UC Berkeley: Berkeley Food Institute

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Type:

Food Studies

Categories:

Research, Policy, and Extension/Outreach Programs

Keywords:

• Berkeley, 
• California, 
• Food, 
• Justice, 
• Health

General info

While our current global agri-food system has achieved remarkable historical successes, it nevertheless increasingly fails on many fronts. The food system undermines ecosystem and cultural diversity, lacks resilience in the face of emerging climate change, wastes food and natural resources, creates pollution, fosters myriad social injustices—including exploitation of agri-food workers—and leaves millions of people hungry while others suffer from obesity. Meanwhile, efforts to transform the food system are emerging around the world. As social movements and civic initiatives protest and resist the predominant, industrialized system, they have catalyzed alternative, localized, regional, or global “agri-food networks” that may improve food sovereignty, environmental conditions, and human health and justice. These movements and initiatives represent exciting potential for progressive change. Yet they often suffer from fragmentation, lack adequate institutional and government support, and face many structural, political, and economic challenges in achieving their goals.