Sustainable Food Systems

Examines agricultural and food law and policy in the United States with a focus on enhancing sustainability and equity while ensuring a sufficient food supply. Surveys the history, overlapping mandates, authority, philosophies, and rules of the USDA, FDA, and EPA. Investigates policies pertaining to production, environmental impacts, food constituents, labeling, safety, manufacturing, marketing, retail, nutrition guidance and assistance programs. Recommended prerequisites: Introduction to Sustainable Food Systems: Nourishing Humanity within Planetary Boundaries. Previously offered as a special topics course.

The course will explore the evidence and ideas underlying some of the most important contemporary food system debates. We will ask: in enhancing the environmental sustainability of food systems, what do the data tell us about the roles that can be played by genetically engineered food, organic agriculture, local food systems, changes to animal agriculture, and reductions in food waste? Students will draw on peer-reviewed research to address the science, policy, and ethical dimensions of these topics.

Take each one-credit modules from among the courses below to build quantitative skills relevant to food systems work.

Benefit Cost Analysis (ENVM 5043): Analyze the environmental, economic, and international dimensions of a range of food production systems. Focuses on the economic benefit-cost analyses (BCA) that inform decision-making in food systems. BCA is a widely used economic valuation tool that involves estimating all benefits and costs in monetary terms and then adding and comparing those values and can help communicate the economic benefit of a proposed intervention.

Life Cycle Assessment - Bringing Objectivity into Subjective Conversations (ENVM 5044): Use the food system landscape to provide an introduction to life cycle thinking, including a survey of industry standards, approaches and tools useful in better understanding and making decisions around sustainability.

Introduction to Monitoring & Evaluation (ENVM 5045): Gain an understanding of traditional and new approaches to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in the context of food and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems in the developing world. Covers rigorous impact evaluation designs and when to use each.

Provides students with an overview and in-depth, engaged analysis of food and fiber specific supply chain management. Using a mix of lecture, group projects, guest lectures students will learn supply chain fundamentals, the challenges facing supply chain managers and develop solutions.

This course will examine the justice implications of the relationship between humans and the natural environment and in particular land use. We will take as a premise that all people have the right to access clean water, air and soil and to be free of contamination and hazardous pollution. We will look at current struggles and debates around topics of environmental quality and the processes that deny people access to basic resources and force some communities to bear environmental burdens more than other communities. In particular we will focus on the well-established ecological, economic and health related outcomes of the current industrial food system model. This course will ask students to link theories of social inequality and dynamics of power to those of environmental studies. This class will aim to foster student led discussions around race, class, countries of origin, and gender to understand how social relations of production and power intersect with environmental outcomes. We will primarily focus on the US but some attention will be given to international perspectives and issues.

Integrating a scientific framework, and ecological concepts with a concern social justice and cultural regeneration, this class introduces students to Agro-ecology as a discipline and a set of practices highlighting the multi-functionality of agricultural systems. We will also explore Agro-ecology as a social movement that aims to leverage traditional ecological knowledge to decolonize the multiple ecologies from seed to gut.

The course will explore the evidence and ideas underlying some of the most important contemporary food system debates. We will ask: in enhancing the environmental sustainability of food systems, what do the data tell us about the roles that can be played by genetically engineered food, organic agriculture, local food systems, changes to animal agriculture, and reductions in food waste? Students will draw on peer-reviewed research to address the science, policy, and ethical dimensions of these topics.

• Growing Gardens
• Metro Caring
• Applied Ecological Institute

• The Farm Collaborative
• East Denver Food Hub
• Danonne