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In this course, we will provide a brief overview of the United States food system and how food production practises and what we eat affect the world in which we live. We will look at some of the key historical and political factors that have shaped the current food system, as well as alternative approaches from farm to fork.
Syllabus :
1. Is Climate Change Vindicating Malthus? Food Security and the Right to Food
- The Vicious Spiral and Center for Livable Future (CLF) Concept Model
- Food Production, the Ecosystem, Diet, and Public Health
- Intergenerational Equity and the Right to Food
2. Food System Sustainability and Resilience
- Sustainable Food Systems
- Converging Crises
- Wasted Food: Putting 40% of Our Food Supply in the Landfill
- What We Can Do: Policy, Sustainable Diets, and More
- Food Resilience: No Regrets; Conclusions: Don’t Press Snooze!
3. Ecological Perspectives on Food Production
- Industrial Crop Production/Agroecology
- Soil Composition
- Soil Ecosystem Services
- Soil Degradation
- Soil Conservation Measures
- Modern Agriculture
- Limits to Therapeutic Intervention
4. Food Animal Production and Public Health
- An Introduction to Industrial Food Animal Production
- What Are We Feeding Food Animals?
- Antibiotic Use in Industrial Food Animal Production
- International Food Animal Production
- How Much Seafood Do People Eat, and Which Do We Eat Most?
- How and Where Is Seafood Caught and Produced?
- How Does Seafood Production Impact the Environment and Public Health?
5. Food and Farm Policy Perspectives
- Overview and History of the Farm Bill
- What Is in the Farm Bill?
- Farm Bill Politics
- History
- Future Perspective
- Update with Keeve Nachman
6. Improving Food Systems: Stories from the Field
- Criteria
- Local Food Systems
- Advocacy for Better Health and a Smaller Footprint: The Meatless Monday Campaign
- Community Food Systems, Business, and the Green Economy
- Functions of a Food Policy Council
- Why the Food Movement is Spreading
- Food as Part of a New, Broader Concept of Health
