THE FUTURE OF FOOD NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the fundamental elements of food production, including water, soils, nutrients, crops, and animals.
• Analyze the carbon and water footprint of food production, ecological and climate impact of industrial farming, and examine the relations between land use,biological, energy and water resources and climatic conditions in relation to food production systems.
• Focus on the impact of agriculture on water, soil, biodiversity, and climate. Critical discuss novel farming methods, such as urban agriculture, hydroponics, and GMO’s.
• Discuss the health impacts of agrochemicals on human and other-than-human bodies, including pesticides/ herbicides, and fertilizers; and explore the relations between industrial agriculture, zoonotic diseases, antibiotic resistances, epidemics/pandemics.
• Understand the impact of politics, and the other industries on the food industry;
• Evaluate scenarios for the future of food, considering resilience in the context of climate change, human population growth, and socioeconomic, cultural and policy factors.
• Develop sustainable solutions to agriculture, and consider approaches tackling climate crisis, ecological degradation and issues concerning the burgeoning global population.

Course Content: This is an an introductory-level course that highlights the major challenges facing food production today and in the future. We will cover the issues of sustainability for agriculture, carbon footprint and ecological impacts of industrial farming, concentrated animal feding operations, fishing, hunting, meat, egg and dairy production, genetically modified organisms-based food systems, and their implications on biodiversity, life in water, food safety and human health. Topics covered will also include the political economy of food production, circulation and consumption; as well as the ethics, politics and technologies of lab-grown meat, plant-based nutrition, cellular agriculture and other alternative ways of feeding increasing human population without destroying other-than-human lives any further.