2024 AGO International Gleaning Symposium�
Keynote Address
Food As A Grand Unifier
Dr. Yona Sipos, University of Washington
FOOD AS A GRAND UNIFIER
AGO International Gleaning Symposium 2024
Yona Sipos, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor
University of Washington
LAND & LABOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOOD AS A SYSTEM
01
02
FOOD AS A CONDUIT
03
FOOD AS A GRAND UNIFIER
FOOD AS OPPORTUNITY
A system of systems: interconnected, interdependent energy and nutrient flows facilitated by people
Where to intervene?
FOOD AS A SYSTEM (I)
FOOD AS A SYSTEM (II)
Rabinowitz, Montgomery, Sipos, & Wheat (2024). Soil health: A common focus for one health and planetary health interventions. One Health https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38283832/
Soil health to Public Health:
Potential for a cascade of diversity that begins with healthy, biodiverse soils
and results in healthy, resilient communities
FOOD AS A CONDUIT (I)
“Eating is an agricultural act,” as Wendell Berry famously said. “It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too.”
Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world - and what is to become of it.
Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
“Food is a story—if we choose to tell it.
Food can be the tool
to bridge the chasms of -isms.
Because we need it to be.”
Michael Twitty’s Food Essay, January 2024, Time Magazine
.
FOOD AS CONDUIT (II)
Danny Woo Community Garden Traditional Knowledge Documentation (Teams 1 & 2) �UW Food Systems Capstone SPRING 2023
FOOD AS OPPORTUNITY (I)
Sustainable Development Goals through the lens of food can address the question:
Where to intervene?
Good health starts with nutrition
Modern food systems are heavily dependent on fossil fuels
1/3 of food we produce is lost or wasted
Partnerships help raise the voice of the hungry
Nutritious food is critical to learning
Sustainable agriculture holds potential to address water scarcity
Women produce 1/2 the world’s food but have much less access to land
Agricultural growth in low-income economies can reduce poverty by half
Ending hunger can contribute greatly to peace & stability
We produce enough food for everyone, yet about 800 million go hungry
Almost 80% of poor people live in rural areas
Forests contain over 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity
Fish gives 3 billion people 20% of daily animal protein
Agriculture is key in responding to climate change
Rural investment can deter unmanageable urbanization
Agriculture accounts for 1/4 of GDP in developing countries
Land reforms can give fairer access to rural land
FOOD AS OPPORTUNITY (II)
Sustainable Development Goals arranged hierarchically, embedding people within planetary boundaries, to enable true prosperity, peace and partnerships
Sipos, Y. et al (2008). Achieving Transformative Sustainability Learning: Engaging Head, Hands and Heart. Intl Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 9 (2008): 68-86. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ800452
FOOD AS A GRAND UNIFIER
Food engages our “head, hands, and heart” for transformative sustainability learning
FOOD AS A GRAND UNIFIER
Food unites multiple disciplines, sectors, and ways of knowing
Growing Cabbage: How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Cabbage Successfully
Red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. rubra) cross section
World Community Kitchen, UW Farm Newsletter June 2023
THANK YOU.
I WELCOME YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS!
YSIPOS@UW.EDU