Global Food Politics and Policy - Harvard Fall 2013
Global Food Politics and Policy - Harvard Fall 2013
Global Food Politics and Policy - Harvard Fall 2013
IGA-422
GLOBAL FOOD POLITICS AND POLICY
Fall 2013
(September 30)
Course Description:
This course will review the political landscape of both food and farming, in both
rich and poor countries. This is a highly contentious landscape, where scientists,
economists, commercial farmers, agribusiness and food companies, environmentalists,
consumer organizations, and social justice advocates often hold sharply different views –
and exercise differing degrees of influence over policy. Policy actions by national
governments frequently operate alongside or in conflict with international organizations,
private companies, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, and humanitarian relief agencies.
Food and farming systems around the world are highly diverse in nature, yet all
are strongly shaped by government actions. Persistent under-nutrition remains a deadly
challenge in many tropical countries, but in a growing number of post-industrial societies
– led by the United States – the new challenge is poor health linked to excessive food
consumption. The agricultural circumstances of states also differ dramatically, as poor
countries tend to operate farming systems that are starved for resources and not well
supported by public policy, while most rich countries now have highly capitalized and
highly productive agricultural sectors that enjoy generous subsidies from governments.
Course requirements will include analytic in-class briefs on assigned topics,
exams on course materials to be submitted in the form of op-ed style essays, plus a
structured memo to a decision maker, presenting an informed policy recommendation.
Book to Purchase:
Robert Paarlberg, Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know.
New York: Oxford University Press, Second Edition, September 2013
All course readings will either be drawn from this book or linked in this syllabus or
posted on the course page. There will be an optional packet of online course readings for
1
sale at the Course Materials Office, for anyone who wants a hard copy of the material
posted on the course page.
1. Oral in-class briefs and debates: Each student will participate in either a 10-
minute in-class brief or a 16 minute in-class debate. These will be team
assignments, with details provided after we know the enrollment for the
class. The in-class presentations will be individually graded and will count
15 percent of the final course grade.
3. “Op-Ed” Take Home Exams: Students will be given three “Op-Ed” take home
exams over the course of the semester. The exams will list several topics
covered in recent class readings and discussions, and students will be given
72 hours to compose an “Op-Ed essay” (850 words in length) that makes an
informed policy argument about one of the topics. The three Op-Ed Exams
will be given out electronically on September 23, October 15, and November
12. Students may work together on these assignments, but each exam must
be individually authored. Exams will be due at a specified time by electronic
submission to the instructor, and late exams will be penalized ½ grade. Each
Op-Ed essay will count 15 percent of final grade (45 percent total).
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Class Meetings and Reading Assignments
Class 1: September 3
Shopping
Class 2: September 5
The Current State of Food and Agriculture
Links between agriculture and nutrition
Historical progress
Policy challenges
Readings:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The State of
Food and Agriculture 2013, pages 1-25. Download PDF at:
http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/en/
Class 3: September 10
The Role of Governments
Governments, versus MNCs, versus NGOs
The dietary transition
Links between agriculture and nutrition
Readings:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The State of
Food and Agriculture 2013, pages 26-69. Download PDF at:
http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/en/
3
Readings:
Readings:
IFPRI, “Foreign Direct Investment in Land in West Africa,” 2012, download at:
http://www.ifpri.org/publication/foreign-direct-investment-land-west-africa
4
Impacts in Asia versus Latin America, prospects for Africa
Readings:
Evenson, R.E., and D. Gollin. 2003. “Assessing the Impact of the Green
Revolution, 1960 to 2000,” Science Vol. 300, no. 5620, pp. 758-762 (posted on
course page)
Hazell, Peter. 2009. The Asian Green Revolution. IFPRI Discussion Paper.
Available at http://www.ifpri.org/publication/asian-green-revolution (posted on
course page)
Readings:
Bridget Huber, “As Factory Farms Spread, Government Efforts to Curb Threat
From Livestock Waste Bog Down,”
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http://www.fairwarning.org/2013/05/as-factory-farms-spread-
government-efforts-to-curb-threat-from-livestock-waste-bog-down/
Good Background: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and the Beginning of the
Environmental Movement,
http://classwebs.spea.indiana.edu/bakerr/v600/rachel_carson_and_silent_s
pring.htm
Good Background: FAO, 2006. Livestock’s Long Shadow, Parts III, IV, V (which
are equal to chapters 2, 3, and 4)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM (posted on course
page only)
Readings:
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Anamarija Frankic and Carl Hershner, “Sustainable aquaculture,”
http://faculty.wwu.edu/~shulld/ESCI%20432/FrankicandHershner2003.pdf
Readings:
Listen to lecture by Jennifer Clapp, “Over 1 Billion NOT Served: The Global
Economic Crisis and Food Governance,” http://www.cigionline.org/videos/over-
1-billion-not-served-global-economic-crisis-and-food-governance-jennifer-clapp
Readings:
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Good Background: Fan, S., et al. 2010. “China’s Agricultural and Rural
Development: Implications for Africa,” IFPRI.
http://www.slideshare.net/shenggenfan/chinas-agricultural-and-rural-
development-implications-for-africa (posted on course page)
Readings:
Chris Edwards, “The GOP, the Farm Bill, and Cognitive Dissonance,”
http://www.cato.org/blog/gop-farm-bill-cognitive-
dissonance?gclid=CIyPzp-q1bgCFVLxOgod4xMAVw
Readings:
“Biofuels and Food Security,” report by United Nations High Level Panel of
Experts, June 2013,
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/hlpe/hlpe_documents/HLPE_Reports/
HLPE-Report-5_Biofuels_and_food_security.pdf
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C. Ford Runge, “The Browning of Biofuels: The Political Economy of Policy
Failure,” World Politics Review, February 2010.
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/features/show/33 (posted on course
page)
Readings:
http://feedthefuture.gov/sites/default/files/resource/files/feed_the_future_progress
_report_2013.pdf
Readings:
“Kid’s Meals: Obesity on the Menu,” Center for Science and the Public Interest,
http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/cspi-kids-meals-2013.pdf
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Marc Ambinder, “Beating Obesity,” The Atlantic, May 2010
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/05/beating-obesity/8017/1/
(posted on course page)
Readings:
Good Background: IFPRI, 2008. “Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides in India”,
http://www.ifpri.org/publication/bt-cotton-and-farmer-suicides-india
Readings:
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Marion Nestle, “Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity – A Matter of Policy.
2006. New England Journal of Medicine.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp068014
Tom Reardon, et al, “The Rise of Supermarkets in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America,
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/courses/intag402/documents/RiseofSupermarket
sinAfricaAsiaandLatAm.pdf (posted on course page)
Readings:
Readings:
Lisa Young and Marion Nestle, 2007. “Portion Sizes and Obesity: Responses of
Fast-Food Companies,” Journal of Public Health Policy. Available on JSTOR
James Watson, 2000. “China’s Big Mac Attack,” Foreign Affairs. Available on
JSTOR
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Should government policies promote organic, local, and slow food?
Readings:
Ari Levaux, “The War Between Conventional and Organic Misses the Point,”
Atlantic.com, http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/the-war-
between-organic-and-conventional-farming-misses-the-point/257140/ For
complete article: Verena Seufert, Navin Ramankutty & Jonathan A. Foley,
“Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture,” Nature 485, 229–
232 (10 May 2012).
USDA, “Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues,” ERS Report 97,
May 2010.
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