Food, Farms, and Community: Exploring Food Systems

by Lisa Chase, Vern Grubinger

Throughout the United States, people are increasingly concerned about where their food comes from, how it is produced, and how its production affects individuals and their communities. The answers to these questions reveal a complex web of interactions. While large, distant farms and multinational companies dominate at national and global levels, innovative programs including farmers' markets, farm-to-school initiatives, and agritourism are forging stronger connections between people and food at local and regional levels. At all levels of the food system, energy use, climate change, food safety, and the maintenance of farmland for the future are critical considerations. The need to understand food systems―what they are, who's involved, and how they work (or don't)―has never been greater.

Food, Farms, and Community: Exploring Food Systems takes an in-depth look at critical issues, successful programs, and challenges for improving food systems spanning a few miles to a few thousand miles. Case studies that delve into the values that drive farmers, food advocates, and food entrepreneurs are interwoven with analysis supported by the latest research. Examples of entrepreneurial farms and organizations working together to build sustainable food systems are relevant to the entire country―and reveal results that are about much more than fresh food.

Genres: Agriculture

296 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2014

Reviews

[Sam Bledsoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thorough study on food systems, and I think there's good information here for anyone interested in farming and agriculture, especially if they are interested in concepts like sustainability and local foods. It goes over concepts like soil health, agritourism, land transfers through estate planning, farm-to-school food programs, and has quite a bit of data about sales of food and food production. I even found it quite interesting that in the last chapter they took a couple paragraphs to talk about distributed networks and described a little about how farms could try and connected with other farms to create a better flow of information and create more education within the farming community. While the book talks about workers and even provides some case studies on the Jamincian immigrant workers in Vermont, I do wish the book talked more about farm worker education beyond the apprentice programs offered by some farms. I really can't fault the book for that since it offers so much more in terms of case studies, interviews and charts that provide a solid in-depth look at the topic.

[Chris Segovia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading for my sustainable food systems class. Very thorough and sometimes hard to read depending on the readers' interest in the chapter's subject material. It is filled with examples and studies in agroecology, how local food systems are structured, and how they interact with communities and the environment.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid introduction to understanding food systems and the policy, production, and consumer questions.