Investigating the U.S. Food System: How food moves from field to table

Catalog description

The American food system is a product of complex interaction of three systems: the natural ecosystem, the managed agricultural system, and the socio-economic system. Farming, food processing, food distribution, and consumption decisions are all governed by the interaction of these systems. Consequences of these decisions, along with the interactions themselves, have generated a number of overarching scientific and social "hot-button" topics that affect or are affected by the food system such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), organic crops and food, agricultural and food policy, environmental implications from agriculture, food labeling, food safety, diet and health, agricultural trade and international development, household food insecurity and food access, and food waste. Students in this course will investigate and discuss all of these topics by reading both popular press accounts and peer-reviewed academic research, and by hearing guest speakers from a variety of fields and academic disciplines. However, to provide additional relevance, the course will use specific foods or crops to provide a more concrete examination of these topics. For a wide range of foods and crops grown in or imported to the U.S, students will learn the following: 1. Where many of our crops are grown and why. 2. How labor intensive, chemical intensive, biotechnology intensive, equipment intensive, and land intensive many of our crops are. 3. What U.S. policies affect production, distribution, and consumption of many crops and food. 4. How large agribusiness companies may influence our crops' production, distribution, and consumption. 5. How consumer groups may influence our crops' production, distribution, and consumption. And, 6. Whether or not alternative production and marketing systems exist for many crops. In general, most of these questions will be answered in a social science framework that includes business, economics, and sociology, but also from a natural science framework that includes agronomy, plant science, environmental science, and climate science. The following individual foods or crops examined within both the social science and natural science contexts will be featured as case studies: tomatoes, bananas, lettuce, corn, apples, chicken, and beef. Finally, when attempting to answer the above six main questions for each of the individual foods and crops, the class will explore the context of current U.S. cultural attitudes and beliefs, and when possible, a cultural history.