Food Systems & Sustainability

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/AM_1262

Course Objective

To provide students with a profound understanding of food systems and their dynamics, how different elements of the food system are connected, and opportunities for the transformation towards a more sustainable food system. By the end of this course, students are able to understand: existing concepts available to represent food systems;the components of food systems and their interactions;the role of food production through land use;the role of diets and consumption in food systems;the role of value-chains in the food system;how food systems connect producing and consuming regions, often over large distances;different methods and approaches for assessing and evaluating food system sustainability. and have gained the skills toApply theoretical food system knowledge gained throughout the course.Analyze food system-related data to assess sustainability outcomes.Evaluate solutions for improving sustainability in food systems using real-world examples.

Course Content

Food production leads to major global environmental change impacts and with changing consumption patterns these impacts are expected to further increase in the near future. The world faces a massive challenge to increase the sustainability of the current food system, thereby helping to ensure healthier diets, increase food security, and support rural communities while addressing climate change and safeguarding biological diversity. To be able to address this enormous challenge, a thorough understanding of the functioning of food systems is required, ranging from the production of food to the choices underlying consumption patterns and the value chains that connect these. The master course “Food Systems & Sustainability” aims to provide students with a profound understanding of the functioning of food systems and the ways these can be studied and evaluated in terms of sustainability. We will discuss the different components of a food system and focus on the interactions and feedbacks in the food system. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which the food system affects multiple sustainability dimensions. Besides aiming at an understanding of the food system as a whole, the course will address the ways in which food systems vary across the world and how they change with time, ranging from local subsistence systems to globally connected value-chains governed by mega-companies. Students will be introduced to different scientific methods to analyze food systems and evaluate their sustainability implications.

Teaching Methods

- Lectures (HC); 10 sessions of 90 minutes
- Working lectures / seminars (WC); 2 sessions of 90 minutes

Method of Assessment

- Closed book exam: 60%.
- 4 assignments (individual or small group; exercises + short reports): 40% Students must pass all elements (5.5 or higher) in order to pass the course.

Literature

The course will use a syllabus that will be made available to the students. In addition, several journal articles and chapters from scientific reports are part of the reading material and will be made available via Canvas.

Target Audience

Students with an interest in the link between the natural environment and society and in sustainability problems of global food systems.

Entry Requirements

Students do not require a specific disciplinary background, although affinity with food sustainability and food security is useful. An emphasis within this course is the use of 'systems thinking' which is not a discipline, but a way of thinking about problems that tries to be holistic, focus on interdependencies and dynamics, and the different people involved.

Recommended background knowledge

Students will benefit from some experience with quantitative data andshould be able to conduct data analysis in Excel. Experience andknowledge of spatial data and Geographic Information Systems is not aprerequisite, but can help in completing some of the assignments.

Explanation Canvas

All course materials, assignments, and quizzes will be made available via Canvas only.