| Network Power: Food Politics in the Connected Age |
Can complex collaborations be successfully developed and maintained?We live in the age of the internet, networks and distributed leadership. We face complex challenges. There are polarized communities abound. We are bombarded with information and calls to action. Individuals are highly self-directed, less influenced by “authority.” Diversity is increasing in most communities. Bureaucracies are slow to adapt. Given these realities, many seeking food system transformation face a question: how to develop and maintain large and complex collaborations? Explore this question with four leaders discovering the answers.  Photos by Mike Kahn/Green Stock Media who retains all photo copyrights - http://www.greenstockmedia.comFrom left to right: Moderator: Michael Dimock, Roots of Change; Panelists: Tom Tomich, PhD, Agriculture Sustainability Institute and UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, UC Davis; Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Network; Howard-Yana Shapiro, PhD, Mars Incorporated; Holly King, Great Valley Center. Notes by Casey Walsh Cady, Roots of Change Fellow 2007 Michael Dimock laid the context for the session and introduced the speakers. president of Roots of Change. Roots of Change is a collaborative of diverse leaders and institutions unified in common pursuit of a sustainable food system in California by the year 2030. As a coordinating entity across government, non-profit and business sectors, Roots of Change works to maximize the synergy available to those transforming the food system by convening multi-stakeholder planning sessions and supporting collaborative implementation with grants, fellowships, and contracts. Roots of Change is a sponsor and co-organizer of Changemakers Day. Panel introductions: Holly King is the Director of Agricultural Programs for the Great Valley Center. Joseph McIntyre is Executive Director of Ag Innovations Network. Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro is Global Director of Plant Science and External Research for Mars as well as the leader of the Multi-disciplinary Research Unit involving Mars, University of Nottingham in England and the University of California, Davis. Dr. Tom Tomich is the founding Director of the Agriculture Sustainability Institute at University of California, Davis, the Director of University of California’s Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program and holds the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at UC Davis. All four of the panelists are involved in building and maintaining complex collaborations. Mr. Dimock shared why this question of collaboration sits before us today. We live in the age of the Internet, characterized by networks and increasingly distributed leadership. Networks are used for communication and commerce, social activism, and even terrorism. Our world faces incredibly complex health, environmental, cultural and economic challenges. Polarized communities abound. We are bombarded with information and calls to action. Individuals are highly self-directed, less influenced by “authority” and science and scientists seem less and less able to provide clarity on what must be done. And the complexity in the form of cultural diversity is increasing in most communities. At the same time, governments at all levels seemed locked in stalemate and even if they are not, bureaucracies are slow to adapt. Given these realities, many people seeking food system transformation face a question: how do we align enough people, enough policy, enough action, enough money to actually accelerate change? In her book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age, Allison Fine argues that we live in a extreme period of self-determination, where unprecedented numbers of people have unparalleled level of choice around work and pleasure. We also have unimagined levels of connectivity through cell phones, PDAs and personal computers. Yet, many activists feel trapped by the need to meet the expectations of governments, foundations and contributors who supply the money. She calls on all of us to be brave, have faith, and to define our own meaning for success and then reach out with the communication tools that exist to form networks of aligned people. She believes there are key methodologies, cultural norms and tones of communication that are essential to forming networks that can move and evolve rapidly. She also believes that network managers must focus on the edges of the network to drive growth and ignite the changes they seek. By edges she means the space between your core connected people and those just beyond it. Like a root of a plant, the network must have energy to manifest new cells. But in contrast to a root that grows from the inside out, a network must expand through attraction or accretion of people just beyond the edge, who are sucked in by messaging or action. It is a nice idea, a nice concept. But hard to accomplish particularly when working in food systems where there are many communities that live beyond a digital or cultural divide. The complexity in food systems is not just about the biology of production, the geography of distribution, the economics of eaters, or the nutrition of a meal; it may be mostly about the culture of communities, the paradigms of people, the politics of class. Working in food systems, we are working at the root system of civilization and making progress often seems a tough row to hoe. So today, we will ask the panel and then you all to help us define what is needed to align the complex forces at work in the food system. And with the aid of a computer, a projector and a screen we hope to create an actual list of guiding principles for building successful complex collaborations. Panelists were asked to share what they believe are elements of successful collaborations. Holly King with the Great Valley Center Holly shared her essential elements for collaborations between agriculture, environment and urban – they include sensitivity; leadership, trust; respect and hard work. She believes an essential tools is to become bridge builders – those people who look for common ground are most well suited. Motivation and connections to network are important too – sensitivity to “frames” – i.e. those folks who help find common ground. Building relationships - Take leadership skill and teach to others – look for new partners and allies, seek diversity in collaborations – including cultural diversity, age. We need to change C’s – from competition to collaboration. Alison Fines’ book Momentum has huge implications for agriculture – but not all people are connected to the internet. Holly also presented an example from her work with Central Valley Farmland Trust and the Sierra Club – and three local land trusts – with a narrow focus – collaboration came quickly.  Photos by Mike Kahn/Green Stock Media Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Network Joseph introduced the topic by saying that collaboration is trying to bring folks together who have different worldviews. These folks are leaders and changemakers. This is a most powerful element in the food system. – and this should be encouraged as leadership skills. From his perspective essential elements are: • Trust – which is most important and most difficult - Trust can be created – by sharing reality – and one needs to say what’s true. • Embrace complexity – avoid reductionist thinking. • Suspend individual certainty that your viewpoint is correct - Joseph pointed out that – when we all care so much – it can be easy to be locked into certain positions – evoke flexibility – allow oneself to be influenced by others – with blurring of the edges allows breakthroughs to develop. • Also we need the ability to see the common good – which is bigger than the individual interests represented. Creating a space where others can see the common good is critical – and this is really the challenge of our time – as it lets us deal with the real problems. In his experience of facilitating an Ag Futures Alliance Roundtable in Santa Barbara County there is a long history of distrust between agriculture and the environment. At a recent meeting one of the members recently relayed a personal story about his father’s upbringing as a farmworker. He chose piece rate work where he could make more money, was later given amnesty under a governmental program and was finally able to buy a house. These kinds of personal sharing forced a look at common humanity. Howard-Yana Shapiro – Mars Corporation Dr. Shapiro mentioned that a number of years ago, he authored the chapter on biotechnology for the Millennium Assessment Project when no one else would – and he noted that nothing in science is black and white. Dr. Shapiro works on a large collaboration with Mars – a private corporation- which is about to purchase Wrigley Corporation for $23 billion – and Mars considers itself a good corporate citizen. On June 26, Mars announced it was partnering with USDA – ARS and IBM to sequence the genome for cacao – a huge project which will take 5 years to accomplish. This effort will eliminate the guesswork out of traditional breeding – and allow researchers to better identify genetic traits – and it will allow growers to increase efficiency, address climatic change and resist pests. In tree production - where reaching full yield capacity can take a long time – this will be enormously beneficial. More than 6.5 million small farmers grow cacao across the world – primarily in Africa – which makes it the 6th largest commodity. Why is IBM involved? As a world leader in computational biology and pattern recognition – they have tremendous capacity to assist and recognized the need. Mars a global leader in cacao research, developed a 10-year trust agreement with USDA-ARS to share the results of the project worldwide. Mars is fully funding this activity, and is guaranteeing free access to the genomic information in real time – which will prevent patenting. All organizations are collaborating as equals – and share clarity of purpose. Dr. Shapiro stated that you never know what will be spawned by collaboration. Mars is also convening a symposium to look beyond the genome project – to see what will need to be done once the information is developed. Two countries in Africa, the Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have a heavy reliance on cacao to provide up to 30% of their GDP’s and yields are still relatively low. Mars is working on identifying fundamental principles for engagement that will strengthen institutions and works with farmers to finance ministers. In closing, Dr. Shapiro commented that dogma cannot replace logic – and that the application of science needs to be accomplished at all levels.  Photos by Mike Kahn/Green Stock Media Dr. Tom Tomich – UC Agricultural Sustainability Institute Dr. Tomich opened his remarks by noting that we are really in a period of new, shared leadership – and that 10 years ago this activity was not as robust. The great thing about shared leadership is hat anyone can learn it – and we can all do it. It’s like having telephoto capacity – it allows us to zoom in on local richness and then zoom out to see the big picture. Dr. Tomich said that the ability to see at different levels allows us to reframe issues from one of mutual respect – not responding to authority but for respect for experience. Dr. Tomich mentioned his personal history - he comes from a small farm and small business. The disparity of scale out of touch with local reality. Large government projects – disconnect with needs of small . We need the scientists to pay attention to farmers. Lack of respect in agriculture – conventional vs. organic. We need to seize opportunities to make these conversations come about. But when agreement comes quickly – it is generally not a good sign. Communication skills – and the ability to translate across them scales is critical. Within our culture, we generally take these skills for granted. Legitimacy Dr. Tomich also believes that we are facing a crisis of science in society. Public esteem for science is at its lowest point since World War II or perhaps even the Enlightenment. How public processes can engage in overall science priority setting Need legitimate opportunity to engage. Too easy to force partnerships – need “real” partnerships. Dr. Tomich reminded us that we are indeed so lucky in California – where we have the most conducive institutions and environment to build new coalitions Questions/Comments What can be done about reducing competition and increasing collaboration among groups where often we are competition due to limited funding. Commenter stated that in her experience – a neutral facilitator is really important. Panelists agreed that it is not always necessary. The capacity is within all of us to develop collaborations. Surprised that no one has brought up the role of government in this discussion. – Commentor believes there needs to be a paradigm shift in regulatory affairs – to develop dynamic methods of compliance based on performance goals. This could free people to develop creative and flexible solutions. Human skill set – we need to develop these further. Most problems encountered are social problems. Networks as complex human problems – for example – confirmation bias – we discard information that doesn’t work – community-based social marketing – can help build coalitions.
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