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How Should We Grow? Comparing Food Systems.

Session 2

Summary
The spectrum of approaches to organizing a food system is introduced --from “conventional” to “sustainable.”  A review of the “life stories” of two strawberries and evaluating trends in nourishment and food production introduces learners to how food systems can differ in terms of outcomes, agricultural methods, goals, environmental and social impacts.

Guiding Questions

  • What are different ways to organize a food system?  What are the similarities and differences in terms of approaches and outcomes?
  • What are key trends in food production and consumption and what do these trends tell us about our food system?

Big Ideas

  • There are different approaches to organizing a food system.  Approaches differ in many ways: inputs, growing methods, processing, transportation, and more.
  • A sustainablefood system is “a collaborative network that integrates food production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste management in order to enhance the environmental, economic and social health of a particular place” (UC Davis, 2008).
  • Trends in nutrition, food production and consumption paint a mixed picture of whether we are headed towards a sustainable food system or not.

Session 2 Materials:

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"We get up and do it every day because it's a good life and I think the children are benefiting from it. It allows us to work together as a family a lot. It allows us to do things that other families don't get to do, spend a lot of time together, even though they're hard hours and sometimes long and tiring."

Antonio Monzanares, La Puente, New Mexico - Rio Arriba County from People Sustaining the Land, by Cynthia Vagnetti 2002.