DIGGING DEEPER
Bringing a systems approach to food systems
KATE CLANCY
Transdisciplinary and systems approaches to food security
Published online December 14, 2017
Citation: Clancy, K. (2017).
Transdisciplinary and systems approaches to food security.
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 7(4), 13–16.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2017.074.012
I’ve been writing for several years now about the importance and usefulness of applying systems
concepts to work in food systems. Several of my JAFSCD columns have offered highlights from
different reports issued by the National Research Council (NRC, 2010) and from the Institute of
Medicine and National Research Council (Institute of Medicine & NRC, 2015) which have strongly
called out the need for transformative food and agriculture research (K. Clancy, 2013; 2016). In this
column, I want to focus on a report funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) and released in
May 2017 by the Association of Public and Land- Grant Universities (APLU), entitled The Challenge of
Change: Harnessing University Discovery, Engagement, and Learning to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security.
Although directed to public research universities, most of the analyses and recommendations apply
just as well to private universities and other institutions of higher education that are tackling food
security and insecurity at all levels.
Like the authors of the earlier documents, the close to 200 people who contributed to the food
security report agree that long-term food security is among the top, if not the primary, challenges
facing the world—and one of the most complex. They also agree with the earlier reports that transformative
research, which studies systems changes that are very different from the present system, should be more strongly emphasized (NRC, 2010).
I
Kate Clancy is a food systems consultant, visiting scholar at the Center for a Livable Future, Bloomberg School of
Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, senior fellow at the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, and adjunct professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She received her bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in nutrition at the University of Washington and the University of California Berkeley, respectively. She has studied food systems for over 40
years and has held positions in several universities, the federal government and two nonprofit organizations. Her present interests are regional food systems, food security, agriculture of the middle, and policies at all levels to encourage the development of resilient food systems.
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DIGGING DEEPER
Bringing a systems approach to food systems
KATE CLANCY
Transdisciplinary and systems approaches to food security
Published online December 14, 2017
Citation: Clancy, K. (2017).
Transdisciplinary and systems approaches to food security.
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 7(4), 13–16.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2017.074.012
I’ve been writing for several years now about the importance and usefulness of applying systems
concepts to work in food systems. Several of my JAFSCD columns have offered highlights from
different reports issued by the National Research Council (NRC, 2010) and from the Institute of
Medicine and National Research Council (Institute of Medicine & NRC, 2015) which have strongly
called out the need for transformative food and agriculture research (K. Clancy, 2013; 2016). In this
column, I want to focus on a report funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) and released in
May 2017 by the Association of Public and Land- Grant Universities (APLU), entitled The Challenge of
Change: Harnessing University Discovery, Engagement, and Learning to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security.
Although directed to public research universities, most of the analyses and recommendations apply
just as well to private universities and other institutions of higher education that are tackling food
security and insecurity at all levels.
Like the authors of the earlier documents, the close to 200 people who contributed to the food
security report agree that long-term food security is among the top, if not the primary, challenges
facing the world—and one of the most complex. They also agree with the earlier reports that transformative
research, which studies systems changes that are very different from the present system, should be more strongly emphasized (NRC, 2010).
I
Kate Clancy is a food systems consultant, visiting scholar at the Center for a Livable Future, Bloomberg School of
Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, senior fellow at the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, and adjunct professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She received her bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in nutrition at the University of Washington and the University of California Berkeley, respectively. She has studied food systems for over 40
years and has held positions in several universities, the federal government and two nonprofit organizations. Her present interests are regional food systems, food security, agriculture of the middle, and policies at all levels to encourage the development of resilient food systems.
TO READ FULL ARTICLE Please click on
^
