Empowering communities in the face of grand challenges The critical role of local food systems and democratized science

Abstract

intensive, personal connection with food production – they ate what they produced and traded any extra within a supportive community. Over the last two centuries, as populations have become increasingly urbanized, these local food systems were replaced by large-scale food production systems, increasingly controlled by powerful organizations. Food became commoditized, and inequality expanded throughout the system. According to leading agroecologist Eric Holt Giménez, we produce one and a half times more than enough food for everyone, yet one in seven people goes hungry. The system is clearly inefficient and unsustainable. Moreover, the spectre of climate change and menacing geopolitical shifts may make matters worse. A senior sociologist based in California suggests one solution lies in localizing food systems and democratizing the science associated with food production.