Food Systems

The food system in the Iron Age of Trentino Alto Adige (Italy):rural land use, agro-pastoral economy and food consumption

by Luca Gaetano Pisoni

Fields of Knowledge

by Annette Jorgensen

Jorgensen, A (2006) ‘Fields of Knowledge’ in Mary Corcoran and Michel Peillon (eds) Uncertain Ireland, Dublin: IPA, pp 117-128.

This chapter focuses on the theme of knowledge, and how it is produced and disseminated among Irish organic food... more This chapter focuses on the theme of knowledge, and how it is produced and disseminated among Irish organic food producers and consumers. The diffusion of knowledge about organic production has been hampered by the dominance of scientific knowledge associated with conventional food production, which has acted as a major barrier to conversion from conventional farming methods.

The Perfect Solution: How Trans Fats Became the Healthy Replacement for Saturated Fats

by David Schleifer

David Schleifer. 2012 “The Perfect Solution: How Trans Fats Became the Healthy Replacement for Saturated Fats.” Technology and Culture 53(1): 94-119.

Trans fats became part of the American food system due to a complex interplay among activism, industrial technology,... more Trans fats became part of the American food system due to a complex interplay among activism, industrial technology, and nutritional science. Some manufacturers began using partially hydrogenated oils, which contain trans fats, in the early twentieth century. Medical authorities began framing saturated fats as unhealthy in the 1950s. In the 1980s, activist organizations, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, condemned food corporations’ use of saturated fats and endorsed trans fats as an acceptable alternative. Nearly all targeted corporations responded by replacing saturated fats with trans fats, which fit easily into their existing products. Trans fats thus became the perfect solution to the political problem of saturated fats and to the technical problem of what to use in their place. Activists helped precipitate technological change, but by 1994, trans fats were no longer regarded as a solution. Instead, they became regarded as a new nutritional problem.

We spent a million bucks and then we had to do something: The unexpected implications of industry involvement in trans fat research

by David Schleifer

Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 2011, published online ahead of print.

Many scholars assume that industry meddles in scientific research in order to defend their products. But this article... more Many scholars assume that industry meddles in scientific research in order to defend their products. But this article shows that industry meddling in science can have a variety of consequences. American food manufacturers long denied that trans fats were associated with disease. Academic scientists, government scientists, and activists in fact endorsed trans fats as a healthier alternative to saturated fats. But in 1990, a high-profile study showed that trans fats increased risk factors for heart disease more than saturated fats did. Industry funded a U.S. Department of Agriculture study that they hoped would exonerate trans fats. But the industry-funded U.S. Department of Agriculture study also indicated that trans fats increased risk factors for heart disease more than saturated fats. Industry quickly began developing trans fat alternatives. This confirms that corporations get involved in science in order to defend their products. But involvement in science can be the very means by which corporations persuade themselves to change their products.

Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty In the Americas.

by Avery Cohn

co-edited with Jonathan Cook, Margarita Fernandez, Rebecca Reider, & Corrina Steward

This publication is based on the workshop “Food Sovereignty, Conservation, and Social Movements for Sustainable... more This publication is based on the workshop “Food Sovereignty, Conservation, and Social Movements for Sustainable Agriculture in the Americas,” held at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in April of 2004. Many of the articles
are summaries of speaker presentations and breakout session discussions that took place at the workshop. In addition, the publication includes academic pieces that reflect on issues raised during the workshop; case studies of local struggles and
successes in the U.S. and Latin America; and interviews with farmers and farmer representatives who presented at the workshop.

Food, Consumer Concerns, and Trust: Food Ethics for a Globalizing Market

by Frans W.A. Brom

The New Green Revolution: How Twenty-First-Century Science Can Feed the World

by Gaetan Vanloqueren

With Olivier De Schutter. Solutions, Vol. 2(4), July-August 2011, 33-44.

The combined effects of climate change, energy scarcity, and water paucity require that we radically rethink our... more The combined effects of climate change, energy scarcity, and water paucity require that we radically rethink our agricultural systems. Countries can and must reorient their agricultural systems toward modes of production that are not only highly productive, but also highly sustainable. Following the 2008 global food price crisis, many developing countries have adopted new food security policies and have made significant investments in their agricultural systems. Global hunger is also back on top of the international agenda. However, the question is not only how much is done, but also how it is done—and what kinds of food systems are now being rebuilt.

Agroecology, the application of ecological science to the study, design, and management of sustainable agriculture, offers a model of agricultural development to meet this challenge. Recent research demonstrates that it holds great promise for the roughly 500 million food-insecure households around the world. By scaling up its practice, we can sustainably improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and thus contribute to feeding a hungry planet.

Liminality in Modernity: "Alternative" Foods and Music Festivals

by Michael Miller

draft only

Music festivals and alternative food networks are examined as sites for liminality.  What does the growing... more Music festivals and alternative food networks are examined as sites for liminality.  What does the growing popularity of such movements reflect about  society at large?  This paper explores these two categories of community and what purpose they serve in the lives of their individual participants.  Everyone participates in some sort of liminal activity in some capacity particularly in modernity where alienation is widespread and more and more individuals feel disenfranchised. 

Understanding High Quality Food Through Cultural Economy: The ‘Politics of Quality’ in China’s Northeast Japonica Rice

by Amy Zader

Agriculture and Human Values

Managing uncertainty: a review of food system scenarios and models

by Michael Reilly

Co-authored with Dr Dirk Willenbockel
Published in Royal Society Phil Trans B

Complex socio-ecological systems like the food system are unpredictable, especially to long-term horizons such as... more Complex socio-ecological systems like the food system are unpredictable, especially to long-term horizons such as 2050. In order to manage this uncertainty, scenario analysis has been used in conjunction with food system models to explore plausible future outcomes. Food system scenarios use a diversity of scenario types and modelling approaches determined by the purpose of the exercise and by technical, methodological and epistemological constraints. Our case studies do not suggest Malthusian futures for a projected global population of 9 billion in 2050; but international trade will be a crucial determinant of outcomes; and the concept of sustainability across the dimensions of the food system has been inadequately explored so far. The impact of scenario analysis at a global scale could be strengthened with participatory processes involving key actors at other geographical scales. Food system models are valuable in managing existing knowledge on system behaviour and ensuring the credibility of qualitative stories but they are limited by current datasets for global crop production and trade, land use and hydrology. Climate change is likely to challenge the adaptive capacity of agricultural production and there are important knowledge gaps for modelling research to address.

Mapping Food System Vulnerability to Drought in Ghana

by Lindsay Stringer

Antwi-Agyei P, Fraser EDG, Dougill AJ, Stringer LC, Simelton E 2012 Mapping Food System Vulnerability to Drought in Ghana Journal of Applied Geography 32(2), 324-334 doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.06.01

This study evaluates new multi-scale, multi-indicator methods for assessing the vulnerability of crop production to... more This study evaluates new multi-scale, multi-indicator methods for assessing the vulnerability of crop production to drought at a national and regional scale. It does this by identifying differences across and within ten regions of Ghana, a country that faces many climate and crop production challenges typical of sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, we illustrate how a quantitative national and regional study is a critical first step in assessing differences in the drought sensitivity of food production systems and show how such an assessment enables the formulation of more targeted district and community level research that can explore the drivers of vulnerability and change on a local-scale. Finally, we propose methodological steps that can improve drought sensitivity and vulnerability assessments in dynamic dryland farming systems where there are multiple drivers of change and thresholds of risk that vary in both space and time. Results show that the vulnerability of crop production to drought in Ghana has discernible geographical and socioeconomic patterns, with the Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions being most vulnerable. Partly, this is because these regions have the lowest adaptive capacity due to low socioeconomic development and have economies based on rain-fed agriculture. Within these regions we find considerable differences between districts that can be explained only partly by socioeconomic variables with further community and household-scale research required to explain the causes of differences in vulnerability status. Our results highlight that national and regional scale multi-indicator vulnerability assessments are a vital (and often ignored) first step in assessing vulnerability across a large area. These inputs can guide both local-level research and also demonstrate the need for region-specific policies to reduce vulnerability and to enhance drought preparedness within dryland farming communities.

Food systems

by Wim Broekaert

P. Erdkamp (ed.) A cultural history of food in classical antiquity (800 BCE - 500 CE). Oxford (forthcoming).
Written together with A.J. Zuiderhoek.

How did ancient Greeks and Romans acquire the food they needed? For most people at all times and everywhere in the... more How did ancient Greeks and Romans acquire the food they needed? For most people at all times and everywhere in the ancient world, the answer to that question was easy: they were farmers who cultivated their own food. Small farmers and their families consumed most of what they produced. Their surplus they sold on the local urban market to raise money to buy the necessities they lacked and pay off debts, rents and taxes. Wealthy landowners similarly fed their households, stocked some of their produce, and sold the rest.
For people living in towns and cities, the situation was different: they had to buy most of their food (at least if they were not urban-based farmers who commuted daily to their lands in the city’s territory, as many townspeople did throughout Greco-Roman history). If they were attached to elite households as slaves, freedmen or clients, they might also receive part of their nourishment from their masters or patrons. Those with citizen status might in addition receive food distributions from the civic government, either as emergency rations in times of shortage, or on a regular basis, as in the case of the later Republican and imperial Roman annona. Then, there might be the occasional generous elite benefactor, doling out grain, wine or olive oil, or organising a public banquet. Also, meat was often distributed among the populace after religious sacrifices.
Whatever the means by which its urban inhabitants acquired their food in practice, every ancient town tried to live largely off its own land. Self-sufficiency was the economic and moral ideal. The ideal, however, was not often matched by reality, for throughout classical antiquity, food (especially the Mediterranean staples, grain, wine and olive oil) was distributed over wide areas, regional and interregional. In this chapter, therefore, we shall focus on the transportation, advertising and marketing of foodstuffs in the ancient world. We shall discuss the different ways in which food reached the Greek and Roman consumer. Attention will be given to various distribution patterns, from non-economic redistribution of food by cities and empires to large scale commercial trade. We shall also discuss local markets and the everyday sale of foodstuffs in shops and stalls. Finally, we will devote some attention to the technology of transportation and to the diverse ways in which foodstuffs were advertised.

Minnesota's Food Industry: A Vision for the Future

by Robert M. Yawson

Dale Wahlstrom, Rebekah Kent, Amy Johnson Charest, Mohammed Rehan Malik, Robert Yawson,


St. Louis Park, MN: BioBusiness Alliance of MN and Deloitte Consulting LLP | January 29, 2009

This Minnesota food vision document is the culmination of more than a year of research and disciplined examination of... more This Minnesota food vision document is the culmination of more than a year of research and disciplined examination of the world that is evolving to determine how Minnesota’s industry will be impacted by these changes. Destination 2025 is the first initiative of its kind that examines six primary bioscience-based industries individually and simultaneously, so that overlapping opportunities can be identified and leveraged. It is intended to help Minnesota decision makers in developing six significant markets of the bioscience-based economy. Through the detailed Strategic Flexibility process that has been adopted, information will be made available to leadership so clearer, more confident, and coordinated decisions about elements of our state’s economic strategy can be made, and our communities’ participation in these industries enhanced. The process is not intended to pick “winners” or “losers” but to make recommendations, that if implemented, will provide Minnesota with the strongest possible infrastructure to help our companies compete now, and in the future, in the industries of their choosing. The goal of this process is to ensure that Minnesota remains a strong global leader in the food industry and helps to shape the industry’s future.

Destination 2025: Focus on the Future of the Food Industry

by Robert M. Yawson

Mohammed Rehan Malik, Robert Yawson, Drew Hensel


St. Louis Park, MN: BioBusiness Alliance of MN and Deloitte Consulting LLP, 2009 | January 29, 2009

This white paper aims to inform decision makers in academia, government, and industry of the range of potential... more This white paper aims to inform decision makers in academia, government, and industry of the range of potential opportunities likely to emerge in the food industry, and to identify technologies, products, and knowledge clusters critical to taking advantage of these opportunities. We have identified potential growth opportunities in the food industry based on a broad view of emerging and future industry trends and technologies. The technology and product opportunities are matched against a range of future scenarios. The result is a portfolio of technologies, products, and knowledge clusters relevant for those scenarios, which can be a starting point for discussion about opportunities for the regional industry. Decision makers can begin with those opportunities to develop a vision for the region. Similarly, individual entities can themselves formulate strategies specific to their needs to manage the uncertain future.