Food Systems Thinker
Lesson 2.1 Key Players
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to explain the roles of various actors in the food systems and recognize different perspectives.
Before you begin, take a minute to identify a future career that you are interested in after graduating high school. While going through the lesson, think about how this career is relevant to the food systems.
Before moving forward with this lesson, download and review the worksheet.
A food system involves many actors. An individual can play various roles in a food system. A role we all have in common is we all are a consumer.
Activity 1: Learn about some of the actors in a food system through the slides.
ACTORS
in the Food Systems
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Based on the slides, which role in the food systems are you most interested in doing? Why?
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Choose an actor. How could you make their role in the food systems easier?
Example Decomposers and detritivores. I will not put coated paper or sticky labels in the compost pile because they contain toxins and can harm the decomposers and detritivores.
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Name one more actor in the food systems not mentioned in the slides. What is/are their role(s) in the food systems?
Meet Dr. Foster. He represents an individual who plays many roles in a food system. Some of his major roles include a bee keeper, food producer, businessman, educator, and researcher.
Activity 2: Learn about many different actors and different perspectives in a food system from the video.
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What are three strategies to protect the pollinators?
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What are the three pillars of sustainability that Dr. Foster uses in his bee keeping business? Give an example that he uses for each pillar.
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What is the consumers' role in determining how farmers produce food?
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Briefly explain how working at the university and at the apiary give Dr. Foster different perspectives or points of view.
Perspective is the way individuals see the world. It comes from their personal point of view and is shaped by life experiences, values, their current state of mind, the assumptions they bring into a situation, and a whole lot of other things.
"(Farm workers) are involved in the planting and cultivation and the harvesting of the greatest abundance of food known in this society. They bring in so much food to feed you and me and the whole country and enough food to export to other places. The ironic thing and the tragic thing is that after they make this tremendous contribution, they don’t have any money or any food left for themselves.”
– Cesar Chavez
Learn more: https://www.lexiconoffood.com/thefoodlist/farm-labor
Activity 3: Watch this clip to learn from farmworkers' perspectives.
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What are three hardships that the migrant farmworkers experience?
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How would the boycotts and strikes help the farmworkers?
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How would you handle the situation if you were in their shoes?
CONCLUSION
This lesson presents various roles of various actors in the food systems. You were encouraged to think about your future role in the food systems after graduating high school. You also learned about different perspectives which depend on many things including an individual's experiences and values.
Group Discussion
What role should corporations play in voluntarily improving the food they provide? What role should consumers play in pressuring them?