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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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"Somebody has to go into farming. Somebody has to do it, it's a good life. It takes a lot of money these days to get going. It is not a get-rich scheme but the lifestyle is great. There gets to be to many people owning to much farm. Doctors and lawyers have the money to buy land and they hire somebody to farm it. We need family farms; more people need to own the land. I guess I would rather see 10 people own a little bit than one person own a lot. We need more voices in agriculture."

The Risdall Family, Roland, Iowa - Story County from People Sustaining the Land, by Cynthia Vagnetti 2002.