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Syllabus

LU0092 Global food systems and food security, 15.0 Credits

Globala försörjningssystem och matsäkerhet

Subjects

Rural Development

Education cycle

Master’s level

Modules

Title	Credits	Code
Single module	15.0	0101

Advanced study in the main field

Second cycle, has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
Master’s level (A1N)

Grading scale

Language

English

Prior knowledge

Knowledge equivalent to 180 credits, including 90 credits within a particular major within humanities, social or natural sciences. Knowledge equivalent to English 6 (Swedish educational system).

Objectives

The aim of this course is to provide the students with an understanding of global food chains, i.e. how food is produced, marketed, distributed and perceived at global and local levels. The course will discuss how food systems are globally interconnected while at the same time food production also is part of local sustenance. Attention will be given to issues of global equilibrium and disequilibrium in both production and consumption, with a focus on how food systems are embedded in economic, social, cultural and political environments. The course will enable students to analyze the conditions required to achieve food security and the contemporary challenges caused by climate change, as well as economic, political and social tendencies and pressures. The course will provide students with knowledge and abilities needed both in postgraduate research and in professions focusing on global food systems and food security.

After completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• Understand and analyze the production and marketing of agricultural and animal products on regional and global scales; as well as how these scales are connected economically, politically and socially.

• Understand and account for the historical transformation from subsistence agriculture to agro-industrialization, and its effect on agricultural producers and communities.

• Understand and analyze how international political relations and the gradual internationalization of markets have affected food production, marketing, transportation and consumption.

• Understand and analyze the meaning of food security, how food security is dependent on ecological, economic, political and social factors how changes in these factors influence the emergence of the right to food movement and risk jeopardizing food security.

• Understand and account for social theories that aim to analyze global changes and connections of food production, marketing, transportation and consumption, such as world system theory, food regime theory and political ecology.

Content

This course introduces students to global food systems and the challenges of ensuring food security for all in a world of climate change, globalization, shifting demographies and new technologies. Food constitutes a major product in the contemporary global commodity value chain and this course provides students with analytical tools so as to be able to grasp and analyze the effects of global forces on local food production, on marketing, transportation and consumption of food. This course draws on theories and methods from sociology, social anthropology, human geography, economy, political science and agro-ecology. The course will enable students to critically analyze contexts, perspectives and the spatiality of the global food systems and food security, as well as distinct strategies of moral interventions, for example the development of certifications and the movement right to food.

Grading form

The grade requirements within the course grading system are set out in specific criteria. These criteria must be available by the course start at the latest.

Formats and requirements for examination

Approved home exam, approved participation in compulsory seminars and approved written assignments.

• If a student has failed an examination, the examiner has the right to issue supplementary assignments. This applies if it is possible and there are grounds to do so.

• The examiner can provide an adapted assessment to students entitled to study support for students with disabilities following a decision by the university. Examiners may also issue an adapted examination or provide an alternative way for the students to take the exam.

• If this syllabus is withdrawn, SLU may introduce transitional provisions for examining students admitted based on this syllabus and who have not yet passed the course.

• For the assessment of an independent project (degree project), the examiner may also allow a student to add supplemental information after the deadline for submission. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.

Other information

• The right to participate in teaching and/or supervision only applies for the course instance the student was admitted to and registered on.

• If there are special reasons, students are entitled to participate in components with compulsory attendance when the course is given again. Read more in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.

Responsible department

Department of Urban and Rural Development