New University of Kentucky course offers outlooks on food systems

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — A new course in the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment offers an outlook on food systems.

The Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Sustainable Food Systems course will introduce students to the basics of systems thinking from multiple disciplines, as well as the different ways people view food systems.

According to UK, students will also get the chance to meet and learn from a range of Kentucky’s agriculture and food sector professionals. In this course, graduate students will learn how to apply the multidisciplinary principles of the agri-food system while maintaining the distinctive perspectives of their own disciplines. 

Before the semester began, students spent a week traveling across the state, visiting farms and meeting the people who work in them. They spent each day in a different region of the state, stopping at farms, food businesses and nonprofits. On the last day, participants toured UK’s Campus Kitchen to learn about hunger and food access initiatives at the university and to explore UK’s local food systems institute, The Food Connection. 

Each week, students will have class at The Food Connection where they prepare a meal and discuss food systems. Krista Jacobson, an associate professor in the UK Department of Horticulture and The Food Connection’s faculty chair, said the class is traditional but leverages The Food Connection to help students see things through the local food systems lens.

“I just think it is fascinating,” said Pam Holbrook, a student in the class, farmer and Anderson County farmers’ market produce vendor. “It’s kind of like a Kentucky travel wishlist being able to hit Marksbury Farm, App Harvest and all of those places as well as sit and discuss it with a really diverse group of students.”