Objective 1: To understand the food system that feeds people
Materials
Table: Food System Chart
Concept: The system that provides food is complex
Content
- Steps involved in the Food System include:
- Getting ready to grow the food
- Growing the food
- Moving food from the field
- Processing, selling or storing the food
- Preparing and eating the food.
- Each of these steps involves many processes and considerations (table
Food System Chart). And each process may
involve many people such as bankers, agriculture suppliers, farmers and farm
workers, truck drivers, food handlers, millers and bakers, as well as such
conditions as weather, roads and economic and political stability. It is this
complexity that makes our food supply vulnerable.
- The number of steps involved and the processes in
each step depend on the specific situation for each community and family. The
Food System Chart outlines steps and processes that may be involved in local and
commercial food systems.
- An important concept to consider is the waste of food
that happens because of pests and spoilage at the commercial and home levels.
Protecting the food supply from insects, rodents, moulds and spoilage can
greatly increase the amount of food available for people. Every year, poor
post-harvest handling and contamination ruin millions of tonnes of food.
Activities
Using the Food System Chart, have students develop and complete listing the
processes and considerations of each of the steps involved in the food system
that they depend on for food for their community. Pick one or more commonly
eaten foods and trace these from their origin, as an example of how the
local food system works. Discuss where the food system is vulnerable. For instance,
if the food system depends heavily on commercial agriculture, what would
happen if farm labour were not available, if a severe drought happened, if suddenly
all of the roads leading into the city were closed, etc.? if the local food
system depends heavily on family gardens, discuss what would happen if
conditions (floods, droughts) interrupted the crops.
