CAS 110 - Food, People and the Planet

1. Apply ethical, scientific and systems thinking to understanding past, current and emerging food systems.
2. Describe the connections between food production and processing, consumption, and waste systems nationally and globally.
3. Apply critical social science approaches to historical and contemporary agri-food systems as it relates to sustainability and equity.
4. Reflect upon personal food choices and perspectives about food and the role of food systems in shaping everyday life and health both personally and environmentally.

1. Utilize ethical theories and principles guided by empirical evidence and a systems approach when assessing food system dilemmas and benefits
2. Evaluate the challenges of achieving food security, social justice, and sustainability within a globalized, capitalist system
3. Understanding historical and current trajectories for agricultural production, food processing and the role of animals in food systems
4. Assessing the role of nutrition and food access for individual, environmental and population health
5. Assessing causes, consequences and possible solutions of climate change and habitat loss as it pertains to food systems

1. Ethics, Systems Thinking and Sustainability in Food Systems
   1. What are Food Systems
   2. Ethical Theories and Principles in Food Systems
   3. Systems Thinking and Empirical Evidence
   4. Overview of Sustainability and Equity
2. History of US Agriculture and Food Production
   1. Agricultural Beginnings
   2. Colonial Era-Mid Cold War Era
   3. Global Agriculture
   4. Agricultural Progress
      1. Industrial vs. Sustainable
      2. Subsistence vs. Commercial
3. Innovations in US Agriculture
   1. Farm Types and Urban Farming
   2. Role of Government and Policy in Agriculture
   3. Agricultural energy, transportation and chemicals
   4. Plant Breeding and GMO’s
   5. Biodiversity
4. Animals in the Food System
   1. Animal Foods in the Human Diet
   2. Histories of Cattle, Hog, Egg, Poultry and Dairy
   3. Hormones and the Use of antibiotics
   4. Environmental and Ethical Concerns
   5. Animal Foods and Human Health
5. Human Resources/Labor in the Food System
   1. History of Farm Labor, Farm Laborer Unions, Migrant   Farmworkers
   2. US Immigration Policies
   3. Black Land Loss in the US
      1. Pigford Cases and USDA Discrimination
   4. Food Justice and Food Sovereignty
   5. Cultural Foodways
6. Food Processing
   1. History, Methods and Emerging Technologies
   2. Costs and Benefits of Processed Foods
   3. Role of Governmental Regulation
   4. Consumer Attitudes
7. Nutrition and Food Access
   1. Nutrients in Food and Americans Nutritional Status
   2. Food Insecurity/Security
   3. Diet and Chronic Disease
   4. Food Intake and Food Marketing
   5. Food Desert/Food Apartheid
8. Food System Concentration
   1. Role of Food Firms and Industries
      1. Impact on communities, labor, human health, animal welfare and the environment
9. Sustainability of the Food System
   1. Sustainable Food Systems
   2. Climate Change and Threats to Food Systems
   3. Creating Sustainable Food Systems
   4. Personal Decisions and Choices
   5. Food waste
   6. Water Issues and Conservation Efforts