Food Systems Thinker
Lesson 1.3 Interactions of Food Systems with Other Systems
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to explain a dynamic between food systems and other systems.
Think about three other systems that are important to the food systems.
Before moving forward with this lesson, download and review the worksheet.
Activity 1: Use the ExxonMobil clip below to respond to the questions on the worksheet.
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What are things and activities that the video clip shows or mentions? Name all. Compare your answers with a classmate.
In the kitchen__________________________________________________
At the oil drilling operation______________________________________
At the egg factory______________________________________________
During transportation___________________________________________
At the grocery store____________________________________________
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“You don’t need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible,
because we do.” What are consequences of thinking and not thinking about
the energy that you use?
If you think about energy you use, ________________________________________
If you don't think about energy you use, ___________________________________
Watch it on iSpot.tv
Activity 2: Go through the slides to learn about the interactions of food systems with other systems.
POlITICAL Systems
Political systems dictate food policies, along with environmental, land use, transportation and economic policies related to food supply.
Every single purchase of every food product is a political decision. What you eat is what you vote for.
Is there any system you have not thought of before? Which one(s)?
Activity 3: Watch the video and analyze factors that influence or could have influenced the operation at Trinity Acres Farm.
Say hi to Gary Cox on Trinity Acres Farm facebook
Vocabulary from the video clip
Diverse farming systems - Planting patterns that include two or more species interplanted together, fields that are planted in rotation of different crops, and crop-livestock integration on the farm.
Organic farming - Farming system that eschews use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and emphasizes building soil quality.
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) - Program in which consumers and farmers share the risks and benefits of agriculture; there are many models, but most commonly consumers pay a farmer at the beginning of a season and receive weekly produce distributions.
What influences or could have influenced the operation at Trinity Acres Farm?
Provide an example for each system with a brief explanation.
Cultural Systems
(Example) Customs: Gary mainly grows what he likes and what he’s used to eating growing up.
Climate Systems
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Health Systems
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Ecosystems
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Economic Systems
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Political Systems
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
You have explored different systems that work together for a certain purpose. For example, a system that transports eggs, a system that provides vegetables, and a system that feeds the community. You learned about dynamics between food systems and six other systems.
Quote
"Systems thinking is a discipline of seeing whole."
- Peter M. Senge
References
National Research Council. (2015). A framework for assessing effects of the food system. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Neff, R. (Ed.). (2015). Introduction to the US food system: Public health, environment, and equity. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, & University of Wisconsin-Extension Cooperative Extension. (2015). The Wisconsin food
systems education conceptual framework. Retrieved from
https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/wcee/Documents/FSE_Framework_Web.pdf