Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health Seminar

Food Systems and the Sustainable Development Goals – Autumn 2024

With five years left to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, food systems have emerged as a guiding framework to achieve progress on all 17 goals. Food systems are transdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and fundamental. Exploring solutions in this space therefore often works across multiple goals and toward the aim of “peace and prosperity for people and the planet”. In this seminar, we’ll explore a cross-section of food systems and these global goals, across economic, social, and ecological agendas, and hear from leaders and practitioners contributing to these spaces.

Recordings Available

Global Nutrition Challenges and Opportunities – Winter 2024

Every country in the world is facing some nutrition-related challenge. Malnutrition can take many forms from undernutrition, childhood wasting and stunting to hidden hunger and rising rates of adult and child overweight.  Many global diets, including those of higher income countries, continue to be deficient in priority micronutrients iron, zinc, calcium, folate, iodine and vitamin A.  Is fortification the answer? There are further concerns about protein quality and protein sources and the future of alternative proteins from plants.  Building sustainable healthy diets for low- and middle-income countries is a particular challenge.  The four dimensions of sustainable nutrition are health, economics, society and the environment.  Global food systems need to produce food that are nutrient rich, affordable, socially acceptable across geographies, and environmentally friendly.  What is the role of livestock, fisheries, food science, and the food industry in providing the world with the foods we need?

This seminar welcomed speakers who are at the forefront of global initiatives aiming to reduce undernutrition and build sustainable, healthy food systems worldwide.

Schedule

Printable speaker schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

Date	Title
Jan 9	Global nutrition trends: Have we reached peak meat consumption? Adam Drewnowski, PhD; Professor of Epidemiology and Director of Center for Public Health Nutrition, UW
Jan 16	Sodium reduction policies in social media: who are the global influencers? Yanfang Su, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health, UW
Jan 23	Building sustainable food systems in low- and middle-income countries* Martin Bloem, MD, PhD. Professor of Environmental Health, Environmental Health and Engineering/ International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (*remote)
Jan 30	Toward healthier food systems:The Global Nutrition Report Carol Levin, PhD; Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Global Health, UW; Senior Health Economist, Global Health Cost Consortium; Affiliate, Center for AIDS Research
Feb 6	Changes in food security and implications for inclusive democratic institutions in sub-Saharan Africa Didier Alia, PhD; Research Assistant Professor, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, UW and Amaka Nnaji, PhD; Postdoctoral Scholar, Evans School Policy Analysis & Research Group (EPAR).
Feb 13	Interventions to address hidden hunger and micronutrient malnutrition Jonathan Gorstein PhD, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Feb 20	Functional foods and affordable nutrient density in South East Asia* Christiani Jeyakumar Henry, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS. Director of Clinical Nutritional Sciences, Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences, Singapore (*remote)
Feb 27	Aquatic food systems to feed the world Ray Hilborn, PhD, Professor · Conservation · Marine Science · Resource Management, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, UW
Mar 5	Building nutritious food systems in Africa and Asia Shelly Sundberg, PhD, Acting Deputy Director, Nutritious Food Systems & Women's Empowerment, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Biodiversity of Food Systems – Autumn 2023

This seminar explored the biological diversity that enables sustainable food systems and healthy communities. This biodiversity, including plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms across ecosystems, is critical to clean water, fertile soils, pollination, stable climate, and nutritional and cultural diversity. This biodiversity is also at risk of extinction, largely due to food production practices that rely on monocultures of single species over large tracts of land and water. The consequences of this transformation have led to multiple negative climate and health impacts, especially for rural and marginalized communities.

Drawing on the expertise of guest speakers throughout the quarter, this seminar will dig into topics such as traditional and biodiverse food systems, soil biology, and agroecological communities that nourish humanity. Each topic will connect with food systems more broadly, as well as opportunities for reverence and reflecting on how to live in harmony with the systems that support humanity and life on Earth.

Schedule

Autumn 2023 seminar schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

Certifying Sustainability in the Food System – Winter 2023

Across the food system there are sustainability challenges at each level of the supply chain with environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Over the last half century, there has been a proliferation of certifications that focus on improving the sustainability of food system practices from the production level to the consumption level. These certification programs are meant to create frameworks to measure improvements and performance, while enhancing the transparency and traceability of food system activities. In this seminar, guest speakers from prominent institutions and organizations involved in certification programs in the food system will share their experiences, expertise, and perspectives in this domain. These experts and innovators are at the forefront of addressing the sustainability of our food system via certification programs along the value chain.

Schedule

Winter 2023 seminar schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

Urban Food Systems – Autumn 2022

Over 80% of the US population lives in urban areas; by 2050, close to 70% of the whole world will do the same. Urban food systems can promote community health but also face many challenges.

Systemic inequities across communities, low wages for food chain workers, expensive real estate, limited city zoning, polluted soils and water, compromised growing sites, and complicated supply chains are all compounded by increasing climate disasters. Food prices are rising along with food insecurity.

So, what are the solutions? How can urban food systems instead support functional ecological systems, strong livelihoods, and just opportunities that promote food security and food sovereignty? How can the challenges be addressed and overcome to result in stronger health, sustainability, and equity outcomes?

In this seminar we dig into urban food systems, including communities, soils, agriculture, markets, and more as you engage with leaders at the forefront of addressing these challenges and opportunities.

Schedule

Autumn 2022 seminar schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

Food Rescue Innovation – Winter 2022

The food and agriculture organization estimates that each year, one-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption is lost or wasted. Not only does this impact global food security and climate change, but it is also evidence of the incredible economic and environmental waste within the food system. Addressing the issue of food loss and food waste has the potential to generate a “triple win”. At the economic level, reductions in food loss and waste can save money for farmers, companies, and households. Wasting less food also means we can feed more people, creating enhanced food security. And reductions in food waste can alleviate pressure on climate change through efficiencies in water, land, and energy use. Recently, there has been a modern movement around food loss and waste reduction, centered around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which calls for halving the rate of food loss and waste by 2030. How can we achieve this aggressive goal? This quarter’s seminar welcomed experts and innovators from the private, public, and non-profit sectors at the forefront of addressing the real challenges of food loss and food waste at all parts of the food system, while considering creative approaches that harness collective behaviors and human motivation to catalyze change.

Schedule

Winter 2022 seminar schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

Future of Food Systems – Autumn 2021

There is growing urgency for our food systems to be more sustainable, resilient, and equitable. But how? Food systems are too-often implicated in perpetuating health inequities, climate chaos, and diminishing biodiversity. Competing solutions to these challenges are being considered locally and globally, across often-complicated supply chains and impacted by various public health, social, ecological, and economic drivers. Should farms and food systems feed regional or international communities; should they be large or small, uniform or diverse? What are the outcomes for our climate, human and ecological health, justice and equity? Which technologies and processes of engagement should be prioritized? While solutions may not be binary, choices must be made to nourish a growing human population on a finite Earth. This quarter;s seminar welcomed experts and practitioners who are at the forefront of addressing these challenges and considering different possibilities for the future of food systems.

Schedule

• Speaker schedule (PDF)

Recordings Available

Food Supply Chains During the COVID-19 Pandemic – Winter 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, images of dumped milk and plowed-under crops, empty grocery store shelves, and lengthy food bank lines shocked the nation. While there are no nationwide shortages of food, inventory and availability of various staples have been affected, and food prices and food insecurity are on the rise, especially impacting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Many food system laborers are from BIPOC communities and continue to be adversely affected as farmworkers, meat plant workers, and long distance truckers face compromised work environments. The food service industry has been crippled, and food packaging and distribution has shifted to accommodate household servings instead of restaurant and bulk orders.

“Food supply chains” have now become part of everyday conversations as the stress of the pandemic raises questions about the sustainability, resilience, and inequities of our food system. Food supply chains include the sectors and labor supporting food production, processing, transportation, distribution, and access. Linear representations of supply chains often belie the extended, complicated realities of interconnected national and global food systems. As food supply chains continue to be impacted by COVID-19 among other global challenges, it is essential to learn about opportunities to increase sustainability, resilience, and equity. Applying a systems perspective to these questions were the focus of this quarter’s seminar and discussion.

Schedule

• Speaker Schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

Growing Resilience and Equity: Food Systems Amid the Dual Pandemics of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism – Autumn 2020

The dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism are illuminating health equity, food equity, and structural vulnerabilities across the food system. COVID-19 impacts have amplified the inherent racial and economic inequities of our globalized and industrialized food supply chains. The lowest paid and most vulnerable workers have either been laid off or deemed essential and subject to unsafe working conditions; viral outbreaks continue to spread amongst farm workers and meat processing workers; market channels are disrupted; and food insecurity is rising alongside food waste. These challenges disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, who are already most affected by environmental and climate injustices. This quarter’s seminar showcased researchers and organizers working at the confluence of these crises for positive and impactful change. Sessions highlight challenges as well as transformation, hope, and potential for resilience and equity to take root across the food system.

Schedule

• Seminar Schedule (pdf)

Recordings Available

• Growing a More Sustainable, Equitable Future for Communities of Color: The Black Farmer’s Collective and Yes Farm –  November 10, 2020. Director Ray Williams and Program Manager Hannah Wilson from Yes Farm with the Black Farmers Collective
• Why Voting Matters to Food Systems – November 3, 2020. Navina Khanna, Director of HEAL Food Alliance
• Codeveloping Culturally Relevant Messages for Farmworker Safety and Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic Project – Presented October 27, 2020. Elizabeth Torres, Research and Project Coordinator for El Proyecto Bienestar (EPB) and Research Coordinator, Northwest Communities Education Center/Radio KDNA, and PNASH, UW
• Examining the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems, Food Security, and Food Access in Washington State – October 20, 2020. Adam Drewnowski, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of Nutritional Sciences Program and Center for Public Health Nutrition, UW
• Food Systems Shock and Stresses and the Need for Food Systems Analysts: the IFSTAL Response – October 13, 2020. John Ingram, Leader of Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching & Learning (IFSTAL) and Associate Professor, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
• Intersections of Racial Equity and Food System Resilience – October 6, 2020. Yona Sipos, Assistant Teaching Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, Core Faculty for Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health, UW

Food Systems in the Age of Climate Change- Winter 2020

Every aspect of the food system is impacted by and has an impact on climate. Greenhouse gas emissions and contributions to climate instability or resilience are determined by what we eat, how that food is produced and harvested, how far it travels, and whether the food is wasted or resources are recovered. Climate change impacts which foods will grow and be available, their nutritional outcomes, and the occupational health of front-line agricultural workers.  This qua