I. Executive Summary 3
II. Background 5
IIa. Charge 5
IIb. Situation 5
III. Aims 7
IV. Approach 8
V. Findings
Va. Strengths 9
Vb. Weaknesses/needs 10
Vb1. The Instructional Program 10
Vb2. Research and Outreach Programs 15
VI. Recommendations 22
VII. Appendices
Appendix A Members of the Task Force 24
Appendix B Supporting Courses for a Food Systems and Health Program 25
I. Executive Summary
At the request of Daryl B. Lund, Dean of the New York State College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the teaching, research and outreach
programs of that college and related units of Cornell University were reviewed
from the perspective in order to assess their prospective contributions
to a nationally/internationally leading effort in the area of Food Systems
for Health. The members of the Dean's Task Force are listed in Appendix
A.
A Food Systems for Health Program would address the need to implement
programs informed by a a new paradigm for research and outreach
connecting agriculture and health. This would expand the traditional view
of agriculture to include the objectives of human health and well-being
and, thus, would facilitate more effective approaches to solving the complex
and costly diet-related health problems of society. Cornell could become
a leading institution in the area, as the institution has clear and broad
collective strengths in many, if not all, aspects of food systems knowledge
generation and application. Comparable breadth exists in few other places.
Cornell offers more than 600 courses with some bearing to Food Systems
for Health; but only one includes the term "food system" in its
title. Of this total, a subset of 27 undergraduate-level and 19 graduate-level
courses can be considered as key courses for a Food Systems/Health program.
Collectively, these address the major components of the Food System; but
few individually undertake to provide broad integration of those components
into what can be called a "Food Systems" view. The need for trans-disciplinary
integration is greatest at the graduate level; but in courses at both levels,
there appear to be opportunities to increase not only the content/attention,
but also the analysis and integration of various aspects of Food Systems.
Most of the formal research/outreach programs of CALS are related to
the Food System for Health in some way, but the strongest relationships
are to primary agriculture, i.e., the "food production" and "food
acquisition" sub-systems. Several programs would appear to offer opportunities
to expand their Food System foci. The problem is that very few programs
explicitly undertake broad trans-disciplinary integration.
Comparisons to consensus Food System/Health priorities revealed gaps
in both the instructional and research/outreach programs. Most of these
were similar, indicating a number of Food System/Health issues not being
addressed within the college: accessory health factors (i.e., functional
foods, phytochemicals, nutriceuticals); marketing food/nutrition/health;
decision-making within the food system; gardens to achieve nutrition/health
goals; alternative agricultural methods/outcomes; integrative experiences
in food production, economics and nutrition/health; health economics; environmental
and health issues in agricultural development of poor countries; and nutrition
and health impacts of food and agricultural policies. This suggests opportunities
to develop new/expanded programs based on integrated visions of the environment,
food and health as conceptualized in the Food System Model.
There are clear advantages and opportunities for CALS (as well as other
Cornell units) to be realized by viewing and presenting its programs in
the Food System for Health context, as this view relates directly to consumers
while explicitly linking their interests with those of farmers and others
working at various levels in food systems. In order to capture these opportunities,
significant cross-disciplinary investment is needed. Such investment should
be made in ways that will not only make visible but also institutionalize
the view that food systems are, indeed, instruments of improving health.
In order to move Cornell toward a leading program in Food Systems for
Health, the Task Force recommends that a Food Systems for Health Center
be formed with the charge that it facilitate multi-disciplinary and interdepartmental
collaborations that will enhance the efficacy of the instructional, research
and outreach programs in CALS as well as throughout the University.
A structure for such a Center is proposed and the kinds of support it will need are outlined. The latter include commitments of faculty time from participating units, and modest support ($25,000/yr) from each the CALS Research Office and CIIFAD for use by the Program seed money to foster multi-disciplinary research projects to Food Systems and Health. It is recommended that the Center should be designed to mature over at least a 3-5 yr. time-frame during which CALS should make additional initial investments in the form of salary for a full-time program coordinator and
operational support ($10,000/yr.).
A Center agenda is proposed. It should include a number of activities designed to enhance the CALS instructional program:
Activities to enhance the CALS Research/Outreach Programs should include:
II. Background
IIa. Charge
Dean Lund charged the Task Force to review CALS activities related to Food Systems for Health, and to recommend steps that would improve the college position as a leading institution in this area.
IIb. Situation
Health is a Food System Outcome. Health and
well-being depend on access to sustenance provided by Food Systems,
i.e., the interrelated activities concerned with the production, processing,
acquisition and utilization of foods. Food systems vary considerably across
the world; each has evolved with little explicit attention to the balance
and quality of its nutrient outputs or to its overall ability to support
good health.
The US has serious diet-related health problems. Even the US, with the world's most plentiful and safe food supply and its most complex food system, has prevalent diet-related health problems:
These problems (see Table 1) erode the quality of life and have substantial social and economic costs(1), making them both consumer and public health issues.
New York State exemplifies these national problems. Many of its residents
have inadequate intakes of fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals and grains;
have excessive intakes of fat, cholesterol and sodium; consume sub-optimal
amounts of calcium (and dairy products) and iron; have breast-feeding rates
lower than the national average; and go without food on a regular basis
(mostly older adults).
Food, nutrition and health are also national development
issues. Malnutrition affects some 40% of the world's people,
particularly the poor in developing nations (Table 2). Some 840 million
people do not have enough food to meet their basic needs, and more than
a third of the world's children are stunted due to inadequate diets. Nearly
2 billion people live at risk to diseases resulting from deficiencies of
vitamin A, iodine and iron; most of them are women and children. By potentiating
infectious disease, malnutrition is thought to account for half of all child
deaths. Although impressive gains have been realized in global food production,
high-yielding, "Green Revolution" varieties of staple
grains have displaced traditional crops, decreasing the diversity of many
cropping systems and probably contributing to micronutrient malnutrition.
Clearly, better approaches are needed to meet the increasing demands of
a world that expects to add 2.5 billion people over the next 25 years. Because,
in an internationalized environment, global stability can be affected by
food-related problems in any part of the world, and because food security
will be increasingly threatened by continued population growth, food, nutrition
and health are also economic, political and national
security issues.
Table 1. Diet-Related Health Problems in the US
| problem | links to diet | people affected | impacts |
| anemia | insufficient bioavailable Fe | 20-28% of women; 10-21% children |
impaired work productivity, increased morbidity, poor growth |
| metabolic bone diseases | insufficient Ca; excess P; poor vitamin D status | 13 million fractures (200,000 of hip)/yr | increased fracture risk (hip, spine, radius); lost mobility; high mortality |
| low birth weight (<2kg) | poor prenatal care, including nutrition | 7 million; 50% infant deaths | increased morbidity and mortality |
| growth retardation | poor general nutrition | 13-15% of children 0-5y in some subgroups | impaired physical development |
| overweight | excess caloric intake, e.g., fat | 26% of people 20-74 yrs | increased risk to heart disease, diabetes, gall bladder disease, some cancers, osteoarthritis |
| heart disease and stroke | excess saturated fat, cholesterol, excess sodium, low folate | 7 million cases (350,000 deaths/yr) | increased morbidity and mortality |
| cancer | excess fat, low intakes of complex carbohydrates | 346,000 deaths/ yr (20% of all deaths) | increased morbidity and mortality |
| non-insulin-dependent diabetes | excess caloric intakes, e.g., excess fat | 7 million cases | increased morbidity and mortality |
Table 2. Diet-Related Health Problems in the Developing World
| problem | links to diet | people affected | impacts |
| insufficient food | calories, protein and all other nutrients | at least 840 million | lost work productivity, impaired physical and cognitive development; excess morbidity and mortality; social unrest |
low birth weight (<2kg) |
insufficient bio-available Zn, Fe | 35% of children 0-5 yrs. | impaired physical development; excess morbidity and mortality |
| vitamin A deficiency | insufficient pro-vitamin A-rich foods | 250 million (14 M with xerophthalmia) | impaired cognitive development; excess morbidity and mortality |
| anemia | insufficient bio-available Fe | 2.1 billion (including 42% of all women) | lost work productivity; impaired cognitive development; excess morbidity |
| iodine deficiency diseases | insufficient I and/or Se | 200 million (6 million cretins born/yr) | lost work productivity; impaired cognitive development |
Disciplinary approaches to these problems have had limited
success. The failures of food systems consistently to support
good health can be attributed, in part, to their many complexities and interactions
that ultimately affect nutrition and health outcomes. However, the constituent
elements of food systems have generally been addressed only in isolation
from each other rather than as parts of integrated systems. Accordingly,
the scientific support base for these activities has been constructed largely
along disciplinary lines, and research, training and outreach activities
relating to food systems have been developed in separate and largely non-interacting
programs. In the US, most of these activities, particularly those involving
production agriculture and outreach education, have been implemented through
partnerships between the federal and state governments and the Land Grant
Universities. While these partnerships have clearly led to remarkable gains
in agricultural production, those gains have not been fully translated
into improved health, as evidenced by the persistence of serious diet-related
health problems in this and other countries.
A new paradigm is needed. Developing sustainable solutions to diet-related health problems is beyond the capabilities of individual disciplines or sectors. This task calls for trans-disciplinary and trans-sectoral efforts that address food systems in holistic ways, i.e., from the production, acquisition and utilization of foods to the bio-physical, economic, social, public health and policy environments in which those activities are carried out. Human health and well-being must be viewed as explicit outcomes of food systems. Such a view would constitute a new paradigm, expanding the tradition view of agriculture to include the promotion of human health. When made an institutional value, this new paradigm would facilitate the development of innovative and more effective trans-disciplinary research, outreach and instructional approaches to the complex and costly diet-related health problems of society while bringing agriculture to the fore as a consumer issue.
III. Aims
The Task Force addressed this charge by undertaking the following tasks:
1. Identify institutional strengths in the area of Food Systems for Health
2. Review the general instructional program
2. Review CALS research/outreach programs
3. Identify needs and means for supporting a leading effort in Food Systems
for Health.
IV. Approach
This review was based on a conceptual Food System model informed by the
thinking of international scientists(2) and the research of Sobal et al(3).
This model considers Food Systems as encompassing all activities relating
to the production, acquisition and utilization of food. It accepts that
Food Systems are varied, complex, integrated, multi-component systems with
multiple inputs (e.g., labor, capital, knowledge, seed stock, etc.) and
multiple outcomes, including the health and well-being of people within
such systems. Food systems consist of sub-systems which can be described
somewhat vectorially (Table 3), proceeding from the physical activities
of the growing of food plants and animals to the physiologic utilization
by individuals of the nutrients provided by those foods.
Table 3. Main components of the Food System model
| Component | Subsumed Activities |
| Resource Inputs | materials, energy, human and economic capital, knowledge, etc. |
Food Production /"Producer" Sub-system |
activities related to the production, processing, transportation and marketing of food |
Food Acquisition /"Consumer" Sub-system |
activities related to the acquisition, preparation and consumption of food |
Food Utilization /"Nutrition" Sub-system |
physiologic utilization activities including ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, metabolism, excretion, etc., of food nutrients |
| Health and Well-Being Outcomes | human health and welfare in the broadest sense, including not only freedom from illness, but also physical and emotional well-being |
| System Contexts | biophysical and social environments |
The Food Systems Model makes it fairly clear that the development of
sustainable solutions to diet-related health problems (in both the industrialized
and developing world) will be best addressed using approaches that consider
all relevant causal variables and conceive of objectives
in multi-disciplinary terms. Such systems approaches contrast to
the traditional approaches to agricultural, food and nutrition, which have
generally been sectoral ones tending to address problems with relatively
narrow focus and to define objectives in limited ways. Systems approaches
address complex, real-world situations by considering effects across sets
of variables and call for dynamic modeling with the expectation that many
effects will be expected to be non-linear and discontinuous. Because systems
approaches take comprehensive views of both ends and means, they have particular
value in addressing diet-related health problems. While, historically, the
agricultural sector has measured its success in terms of production,
systems approaches expand that view to include measure of impacts on
human nutritional status. They do this by setting among the explicit
objectives of an agricultural system that of producing healthy people and,
to that end, that of producing foods of sufficient quality and quantify
to support human health and well being. Whereas health-based sectoral approaches
have traditionally focused on the proximate and evident causes of poor nutrition
in treating symptoms, systems approaches seek to identify the root causes
of poor nutrition and look broadly to Food Systems in the development of
sustainable solutions.
All courses currently offered in the university were considered on the
basis of the brief description of each published in Courses of Study,
1998-1999. The formal CALS programs were considered on the basis
of the draft program characterization made available for each in March,
1999.
V. Findings
Va. Strengths
Cornell has the potential to become the leading institution
in the Food Systems/Health area. It has broad collective strengths in many,
if not all, aspects of food systems knowledge generation and application.
Such a broad combination of recognized expertise exists in few other places;
yet, many of these strengths are underutilized to this end.
Table 4. Overview of Cornell Assets Related to Food Systems and Health
| asset | relevance to prospective Food System/Health efforts |
| CALS | CALS is considered among the leading American colleges of agriculture with notable strengths in agricultural economics, production agricultural technologies, plant and animal sciences, plant breeding, food science and technology (including the Food Venture Center), rural sociology (including the Farming Alternatives program), and international agriculture, and exciting initiatives in genomics/bioinformatics. The Divison of Nutritional Sciences and the Institute for Food Science are widely regarded as the leading academic research and training units in their fields. |
| Other Cornell units | These include the Veterinary College (immunology), the College of Human Ecology (human development, consumer economics, policy analysis and management), Medical School (there may be special opportunities to develop collaborations in health-related areas), and the A.R. Mann Library (one of the world's leading research libraries). |
| US Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory | The USPSNL is the only program in the world chartered to study the dynamics of nutrient interrelationships in food systems. |
| Boyce Thompson Inst. for Plant Research | BTI is among the worlds's leading basic plant research units, with notable strengths in plant molecular biology and the enhancement of the health value of plants. |
| Biotechnology Institute | The NY State Center for Advanced Technology Biotechnology Institute is a leading center for molecular biology, with numerous private-public sector linkages |
| UNU Technical Node | The planned development of the United Nations University technical node for Food and Nutrition should provide linkages to the food and nutrition activities in the UN system. |
| other linkages | Existing linkages with the University of Rochester School of Medicine (Rochester, N.Y.) and the Mary Imogene Bassett Research Institute (Cooperstown, N.Y.) can be further developed for several types of human studies. |
Vb. Weaknesses/Opportunities
There is clear needs to for CALS to develop new and effective modalities
for linking its existing programs in ways that help each to address consumer
health needs by focusing efforts at multiple points in the Food
System. To that end CALS must find more effective ways to engage multiple
stakeholders in discussions of food system related issues and to address
food, nutrition and health in ways that are perceptibly relevant to consumers,
farmers and the food industry. The college can do this by correcting some
obvious weaknesses:
1. Strengthening current programs. Current and anticipated trends in domestic and international demographic patters indicate increasing food needs for increasingly urban populations. This would indicate increasing needs for new post-harvest food-handling technologies, including small-scale food preservation methods as well as the general development of peri-urban agricultural methodologies, all of which should include nutrition/health among their explicit goals. It would also include the need to use econometric methods of analysis to address issues relating to global and domestic food security and their associated health outcomes. Therefore, CALS would appear vulnerable without:
2. Developing new programs. Notable by their absence are formal efforts in two areas of clear and growing consumer interest:
3. Supporting agricultural value-added ventures. Because "health" and "quality" will continue, perhaps among other civic values(4), to increase as important consumer values affecting the food purchasing choices, there are increasing opportunities for CALS to work with New York State producers to utilize these values. Such efforts presently include the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) labeling program. Other efforts could be developed in such areas as:
4. Supporting interdisciplinary collaborations. Enhanced collaborations among existing faculty would offer efficient ways of mounting multi-disciplinary, food systems-based efforts. These would include:
Vb1. The Instructional Program
Cornell offers a substantial number of formal courses that relate to Food Systems for Health.; most of these are in CALS(5). This includes a subset of at least 27 undergraduate-level (Table 5) and 19 graduate-level courses (Table 6) that were considered key to a Food System/Health effort, by the following criteria:
It was noted that none of these key courses is writing-intensive, i.e., none address an acknowledged need for experiences that can improve the written communication skills of CALS students.
Courses that relate primarily to a single component of the Food System
were identified as Supporting Courses (see Appendices A and B).
More than 600 other courses (at least 408 at the undergraduate-level and
at least 216 at the graduate level) related to the Food System/Health concept
in such supportive ways. It is surprising, with such a very large body of
course offerings related in some way to Food Systems/Health, that the term
"food system" occurs in only one course title.
The key courses at the undergraduate level collectively provided a good
balance of attention to the various major components of the Food System.
That this curriculum has developed as the result of other motive forces
is obvious(6). It is apparent that few courses undertake explicitly to provide
broad integration of those components into what might be called a "Food
Systems" view. One such course (FOOD 447 Post Harvest Food Systems)
is currently being taught by a Professor Emeritus; plans for the long-term
continuation of that valuable course are needed. Most undergraduates wishing
to choose electives that will provide breadth in Food System-related issues(7)
can do so by selecting a minimum of 2-4 courses. That very few of these
courses are presently identified with Food Systems makes that selection
not as easy as it should be.
The need for greater trans-disciplinary integration appears to be even
greater at the graduate level in that attention to health issues appears
to be fairly insulated from attention to agricultural, food technology,
resource utilization and, surprisingly, consumer issues. Nevertheless, the
course number and distribution would appear to be sufficient to support
the development of a minor field of Food Systems and Heath in the Graduate
School.. Such an effort would call for the addition of an effective integrating
experience such as a student seminar series.
There are a few apparent gaps in the overall curriculum related to Food
Systems for Health; these include some fairly topical issues that deserve
attention:
at the undergraduate level
at the graduate level
While it is difficult to know the actual course content from the short,
catalog descriptions, there appears to be unexploited opportunity to increase
in many courses the content/attention given to various aspects of the Food
System. This may be especially true for courses that focus primarily on
a particular component of the Food System. For example, diet-related health
issues could be considered contextually in courses in food science, food
economics and marketing, and many food production courses. Relegating those
topics to the field of Nutritional Sciences is not to expose students from
other majors to Food System issues of contemporary importance.
The potential barriers to making curricular changes are clear. Adding
new courses must be coupled to eliminating some current ones. New approaches
may be needed for mounting cross-listed courses to remove any barriers associated
with credit/support concerns. Improved coordination of courses must be done
within an environment of mutual and collective benefit. Inducements, such
as the awarding of teaching assistantships, will be needed to make some
changes. These are all issues in which the Dean's leadership can be very
effective.
Table 5. Key Courses for a Food Systems and Health program
| Food System component | Undergraduate Courses | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X |
ARME 100 Tradeoffs in Global Economic Issues: Is there a free lunch? BIO G/BIO SOC/SCI TECH 469 Food, Agriculture and Society BIO PL 240 Green World/Blue Planet BIO PL 442 Current Topics in Ethnobiology FOOD 101 Science and Technology of Foods FOOD 150 Food Choices and Issues FOOD 200 Introductory Food Science FOOD 396 Food Safety Assurance FOOD 447 International Postharvest Food Systems HIST 274 Foodways: A Social History of Food and Eating INTAG 300 Perspectives in Internat. Agric. & Rural Development NTRES 101 The Environment NS 115 Nutrition and Health: Concepts and Controversies NS 245 Social Science Perspectives on Food and Nutrition NS 247 Food for Contemporary Living NS 331 Physiological and Biochemical Bases of Human Nutrition NS 380 Integrating Food Systems and Human Nutrition Needs NS 451 Epidemiology and Health of Human Communities PAM 223 Consumers in the Market I PAM 303 Ecology and Epidemiology of Health PL BR 201 Plants, Genes, and Global Food Production PL BR 403 Genetic Improvement of Crop Plants PL PA 101 Fresh.Writing Sem: Pests, Pesticides, People & Politics R SOC 340 Food and Agriculture in Modern Society SCAS 190 Sustainable Agriculture SCAS 314 Trop. Cropping Sys.: Biodiv., Soc. & Environ. Impacts SCAS/BIO ES 473 Ecology of Agricultural Systems |
Table 6. Key Courses for a Food Systems and Health program
| Food System component | Graduate Courses | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X |
X X X X X |
AN SC 610 Seminar in Animal Science ARME/ECON 630 Policy Analysis: Welfare Theory, Agri. & Trade ARME 660 The World's Food ARME 665/NS 685 Food and Nutrition Policy ARME 740 Agricultural Markets and Public Policy ENTOM/TOX 370 Pesticides, the Environ. and Human Health FOOD 600 Food Science Forum (seminar) HORT 602 Seminar in Fruit and Vegetable Science HORT 625 Advanced Post-Harvest Physiology of Horticultural Crops INTAG 602 Agriculture in Developing Nations NTRES 618 Critical Issues in Conservation & Sustainable Development RSOC 661 Sustainable Agriculture and Development NS 607 Nutrition as an Integrating Discipline: Eval.,Crit. & Appl. NS/AN SCI 619 Field of Nutrition Seminar NS 637 Epidemiology of Nutrition NS 640 Social Science Theories in Nutrition NS 645 Nutrition Intervention in Communities: Global Perspective NS 680 International Nutrition Problems, Policies and Programs R SOC 661 Sustainable Agriculture and Development | |
Instructional Needs:
Vb2. Research/Outreach Programs
While it is recognized that the CALS program characterizations may not
fully or accurately represent all of the food system/health-related efforts
of every faculty member of CALS, let alone the contributions from other
Cornell colleges, this set of data has value in that it represents the faculty-designated
categories and linkages of the many research, teaching and outreach activities
of CALS. About a third of CALS programs have no apparent Food Systems
connections; however, most relate to Food System for Health in some way.
The mapping of the latter group on to the Food System model (Tables 7 and
8) shows considerable depth (35 programs) relating to primary agriculture
(i.e., the "food production" sub-system), with substantial investments
also relating to the "food acquisition" sub-system (25 programs)
and to food systems "resource inputs" (17 programs, most of which
deal with the biophysical environment). While clear strengths exist in areas
related to "health outcomes" and "system contexts" in
some programs, opportunities would appear to exist to address these issues
in other programs as well(9). Some programs focus on health outcomes, resource
inputs and system contexts; it would appear that these could be enhanced
by increasing their trans-disciplinary characters. Notably absent are many
programs that explicitly undertake broad integration across several components
of the food system.
Table 7. Food System Contents of CALS Programs
| Food System component | relevant programs* |
resource inputs food production food acquisition food utilization health outcomes system contexts |
17 35 25 11 12 15 |
*Many programs address more than one component.
The collective potency of CALS programs in Food System/Health was considered
relative to research/action areas generally considered to be of high priority,
i.e., those identified in 1996 by an international, multi-disciplinary expert
workshop 1 and in 1997 by Hess (10) at the AAAS symposium "Creating
Healthful Food Systems: Linking Agriculture to Human Needs".
This analysis reveals that, collectively, CALS programs can be seen as relating to most of the consensus Food System priority areas (Table 9). However, the actual coverage is very probably much less than indicated, for the reason that programs naturally do not address every issue that they might. It is also clear that most activities relating to these health-based priorities tend to be centered in the human/animal nutrition-related programs, with some contributions from the food sciences programs but relatively little in the plant science and social science programs. This suggests a fairly traditional, discipline-based deployment of faculty activities and, thus, significant potential for enhancing these efforts if effective means of trans-disciplinary linking can be developed. While acknowledging the important contributions of most programs to a prospective CALS Food Systems for Health effort, it would appear that a sub-set of 18 programs (Table 10) would be most directly related to such an effort.
Table 8. Food Systems Contents of CALS Research/Outreach Programs (part a)
| Food System component | Program | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X |
[x] 1 X X X X X X [x] 1 [x] 1 X |
[x] 1 X [x] 1 [x] 1 X X X X X X [x] 1 X X [x] 1 [x] 1 [x] 1 X |
X X X X [x] 1 [x] 1 X X [x] 1 X [x] 1 X X X X |
[x] 1 [x] 1 X [x] 1 [x] 1 |
Agricultural and Food Markets and Policy Agriculture, Extension and Adult Education Agroforestry Animal Breeding and Genetics Animal Management Systems Animal Nutrition Biological Control Biological Engineering Biology of Plant Diseases Business Management Community Analysis Community Nutrition Conservation Sustainable Develop. Conservation Biology Controlled Environment Agriculture Dairy Systems Environment and Society Environmental and Biochemical Toxicology Environmental and Resource Economics Environmental Engineering Environmental Microbiology Farming Alternatives Food and Fiber Production Engineering Food Quality Food Safety Enhancement Food Systems for Improved Health Forage-Livestock Systems Fruit Systems Human Community Systems and Processes Human Nutrition Information Systems and Technology Integrated Field Crop, Soil and Pest Management International Animal Agriculture International Economic Development and Trade International Nutrition Nutritional Biochemistry Plant Breeding and Genetics Plant Molecular Genetics and Plant Biotechnology Plant Physiology Policy Studies and Rural Education |
Table 8. Food Systems Contents of CALS Extension/Outreach Programs (part b)
| Food System component | Program | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
X X X X |
X X X X X X |
X X X X X |
X X [x] 1 |
X [x] 1 |
X X X X |
[x] 1 |
Population and Community Ecology Population and Development Program Post Harvest Science Poultry Systems Processing Tech. for Value-Added Food Products Resource Policy, Mngment & Human Dimensions Risk Communication Seed Science Soil and Water Resources Tropical Farming Systems Vegetable Crops Systems Waste Management Weed Science |
1 indicates apparent opportunity
Table 9. How CALS Programs Relate to Consensus Food System Research
Priorities
| priority area | relevant programs |
| improved household/community storage of fruits & vegetables | Post-Harvest Science Food Quality |
| identify foods for fortification that target vulnerable groups | Food Quality |
| identify means of assessing plant, animal and human micronutrient needs in local situations | *Plant Physiology Animal Nutrition Human Nutrition International Nutrition *Nutritional Biochemistry |
| increase cropping system diversification including integrated crop-livestock systems | *Forage-Livestock Systems Farming Alternatives Tropical Farming Systems |
| increase use of edible indigenous plants | Tropical Farming Systems Vegetable Systems |
| improve information, educ. & commun. methods to address multiple targets (households, communities, NGOs, governments) | Risk Communication *Community Nutrition |
| improve documentation and evaluation of food/agricultural programs & dissemination of results to potential users | |
| improve understanding of household food decision-making | *Community Nutrition |
| improve understanding of ways policies are developed | Food & Nutrition Policy Program Agricultural and Food Markets & Policy |
| identify means of promoting nutrition/health outcomes through effective and socially just policies | *Food & Nutrition Policy Program Agricultural and Food Markets & Policy |
| improve consumer demand for/marketing of healthy foods | Agricultural and Food Markets & Policy |
| research on health benefits, safety and technology of "functional foods", "nutriceuticals", "phytochemicals" | *Nutritional Biochemistry Food Safety *Animal Nutrition |
| make further improvements in food safety | *Food Safety |
| enhance health-promoting components of foods and reduce food components that contribute to chronic disease | Food Quality Animal Nutrition *Pl. Breeding & Genetics Plant Physiology Pl. Mol. Genetics & Biotech Food Safety Vegetable Systems Fruit Systems |
| understand interactions of nutrition and immune function | *Veterinary Immunology Animal Nutrition *Nutritional Biochemistry Human Nutrition |
| enhance capacity to promote dietary change through research on learning, appetite, psycho-social factors | *Human Nutrition *Community Nutrition |
| extend dietary guidance to vulnerable groups by diet-disease links at critical points in the life cycle | *Human Nutrition International Nutrition |
| develop more effective means of communicating emerging scientific information related to diet and health | Community Nutrition Risk Communication |
| understand the various factors affecting food insecurity and develop effective strategies and policies | *Community Nutrition *Food and Nutrition Policy Program |
| use agriculture as an explicit tool to improve human health | *Food Systems for Improved Health |
*programs most actively related to the corresponding priority
When viewed from the Food System/Health perspective, it is apparent that some areas in the CALS programmatic constellation (in some cases) are lacking or (in others) would benefit from wider involvement. These relate to topics of current and, likely, future scientific and public interest:
Most of these areas of need correspond to gaps previously identified
in the didactic program. This would suggest that to address important Food
System/Health issues such as these, CALS will need to undertake some deliberate
strategic positioning that will affect the trajectories of its research,
outreach and instructional programs which, of course, tend to be linked.
Strategic positioning of CALS to become the leading academic institution relating to Food Systems and Health will call for meeting three general institutional needs:
In order to determine the nature of the structure(s) that would be most
effective for promoting a leading Food System/Health effort, the Task Force
considered five priority research problems that call for trans-disciplinary,
Food System-based approaches for their solutions (Table 11):
Table 11. Some Problem Areas Appropriate for Food Systems-Based Research/Training
| Problem area | Target | Brief description | |
| US | LDCs | ||
| Preventing anemia | X | X | Anemia affects 4/10 women worldwide and 2-3/10 in the US; it is related to low utilization of iron and, thus, involves considerations of food iron amounts, form and bioavailability . It relates to a number of food issues including food choices, vitamin C contents, antagonists; invites trans-disciplinary approaches including food design/fortification and plant breeding; offers opportunities for economic evaluations of its various social impacts |
| Enhancing accessory health factors in foods; designing foods | X | x | This is the "functional food"/"nutriceutical area which is drawing great popular interest and will continue to grow in both biomedical and economical importance. It relates to chronic disease prevention by known nutrients (e.g., Se as an anti-cancer agent, antioxidants as anti-heart disease agents) as well as other factors in foods derived from plants ("phytochemicals", e.g., sulfuro-phanes and diallyl compounds as anti-cancer agents; antioxidants) and animals (e.g., conjugated linoleic acids in dairy products as anti-cancer agents). This is a natural area for plant genomic applications in nutrition/health, one in which considerable expertise is available at Cornell, BTI and USPSNL. |
| Increasing balanced nutrient outputs of cropping systems | X | This is an important area for "greener revolution" agriculture, which will need to provide more food energy (calories) and protein, and also adequate amounts of other essential nutrients including vitamins, minerals and trace elements. | |
| Improving the nutritional quality of staple foods | X | This is an area of some activity on campus. It relates to the need of "greener revolution" agriculture for plants that can be productive with minimal inputs due to enhanced efficiencies of using mineral nutrients from soils. If such plants can also retain minerals in edible tissues, then staples may serve as sources of micronutrients as well as energy and protein. | |
| Developing home gardens for optimal nutrient output | x | X | There are good opportunities to design home/homestead gardens for any of several types of health-related purposes (e.g., vits. A and C in areas with vitamin A deficiency and anemia; antioxidants and other phytochemicals). |
| Developing better means of assessing nutrient bioavailability | X | X | There are great needs to be able to evaluate the nutritional values of several essential minerals and potential sources of vitamin A in the context of whole diets which are known to affect their utilization. Biologically relevant in vitro models are needed for screening use with food (plant/animal) production systems. There is expertise in this area on campus; the challenge will be to expand that to address additional critical nutrients. |
LDCs, less developed countries
VI. Recommendations
VIa. Goals
The position of CALS is at stake in what is emerging as the "new agriculture", i.e., consumer-driven food production based on expanded definitions of "quality" and "health". If the college is to be a leader in, rather than a follower of, that effort it needs to accomplish three objectives over the next 3-5 years:
To achieve these goals the following proposal is offered.
VIb. Action
CALS should create a Center for Food Systems for Health.
The Center should be charged to facilitate multi-disciplinary and interdepartmental
collaborations that will enhance the efficacy of the instructional, research
and outreach programs in CALS and elsewhere in the University. It should
be configured to operate by coordinating related activities within several
member departments and other units, and by attracting extramural funding
to the collaborative activities of member faculty. To those ends it is proposed
that
Structure. The Center should consist of:
Support. The Center should have the following committed support:
Agenda. The Center should undertake the following activities to enhance the instructional program:
Agenda. The Center should undertake the following activities to enhance the Research/Outreach Programs:
Center Development. The Dean of CALS should initiate discussions
with the colleges of Human Ecology and Veteriary Medicine to identify areas
of common interest in the activities and support of the Center.
Appendix A: member s of the Task Force
Richard E. Austic, Department of Animal Science
Christopher Barrett, Department of Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics
Dale E. Bauman, Department of Animal Science
Don Beerman, Department of Animal Science
Gerald F. Combs, Jr., Division of Nutritional Sciences, co-chair
John M. Duxbury, Department of Soil, Crop and Atmospheric Sciences
Elizabeth Earle, Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry
Jere T. Haas, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Leon Kochian, US Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory
David Levitsky, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Thomas Lyson, Department of Rural Sociology
Paul McNamara, Department of Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics
Dennis Miller, Department of Food Science
Andrew Novakovic, Department of Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics
Jeffrey Sobal, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Norman T. Uphoff, Cornell Institute of Food, Agriculture and Development
Chris Wein, Department of Fruit and Vegetable Sciences
Ross M. Welch, US Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, co-chair
Jennifer Wilkins, Division of Nutritional Sciences
Appendix B: Supporting Courses for
a Food Systems and Health program (11)
undergraduate level:
ABEN 301 Renewable Energy Systems
ABEN 331 Environ. Control for Agr.Prod. Systems
ABEN 350 Biol. and Environ. Transport Processes
ABEN 435 Prinicples of Aquaculture
ABEN 454 Physiological Engineering
ABEN 456 Biomechanics of Plants
ABEN 474 Drainage and Irrigation Systems
ABEN 475 Environmental Systems Analysis
ABEN 476 Solid Wast Engineering
ABEN 477 Treatment and Disposal of Agr. Wastes
ABEN 478 Ecological Engineering
ABEN 482 Bioenvironmental Engineering
ARME 240 Marketing
ARME 250 Environmental Economics
ARME 302 Farm Business Management
ARME 346 Dairy Markets and Pricing
ARME 347 Strategic Marketing for Hort. Firms
ARME 402 Seminar in Farm Bus. Planning
ARME 403 Farm Management Study Trip
ARME 404 Advanced Agricultural Finance Seminar
ARME 405 Farm Finance
ARME 431 Food and Agricultural Policies
ARME 443 Food-Industry Management
ARME 446, 447 Food Marketing Colloquium
ARME 448 Food Merchandizing
ARME 450 Resource Economics
ARME 451 Environmental Economics
ARME/ECON 464 Economics of Agr. Development
AN SC 120 Animal Domestication and Behavior
AN SC 150 Domestic Animal Biology
AN SC 212 Animal Nutrition
AN SC 221 Introductory Animal Genetics
AN SC 250 Dairy Cattle Principles
AN SC 251 Dairy Cattle Selection
AN SC 265 Horses
AN SC 280 Molecular Biol. in Agr.and Medicine
AN SC/FOOD290 Meat Science
AN SC 300,301 Animal Repro.& Devel., lect. &lab
AN SC 305/BIO AP 312 Farm Animal Behavior
AN SC 321 Applied Animal Genetics Seminar
AN SC 322 Applied Animal Genetics Lab
AN SC 330 Commercial Poultry Production
AN SC 341 Biology of Lactation
AN SC 351 Dairy Herd Management
AN SC 355 Dairy Nutrition and Health
AN SC 360 Beef Cattle
AN SC 365 Equine Nutrition
AN SC 370 Swine Nutrition and Management
AN SC 380 Sheep
AN SC 392 Animal Growth Biology
AN SC 400 Tropical Livestock Production
AN SC 401 Dairy Production Seminar
AN SC 402 Seminar in Animal Sciences
AN SC 403 Tropical Forages
AN SC 410 Nutritional Physiology and Metabolism
AN SC 411 Applied Cattle Nutrition
AN SC 412 Livestock and the Environment
BIO AP 212 Human Physiology, non-biology majors
BIO AP 311/VET PHYS 346 Intro. An. Physiol.
BIO AP 313 Histology: the Biology fo the Tissues
BIO AP 316 Cellular Physiology
BIO AP 319 Animal Physiology Experimentation
BIO AP 419 Adv. Animal Phys. Experimentation
BIO AP 458 Mammalian Physiology
BIO BM 132 Orientation Lectures in Biochemistry
BIO BM 233 Introduction to Biomolecular Structure
BIO BM 320 Physics of Life
BIO BM 330 Principles of Biochemistry, tutorial
BIO BM 331 Prin. of Biochem.: Proteins & Metab.
BIO BM 332 Principles of Biochem.: Mol. Biology
BIO BM 333 Prin. of Biochem: Prot., Metab.&Mol. Biol.
BIO BM 334 Computer Graphics in Mol.r Biology
BIO BM 430 Lab. in Biochem., Mol. & Cell Biology
BIO BM 432 Survey of Cell Biology
BIO BM 343 Applic.of Mol. Biol. to Med., Agric. & Ind.
BIO BM 435-436 Undergrad. Biochem. Seminar
BIO BM 437 Eukaryotic Cell Proliferation
BIO ES 154 The Sea: and Introd. to Ocenography
BIO ES 261 Ecology and the Environment
BIO ES 263 Field Ecology
BIO ES 267 Introduction to Conservation Biology
BIO ES/ANTHRO/NS 275 Hum. Biol. & Evolution
BIO ES 452 Chem. Ecology & Coevolution
BIO ES 461 Population and Evolutionary Ecology
BIO ES 462 Marine Ecological Processes
BIO ES 463 Plant Ecology & Pop. Biology, lectures
BIO ES 465 Plant Ecology & Pop. Biology, lab
BIO ES 466 Physiological Plant Ecology, lectures
BIO ES 468 Physiological Plant Ecology, lab
BIO ES 476 Biology of Fishes
BIO ES 478 Ecosytem Biology
BIO G 101-102 Biological Sciences, Lectures
BIO G 103-104 Biological Sciences, Lab
BIO G 105-106 Introductory Biology
BIO G 107-108 General Biology
BIO G 109-110 Biological Principles
BIO G 202 The Diversity of Life
BIO GD Understanding Genetics
BIO GD 281 Genetics
BIO GD 282 Human Genetics
BIO GD 385 Developmental Biology
BIO GD 389 Embryology
BIO GD 480 Seminar in Developmental Biology
BIO GD 481 Population Genetics
BIO GD 482 Human Genetics and Society
BIO GD 483 Molecular Aspects of Development
BIO MI 192 Microogranisms on the Planet Earth
BIO MI 290, 291, 292 Gen. Micro. lect., lab & disc.
BIO MI 300 Seminar in Microbiology
BIO MI 391 Advanced Microbiology Lab
BIO MI 398 Environmental Microbiology
BIO MI 404 Pathogenic Bacteriology and Mycology
BIO MI 406 Clinical Microbiology
BIO MI 408,409/VET MED 417, 409 Viruses & Dis.
BIO MI 416 Bacterial Diversity
BIO MI 416 Bacterial Physiolgy
BIO MI 417 Medical Parasitolgy
BIO NB 221, 222 Neurobiology & Behavior I and II
BIO NB/PSYCH 322 Hormones and Behavior
BIO NB.PSYCH 324 Biopsychology Lab
BIO NB 325 Neurodiseases - Molecular Aspects
BIO NB 326 The Visual System
BIO NB/PSYCH 328 Biopsych. of Learn. & Memory
BIO NB 392 Drugs and the Brain
BIO NB/PSYCH 396 Intro. to Sensory Systems
BIO NB 421 Aging on Sensory & Perceptual Sys.
BIO NB 422 Modeling Behvioral Evolution
BIO NB/PSYCH 424 Neuroethology
BIO NB 425 Molecular Neurophysiology
BIO NB 426 Animal Communication
BIO NB 427 Animal Social Behavior
BIO NB/PSYCH 429 Olfaction & Taste
BIO NB 491 Principles of Neurophysiology
BIO NB/PSYCH 492 Sensory Function
BIO NB 493 Developmental Neurobiology
BIO NB 494 Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy
BIO NB 495 Mol. & Genetic Appr. to Neurosci.
BIO NB 496 Bioacoustic Signals in Animals & Man
BIO NB 497 Neurochem. & Molecular Neurobiology
BIO PL 241 Introductory Botany
BIO PL 242, 244 Plant Physiology, lectures and lab
BIO PL 245 Plant Biology
BIO PL 247 Ethnobotany
BIO PL 248 Taxonomy of Vascular Plants
BIO PL 342,344 Plant Physiology, lectures and lab
BIO PL 343, 347 Genet Engin.of Plants, Lect & lab
BIO PL 345 Plant Anatomy
BIO PL 346 Alagal Physiology
BIO PL 348 The Healing Forest
BIO PL 444 Plant Cell Biology
BIO PL 445 Photosynthesis
BIO PL 466,468 Physiol. Plant Ecology, lect.& lab
BIO SM 161 Introduction to Field Marine Science
BIO SM 303 Ecology of Marine Fishes
BIO SM 308 Marine Microbial Ecology
BIO SM 309 Coastal Ecology and Bioclimates
BIO SM 329 Ecology of Animal Behavior
BIO SM 366-370 SEA Semester
BIO SM 372 SEA Practical Ocenography II
BIO SM 374 Field Ornithology
BIO SM 402 Marine Pollution
BIO SM 449 Marine Botany: Ecol. & Systematics
BIO SM 477 Marine Vertebrates
COMM 315 Introduction to Health Communication
DEA 250 The Environment and Social Behavior
ENTOM 241 Applied Entomolgy
ENTOM 260 Introductory Beekeeping
ENTOM 264 Practical Beekeeping
ENTOM 277 Intro.to Biol. Control
ENTOM 441 Seminar in Insect Pest Management
ENTOM 444 Integrated Pest Management
ENTOM/BIO ES 455 Insect Ecology
FOOD 102 Exploring Food Processing
FOOD 210 Food Analysis
FOOD 250 Kosher and Halal Food Regulations
FOOD 311 Milk and Frozen Desserts
FOOD 321 Food Engineering Principles
FOOD 322 Food Engineering Lab
FOOD 351 Milk Quality
FOOD 394 Applied Food Microbiology
FOOD 395 Food Microbiology Laboratory
FOOD 401 Concepts of Product Development
FOOD 405 Food Waste Management
FOOD 406 Cheese & Other Fermented Dairy Foods
FOOD 409 Food Chemistry
FOOD 450 Fundamentals of Food Law
FOOD 456 Adv. Concepts in Sensory Evaluation
H ADM 136 Food and Beverage Management
H ADM 191 Microecon. for the Service Industry
H ADM 230 Introduction to Culinary Arts
H ADM 236 Culinary Theory and Practice
H ADM 237 Seminar in Culture and Cuisines
H ADM 243 Marktng Manag. for the Hospit. Indust.
H ADM 330 Seminar in Chain-Rest. Operations
H ADM 331 Food Servise Distribution Management
H ADM 332 Reviewing the Rest.: Consumer View
H ADM 333 Current Issues in Food Safety & Sanit.
H ADM 334 Wine and Food Pairing
H ADM 335 Restaurant Management
H ADM 338 Health &Fitness in the Hotel& Spa Ind.
H ADM 339 Airline Food Service Management
H ADM 343 Market Research
H ADM 347 Consumer Behavior
H ADM 387 Business and Hospitality Law
H ADM 430 Introduction to Wines
H ADM 432 Contemporary Health Foods
H ADM 433 Contract Food Service Management
H ADM 434 Deserts Merchandising
H ADM 435 Selection, Procurement & Supply Mngt
H ADM 436 Beverage Management
H ADM 437 Specialty Food & Beverage Operations
H ADM 438 Catering Management
H ADM 439 Wine: a Cultural & Hist. Perspective
H ADM 442 Strategic Marketing
H ADM 445 Services Marketing
H ADM 448 Marketing Communications
H ADM 449 International Marketing
H ADM 490 Housing and Feeding the Homeless
HDFS 115 Human Development
HDFS 150/SOC 151 Families and the Life Course
HDFS 216 Human Dev.: Adolescence and Youth
HDFS 218 Human Dev.: Adulthood and Aging
HDFS 251 Aging and the Life Course
HDFS 253 Gender and the Life Course
HDFS 260/PSYCH 275 Personality Development
HDFS 261 The Development of Social Behavior
HDFS 266 Emotional Functions of the Brain
HDFS 334 The Growth of the Mind
HDFS 344 Infant Behavior and Development
HDFS/BIO SOC/NS 347 Hum.Growth & Dev.
HDFS 363 The Psychological Devel.of Women
HDFS 366 Psychobiol.of Temperment & Personality
HDFS 439 Cognitive Dev.: Infancy Thru Adoles.
HDFS 451 Nontrad. Families and Troubled Families
HDFS 456 Families and Social Policy
HDFS 457 Health and Social Behavior
HDFS 471 Child Development and Psychopathology
HDFS 482 Child Development and Social Policy
HE 470 Multicultural Practice
HE 480 Multicultural Issues in Urban Affairs
HE 490 Communities in Multicultural Practice
HORT 101 Introduction to Horticultural Science
HORT 102 General Horticulture
HORT 200 Introductory Pomology
HORT 220 Vegetable Types and Identification
HORT 225 Vegetable Production
HORT/BIO PL 243 Taxonomy of Cultivated Plants
HORT 325 Pract. Postharvest Handling of Hort. Crops
HORT 410 Prin. of Controlled Environ. Agriculture
HORT 411 Crop Prod. in Controlled Environ.
HORT/NTRES 415 Prin. & Prac. of Agroforestry
HORT 442 Berry Crops: Culture an Management
HORT 444 Applied Viticulture
HORT 445 Orchard Management
HORT 450 Soil Manage. & Nutr. of Perennial Crops
HORT 455 Fertility Manage. & Nutr.of Veg. Crops
HORT 460 Plant-Plant Interactions
HORT 462 Vegetable Crop Physiology
HORT 465 Vegetable Varieties & Evaluation
ILRHR 260 Human Resource Management
ILRLE 441 Income Distribution
ILROB 170 Intro.yo Micro Org, Behav. & Analysis
ILROB 171 Intro. to Macro Org, Behav. & Analysis
ILROB 325 Organizations and Social Inequality
ILROB 328 Cooperation, Compet. & Conflict Resol.
ILROB 329 Organizational Cultures
ILROB 370 The Study of Work Motivation
INTAG 402 Agriculture in Tropical America
INTAG 403 Trad. Agr. in Developing Countries
NS 116 Personalized Concepts and Controversies
NS 120 Nutr.& Health:Issues, Outlooks & Opportun.
NS 200 Vegetarian Nutrition: an Introduction
NS 222 Maternal and Child Nutrition
NS 262 Nutrients and Cells
NS 306 Nutritional Problems of Developing Nations
NS 315 Obesity and the Regulation of Body Weight
NS 320 Introduction to Human Biochemistry
NS 332 Methods in Nutritional Sciences
NS 341 Human Anatomy and Physiology
NS 345,346 Nutr.&Physiochem.Aspects of Food, lect.&lab
NS 378 Food, Nutrition and Service Management
NS 421 Nutrition and Exercise
NS 431 Mineral Nutrition and Chronic Disease
NS 441 Nutrition and Disease
NS 442 Implementation of Nutrition Care
NS 488 Applied Dietetics in Foodservice Systems
NS 450 Public Health Nutriton
NS/ECON 457 National & Internat. Food Economics
NS 488 Applied Dietetics in Food Service Systems
NTRES 100 Principles of Conservation
NTRES 201 Environmental Conservation
NTRES 204 Natural Resource Modeling Concepts
NTRES 205 Nat. Resource Modeling Applications
NTRES 210 Field Biology
NTRES 253 Applied Ecol. & Ecosystem Manage.
NTRES 303 Woodlot Manage. & Maple Syrup Prod.
NTRES 308 Natural Rescources Management
NTRES 400 International Environmental Issues
NTRES 401 Environ. and Natural Resources Policies
NTRES 402 Nat. Res. Policy, Planning and Politics
NTRES 407 Religion, Ethis and the Environment
NTRES 408 Res. Management and Environ. Law
NTRES 411 Seminar in Environmental Ethic
NTRES 415 Prin. & Practices of Agroforestry
NTRES 420 Ecol. Management of Water Resources
NTRES 348 Fishery Management
NTRES 442 Techniques in Fishery Science
PAM 180 Human Services in Contemporary Society
PAM 200 Intermediate Microeconomics
PAM 201 Determinants of Behavior
PAM 202 Household and Family
PAM 206 Race, Power and Privilege in the US
PAM 221 Groups and Organizations
PAM 230 Introduction to Policy Analysis
PAM 240 Critical Perspectives
PAM 301 Economic Organization of the Household
PAM 310 Evaluatoion of Public Policies
PAM 323 Consumers in the Market II
PAM 330 Intermediate Policy Analysis
PAM 331 Intro. to Program Planning & Dev.
PAM 340 The Economics of Consumer Policy
PAM 341 Economics of Consumer Law & Protection
PAM 350 Contemporary Issues in Women's Health
PAM 351 Community Mental Health
PAM 370 Wealth and Income
PAM 371 Economics of Family Policy - Adults
PAM 372 Economics of Family Policy - Children
PAM 373 Economics of Welfare Policy
PAM 374 Urban Economics and Policy
PAM 380 Human Sexuality
PAM 381 Health-Care Services and the Consumer
PAM 383 Social Welfare as a Social Institution
PAM 424 Families in Business
PAM 432 Community Decision Making
PAM 435 The U.S. Health Care System
PAM 450 Economics of Health Behavior and Policy
PAM 471 Pol.of Power & Empowerment in Commun.Dev.
PAM 473 Social Policy
PAM 474 Housing and Feeding the Homeless
PAM 481-482 Social Work Methods and Practice
PAM 486,487 Child Welfare I and II
PL PA 444 Integrated Pest Management
PL BR 401 Plant Cell and Tissue Culture
PL BR 402 Plant Cell and Tissue Culture Lab
PL BR 403 Genetic Improvement of Crop Plants
PL BR Plant Cytogenetics Lab
PL PA 102 Fresh..Sem:Environ.Issues &Glob. Clim.
PL PA 201 Magical Mushrooms, Michevious Molds
PL PA 241 Plant Diseases and Disease Management
PL PA 309 Introductory Mycology
PL PA 310 Field Mycology
PL PA 401 Basic Plan Pathology
PL PA /BIO G 407 Nature of Sensing and Response
PL PA 411 Plant Disease Diagnosis
PL PA 444 Integrated Pest Management
R SOC/SOC 105 Economic Sociology
R SOC/SOC 200 Social Problems
R SOC 201/SOC 202 Population Dynamics
R SOC 205/SOC 206 International Development
R SOC/WOM STUD 206 Gender and Society
R SOC 208 Technology and Society
R SOC 209/SOC 208 Social Inequality
R SOC 213 Social Indicators, Data Manage. & Anal.R SOC 214 Research Methods for the Social Sci.
R SOC/SOC 215 Organizations: an Introduction
R SOC/LAT STUD 220 Soc.of Hlth Latinos & Eth. Minor.
R SOC 301 Theories of Sociology
R SOC 302/SOC 310 Evaluating Statistical Evidence
R SOC/ AM IND ST 318 Ethnohist.of N. Iroquois
R SOC/SCI TECH/SOC 324 Environ.& Society
R SOC 331/ARME 416 Demogr. Anal.in Bus.&Gov.
R SOC 336 Rural Areas in Metropolitan Society
R SOC 370 Comp. Issues in Social Stratification
R SOC 410 Population and the Environment
R SOC 418/BIO SOC 414 Population Policy
R SOC 425 Gender Rel.& Ideologies & Soc. Change
R SOC 430 Migration and Population Redistribution
R SOC 431 Social Demography of Minorities
R SCO 436 Aging: Issues and Soc. Policy in the 90's
R SOC 437 Aging & Aging Soc. Policy in the 90's
R SOC 438 Social Demography
R SOC 440 The Social Impact of Resource Dev.
R SOC 490 Society and Survival
R SOC 492 Seminar: Develop. in the Pacific Rim
SCAS 101/102 Science of Earth Systems
SCAS 131 Basic Principles of Meteorology
SCAS 260 Introduction to Soil Science
SCAS 250 Meteorol. Observations and Instruments
SCAS 311 Grain Crops
SCAS 312 Forage Crops
SCAS 315 Weed Science
SCAS 317 Seed Science and Technology
SCAS 321 Soil and Water Mangement
SCAS/ASTRO 331 Climate Dynamics
SCAS 334 Microclimatology
SCAS 341 Atmos. Thermodynamics & Hydrostatics
SCAS 362 Soil Morphology
SCAS 363 Soil Genesis, Classification and Survey
SCAS 365 Environmental Chem.: Soil, Air & Water
SCAS/ABEN/GEOL 371 Hydrology and the Envir.
SCAS 372 Soil Fertility Management
SCAS 398 Environmental Microbiology
SCAS 420 Geographic Information Systems
SCAS 461 Resource Inventory Methods
SCAS 471 Prop. & Appraisal of Soils of the Tropics
SCAS /BIOES 473 Ecology of Agricultural Systems
SCAS 483 Environmental Biophysics
Appendix B: Supporting Courses for
a Food Systems and Health program
graduate level:
ABEN 671 Flow of Water and Chemicals in Soils
ABEN 672 Drainage
ABEN 677 Treatment & Disposal of Agr. Wastes
ARME 605 Agr. Finance and Capital Management
ARME 608 Production Economics
ARME 640 Analysis of Agricultural Markets
ARME 651 Environmental and Resource Economics
AN SC/NS 601 Proteins and Amino Acids
AN SC/NS 603 Minerals: Metab., Health & Environ.
AN SC 606 Rum.Nutr: Microb. Ecol.&Forage Chem
AN SC 610 Seminar in Animal Science
AN SC 620 Seminar in Animal Breeding
AN SC 621 Seminar in Endo/Reprod Biology
AN SC 625 Nutritional Toxicology
AN SC 630 Bioenergetics/Nutritional Physiology
AN SC 650 Mol.Techniques for Animal Biologists
AN SC 720 Advanced Animal Genetics
BIO AP 658 Mol. Mechanisms of Hormone Action
BIO AP 712 Thermoregulation and Exercise
BIO AP 713 Physiol. Control of Ingestive Behavior
BIO AP 714 Cardiac Electrophysiology
BIO AP 715 Stress Physiology
BIO AP 757 Concepts in Reproductive Biology
BIO AP 811,812 Adv.Physiological Methods I and II
BIO BM 631 Protein Structure and Function
BIO BM 632 Membranes and Bioenergetics
BIO BM 633 Biosynthesis of Macromolecules
BIO BM 639 The Nucleus
BIO BM/BIO PL 648 Plant Biochemistry
BIO BM 692 Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions
BIO BM 750 Cancer Cell Biology
BIO BM 751 Ethical Issues & Professional Respons.
BIO BM 830 Biochemistry Seminar
BIO BM 831-832 Adv. Biochem. Methods I and II
BIO ES 661/BIO SOC 461 Environmental Policy
BIO ES 663 Theoretical Population Genetics
BIO ES 668 Principles of Biogeochemistry
BIO ES 673 Human Evol.: Concepts, Hist. & Theory
BIO GD 682 Fertilization and the Early Embryo
BIO GD 684 Adv. Topics in Population Genetics
BIO GD 687 Developmental Genetics
BIO MI 652 Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
BIO MI 685 Advanced Bacterial Genetics
BIO MI 797 Graduate Seminar in Microbiology
BIO MI 799 Microbiology Seminar
BIO NB 623/CHM 622 Chemical Communication
BIO NB 626/PSYCH 524 Sex Diff. in Brain&Behav.
BIO NB 720 Seminar, Adv. Neurobiol. & Behavior
BIO NB 721 Intro.Grad.Survey, Neurobiol.&Behav.
BIO PL 641 Lab in Plant Molecular Biology
BIO PL 643 Plant Phys., Advanced Lab Techniques
BIO PL 644 Plant Growth and Development
BIO PL 648 Plant Biochemistry
BIO PL 649 Transport of Solutes &Water in Plants
BIO PL 651 Quantitative Whole-Plant Physiology
BIO PL 652.653 Plant Molecular Biology II and I
BIO PL 740 Plant Biology Seminar
EDUC 523 Food and Fiber Across the Curriculum
EDUC 630 Special Problems in Agr.Education
EDUC 632 Teaching Agr., Extension & Adult Educ.
EDUC 633 Progr.Planning in Agric.,Ext.&Adult Ed.
EDUC 730 Seminar in Agric., Exten. & Adult Educ.
FOOD 604 Chemistry of Dairy Products
FOOD 605 Physical Chemistry of Food Components
FOOD 607 Advanced Food Microbiology
FOOD 616 Flavors- Analysis and Applications
FOOD/NS 62- Food Carbohydrates
FOOD 665 Engineering Properties of Foods
H ADM 631 Case Studies, Multi-unit Rest. Manage.
H ADM 633 Food Service Operations Management
H ADM 641 Marktng Dec. Models for Service Firms
H ADM 642 Strategic Marketing
H ADM 643 Marketing Research
H ADM 644 Food and Beverage Market Strategy
H ADM 645 Services Marketing
H ADM 647 Consumer Behavior
H ADM 674 Service Operations Management
H ADM 681 Law & Ethics in Service Ind. Mgmnt.
H ADM 692 Industry Challenges and Trends
H ADM 731 Grad. Food and Beverage Management
H ADM 741 Marketing Management
H ADM 791 Creating & Managing Serv. Excellence
HDFS 610 Proc. in Hum.Dev: Theor.Models&Res.Designs
HDFS 617 Adolescence
HDFS 631 Cognitive Development
HDFS 640 Infancy
HDFS 650 Contemporary Family Theory & Research
HDFS 660 Social Development
HORT 602 Seminar in Fruit and Vegetable Science
HORT 625 Adv. Postharvest Phys. of Hort. Crops
ILRLE 647 Evaluation of Social Programs
INTAG 602 Agriculture in Developing Nations
INTAG 603/GOV 693 Admin.of Agric.& Rural Dev.
LAW 678 Products Liability
LAW 729 Health Care Reform
LAW 744 Law, Science and Technology
NCC 553 Marketing Management
NS 602/BIO AP 619 Lipids
NS/AN SC 604 The Vitamins
NS 612 Assessing Physical Growth in Children
NS 631 Dietary Assessment
NS 635 Metab. Regul. of Mammalian. Gene Expr.
NS 636/BIO BM 637 Integ &Coord.of Energy Metab.
NS 638 Epidemiology of Nutrition Seminar
NS/STAT BIOM 639 Epidemiology Seminar
NS 644 Community Nutrition Seminar
NS 646 Seminar in Physiochemical Aspects of Food
NS 680 Internat. Nutr. Problems, Policy & Programs
NS 681 Nutr.& Pub. Health Import.of Hum. Parasit.Infect.
NS 685/ARME Food and Nutrition Policy
NS 698 International Nutrition Seminar
NTRES 601 Seminar in Fishery Biol. & Aquatic Sci.
NTRES 620 Seminar in Resource Policy and Mgmt.
NTRES 607 Ecotoxicology
NTRES 610 Intro. Chemical and Environ. Toxicol.
NTRES 618 Crit. Issues in Conserv. & Sus. Develop.
NTRES 619 Practicum in Conserv. & Sust.Dev.
PAM 604/Econ 413 Econ. of Consumer Demand
PAM 605/ECON 427 Econ.of Household Behavior
PAM 606 Demographic Techniques
PAM 607 Advanced Family Demography
PAM 610 Introduction to Program Evaluation
PAM 612 Measurement for Program Eval. & Res.
PAM 613 Program Evaluation and Research Design
PAM 614-615 Program Eval. in Theogy and Practice
PAM 616 Strategies for Policy & Program Eval.
PAM 617 Qualitative Methods for Program Eval.
PAM 618 Seminar in Program Evaluation
PAM 623 Consumer Decision Making
PAM 630 Seminar in Program Planning and Dev.
PAM 631 Ethics, Public Policy and Amer. Society
PAM 632 Intergov. Syst.:Anal.of Curr.Policy Issues
PAM 633 Soc. Pol. & Progr.Planning in Hum. Serv.
PAM 640/ECON 435 Information and Regulation
PAM 652 HealthcareServ.:Consumer&Ethical Persp.
PAM 653 Health Economics and Policy
PAM 654 Legal Aspects of Health Services Delivery
PAM 655 Comparative Health Care Systems
PAM 656 Managed Health Deliv.Sys: Pri.-Amb.Care
PAM 657 Health Care Organization
PAM 659 Epidem., Clinical, Med & Mngt Interface
PAM 660 Quality in Health Care Organizations
PAM 661 Economics of Health and Medical Care
PAM 662,663 Health Care Finan.Management I, II
PAM 664 Inform.Res.,Hlth Mgmt in Hum.Serv.Org
PAM 665 Managing Health & Hum.Serv. Org. I
PAM 666 Mgmt & Org. Design of Health Care Sys.
PAM 667 Health and Welfare Policy
PAM 668 Lng-Trm & Aged Care: Altern.Hlth Serv. Deliv
PAM 680 Leadership in the Human Services
PL BR 604 Methods of Plant Breeding Lab
PL BR 606 Advanced Plant Genetics
PL BR 607 Electr.Inform. Res. and Bioinformatics
PL BR 608 Comparative Genomics
PL BR 610 Advanced Plant Breeding Methods
PL BR 622 Seminar in Plant Breeding
PL BR/Bio PL 653.2 Plant Biotechnology
PL BR 653.3 Plant Genome Organization
PL BR 716 Perspectives in Plant Breeding Strategies
PL BR 717 Quantitative Genetics in Plant Breeding
PL BR 718 Breeding for Pest Resistance
PL PA 642 Plant Disease Epidemiology
PL PA 644 Ecology of Soil-Borne Pathogens
PL PA 645 Plant Virology
PL PA 647 Bacterial Plant Diseases
PL PA 648 Molecular Plant Pathology
PL PA 650 Diseases of Vegetable Crops
PL PA 652 Field Crop Pathology
PL PA 655 Plant Diseases in Tropical Agriculture
PL PA 661 Diagnostic Lab Experience
PL PA 662 Molecular Plant-Pathogen Interactions
PL PA 694 Plant Pathology Seminar
PL PA 701 Con. in Plant Path.: Organismal Aspects
PL PA 702 Con. in Plant Path.: Population Aspects
PL PA 705 Phytovirology
PL PA 706 Phytonematology
PL PA 707 Phytobacteriology
PL PA 709 Phytomycology
PL PA 715 Phytolvirology Lab
PL PA 735 Advanced Phytovirology
PL PA 735 Genetics and Dev. of Filamentous Fungi
PL PA 739 Advanced Mycology
R SOC 560 Managing Loc.Env.Sys: Soc. Persp. & Res.
R SOC 601 Theor.& Method.Appr.to Commun.&Rur.Dev
R SOC 602 Community Development Seminar
R SOC 603 Classical Sociological Theory
R SOC 604 Theories of Social Change
R SOC 606 Contemp. Soc. Theories of Development
R SOC 618,619 Research Design I and II
R SOC 625 State, Economy and Society
R SOC 630 Field Research Methods and Strategies
R SOC 640 Community & Changing Property Instit.
R SOC 641 Politics & Econ.of Rural and Reg. Dev.
R SOC 643 Land Reform Old and New
R SOC 645 Rural Economy and Society
R SOC 655 Adv. Techniques of Demogr. Analysis
R SOC 671 Challenge to Soc.Sci.Paradigms: Fem. Inquiry
R SOC 675 Global Patterns of Internat. Migration
R SOC 718 Multidimen. Measure. & Classification
R SOC 719 Logistic and Log Linear Models
R SOC 721 Foundations of Environmental Sociology
R SOC 725 The Sociology of "Third World" States
R SOC 730 Sociology of Global Change
R SOC 741 Community Dev. and Local Control
SCAS 608 Water Status in Plants and Soils
SCAS 610 Physiology of Environmental Stresses
SCAS 612 Seed Physiology
SCAS 613 Physiology and Ecology of Yield
SCAS 620 Spacial Modeling and Analysis
SCAS/BIO PL 642 Plant Mineral Nutrition
SCAS 660 Remote Sensing Fundamentals
SCAS 663 Pedeology
SCAS 666 Advanced Soil Microbiology
SCAS 667 Advanced Soil Physics
SCAS 669 Organic Matter - Soils, Sedim. & Waters
SCAS 671 Soil Chemistry
SCAS 675 Modeling the Soil-Plant-Atmos. System
TOX/NS 611 Molecular Toxicology
1. Cardiovascular disease and cancer are estimated to cost the US over $200 billion annually; all diet-related illnesses are estimated to cost the US nearly a fifth of its GNP.
2. Food-Based Approaches to Preventing Micronutrient Malnutrition: an International Research Agenda, Combs, Jr., G.F., R.M. Welch, J.M. Duxbury, N.T. Uphoff and M.C. Nesheim, eds., CIIFAD, 1996, 68 pp.
3. A Conceptual Model of the Food and Nutrition System, Social Sciences and Medicine 47:853-863, 1998.
4. e.g., "locally produced", "environmentally friendly"
5. CALS offers 23 of the 27 key undergraduate courses, all of the key graduate courses, and approximately three-quarters of all supporting courses. CHE is also important in its offerings of nearly a sixth of Food Systems-related courses.
6. Cases in point are BIO G 469 Food and Agriculture in Society and R SOC 340 Food and Agriculture in Modern Society, independent courses with confusingly similar names.
7. CALS students majoring in Nutrition, Food & Agriculture are asked to select 9 hrs of courses in any agriculture/food area to support that major; such students might benefit from a visible menu of key Food System-related courses.
8. To this end, it may be possible to revise NS380 into a broad-based capstone source with multiple faculty input.
9. e.g., plant breeding/biotechnology programs could address improvement of nutritional contents of plant foods; food science programs could include the designing of healthful foods with enhanced nutrient and/or nutriceutical contents; programs in food marketing/consumer economics could include the marketing of nutrition/health aspects of foods.
10. C.E. Hess, An Agenda for A Healthy Food System, in Creating Healthful Food Systems: Linking Agriculture to Human Needs, (G.F. Combs, Jr., and R.M. Welch, eds), CIIFAD, 1998, pp.23-28.
11. Course list does not include special topics or independent studies courses.