Food Systems Thinker
Lesson 1.1 A Whole and Its Components
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to identify the components of a food system, the processes in a food system, and their relationships.
Before we begin the lesson, take a few minutes to think about what you just ate, where it comes from, and how it gets from the farm to you.
FOOD SYSTEM AS A SYSTEM
A system is a network of interacting components that together form a complex whole.
Food system is a system encompassing all activities and resources that go into food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal of food and food-related items; the influences and outputs of those processes; and, the extensive and complex relationships between system participants and components.
Although, a system's components themselves are important, it is the relationships among components that make a system a system.
Listen to an example of how tomato sauce gets from the farm to your table.
Instruction: Listen to the Tomato Sauce Journey story. (Text also provided)
The Tomato Sauce Journey story highlighted some major processes in a modern food system including food production, distribution, processing, packaging, and retailing.
You will now learn about modern food systems and other processes involving in this type of food systems.
Q: How many types of food systems are there?
A: Three major types: traditional, intermediate, and modern.
Q: Which one plays the largest role in the United States?
A: Modern food systems (or ‘high external-input food systems’).
Consumers in modern food systems largely purchase processed, packaged food that originates from all over the world. The processing, transporting or trading, and retailing activities are all activities that are a substantial factor in employment and value addition. These activities also use substantial amounts of energy (mainly derived from fossil fuels) contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
Before moving forward with this lesson, download and review the worksheet.
Instruction: For the worksheet, choose ONE of these food items. Click on your chosen item to learn about its journey in a food system.
In the worksheet, you will practice systems thinking by highlighting the relationships and interactions in a food system. Examples are provided in the bottom section.
The slideshow below will give you more details about some processes in the modern food systems. While flipping through each image, also think about the components and the relationships between processes and components that bring the food item you chose from the farm to you and then to a disposal facility.
Instruction: Click the first image to start the slideshow of nine images.
Nine Processes in the Modern Food Systems
Use the slideshow to help you complete the worksheet.
Examples for the Worksheet
The Food System's Name
Tomato Sauce
The relationships between components and processes
Focusing on Processes
Distribution- A truck driver transports tomatoes from the farm and labels from a factory to a food processing plant, and empty cans to a recycling facility.
Focusing on Components
Water is needed in growing tomatoes, processing tomato sauce, making paper for labels, and recycling process. Truck drivers need to drink water during distribution.
While writing about relationships, you connected elements of components and processes together and thought about how they interact with each other. If you practice making this kind of connections regularly, you will be able to see that EVERYTHING is connected in some ways.
>>Changing interconnections or relationships in a system can change that system dramatically.<<
CONCLUSION
In this lesson, you learned about modern food systems and activities in the modern food systems. You have identified components and processes in a food system. Then, you connected them together by addressing their interrelationships and interactions within the food system. Remember that a system is a network of interacting components that form a complex whole.
References
Koch, P. A., Calabrese Barton, A., & Contento, I. R. (2008). Farm to table and beyond. New York, NY: Teacher College Columbia
University.
Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Neff, R. (Ed.). (2015). Introduction to the US food system: Public health, environment, and equity. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Westhoek, H., Ingram J., van Berkum, S., Özay, L., & Hajer M. (2016). Food Systems and Natural Resources: A United Nations
Environment Programme Report of the Working Group on Food Systems of the International Resource Panel. Retrieved from
http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/food-systems-and-natural-resources