GEOG 259 - Global Change, Food and Farming Systems

This course explores issues in global, regional and local systems of food production, consumption, and sustainability, emphasizing the linkages of those systems to global environmental and economic change. We will explore interactions between agriculture and human societies (past and present), and consider the role of adaptation in agricultural innovation, decision-making, diffusion and change. The origins of agriculture (overview, major food crops in use today) will preface our analysis of contemporary farming systems. Themes such as demographic change, political economy and environment-development policy will be explored in depth throughout the course. Particular attention will be directed to the implications of changing land use systems, climate regimes, and economic liberalization and globalization for food security and food justice. We will study the implications of industrialization, urbanization, sociodemographic shifts, and institutional change for the diversity, supply, distribution and future of food, and for the broader sustainability of agro-ecosystems.

Prerequisites: GEOG 017 Environment and Society  ; OR PERM

 

Anticipated Terms Offered: fall & spring