The U.S. food supply is a series of intersecting actors: farmers, food processors, food retailers, and consumers. However, these actors are in a complex system of policies such as the U.S. Farm Bill, which includes agricultural support programs, nutrition policies, and environmental regulations. Beyond the policy realm, for-profit (agribusiness and food manufacturers) and non-profit (food banks and faith-based organizations) actors engage and respond to this food system. Informed by systems thinking, the goal of the course is to provide learners with tools to understand and engage the U.S. food system.
This course aims to help learners become critical analysts of the food system so that they can become informed workers for positive change in the food system. This course is grounded in economics, though students do not need an economics background, situated in a multidisciplinary approach. An important outcome of this course is for students to develop skills in interpreting and communicating policies shaping the food system. Though many of the learners may have limited training in policy analysis, the structure of the course is to give these students the skills and tools to conduct a relevant analysis of the food system that is appropriate for their field of study.
Open to students from all degree programs. Undergraduate seniors can take the course with instructor permission.
Course Aims
- To map the food system for analysis
- To write an analysis of policies shaping the food system
- To assess texts critically on the U.S. food system
- To identify climate implications of U.S. food policies
- To articulate to lay audiences aspects of food policy for action
Course requirements:
- Develop an annotated bibliography from your research and give a class presentation
- Write a persuasive and evidence-based Op-ed aimed for newspaper publication
- Write a book review about U.S. food system and policy relevant for your policy brief
- Develop a policy brief on a topic of your choice and targeted for an organization matching your interest
Typical Policy-Brief Books
- Fielding-Singh, Priya. 2021. How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Store of Food and Inequality in America.Little Brown Spark.
- Fuster, Melissa. 2021. Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City. UNC Press.
- Gaddis, Jennifer. 2019. The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools.UC Press
- Kolb, Kenneth. 2021. Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate. University of California Press.
- Nabhan-Warren, Kristy. 2021. Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland. UNC Press.
- Povitz, Lana Dee. 2019. Stirrings: How Activist New Yorkers Ignited a Movement for Food Justice. UNC Press.
- Simon, Bryant. 2020. The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives. UNC Press
- White, Monica M. 2021. Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and Black Freedom Movement. UNC Press.
Required Texts:
- Imhoff, Daniel and Badaracco, Christina. 2019. The Farm Bill: A Citizen’s Guide. Island Press. Washington, DC.
- Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 2015. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18846.
Instructor: Norbert Wilson
Class Number: PARISH 820
Career(s):
Divinity School Fuqua Graduate Law Nicholas School of the Environment
Session: Spring 2025
Units: 3
Semester(s):
Spring 2025
Grading:
Graded
Class Attribute(s):
In-person lecture