World Food System

Studiegidsnummer	5132WFSY6Y
Studielast	6 (EC)
Voertaal	English
Ingangseis	Second year Future Planet Studies students.
Studiejaar	Year 2
Periode(n)	Sem. 1 Sem. 2 jaar 2
Onderwijsinstituut	Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies
Docent(en)	dr. M.D. Davidson (coördinator) prof. dr. J. (John) Grin J Klingen S Norder J.V. Rothuizen (and guest lecturers from the Centre of World Food Studies - VU University Amsterdam)
Inlichtingen	Secretariat IIS Science Park 904 kamer C2.116a +31 20 5255190
Onderdeel van	Bachelor Future Planet Studies
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Leerdoelen

Gain insight in the concepts, mechanisms and drivers of the world food system, and agricultural policies affecting food production and trade:

• the historical development of worldwide demand for food and supply of food
• the principles of economic trade theories that are relevant for the world food system
• trade organizations and  trade policies: WTO, GATT, CAP
• the concepts of food security and food sovereignty 
• the influences of agriculture on the environment and vice versa
• the industrial organization of the food producing sector

Acquire competencies regarding Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for assessing land use and food production:

• Acquire familiarity with the basic principles of cartography, RS and GIS
• Develop the know-how to interpret and critically assess a simple chart, to make a thematic map with gathered (field) data and to handle these data as input for RS and GIS
• Ability to execute simple geographical analyses with the help of RS and GIS

Understand how to make optimal use of scientific insights, in spite of incomplete data and uncertainty of knowledge, in the context of urgent food related issues that need to be addressed.

Inhoud

The production of food is increasingly shaped by new issues like sustainability, safety and quality standards, consumer health, and industry concentration. In spite of the vast improvements and growth in food production, in Asia still hundreds of millions of people suffer from hunger and in Africa the situation  over the last three decades has improved only slightly. Rich and poor countries alike have been affected by the food crisis, or more precisely a series of  peaks in prices of agricultural commodities, such as cereals and oilseeds, and of crude oil and fertilizer. These events concurred with  a financial crisis and recessions.. Both scarcity and price volatility are now the key notions that characterize the world food situation  and seem to mark the shift towards a regime with new challenges for the formulation of coherent policies. Hence, the need for evidence based policies never has seemed so large, which should take into account the inherent complexity of the real world, and the interactions between the various fields, requiring a multi-disciplinary approach.

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Senior FPS students have to enroll in time. Subscription for classes is possible per semester. You can enroll until 4 weeks before the start of the semester. The registration period for classes in Blok 1, 2 & 3 (first semester) is from the 10th of June 10.00 till the 4th of August 17.00.

This course is not open to first year students.

Werkvorm

The course consist of weakly lectures. In addition there are four tutorials in which the topics will be further discussed and finally there are five computer practicums dedicated for GIS and RS.

Contacturen

Onderwijstijden

Please review http://www.rooster.uva.nl

Studiemateriaal

Southgate, D., Graham, D. H., & Tweeten, L. (2011). The world food economy. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN-13: 978-0470593622

Additional material will distributed through Blackboard.

Toetsvorm

The Assessment for this course on the World Food System consists of several parts:

• Assignments on Remote Sensing, counting for 15% of the final grade.
• Assignments on Geographical Information Systems, counting for 15% of the final grade.
• Making a final assignment on the studied literature, including RS & GIS-components, counting for 70% of the final grade.

To pass the course, the final assignment must be graded with a 5,5 or higher.

Opmerkingen

Attendance is compulsory. Unapproved absence may lead to exclusion of further participation of the course.