomers to sustainable polyculture design. The comparative analysis contributes to the development and refinement of plant database artifacts and interaction techniques for sustainable polyculture design. This section reviews each of the six contributions in detail.However, sustainability is the overtone of these values, and sustainability is well explored in HCI. In context of DiSalvo, Senger, and Brynjarsdóttir’s axes of differences of S-HCI research, my research considers sustainability as both a research focus – I incorporated the values of sustainability into the information systems – and application area – I supported the work of sustainable agriculturalists. Continuing with their axes, this research situated users as individual activists bound by a community and cause, aimed to solve the users’ problems rather than framing the user as a problem, supported the fundamental change of user lifestyles, and grappled with the inadequacies of technology as a solution to their problems, including the “wasteful rapid obsolescence cycle of IT products.” In context of Knowels’ et al. themes for motivating questions in S-HCI research, my research explored the role of technology in making society sustainable and promoting less destructive and more satisfying patterns of consumption. This value set is an opportunity for reflection and evolution for the participating community with an opportunity to reflect and evolve on. As the communities build tools, incorporate new practices, and forge new collaborations, the value set can be used as an evaluation tool for making decisions and designs. Cultivation and consumption of pomegranate can be dated back to at least 3000 BC. Historically, pomegranate has served as a symbol of fertility and prosperity. In addition, various parts of the pomegranate have been used in traditional medicine for treating a wide variety of illness. Pomegranate fruits have purported use for expelling parasites , seeds and fruit peels for treating diarrhea, flowers for managing diabetes, tree barks and roots for stopping bleeding and healing ulcers, and leaves for controlling inflammation and treating digestive system disorders. Due to its reported benefits to human health, the pomegranate has drawn great interest from the consumers in recent years. Nowadays, the pomegranate is used for functional food ingredients and dietary supplements in various forms, such as fresh fruit and juice, powdered capsules and tablets that contain extracts of different pomegranate tissues, tea brewed from pomegranate leaves, jam, jelly, juice and wine produced from pomegranate fruits, blueberry grow bag size as well as spices prepared from dried seeds. With the advancement of technologies and the expansion of experimental inquiries into the bioactivities of pomegranate phytochemicals, many new discoveries have been made in this ancient fruit within the last decade. To date, over 1500 articles have been published on the subject“pomegranate”, of which 1259 articles were published between 2006 and 2016. Although the pomegranate produces and accumulates a wide variety of phytochemicals with diverse structures in different tissues , investigative efforts thus far have been given mainly to the bioactivities of polyphenols in pomegranate fruits, in particular anthocyanins and hydrolyzable tannins , which are assessed in this review. Specifically, various health-promoting activities of urolithins, a group of phenolic metabolites transformed from ellagic acid by the human gut microbiota, will be reviewed. Development of cutting-edge analytical techniques has enabled the acquisition of large-scale metabolic datasets, which requires careful analysis and interpretation.

To facilitate characterization of metabolite profiling data in pomegranate, we examine the phytochemicals that have been identified in pomegranate, including detailed information on the chemical structures, molecular formulas, molecular weights, analytical methods , and tissues of identification . Knowledge of phytochemicals present in different pomegranate tissues will also help assess the structural determinants of their bioactivities as well as the additive, antagonistic or synergistic interactions of these phytochemicals in complex mixtures.HTs are among the most studied phytochemicals in pomegranate; they can be further grouped into ETs and gallotannins based on the different phenolic acids that are esterified to the core cyclic polyol molecule . Overall, more than 60 HTs have been identified from pomegranate using MS and/or NMR . Pomegranate fruit peel is rich in HTs, particularly ETs. Punicalagin isomers constitute up to 85% of total tannins extracted from pomegranate fruit peel. EA, methylated EA, and their glycosidic derivatives have also been found in fruit peel and other pomegranate tissues . Although punicalagin isomers represent the major ETs in pomegranate roots, they accumulate at much lower levels in roots than fruit peel. Besides fruit peel, pomegranate stem barks are also abundant in HTs and have been used historically in tanneries for making leather. In addition to the HTs identified in fruit peel, stem barks also contain ET C-glycosides, punicacorteins A–D , and punigluconin. The dense inner part of pomegranate tree trunk contains brevifolin carboxylic acid, EA rutinoside, diellagic acid rutinoside, methyl-EA, methyl-EA rutinoside, punicalin, galloylpunicalin, and galloylpunicacortein D. The composition of HTs in pomegranate leaves is largely different from that in fruit peel. In leaves, the major HTs are granatins A and B, whereas punicalagins and punicalins are present at negligible levels. Additional ETs with galloyl and/or hexahydroxydiphenoyl substitutions have also been identified in leaves. Interestingly, derivatives of EA and ETs, including urolithin M-5, brevifolin, and brevifolin carboxylic acid, have been isolated from pomegranate leaves. In pomegranate flowers, EA and two oxidized derivatives of EA, pomegranatate and phyllanthusiin E, were discovered. Punicatannins A and B, two ETs that contain an unusual 3-oxol,3,3a,8b-tetrahydrofuro[3,4-b]benzofuran functional group, together with a structurally relatedcompound isocorilagin, were also found in pomegranate flowers. In addition, brevifolin carboxylic acid, ethylbrevifolin carboxylate, as well as glucose with various galloyl and/or HHDP substitutions, including hippomanin A, gemin D, digalloyl-diHHDP-glucose, trigalloyl glucose, and gallic acid 3-O-β-D–glucopyranoside showed measurable accumulations in pomegranate flowers.Pomegranate fruit peel, aril, and juice are abundant in flavonoids of diverse structures, including the aglycones and glycosides of chalcones, flavanones, flavones, flavonols, ATs, flavan-3-ols, and procyanidins . Two flavones, luteolin and tricetin, were found in a methanolic extract of pomegranate flowers. Structures of two flavanones, punicaflavanol and granatumflavanyl xyloside, were elucidated by NMR, while hovetrichoside C and phlorizin were identified by IR in pomegranate flowers. Similar to other plants, leaves of pomegranate also accumulate high levels of flavone glycosides. Two flavanone diglycosides and one flavonol diglycoside isolated from pomegranate stem barks were shown to be eriodictyol-7-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl-β-D-glucoside, naringenin-40 methyl ether 7-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl-β-D-glucoside, and quercetin-3,40 -dimethyl ether 7-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl-β-D-glucoside, respectively, by NMR analysis. High performance liquid chromatography -DAD studies revealed that two isoflavones, genistein and daidzein, as well as a flavonol quercetin, are present in pomegranate seeds.Plant lignans are a group of phytoestrogens that can be metabolized into mammalian lignans by the gut microbiota. Furofuran-, dibenzylbutane-, and dibenzylbutyrolactone-type lignans have been identified in different pomegranate tissues based on liquid chromatography -MSn studies , while isolariciresinol is the most abundant lignan present in pomegranate fruit peel. In addition to the above-mentioned lignans, pomegralignan, a dihydrobenzofuran-type neolignan glycoside, was discovered in the aril and fruit peel of pomegranate. Another neolignan, punnicatannin C, was isolated from pomegranate flowers and structurally characterized by NMR analysis. Triterpenoids and phytosterols have been found in pomegranate seed, leaf, flower, fruit peel, and bark tissues .

However, a few participants simultaneously valued anonymous engagement and holding community members accountable for the information they provide. One participant explained that they only desired anonymity for sharing their guerilla gardening experiences without being identified for engaging in illegal behavior. This compromise of seemingly conflicting values demonstrates the complex, contextual nature in which participants evaluate their values, and the difficulty of translating those values into contextual goals. To briefly review, the database needs to support the community as it evolves, community members in their acts of quotidianin subordination, and the communities’ values in anti-consumerism, long-term equality, and environmental sustainability.First, participants overwhelmingly desired the database to be available online so that it would support collaborative functionality and could be accessible from multiple devices and locations. Participants valued that an online plant database would support the asynchronous collaboration of aggregating local plant data. On the surface, the “collaboration” motivation for this requirement may seem at odds with the participants’ resistance to engaging via digital technologies that replaced or reduced face-to-face social interaction, plastic grow bag including collaboration. Sharing plant information face-to-face – one person asking another for plant information – primarily occurred between a student and teacher.

However, searching for plant information is better suited as a reference task than a social interaction – if the information is available, it is better for a student to look it up them self then ask an educator to act as a dictionary because an educator can make a larger impact spending that time introducing, explaining, and demonstrating complex concepts. Educators and community members printed or emailed plant lists for their pupils and peers so the pupils and peers had the agency to execute their own queries. The social interaction in searching for plant information occurred because, as explained in section 4.1.3, participants found it difficult to find much of the plant information needed for polyculture design. The plant database facilitates the ability of participants to look up plant information themselves. Many participants thought that the databased should be also accessible offline. Some participants desired device independence and portability because they use multiple devices and may not have internet access when working. For other participants, an “offline” database fulfilled their desire to have personal copy for quick reference, just as they do with the physical plant lists they currently access, carry and share. For these participants logging into an account or connecting to the internet were large enough barriers to discourage regular use. Participants wanted to be able to add plants to the database and modify their attributes. Members of the communities often jotted down notes on the community authored plant lists that elaborated on attribute information or provided new attribute information about the plant. In effect, they wanted to combine their knowledge with that which was already recorded to make a more-complete knowledge base.

To support offline accessibility and the ability to manipulate or arrange the data independently from the online setting, participants suggested an export function. Such a function, some participants envisioned, would enable them to transition exported plant data into personalized plant lists for design projects. Similarly, participants wanted to import large amounts of new or modified data back into the database without entering each individual plant attribute through a GUI. Participants specified two interactions for selecting a plant to include in their design. First, they wanted to search for plants by name, both common and scientific. Often times participants in the process of designing a polyculture already had an idea of a plant they could include in their design and looked it up by name on Google, in a book, or in some other resource to confirm or deny that it is a suitable choice. By allowing participants to search the database by name, they could do the same here. Second, participants wanted to filter plants by attribute such as height and layer. To select a species, participants consulted plant lists that shared some attribute to get a sense for the range of options. These shared attributes ranged from specific, such as “aquaphilic plants specifically for [Live Oak]”, to broad, such as “permaculture plants for temperate climates.” Some participants wanted to the system to automatically recommend companion plants for a plant they were browsing. “Companion plant” is a colloquial term for a plant that provides beneficial functions for another plants. For example, lavender is considered a companion plant for apple because lavender deters codling moths , a destructive pest for apple trees. Participants wanted the database to provide companion plant lists because, in practice, they often consulted companion plant lists for ideas of how to make their design more robust.

Some participants wanted the database to provide a platform for sharing planting, growing, harvesting, and use techniques. These techniques are based on the plant attributes and the specifics of the environment it is planted in or its use context. Although these techniques pertain to the implementation or use of a sustainable polyculture, they were factors considered during participants’ design of sustainable polycultures. For example, participants referred to Toensmeir for his wide range of information about why plants are desirable to include – they are easy to harvest, store, and propagate – and how they can be used, including tips for planting, trellising, pruning, and cooking. Participants referenced Lancaster for water-related specifics of the environment that the plant will be planted in, such as formulas for calculating the water needs of a plant, how to harvest water from a roof, tips for how to plant trees to avoid difficult hole digging in compacted soil, and how to prune trees so that they would cool the temperature of the house in the summer and allow sun to warm a house in the winter. Participants’ wide range of goals for the SAGE Plant Database that are not included in the initial design should still be considered for future work. To support the future development of applications that expand on the SAGE Plant Database, like the SAGE Composer and other applications described in the Prologue, the SAGE Plant Database needs to have an Application Programming Interface . An API is an intermediary that allows applications to interact with each other. Specifically, an API is a set of protocols and tools that, in this case, allows developers to incorporate the information in and functionality of the SAGE Plant Database into other applications. Participants’ use of a wide range of computing devices indicate that the plant database needed to be operable on a range of personal computers with varying levels of performance. Several participants were using old machines that were functional but obsolete by their manufacturers’ standards. However, these participants felt that their computers were still serving their needs and anticipated using their machines until these machines could no longer do so. Often time those machines can only run software that are several years old. Outdated software systems have unaddressed security risks and are missing other features of modern versions. Designing systems to work with older computers and software in addition to modern versions of the same software on modern computers is a substantial challenge. If there is a great enough difference in the software and hardware architecture of old and new computers, there may not be a way to develop a single system that works on the range of machines. The database also needs to allow for privacy by way of anonymous use and contribution so that participants can feel secure in their use of the database while engaging in acts of quotidian insubordination. To support the communities’ anti-consumerism, long-term equality values it must be open-source, thus providing equal opportunity for all people to access the database and its data or copy the platform and transform it into something more suitable for their needs. The platform must also be open-source to allow any community to adopt it and modify it into what their specific community needs. And finally, to support the communities’ values of environmental sustainability, it should have software, network, pe grow bag and hardware architectures that minimizes its environmental footprint in effort to support sustainability.The domain knowledge emerged from six forms of qualitative methods discussed in Chapter 2. The domain knowledge represents the context in which the SAGE Plant Database must function and support. For this line of inquiry, I conducted all analytical coding with the intention of determining domain knowledge for the plant database. Because the community envisioned the database to support sustainable polyculture design, I assessed which plant information was important to participants’ sustainable polyculture design process in the first analysis. The coding process was the same as the process described in section 5.2 with data and materials that were used in, a product of, or described participant’s agroecosystem design process.

The methodological triangulation of these inquiries led to themes for the domain knowledge. I conducted the first phase of coding by listing details in the notes, transcriptions, and artifacts about plants that are interesting or relevant to the design process. After creating this list, I identified two over-arching themes: context-specific characteristics that every plant should have to be a potential candidate for an agroecosystem, and plant properties that participants consider when configuring the functional composition and spatial placement of the agroecosystem. I coded the selected notes, transcriptions, and artifacts twice more, focusing each time on one of the two over-arching themes. I conducted the second phase of coding by writing down every context-specific characteristic that participants use to identify if a plant is a potential candidate for agroecosystems. I assessed that these context-specific characteristics represented four inclusion criteria for which plants should be featured in the database. These inclusion criteria are presented in section 5.3.1. I conducted the third phase of coding by writing down every property of a plant that participants consider when configuring an agroecosystem. I found that these plant properties represented the data property and value fields that make up the plant database object. I grouped these properties into three categories based on the relevance of theproperty in various stages of the agroecosystem design process. These plant properties are presented in section 5.3.2.There were, however, differences in what constituted climate appropriateness, ecosystem services that support the local ecology, and low maintenance because of the differences in the communities’ local ecologies. In other words, a trait that makes a plant low maintenance, for example, for the Manzanita community may not be climate appropriate for the Live Oak community. Such a trait would likely require significant maintenance to survive in the new context, if survival was even possible. The exemplar agroecosystems presented in section 1.1.1 demonstrate the importance of the inclusion properties and how they manifest differently dependent upon the local ecology the sustainable polyculture is designed into.Participants widely agreed that all plants in the database for their community and used in sustainable polyculture design should be climate appropriate. For a plant to be a candidate for an agroecosystem, it must be able to thrive in the local climate and be tolerant to local conditions. For example, a plant must be heat tolerant under the normal and extreme climate conditions in the area. To be heat tolerant, it must not succumb to heat stress, which is “the rise in temperature beyond a threshold level for a period of time sufficient to cause irreversible damage to plant grown and development” . Weiseman, Halsey, and Ruddock explain that “most [plants] are limited to a specific range within a specific biome.” Biomes are “large naturally occurring [communities] of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat” with transition zones instead of boundaries. For example, much of Southern California is a chaparral biome containing interwoven drought-tolerant shrubs and bushes . Participants looked for plants that were well suited to thrive in their respective USDA plant hardiness and American Horticultural Society heat zones, therefore the plant database should include this information. If a plant belongs to that hardiness zone, it can with stand those minimum temperatures without severe damage. A heat zone is defined by the number of days that experience temperatures over 86 degrees Fahrenheit. If a plant belongs to a particular heat zone, then it can survive at least that number of days over 86 degrees. Plants typically belongs to a range of hardiness and heat zones. The Live Oak community, for example, was situated in the USDA plant hardiness zone 9b and American AHS heat zone 9 .

The HCC is the amount of humans that can be supported indefinitely in a given environment without permanently damaging the ecosystems upon which we depend . Researchers argue that traditional agriculture methods, specifically polycultures and local varieties, have comparatively greater biological diversity and annual yield stability to modern industrial farming methods . Traditional agriculture favors polycultures that facilitate nutrient cycling among plants and other inter-plant supporting services and local varieties that better withstand local environmental conditions . Researchers hypothesize that comparatively resilient nature of traditional agriculture reduces financial risk and lessens environmental impact . Sustainable agroecosystems build upon traditional agriculture’s localized context, including cultivated seed varieties passed down from generations, and techniques, like the use of polycultures to increase biodiversity and limit resource input . Perhaps most significantly though, those who partake in sustainable agroecology maintain a perspective that traditional farmers have and is opposite to mainstream farming – that resources are limited . Ethnobotany has also been foundational to community development and food sovereignty programs world-wide. In the grassroots activism sector, ethnobotany was foundational to permaculture, plastic square flower bucket as early pioneers Bill Mollison and Dave Holmgren drew upon the practices of Aboriginal Australians and Native Americans. In the institutionalized activism sector, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ,

The World Wide Fund for Nature , and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew jointly formed the People and Plants Initiative in which traditional knowledge was applied in conservation, rural development, and other domains relating to wild plant use and resource management. In programs under this initiative, the value of plants in a local setting, the scarcity of the valued plants, and the cultural factors underpinning control of access to land or resources are determined and used to generate a “green social security” for local inhabitants in a global economy without collapsing the local ecology .Permaculture is a social movement and design ideology that applies the concept of structural and functional permanence to agriculture . Permaculture founder Bill Mollison first described permaculture as “an ecological design practice that aims to integrate landscape and people to provide for their own food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way” . Permaculture has since explored social systems necessary for sustainable human settlements such as alternative economic systems and other social infrastructures. At the foundation of permaculture methods are ethics and principles for a “conscious” design practice . Conscious design denotes the intention of designing for self-reliance and functionality of the all-encompassing ecosystem. The ethics and principles have significant social implications for participants who structure their identities, work, and personal lives around them, which are reflected in their guiding pictorials and narratives. Permaculture pictorials and narratives have a shared theme of coupled human and natural systems in which agriculture functions. A popular permaculture mandala depicts a ring of systems centered around or supporting human activity, lush with productive foliage and food, set within the natural environment to emphasize that humansystems are a part of the natural environment .

The shown humansupporting systems mimic nature and attempt to include technologies that are not resource-intensive. An “autonomous” home has a green roof, a small wind turbine, a small solar array, and a rain barrel. A classroom of children is small and personal, with multiple instructors for few children, and features ecological educational content. A green cityscape has people commuting by bus and bicycle but not by car. On the street there are recycling centers, window and greenspace gardens, and solar panels on roofs. A farmer’s market is shown as a place for a thriving local economy, where farmers and patrons of many cultures gather and buy or sell fresh local food and products. A community garden has a gardener in a wheelchair working at a raised bed, demonstrating the importance of creating community facilities services that are accessible to everyone’s needs. At the center of the human systems are the core permaculture ethics: earth care, fair share, and people care. Between the human systems, around the human system ring, and framing the natural systems containing the human systems, are principles and values that drive the permaculture design of sustainable agriculture to obtain these coupled natural and human systems, including: everything cycles; use local and biological resources; maximize diversity; build in multiple back up and support systems; work with nature, not against it; and multiple functions for all elements.

In her 1994 novel Fifth Sacred Thing, Starhawk described San Francisco in 2049 as a sustainable human settlement following an earlier environmental collapse , reflecting permaculture values and ethics. In this work, a resident of a newly ecotopian San Francisco reflects on the seemingly bountiful nature of her home: “You’d think we had plenty of everything, plenty of land, plenty of water. Whereas we’ve simply learned how not to waste, how to use and reuse every drop, how to feed chickens on weeds and ducks on snails and let worms eat the garbage.” In reality, the agroecosystem aspect of permaculture is typically a practice of grassroots communities of amateur gardeners and professional farmers. These communities build local food cooperatives and farmers’ markets , create infrastructure and norms for social learning , and even introduce alternative currencies or time exchange programs to open participation opportunities to anyone and everyone .Needs Analysis. A needs analysis forms a subset of the requirements for a permaculture system. This section focuses on user-imposed requirements for the permaculture system. Users of a permaculture system could be an individual, family, or a group. No matter the user, the requirements for the context in which the system will exist must also be determined so that the design is not rejected based on a technicality. Client Interview. A client interview is necessary when a permaculture designer or student has been commissioned or has volunteered to create a permaculture design for someone else, including an organization. A permaculture designer interviews their client or a representative of the clients to determine what it is they want from their permaculture system. The designer’s goal is to thoroughly understand the client’s vision so that she can produce something the client needs and wants. Designer Reflection. When the designer is creating a permaculture system for herself, she should engage in an activity similar to a client interview to determine the human-imposed needs of the design. She should systematically define her vision and goals for her permaculture system, so she can systematically engage in the remainder of the permaculture process. Opting for an open ended, spontaneous implementation of a permaculture system, instead of defining concrete goals for a personal use permaculture system, leads to designs that are overly complex and lack cohesion. Such unplanned implementations risk wasting resources such as time, money, and ecosystem services. Site Analysis. A site analysis uses observation of the site and environmental data research to form a site survey report, which includes a base map and a sector map . The base map represents a blueprint of the site. While the information on a base map may differ between projects, it typically shows existing man-made structures , existing plants , and topography. The sector map features phenomena that occur at the site that should be kept in mind when designing. For example, a sector map may specify zones of activity , good and bad views, prevailing seasonal winds, areas of erosion and flooding, seasonal sunlight exposure, and similar items.Design. This is the point when a designer switches from understanding to creating. A designer ensures that design elements are placed in such a way that “each serves the needs and accepts the products of other elements” . “The problem is the solution” is one of three proclaimed cornerstone principles to permaculture design by Bill Mollison , plastic plant pot representing the adage that the solution to a problem lies within the problem itself. Determining how to address a problem and turn it into a solution requires the designer to engage in functional design. For a design to be functional “every component … should function in many ways and every essential function should be supported by many components” . Such a design is generated broadly then refined down to the details. This is known as the principle “design from patterns to detail” . While the detailed, implementable design may change over time with respect to implementation concerns, the broad-scale design establishes the overall vision of the client. Broad-scale versus Implementable Design. A broad-scale design specifies design elements and their functionality at a high-level. For example, a rain water collection tank will feed a fruit-tree polyculture, but the type and size of the water tank nor the plants in the polyculture will be specified. In contrast, implementable designs are typically complete with plant lists and other specifications like measurements for berms and swales . Implementation. Implementation is the point in which a permaculture design is translated from paper into the environment.

For a permaculture system to be manifestedas it was designed, the implementer needs to understand the intimate details of how the elements of the design work together or needs a thorough set of instructions of how to implement it. Some designs will provide instructions for implementation order like, for example, planting pioneer crops to prepare the soil for what is to come next. However, no design tells one how to, for example, put a particular plant in the ground because basic gardening skills of the implementer are assumed. Both a high-level understanding of how to implement components of a design and a low-level understanding of how to install the design is critical for the design come to fruition.Maintenance is a continual process after the design is implemented and includes harvesting. In practice, maintenance is the cyclical manifestation of the permaculture process. In permaculture, the beneficiary of the agroecosystem is typically the maintainer. It requires on going assessment to identify problem points and re-design then implement solutions. Re-designs are typically informal and often experimental. Amateur gardeners and small-scale farmers are easily drawn to permaculture, but for those who do not have experience growing plants the barrier to entry is quite high. In his 2015 talk at the Permaculture Voices 2 conference, a nationally focused permaculture conference held in March 2015, permaculture educator Dave Boehnlein argued that two of the primary barriers to entry for newcomers are a $1500 introductory course and Mollison’s Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual , which he referred to as a “500-page bible of dry information” . From its beginning, the Permaculture Social Movement has supported a two-phase model for the introduction of newcomers and their maturation into full participants of local communities of practice. Since 1981 , the primary way of introducing newcomers into a permaculture community of practice was through a didactic Permaculture Design Certificate Course , after which they engaged in an apprenticeship to become full participants of the community . A PDC provided the newcomer with a comprehensive view of the ethics and design principles of permaculture, and the apprenticeship provided the opportunity for newcomers to form the skill required to be a competent member of the community. Wenger argues that communities of practice evaluate competence to determine if a newcomer should be considered a full participant. Wenger further explains that communities define competence through a joint understanding of what the community is about and hold each other accountable to contributing to it. The joint understanding and expectation to contribute to the community evolves from the mutual engagement in building the community. A particular repertoire of language, routines, tools, etc. is formed in the community, and a competent member should have access to it and use it properly. How competence is evaluated varies greatly between communities of practices and is often not a formal process. Instead, competence may be measured informally during interaction with a person and is subject to influence by reputation among the community. For many permaculture communities today, the two-phase model of completing a PDC followed by apprenticeship is no longer the typical way newcomers are introduced to permaculture. Instead, many newcomers do not engage in an apprenticeship after completing a PDC. Some PDC instructors set the expectation that completing a PDC is enough to engage in permaculture as a full participant.