{"id":999,"date":"2019-07-24T15:59:35","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T15:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/?post_type=chapter&p=999"},"modified":"2020-01-20T21:08:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T21:08:23","slug":"2-10-a-fresh-perspective-sustainable-food-systems","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/chapter\/2-10-a-fresh-perspective-sustainable-food-systems\/","title":{"raw":"2.10 A Fresh Perspective: Sustainable Food Systems","rendered":"2.10 A Fresh Perspective: Sustainable Food Systems"},"content":{"raw":"The science of nutrition includes the study of how organisms obtain food from their\r\nenvironment. An ecosystem is defined as the biological and physical environments and their\r\ninteractions with the community of organisms that inhabit those environments as well as the\r\ninteractions among the organisms. Human nutrition and the health of the world\u2019s ecosystem\r\nare interdependent, meaning that what we eat and where we get it from affects the world. In\r\nturn, the health of the earth influences our health. The term sustainability is used to indicate\r\nthe variety of approaches aimed at improving our way of life. Sustainability promotes the\r\ndevelopment of conditions under which people and nature can interact harmoniously. It is\r\nbased upon the principle that everything needed for human survival depends upon the natural\r\nenvironment.\r\nA major theme of sustainability is to ensure that the resources needed for human and\r\nenvironmental health will continue to exist. A healthy ecosystem, one that is maintained over\r\ntime, is harmonious and allows for social and economic fulfillment for present and future\r\ngenerations. Nutritious foods come from our ecosystem and to ensure its availability for\r\ngenerations to come, it must be produced and distributed in a sustainable way. The American\r\nPublic Health Association (APHA) defines a sustainable food system as \u201cone that provides\r\nhealthy food to meet current food needs while maintaining healthy ecosystems that can also\r\nprovide food for generations to come with minimal negative impact to the environment.\u201d1\r\nIt also states the attributes of a sustainable food system are:\r\n\r\nAvailable\r\nAccessible\r\nAffordable to all\r\nHumane\r\nJust\r\nA sustainable food system does not just include the food and those who consume the food, but\r\nalso those that produce the food, like farmers and fishermen, and those who process, package,\r\ndistribute, and regulate food. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go to build a sustainable\r\nfood system.\r\n\r\nThe Challenges<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe most prominent challenge to building a sustainable food system is to make food available\r\nand accessible to all. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states\r\nthe right to food is a fundamental human right and its mission is to assist in building a foodsecure world. Food security in America (Figure 1.9) is defined as the \u201caccess by all people at all\r\ntimes to enough food for an active, healthy life.\u201d2\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nAs of 2009, 14.9 percent of households, or 17.4 million people in the United States, had very\r\nlow or low food security and these numbers have risen in recent years.3\r\nFood security is defined by the FAO as existing \u201cwhen all people, at all times, have physical,\r\nsocial, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food which meets their dietary\r\nneeds and food preferences for an active and healthy life.\u201d (Figure 1.10) The FAO estimates that\r\n925 million worldwide were undernourished in 2010. Although there was a recent decline in\r\noverall food insecurity (attributable mostly to a decline in undernourished people in Asia), the\r\nnumber of undernourished people world-wide is still higher than it was in 1970, despite many\r\nnational and international goals to reduce it.4\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nSource: Calculated by ERS based on Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data.\r\nFigure 1.10 Food Insecurity: A Global Perspective.\r\n\r\nAnother challenge to building a sustainable food system is to supply high-quality nutritious\r\nfood. The typical American diet does not adhere to dietary guidelines and recommendations, is\r\nunhealthy, and thus costs this country billions of dollars in healthcare. The average American\r\ndiet contains too many processed foods with added sugars and saturated fats and not enough\r\nfruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Moreover, the average American takes in more kilocalories\r\neach day than ever before. This shift of the population toward unhealthy, high-calorie diets has\r\nfueled the obesity and diet-related disease crisis in this nation. Overall the cost of food for the\r\naverage American household has declined since the 1970s; however, there has been a growth\r\nof \u201cfood deserts.\u201d A food desert is a location that does not provide access to affordable, highquality, nutritious food. One of the best examples of a \u201cfood desert\u201d is in Detroit, Michigan. The\r\nlower socioeconomic status of the people who live in this city does not foster the building of\r\ngrocery stores in the community. Therefore, the most accessible foods are the cheap, highcaloric ones sold in convenience stores. As a result, people who live in Detroit have some of the\r\nhighest incidences of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in the country.\r\nA fourth challenge to building a sustainable food system is to change how we produce, process,\r\nand distribute food. Large agribusiness, complex industrial processing, and massive retail\r\nconglomerations distort the connection we have between the food on our plate and where it\r\ncame from. More food is being produced in this nation than ever before, which might sound\r\ngood at first. However, some factors that have contributed to higher food production include\r\nusing genetically engineered plants, excessive use of herbicides and pesticides, and the\r\nselective promotion of only a few crops by the policy of crop-specific subsidies (money given to\r\nfarmers by the federal government). The subsidies are given toward the support of only about\r\neight crops, most notably corn and soybeans. This policy diminishes the variety of crops,\r\ndecreases biodiversity among crops, and supports large agribusiness while disadvantaging\r\nsmall- and medium-sized farms. Additionally, the whole system of food production, processing,\r\nand distribution is lengthy, requiring a great deal of energy and fossil fuels, and promotes\r\nexcessive use of chemicals to preserve foods during transportation and distribution. In fact, the\r\ncurrent US food system uses approximately 22 percent of the energy in this country and is\r\nresponsible for at least 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.5\r\n\r\nSolutions to the Challenges<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhile these challenges are daunting there are many potential solutions that are gaining\r\nmomentum in the United States. The APHA advocates expanding the infrastructure for locally\r\ngrown food, improving access to healthy and local food for low-income Americans, providing\r\neducation on food origin and production, building up the livelihoods of local farmers, and using\r\nsustainable farming methods. Detroit is currently a \u201cfood desert,\u201d but there is a fantastic\r\nexample of how to positively impact the growth of a sustainable food system within the city. It\r\nis called the Eastern Market and it is a six-block inner city market with over 250 vendors\r\nmarketing local produce, meat, seafood, plants, fresh-cut flowers and much, much more. Unlike\r\nmany urban farmers\u2019 markets it sells foods that are of better quality and lower prices than\r\ngrocery stores. Its forty-thousand visitors every Saturday demonstrate its success as a\r\ncommunity-based way to foster good nutrition, good health, and social interaction.\r\n\r\nReferences & Links 1<\/strong>\r\nAmerican Public Health Association. \u201cTowards a Healthy, Sustainable Food System.\u201d Policy Statement Database.\r\nPolicy no. 200712 (November 6, 2007). http:\/\/www.apha.org\/advocacy\/policy\/policysearch\/default.htm?id=1361 2\r\nUS Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. \u201cFood Security in the United States: Key Statistics and\r\nGraphics.\u201d Last updated June 4, 2012.\r\nhttp:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/Briefing\/FoodSecurity\/stats_graphs.htm#food_secure 3\r\nFood and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. \u201cFood Security: Concepts and Measurement.\u201d In\r\nCorporate Document Repository, ID: 144369. 2003. http:\/\/www.fao.org\/docrep\/005\/y4671e\/y4671e06.htm 4\r\nFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. \u201cHow Does International Price Volatility Affect Domestic\r\nEconomies and Food Security? In The State of Food Insecurity in the World. 2011.\r\nhttp:\/\/www.fao.org\/publications\/sofi\/en\/ 5\r\nCanning, P. et al. \u201cEnergy Use in the US Food System.\u201d US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Report,\r\nno. ERR-94 (March 2010). http:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/Publications\/ERR94\/ERR94_ReportSummary.pdf","rendered":"

The science of nutrition includes the study of how organisms obtain food from their
\nenvironment. An ecosystem is defined as the biological and physical environments and their
\ninteractions with the community of organisms that inhabit those environments as well as the
\ninteractions among the organisms. Human nutrition and the health of the world\u2019s ecosystem
\nare interdependent, meaning that what we eat and where we get it from affects the world. In
\nturn, the health of the earth influences our health. The term sustainability is used to indicate
\nthe variety of approaches aimed at improving our way of life. Sustainability promotes the
\ndevelopment of conditions under which people and nature can interact harmoniously. It is
\nbased upon the principle that everything needed for human survival depends upon the natural
\nenvironment.
\nA major theme of sustainability is to ensure that the resources needed for human and
\nenvironmental health will continue to exist. A healthy ecosystem, one that is maintained over
\ntime, is harmonious and allows for social and economic fulfillment for present and future
\ngenerations. Nutritious foods come from our ecosystem and to ensure its availability for
\ngenerations to come, it must be produced and distributed in a sustainable way. The American
\nPublic Health Association (APHA) defines a sustainable food system as \u201cone that provides
\nhealthy food to meet current food needs while maintaining healthy ecosystems that can also
\nprovide food for generations to come with minimal negative impact to the environment.\u201d1
\nIt also states the attributes of a sustainable food system are:<\/p>\n

Available
\nAccessible
\nAffordable to all
\nHumane
\nJust
\nA sustainable food system does not just include the food and those who consume the food, but
\nalso those that produce the food, like farmers and fishermen, and those who process, package,
\ndistribute, and regulate food. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go to build a sustainable
\nfood system.<\/p>\n

The Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most prominent challenge to building a sustainable food system is to make food available
\nand accessible to all. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states
\nthe right to food is a fundamental human right and its mission is to assist in building a foodsecure world. Food security in America (Figure 1.9) is defined as the \u201caccess by all people at all
\ntimes to enough food for an active, healthy life.\u201d2<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As of 2009, 14.9 percent of households, or 17.4 million people in the United States, had very
\nlow or low food security and these numbers have risen in recent years.3
\nFood security is defined by the FAO as existing \u201cwhen all people, at all times, have physical,
\nsocial, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food which meets their dietary
\nneeds and food preferences for an active and healthy life.\u201d (Figure 1.10) The FAO estimates that
\n925 million worldwide were undernourished in 2010. Although there was a recent decline in
\noverall food insecurity (attributable mostly to a decline in undernourished people in Asia), the
\nnumber of undernourished people world-wide is still higher than it was in 1970, despite many
\nnational and international goals to reduce it.4<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Source: Calculated by ERS based on Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data.
\nFigure 1.10 Food Insecurity: A Global Perspective.<\/p>\n

Another challenge to building a sustainable food system is to supply high-quality nutritious
\nfood. The typical American diet does not adhere to dietary guidelines and recommendations, is
\nunhealthy, and thus costs this country billions of dollars in healthcare. The average American
\ndiet contains too many processed foods with added sugars and saturated fats and not enough
\nfruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Moreover, the average American takes in more kilocalories
\neach day than ever before. This shift of the population toward unhealthy, high-calorie diets has
\nfueled the obesity and diet-related disease crisis in this nation. Overall the cost of food for the
\naverage American household has declined since the 1970s; however, there has been a growth
\nof \u201cfood deserts.\u201d A food desert is a location that does not provide access to affordable, highquality, nutritious food. One of the best examples of a \u201cfood desert\u201d is in Detroit, Michigan. The
\nlower socioeconomic status of the people who live in this city does not foster the building of
\ngrocery stores in the community. Therefore, the most accessible foods are the cheap, highcaloric ones sold in convenience stores. As a result, people who live in Detroit have some of the
\nhighest incidences of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in the country.
\nA fourth challenge to building a sustainable food system is to change how we produce, process,
\nand distribute food. Large agribusiness, complex industrial processing, and massive retail
\nconglomerations distort the connection we have between the food on our plate and where it
\ncame from. More food is being produced in this nation than ever before, which might sound
\ngood at first. However, some factors that have contributed to higher food production include
\nusing genetically engineered plants, excessive use of herbicides and pesticides, and the
\nselective promotion of only a few crops by the policy of crop-specific subsidies (money given to
\nfarmers by the federal government). The subsidies are given toward the support of only about
\neight crops, most notably corn and soybeans. This policy diminishes the variety of crops,
\ndecreases biodiversity among crops, and supports large agribusiness while disadvantaging
\nsmall- and medium-sized farms. Additionally, the whole system of food production, processing,
\nand distribution is lengthy, requiring a great deal of energy and fossil fuels, and promotes
\nexcessive use of chemicals to preserve foods during transportation and distribution. In fact, the
\ncurrent US food system uses approximately 22 percent of the energy in this country and is
\nresponsible for at least 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.5<\/p>\n

Solutions to the Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

While these challenges are daunting there are many potential solutions that are gaining
\nmomentum in the United States. The APHA advocates expanding the infrastructure for locally
\ngrown food, improving access to healthy and local food for low-income Americans, providing
\neducation on food origin and production, building up the livelihoods of local farmers, and using
\nsustainable farming methods. Detroit is currently a \u201cfood desert,\u201d but there is a fantastic
\nexample of how to positively impact the growth of a sustainable food system within the city. It
\nis called the Eastern Market and it is a six-block inner city market with over 250 vendors
\nmarketing local produce, meat, seafood, plants, fresh-cut flowers and much, much more. Unlike
\nmany urban farmers\u2019 markets it sells foods that are of better quality and lower prices than
\ngrocery stores. Its forty-thousand visitors every Saturday demonstrate its success as a
\ncommunity-based way to foster good nutrition, good health, and social interaction.<\/p>\n

References & Links 1<\/strong>
\nAmerican Public Health Association. \u201cTowards a Healthy, Sustainable Food System.\u201d Policy Statement Database.
\nPolicy no. 200712 (November 6, 2007). http:\/\/www.apha.org\/advocacy\/policy\/policysearch\/default.htm?id=1361 2
\nUS Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. \u201cFood Security in the United States: Key Statistics and
\nGraphics.\u201d Last updated June 4, 2012.
\nhttp:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/Briefing\/FoodSecurity\/stats_graphs.htm#food_secure 3
\nFood and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. \u201cFood Security: Concepts and Measurement.\u201d In
\nCorporate Document Repository, ID: 144369. 2003. http:\/\/www.fao.org\/docrep\/005\/y4671e\/y4671e06.htm 4
\nFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. \u201cHow Does International Price Volatility Affect Domestic
\nEconomies and Food Security? In The State of Food Insecurity in the World. 2011.
\nhttp:\/\/www.fao.org\/publications\/sofi\/en\/ 5
\nCanning, P. et al. \u201cEnergy Use in the US Food System.\u201d US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Report,
\nno. ERR-94 (March 2010). http:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/Publications\/ERR94\/ERR94_ReportSummary.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97093,"menu_order":10,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-999","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97093"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1117,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/999\/revisions\/1117"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/999\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=999"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=999"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-ltnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}