Ethics, Hunger and Globalization


Book Description

This unique book adds an ethics dimension to the debate and research about poverty, hunger, and globalization. Scholars and practitioners from several disciplines discuss what action is needed for ethics to play a bigger role in reducing poverty and hunger within the context of globalization. The book concludes that much of the rhetoric is not followed up with appropriate action, and discusses the role of ethics in attempts to match action with rhetoric.




Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems


Book Description

This comprehensive text provides the latest research on key concepts, principles and practices for promoting healthy and sustainable food systems. There are increasing concerns about the impact of food systems on environmental sustainability and, in turn, the impact of environmental sustainability on the capacity of food systems to protect food and nutrition security into the future. The contributors to this book are leading researchers in the causes of and solutions to these challenges. As international experts in their fields, they provide in-depth analyses of the issues and evidence-informed recommendations for future policies and practices. Starting with an overview of ideas about health, sustainability and equity in relation to food systems, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems examines what constitutes a food system, with chapters on production, manufacturing, distribution and retail, among others. The text explores health and sustainable diets, looking at issues such as overconsumption and waste. The book ends with discussions about the politics, policy, personal behaviours and advocacy behind creating healthy and sustainable food systems. With a food systems approach to health and sustainability identified as a priority area for public health, this text introduces core knowledge for students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines including food and nutrition sciences, dietetics, public health, public policy, medicine, health science and environmental science.




Globalization of Food and Agriculture and the Poor


Book Description

The world agri-food system is getting increasingly 'globalized'. As the majority moves into cities, and those who remain in rural areas adopt urbanized lifestyles the consumption of food is changing toward varied yet similar consumption around the world. This book reflects on how these changes are affecting the poor by looking at specific factors that are driving change. The chapters consider different angles to the following questions: How do these changes affect the roles and powers of various actors along the food chain? How relevant are these trends to the economic developments within the global agri-food system, and in particular to the poor segments of society? How is the globalization of foods affecting human health? How can international and national policy address possible adverse direct and indirect effects of globalization of the world's agri-food system while strengthening positive ones? The book attempts to combine both lines of inquiry, focusing more specifically on the globalization of agri-food systems, the actual and potential impacts of these trends on the poor, and the implications for food and nutrition security in developing countries.




Food Policy for Developing Countries


Book Description

Despite technological advances in agriculture, nearly a billion people around the world still suffer from hunger and poor nutrition while a billion are overweight or obese. This imbalance highlights the need not only to focus on food production but also to implement successful food policies. In this new textbook intended to be used with the three volumes of Case Studies in Food Policy for Developing Countries (also from Cornell), the 2001 World Food Prize laureate Per Pinstrup-Andersen and his colleague Derrill D. Watson II analyze international food policies and discuss how such policies can and must address the many complex challenges that lie ahead in view of continued poverty, globalization, climate change, food price volatility, natural resource degradation, demographic and dietary transitions, and increasing interests in local and organic food production. Food Policy for Developing Countries offers a "social entrepreneurship" approach to food policy analysis. Calling on a wide variety of disciplines including economics, nutrition, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, medicine, and geography, the authors show how all elements in the food system function together.




Local Food Systems; Concepts, Impacts, and Issues


Book Description

This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Defining ¿local¿ based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers¿ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Charts and tables.




A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System


Book Description

How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality, and the federal budget. From the earliest developments of agriculture, a major goal has been to attain sufficient foods that provide the energy and the nutrients needed for a healthy, active life. Over time, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption have evolved and become highly complex. The challenges of improving the food system in the 21st century will require systemic approaches that take full account of social, economic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Policy or business interventions involving a segment of the food system often have consequences beyond the original issue the intervention was meant to address. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System develops an analytical framework for assessing effects associated with the ways in which food is grown, processed, distributed, marketed, retailed, and consumed in the United States. The framework will allow users to recognize effects across the full food system, consider all domains and dimensions of effects, account for systems dynamics and complexities, and choose appropriate methods for analysis. This report provides example applications of the framework based on complex questions that are currently under debate: consumption of a healthy and safe diet, food security, animal welfare, and preserving the environment and its resources. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System describes the U.S. food system and provides a brief history of its evolution into the current system. This report identifies some of the real and potential implications of the current system in terms of its health, environmental, and socioeconomic effects along with a sense for the complexities of the system, potential metrics, and some of the data needs that are required to assess the effects. The overview of the food system and the framework described in this report will be an essential resource for decision makers, researchers, and others to examine the possible impacts of alternative policies or agricultural or food processing practices.




Waste Biorefinery


Book Description

Waste Biorefinery: Integrating Biorefineries for Waste Valorisation provides the various options available for several renewable waste streams. The book includes scientific and technical information pertaining to the most advanced and innovative processing technologies used for the conversion of biogenic waste to biofuels, energy products and biochemicals. In addition, the book reports on recent developments and new achievements in the field of biochemical and thermo-chemical methods and the necessities and potential generated by different kinds of biomass in presumably more decentralized biorefineries. The book presents an assortment of case-studies from developing and developed countries pertaining to the use of sustainable technologies for energy recovery from different waste matrices. Advantages and limitations of different technologies are also discussed by considering the local energy demands, government policies, environmental impacts, and education in bioenergy. - Provides information on the most advanced and innovative processes for biomass conversion - Covers information on biochemical and thermo-chemical processes and products development on the principles of biorefinery - Includes information on the integration of processes and technologies for the production of biofuels, energy products and biochemicals - Demonstrates the application of various processes with proven case studies




Aquaculture, Resource Use, and the Environment


Book Description

Aquaculture, Resource Use, and the Environment places aquaculture within the larger context of global population growth, increased demand for sustainable, reliable sources of food, and the responsible use of natural resources. Aquaculture production has grown rapidly in recent decades as over-exploitation and environmental degradation have drastically reduced wild fish stocks. As fish production has increased, questions have persisted about the environmental sustainability of current aquaculture practices. Aquaculture, Resource Use, and the Environment is a timely synthesis and analysis of critical issues facing the continued growth and acceptance of aquaculture practices and products. Chapters look at the past, present, and future demands for food, aquaculture production, and tackle key issues ranging from environmental impacts of aquaculture to practical best management practices in aquaculture production. Providing broad coverage of issues that are essential to the continued development of aquaculture production, Aquaculture, Resource Use, and the Environment will be vital resource for anyone involved in the field of aquaculture.




Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World


Book Description

This book is based on the assumption that “organic has lost its way”. Paradoxically, it comes at a time when we witness the continuing of growth in organic food production and markets around the world. Yet, the book claims that organic has lost sight of its first or fundamental philosophical principles and ontological assumptions. The collection offers empirically grounded discussions that address the principles and fundamental assumptions of organic farming and marketing practices. The book draws attention to the core principles of organic and offers different clearly articulated and well-defined conceptual frameworks that offer new insights into organic practices. Divided into five parts, the book presents new perspectives on enduring issues, examines standards and certification, gives insights into much-discussed and additional market and consumer issues, and reviews the interplay of organic and conventional farming. The book concludes with a framework for rethinking ethics in the organic movement and reflections on the positioning of organic ethics.




Making Better Policies for Food Systems


Book Description

Food systems around the world face a triple challenge: providing food security and nutrition for a growing global population; supporting livelihoods for those working along the food supply chain; and contributing to environmental sustainability. Better policies hold tremendous promise for making progress in these domains.