Syllabus

Schedule

Weekly Dates

Week 1: Oct 19 – Oct 25
Week 2: Oct 26 – Nov 1
Week 3: Nov 2 – Nov 8
Week 4: Nov 9 – Nov 15
Week 5: Nov 16 – Nov 22
Week 6: Nov 23 – Nov 29
Week 7: Nov 30 – Dec 6
Week 8: Dec 7 – Dec 11

Week One – Global Food System Overview 

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Report on how the food system has evolved throughout history to arrive at its current state, exploring how it developed into the industrialized model we know today.
• Map out the food system’s interconnected parts and the stages of the food supply chain, describing the path food takes from farm to fork.
• Discuss factors that have shaped and continue to shape food supply chains globally and domestically
• Explain why studying the food system is important and consider their own role in and relationship to the food system.

Readings

• Sage, Environment and Food. Chp 2: The Global Agri-Food System
• Parasecoli, Food. Chapter 2: Making Sense of the Food System.
• FCRNfoodsource: A free and evolving resource to empower informed discussion on sustainable food systems
  • Chapter 1: Overview of food system challenges, page 1-9
• Sobal J, Khan LK, Bisogni C. A conceptual model of the food and nutrition system. SOCIAL SCIENCE AND MEDICINE. 1998;47(7):853-864. Accessed June 14, 2022.
• UN Sustainable Development Goal #2: Zero Hunger
• Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Food System Primer

Discussion

Assignments

No major assignments this week. However:

• Read the final assignment prompt and instructions, including the FAO “Preparing Policy Briefs” document. This will give you an overview of the final assignment and understanding of how earlier assignments in the course contribute to the final product.
• Familiarize yourself with the DUNE website. 

Week Two – Food System Challenges: Global Food Security 

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Identify the six classes of nutrients provided by food.
• Explain how the six classes of nutrients are important for health and wellness
• Develop a one-day menu using guidance from the USDA’s My Plate.

Readings

• Parasecoli, Chp 6 and/or Sage, Chp 6
• FCRN FoodSource: Building Block- What is Food Security
• Committee on World Food Security:
  • CFS Structure
  • How it Works (read p121-127 of the PDF: Rules of Procedure of the Committee on Agriculture)
  • CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition

Discussion

Assignment

• Agricultural History — A Visual Timeline
• Schedule Faculty Check-in Call (refer to your facilitator’s announcements for additional details).

Week Three – Food System Challenges: Food System Sustainability

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Define what sustainability means within the context of the food system.
• Describe the challenges associated with achieving dietary sustainability.
• Explain how and why climate change occurs and analyze the connections between climate change and agriculture.
• Evaluate the pros and cons of strategies for reducing the food system’s greenhouse gas emissions at all levels of the social ecological model.

Readings

• Sage, Chp 4: Sections 1-4
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Sustainable diets, food, and nutrition: Proceedings of a workshop—in brief.  Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
• EAT Lancet Summary Report, 2019 and affordability article.
• Foodsource: Chapter 1- Overview of food system challenges, pg 10-13 and 1.6.2
• Zimek, M., Schober, A., Mair, C., Baumgartner, R.J., Stern, T. and Füllsack, M., 2019. The third wave of LCA as the “decade of consolidation”. Sustainability, 11(12), p.3283. 
• van den Bos Verma, M., de Vreede, L., Achterbosch, T. and Rutten, M.M., 2020. Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste. PloS one, 15(2), p.e0228369.
• Béné C, Oosterveer P, Lamotte L, et al. When food systems meet sustainability – Current narratives and implications for actions. World Development. 2019;113:116-130. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.08.011

Discussion

Assignments

• Annotated Policy Brief Bibliography
• Submit Notes from Instructor Check-in

Week Four – Food System Challenges: Labor Ethics 

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Identify and understand how agencies, statutes, regulations, and policies govern labor in the food system.
• Evaluate the working conditions of food systems workers, including agricultural laborers, slaughterhouse and food processing facility workers, grocery store workers, and restaurant and food service workers.
• Discuss the impacts of immigration policies on food system workers and worker welfare and the legal protections in labor law afforded to agriculture.
• Assess the necessity of special legal protection for agriculture in labor law and proposals to reform labor and employment laws to better protect food systems.

Readings

• Foodsource: Chapter 1- Overview of food system challenges -Sections 1.5 and 1.6.
• Lee, S. The Food We Eat and the People Who Feed Us. 94 Wash. U.L. Rev. 1249 (2017). 13
• Wolfe, E. When Workers are Killed on Small Farms, OSHA’s Hands are Tied. The Counter (November 28th, 2018).
• The hands that feed us. Nat Food 1, 93 (2020).
• APHA: Improving Working Conditions for U.S. Farmworkers and Food Production Workers

Discussion

Assignment

•  Problem Statement and Policy Analysis  

Week Five – Food System Challenges: Animal Welfare 

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Discuss the history of animals in agriculture and how animal agriculture has evolved over time.
• Engage in arguments on both sides of the animal welfare debate.
• Explain the linkages between antibiotic usage and human disease.
• Evaluate appeals to consumers (e.g. product labels and advocacy efforts).
• Propose potential alternative systems and policy tools that could be employed in addressing animal agriculture issues.

Readings

• Colin: Chp 1, pg 1-7; Chp 4, section 5 (pg 141)
• Foodsource
  • Chapter 8. Focus: the difficult livestock issue – Section 4
  • Chapter 11. What is the connection between infectious diseases in humans and livestock?
• Lam, Y., Fry, J.P. & Nachman, K.E. Applying an environmental public health lens to the industrialization of food animal production in ten low- and middle-income countries. Global Health 15, 40 (2019). 
• O’Connor, Annette M., et al. “Updated systematic review: Associations between proximity to animal feeding operations and health of individuals in nearby communities.” Systematic reviews 6.1 (2017): 86.
• Cornish, A.R., Briley, D., Wilson, B.J., Raubenheimer, D., Schlosberg, D. and McGreevy, P.D., 2020. The price of good welfare: Does informing consumers about what on-package labels mean for animal welfare influence their purchase intentions? Appetite, 148, p.104577.
• UN Food Programme. 2018. Tackling the world’s most urgent problem: Meat

Discussion

Assignment

• Policy Brief Solution Counterargument Chart

Week Six – Food System Fixes: Technology and Alternative Production Models

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Describe how the Green Revolution has shaped our current food system, assessing the pros and cons of its impact.
• Assess the pros and cons recent and theoretical technological advances in food production methods, including potential limitations and ethical issues. 
• Understand the purported benefits and barriers to intensive farming alternatives and how these systems fit into existing production methods.

Readings

• Parasecoli. Chp 5
• Sodano, V. Innovation Trajectories and Sustainability in the Food System. Sustainability. 2019 2019, 11, 1271; doi:10.3390/su11051271
• A New Green Revolution? Harnessing technology to feed a growing, hungry world. Harvard Magazine.
• IIED. Using technology to overcome challenges for farmers in value chains.
• CGIAR: Game-changing technologies to transform our food systems.
• Infographic: The Future of Food

Discussion

Assignment

• Policy Brief Summary/Executive Statement and Visual Aid

 

Week Seven – Food System Fixes: Policy and Law

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• List the names and roles of international bodies governing global food policy.
• Explain how international and national policies incentivize/disincentivize agricultural production practices and profitability.
• Debate the extent to which policies can serve as an effective means of redistributing existing food supplies to address food insecurity locally and globally.
• Describe the process by which international food policies are passed into law and enforced.

Lectures

• Policy and law

Required Readings

• IFPRI 2020 Global Food Policy Report: Food Policy Indicators: Tracking Change, Pg 88-94
• Berners-Lee, M., Kennelly, C., Watson, R. and Hewitt, C.N., 2018. Current global food production is sufficient to meet human nutritional needs in 2050 provided there is radical societal adaptation. Elem Sci Anth, 6(1).
• Fouilleux, E., Bricas, N., & Alpha, A. (2017). ‘Feeding 9 billion people’: Global food security debates and the productionist trap. Journal of European Public Policy, 24(11), 1658-1677.
• Prosekov, A. Y., & Ivanova, S. A. (2018). Food security: The challenge of the present. Geoforum, 91, 73-77.
• Neil W. Smith, in Reference Module in Food Science, 2016. International Influence in the Development of Food Policy.

Discussion

Assignment

• Final Policy Brief 

Week Eight – The Future of Our Food System

Weekly Learning Outcomes

• Integrate material from previous weeks into a cohesive reflection and outlook on the future of our shared food system. 
• Describe potential ways a sustainable food system can be realized.
• Explain the challenges and barriers faced in collectively achieving this goal.

Readings

• Parasecoli Chp 7 and/or Sage Chp 7
• Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.Beacons of Hope: Accelerating Transformations to Sustainable Food Systems.Global Alliance for the Future of Food, 2019.
  • Read pgs 13-16 (introduction)
• Caron, P., y de Loma-Osorio, G.F., Nabarro, D., Hainzelin, E., Guillou, M., Andersen, I., Arnold, T., Astralaga, M., Beukeboom, M., Bickersteth, S. and Bwalya, M., 2018. Food systems for sustainable development: proposals for a profound four-part transformation. Agronomy for sustainable development, 38(4), p.41. 
• L. Movilla-Pateiro, X. M. Mahou-Lago, M. I. Doval & J. Simal-Gandara (2020) Toward a sustainable metric and indicators for the goal of sustainability in agricultural and food production, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1754161. 

Discussions

Assignments

Post Elevator Pitch to Discussion Board

Student Resources

Online Student Support

Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.

Questions? Visit the Student Support Applied Nutrition page

UNE Libraries:

• Library Access for all students:  Your library login ID and password are the same as the ones you use to log into Blackboard/Brightspace.
• Applied Nutrition Database
• Library Tutorial: Find an article
• Library Questions: Ask a librarian or phone library staff at (207) 602-2361 or (207) 221-4330.

UNE Student Academic Success Center

The Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers a range of services to support your academic achievement, including tutoring, writing support, test prep and studying strategies, learning style consultations, and many online resources. To make an appointment for tutoring, writing support, or a learning specialist consultation, go to une.tutortrac.com. To access our online resources, including links, guides, and video tutorials, please visit:

• UNE Student Academic Success Center

Information Technology Services (ITS)

• ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673

Accommodations

Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.

Policies

AMA Writing Style Statement

In keeping with the requirements of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style, 11th edition is the required writing format for this course and is available at both UNE libraries under the title "AMA Manual." Additional support for academic writing and AMA format is provided throughout the coursework as well as at the UNE Portal for Online Students.

Online resources: AMA Style Guide

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in AMA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the Turnitin Student quick start guide.

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Course Evaluation Policy

Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.

Attendance Policy

Online students are required to submit a graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. If a student does not submit a posting to the graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET, the student will be automatically dropped from the course for non-participation. Review the full attendance policy.

Late Policy

Assignments: Late assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

UNE Online Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations.  Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final.  Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.