SFS/SOS/AGB 215 Midterm Review Guide Module 1,2,3

• Understand what is meant by the term “food systems” [GAIN reading from first day]

  • What is included in this term? 

  • How does focusing on interconnections between system elements help us better understand food and agricultural issues?

The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population. 

A single action or change in one part of the network triggers wide-reaching ripple effects,

What is the story of the US buffalo herds?

The story of the American bison (historically called buffalo) is a tragic example of how political and agricultural motives transformed the US landscape.

Before European settlement, an estimated 30 to 60 million bison roamed the Great Plains. They were essential to the grassland ecosystem and formed a close relationship with Native American societies.

In the 19th century, the US government systematically eradicated the herds to accomplish two main goals:

Subjugation of Native Tribes: By destroying the primary food and economic resource of the Native Americans, and then forcing the tribes onto reservations.

Clearing Land for Agriculture: Eliminating the buffalo made room for cattle ranching and the expansion of the l railroads, permanently converting native grasslands into fenced agricultural territory.

By the late 1880s, the population declined drastically. Only intense, early conservation efforts saved the species from total extinction. Today, bison have experienced a modest recovery, managed largely in national parks, tribal lands, and commercial ranches.

What are the biggest categories of national agricultural land use? 

Pasture/range, Forest, Cropland, Special use, Misc, & Urban.

• Grassland pasture and range : the single largest share of agricultural and overall U.S. land used primarily for livestock grazing.

• Cropland: Totals 377 million acres, which includes harvested crops, crop failure, idled land, and soil improvement crops.

• Grazed forestland: Accounts for 118 million acres of forested areas that are also used for grazing.

• Farmsteads and roads: Encompasses approximately 6 million acres utilized for farm structures, buildings, and lanes.

What are the main crops grown by each US region?  How do the different agricultural regions compare and contrast with each other? [From “Agriculture” chapter in Parke Wilde book]

The Heartland: Centered in the Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana), this region is heavily dominated by corn and soybeans, alongside cash grain livestock feeding.

The Northern Great Plains: Covering the northern tier (North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota), the major crops here are wheat, barley, and oats, grown on very large, expansive acreage

The Fruitful Rim: Spanning coastal California, Arizona, the Texas coast, Florida, and the Pacific Northwest, this region specializes in fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and nursery crops.

The Basin and Range: Covering the rugged Intermountain West (Nevada, Utah, parts of Idaho and Colorado), farming here is mostly limited to forage/hay crops to support extensive cattle and sheep grazing.

The Southern Seaboard: Running through the Southeast, this area focuses primarily on poultry (broilers), cattle, peanuts, cotton, and tobacco.

• Water Source: The Midwest relies primarily on natural rainfall, whereas California and the West are entirely dependent on intensive, politically contested irrigation and groundwater pumping.

• Crop Diversity: The Midwest and Great Plains practice on vast fields of a single grain crop, whereas California boasts extreme crop diversity, growing hundreds of different fruits and vegetables.

• Economic Value vs. Volume: The Midwest leads in raw volume and acreage of crops (mostly for animal feed), while California leads the nation in agricultural cash receipts due to the high market value of fresh produce and nuts

From a food systems perspective, why do we care about urbanization? What are its drivers and consequences?

It fundamentally restructures food systems, reduces and degrades available farmland, and shifts labor away from production. As cities expand, they alter both how food is grown and how it is consumed

What drives people to urbanization is that people move from rural farming communities to cities in search of higher-productivity work and better incomes.

Know the USDA’s basic farm classification system typology – small, middle-sized, and large – in terms of their contribution to food production and environmental stewardship

Small- contributes little to food production but more to environmental stewardship. (More diversity)
Less than $350,000 Gross Cash Farm Income

Middle-sized (the disappearing middle)- Not used

Large- produce the most food, contributes little to environmental stewardship (Monocropping, High chemical inputs)
$1,000,000 or more Gross Cash Farm Income

While USDA has farm size typologies, place matters. A small farm in North Dakota would likely be a large farm in Massachusetts. It also matters what is being grown. Grain farms are larger, generally, than vegetable farms.

80% of small and middle-sized farms produce 20% of the food; 20% of large farms produce 80% of food

• Know important 20^th-century changes in the US agricultural sector

• How did the number of farms change since the mid-19^th century? How did average farm size and products change? (edit question later)

As farms became more specialized, the number of comodities decreased produced and becau

• Mid-19th to Early 20th Century Growth: The number of farms expanded rapidly as the nation settled westward,

• Mid-20th Century Decline: Farm numbers dropped steeply from the late 1930s through the early 1970s due to mechanization, increased productivity, and nonfarm job opportunities

• Diversified to Specialized: At the start of the 20th century, a typical farm produced an average of about five different commodities (a mix of various crops and livestock).

• Modern Concentration: By the end of the century and into modern operations, this dropped to about one commodity per farm. Farms transitioned into highly high-tech, specialized operations focusing intensely on just one or two major crops or a single type of livestock

Why is it misleading to say that agriculture in North America started with John Deere’s steel plow?

Because before that indigenous Americans had been using systems long before the english came. Some of their innovations include: the three sisters intercropping, Chinampas and Hohokam irrigation canals.

What is the “3 sisters” Indigenous planting technique, and what are its benefits?

The "3 Sisters" planting technique is a traditional Indigenous companion-planting method where corn, beans, and squash are grown together in small mounds to help each other survive and thrive

Helps the soil stay fertile

Be familiar with the broad actions and impacts of the Homestead Act, the Indian Removal Act, and the Morrill Land Grant Act. How did these acts work together to transform US agriculture?

 

Homestead act: The Homestead Act provided mostly white settlers of western lands with 40-120 acres.

The Indian Removal Act: Led to the forced, deadly displacement of tens of thousands of Native Americans (such as the Trail of Tears) and opened millions of acres of fertile land for white agricultural expansion.

Morrill Land Grant Act: Democratized higher education by creating over 100 "land-grant" universities (e.g., Penn State, Texas A&M) that turned farming from a trial-and-error trade into a data-driven science.

Together, they formed a brutal yet highly efficient pipeline: forced territorial acquisition, followed by rapid mass settlement, and finalized through scientific optimization.

Know the causes and consequences of the Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl occurred in the 1930s, when soil erosion was so severe that the sky became dark because so much soil was being carried into the air. This was mostly caused by many inexperienced people in the country moving out west, the abuse of the innovative steel plow, and the great depression.

Know how WWII affected US agriculture and food systems in the decades after the war ended 

The impacts of the war helped with the creation of victory gardens (which was already a thing in ww1): encouraged people to grow food in urban areas to conserve resources 

Packaged and processed foods: Non-perishable foods were created for the war, but once the war ended, they were marketed to Americans as an easy, long-lasting way to have a meal. 

Chemical technologies adapted for ag: DDT was created to kill insects but was also very harmful to consumers, which was not known at the time. 

After the war, there was a Widespread adoption of synthetic N fertilizer on farms

Development and export of new seed varieties (ie, dwarf wheat)and important agri-chemicals, especially synthetic N fertilizer,

What did Norman Borlaug do? Know why people disagree about the long-term legacies of the Green Revolution

Norman Borlaug developed high-yielding, disease-resistant dwarf wheat varieties that launched the Green Revolution, earning him the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Borlaug assumed the continued availability, affordability, and desirability of the new chemical technologies (especially synthetic fertilizer). Crtics believe that instead of trying to understand what there needs were, he kind of just forced these new crops onto the people, and the crops heavily relied on toxic pesticides.

What are some reasons Fannie Lou Hamer is still celebrated by advocates for just food systems [Monica White reading]

Hamer recognized that true freedom meant independence from oppressive state and commercial food systems. Instead of relying on paternalistic food pantries or welfare programs—which often pathologized the community—the FFC practiced prefigurative politics and economic autonomy. Pioneered structural food justice and food sovereignty by providing people with jobs in agriculture, housing support, and disaster poverty relief.

Understand the concepts of “food security” and “food insecurity” and explain how the latter is different than hunger

Food security, for a household, means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.

Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways

Insecurity is different from hunger because Insecurity is caused by socioeconomic conditions that cause the lack of access to food, while hunger is a sensation caused by the need to eat.

Why are food insecurity and obesity linked in the US today? [FRAC reading on “Understanding the connections.”

Food insecurity and obesity are linked in the United States because they are both consequences of socioeconomic disadvantage and resource scarcity. People with lower incomes have less access to healthy foods because healthier foods can be more expensive, creating cycles of overeating the available food. Stress also causes weight gain and the lack of resources to stay active

At a general level, what are some of the ways the US government has sought to address food insecurity at home?

1939 - 1st Food Stamp Program (FSP) 

• For every $1 worth of orange stamps (for any food) purchased, 50 cents worth of blue stamps (surplus food only) were also received 

• 1946 - School Lunch Program established

• 1961 - 1964 Food Stamps Pilot Program

• 1964 - Food Stamp Act (purchase requirement)

• 1972 - Creation of Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program

• 1974 - FSP Expanded Nationwide

• 1977 - The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 

• (eliminated purchase requirement)

• 1990s - Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Card Development

• 2008 - Name changed to SNAP

• 2010s - SNAP at Farmers Markets 

• 2025 - SNAP benefits cut (increased work requirements, and states’ responsibility, fewer authorized retailers, decreased

What does food systems expert Mark Winne say causes food insecurity?

Mark Winne asserts that food insecurity is primarily caused by

• systemic, policy-driven failures

• widening socioeconomic gap

• structural issues within the industrial food system

He points to the drastic cuts to public welfare and federal nutrition programs (such as the rollback of food stamps/SNAP entitlements) during the 1980s.

The explosion of food banks and pantries created a parallel system that temporarily relieves hunger but fails to fix it.

Food deserts—urban and isolated rural neighborhoods completely devoid of supermarkets, healthy grocery stores, or farmers' markets.

What are food policy councils and how do they help combat food insecurity?

Food policy councils (FPCs) are organized coalitions of community stakeholders, government officials, and industry experts that collaborate to evaluate, design, and improve local, state, or regional food systems

How does food security compare to food sovereignty?

Food security focuses on the availability, access, utilization, and stability of food supplies. It measures success through caloric intake, nutritional metrics, and price stability, often relying on global markets and industrial agriculture

Food sovereignty focuses on political control, human rights, and self-determination. It champions local control, small-scale farming, agroecology, and culturally appropriate foods, challenging corporate dominance in the food chain.

Food security asks if people have enough to eat, while food sovereignty asks who controls how food is grown and distributed

Compare and contrast the safety of working in fishing, farming, and the overall national workforce (come back to edit/add) SEP 29 slides

The agriculture industry consistently ranks highly for occupational injuries and fatalities. 20 deaths per 100,000 workers (national average = 4 deaths per 100,000 workers). The agriculture industry consistently ranks highly for occupational injuries

• Farm children are at risk as well

Fishing: Dangerous occupations in the US. Fatality rate of 87 deaths per 100,000 workers (national average = 4 deaths per 100,000 workers). ** down from 114 deaths/100,000 workers 2000-2017! Many commercial fishing operations are characterized by hazardous working conditions, strenuous labor, long work hours, and harsh weather. Common hazards include vessel disasters, falls overboard, and onboard gear/equipment

Overall National Workforce: Averaged 3.7 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalents across all U.S. industries in 2022

Working in commercial fishing is significantly more dangerous than farming, and both far exceed the risks of the general national workforce. But more children are harmed in farms than in fishing.

Why was the Coalition of Immokalee Workers established?

(tomato capital) was home to some of the worst labor conditions in the US, including forced labor

wanted to combat severe economic exploitation, stagnant and declining wages, and extreme labor abuses faced by agricultural workers

What is the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ central program? What does it aim to do?

• Worker-based human rights organization

Established in 1993

• Fighting human trafficking and gender-based

violence at work

• Emphasis on education, coalitions, and

market-based pressures

Basically a work-based approach to eliminating modern-day slavery and inequalities in the agricultural industry.

Heart of FFP: Legally binding agreements where large retailers pledge to buy produce only from growers who follow the Fair Food Program's Code of Conduct

Understand the NOVA classification system and how it compares to the dominant approach to classifying foods in the US.

In 2009, Brazilian researchers at the University of São Paulo developed the NOVA classification system to group foods according to the nature, extent, and purpose of the industrial processing they undergo. It comprises 4 categories.

• Group 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Edible parts of plants (seeds, fruits, stems, roots) or of animals (muscle, eggs, milk) that have undergone minimal processing

• Group 2: Processed culinary ingredients. Ingredients such as oils, butter, sugar, and salt that are used to prepare, season, and cook freshly prepared Group 1 foods into dishes and meals.

• Group 3: Processed foods. Foods such as bottled vegetables, canned fruits in syrup, cheeses, and freshly made breads that have been processed to enhance their durability and/or sensory qualities, basically recognizable as modified versions of Group 1 foods

• Group 4: Ultra-processed foods. Any foods outside of Groups 1-3 which are formulated using additional ingredients (e.g., preservatives, antioxidants, stabilizers, emulsifiers, flavors) and/or processing techniques not normally used in home culinary preparation

The traditional US framework (managed by agencies like the FDA and USDA) evaluates a food item's healthfulness by looking at specific quantities of nutrients (like saturated fat or vitamins).

Be able to generally characterize the population of hired agricultural workers in the United States. Ie, what sectors do they work in, where are they from, and what is their legal status?

Most hired farm laborers work in crops (harvesting tomatoes or berries). The large majority of them come from Latin America, specifically Mexico. A small number are U.S.-born foreign citizens; second place goes to citizens, then non-citizens from foreign-born countries, and the largest number are undocumented workers. It’s hard to collect this data accurately given the fact that it’s not reported accurately

Know the basics of what federal agencies and departments oversee the safety of the country’s food supply (what the agencies are and what they do)

• Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA regulates roughly 80% of the U.S. food supply, including dairy, seafood, produce, packaged foods, and bottled water. It ensures domestic and imported foods are safe and accurately labeled.

• Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): An agency under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the FSIS regulates commercial meat, poultry, and processed egg products to ensure they are safe, wholesome, and properly labeled.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Part of HHS, the CDC tracks food borne illnesses, investigates outbreaks, and monitors the effectiveness of prevention efforts.

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The EPA sets limits for pesticide residues on food and protects public health from environmental and agricultural chemical risks.

• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS): Another branch of the USDA, APHIS protects the food supply by preventing and managing plant and animal pests and diseases before harvest.

• Agricultural Marketing Service - establishes quality and marketing grades and standards of dairy, fruits and vegetables, meat and other products.

Know the basics of the Food Safety Modernization Act

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law in 2010, shifts the focus of the U.S. food safety system from reacting to contamination outbreaks to actively preventing them across the global supply chain.

2010 SIGNED IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION 

FDA Food Safety Modernization Act 

• Largest expansion of FDA’s food safety authorities since the 1930s; major shift in emphasis from the FDA responding to contamination and outbreaks to prevention 

• Enhances FDA authority to inspect food manufacturing facilities; minimum inspection frequencies set every 3 or 5 years

• Gives FDA the power to order mandatory recalls of unsafe food (rather than request voluntary recall) 

 

• Also extended the HACCP-style prevention to most FDA-regulated food facilities, requiring written hazard analyses and preventive controls 

• HACCP= Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (prevention-based approach to safety applies to meat, poultry, seafood, and juice) 

Understand how the domestic “food at home” dollar compares to the domestic “food away from home” dollar.

Food at Home (FAH): Farmers receive 24.1 cents of every dollar spent on groceries and items meant to be prepared at home. The remaining (the marketing share) covers processing, packaging, transportation, and retail

Food Away from Home (FAFH): Farmers receive just 36 cents of every dollar spent on restaurant meals, fast food, or catered services. The remaining cents covers the high costs of food preparation, commercial cooking, labor, service, and restaurant overhead

The domestic "food at home" (FAH) dollar returns more than twice as much value directly to farmers compared to the "food away from home" (FAFH) dollar

At a general level, what is the H-2A visa, and how has it been changing?

The H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program provides a legal means to bring foreign-born workers to the United States to perform seasonal farm labor on a temporary basis, for a period of up to 10 months.

Debates and updates on reforming how wage rates are calculated to balance farm affordability with fair worker compensation.

Has also been tighter screening and a greater demand for these workers along the fruit rim

Know what it means to say that food is an inelastic good.

Food is an inelastic good because consumer demand for it changes very little when its price goes up or down

Be familiar with the overall trend of consolidation in the meat industry and its impacts in food systems. (Edit later)

Consolidation in the meat industry is the process where a small number of large multinational corporations acquire smaller processing plants, merge with competitors, and take control of the vast majority of livestock slaughter, packing, and distribution.

The 'Big Four' beef packers—Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef (owned by Brazil’s Marfrig)—slaughter roughly 80–85% of U.S. cattle. Oligopoly effects:2021 saw steep increases in the price of beef (21% increase). At the same time, prices farmers received for cattle declined.

• Supply Chain Fragility: Concentrated megaplants create single points of failure vulnerable to disease outbreaks, labor shortages, and climate disruptions.

• Economic Squeeze: Independent ranchers become price-takers, leading to a massive decline in independent livestock operations.

• Consumer Costs: Reduced market competition allows dominant packers to expand farm-to-wholesale price spreads and inflate supermarket prices.

• Worker & Community Harm: High-speed processing lines generate severe labor vulnerabilities, while rural towns suffer as local family farms disappear

Be familiar with the practice and implications of rendering. 

that cooks, dries, and upcycles inedible animal by-products into high-value secondary commodities. Because roughly 50% of a meat animal is considered inedible by humans, the livestock industry generates billions of pounds of raw material—including bones, offal, feathers, fat, and trimmings—along with restaurant grease and used cooking oils. Rendering acts as a massive waste-management and stabilization tool for global animal agriculture.