Learn the basics of food access decision-making. In other words, who decides what ends up on your plate. Spoiler alert: it’s not just you! Have you ever considered that you’re not the only one who decides what food ends up on your plate? In this environmental studies course, you’ll explore how key actors at household, local, national and international levels negotiate and make choices on access to food. You will understand why the choices you make have been predestined. And you will learn what it takes to provide access to a safe and nutritious food supply every day.
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In this course you will learn that food access:
- And food manufacturing has changed during the past century
- Depends on social and economic dynamics at the household level for everyone
- Is shaped at a local level by the interactions between traders, retailers, producers and buyers in the markets
- Is influenced on a national scale by politics and policies by negotiating and aligning goals, instruments, and modes of governance ¥ is impacted by debates and negotiations creating conditions in food trade by international organizations.
This course is part of the Food Security and Sustainability XSeries.
What you'll learn:
After successful completion of both practice and graded assignments related to this course, you will:
- understand the basic principles of food access
- understand actors’ choices influencing food access
- discern dilemmas at household, local, national and international levels get the big picture when the connections between levels and actors regarding access to food have been unraveled.
Syllabus
Week 1: Setting the scene
Introduction to food access as one of the pillars of global food security
Week 2: Households accessing and allocating food
Introduction to social and economic determinants shaping access to food between and within households
Week 3: Traders arranging food access in local markets
Introduction to distribution and trading food at the local level
Week 4: National policy makers governing food access
Introduction to food policy and how political choices at the national level affect access to food
Week 5: Negotiators setting international trade rules for food access
Introducing the role of international trade for food access and its economic, social and cultural implications
Week 6: connecting the ingredients
Integration of levels and actors
