Compost demonstration in the Dedza region, Malawi. Photo by Catherine Hickey via cornell.edu

Classes are starting at Cornell University around now, and there’s a new minor in town: Community Food Systems, a multidisciplinary study housed within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Developmental Sociology. With elective courses from three categories (ethical and epistemic perspectives; ecological perspectives; and agricultural perspectives) in wide-ranging departments like philosophy, natural resources, economics, and anthropology, the minor also includes a required practicum with a community-based organization that works on “just, equitable and environmentally sound” food systems. Krisy Gashler writes for the Cornell Chronicle:

Scott Peters, professor of Development Sociology, said the minor has been a years-long process of discussion among faculty, staff and community partners, and was developed through the Food Dignity project, a 5-year, $5 million grant from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiativeand support from a Cornell Engaged Curriculum development grant.

“Around the world, there’s just been this explosion of work on food issues,” Peters said, “and there are many ways people are naming this work, from food activism, to food justice, food sovereignty, food security. We are particularly interested in the work that includes issues of justice and sovereignty.

“Unlike some current offerings at Cornell, our central focus is not on agronomy, plant science or nutritional science,” he said. “We are looking more at the social, cultural and political issues that have to do with the work of building a food system that is more sustainable, more just, that contributes to issues related to equity and democracy.”

Rachel Bezner Kerr, Ph.D. ’06, associate professor of Development Sociology, said the minor is unique in several ways, including its multidisciplinary approach, the required practicum and especially the high level of involvement with community partners.

“We’re setting up an advisory board of the organizations we’re working with and they’ll help us shape how we construct the minor and particularly how the practicums work,” Bezner Kerr said. “We’ve thought a lot about how to make this a useful experience for the partner organizations as well as the students.”

Community partners are: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County; Groundswell, an Ithaca-based nonprofit that offers training for beginning farmers; East NY Farms, a Brooklyn-based organization focused on food justice and sustainable agriculture; the Cornell Farmworker Program, which works to improve the lives of migrant farmworkers and their families; and the Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities project, which addresses food security and nutrition in Malawi.

“I think there is a lot of interest in the student body for engagement around agriculture and food, and this minor will be an opportunity for students to think about the food system holistically and the implications for marginalized communities and from multiple disciplinary perspectives,” Bezner Kerr said. “It will also enable them to get connected to people in the food system and to think about what it means to be a real partner; to listen and be humble and think about your role in relation to social movements and organizations trying to make a difference in these issues.”

Read the rest of the Cornell article here, and visit the minor’s information page to learn more.