The Transformative Food Systems Seminar (TFS) is a year-long, experiential graduate class at the University of Michigan that focused on strategies that can transform food systems into more sustainable, health- promoting and equitable food systems. We learned from change agents and hopeful solutions taking root across Michigan, the U.S. and other countries, and reflected on how to approach this work through systems thinking and an ethics of sustainability and justice. For the final project, students carried out a “backcasting” project. Their task was to propose a future vision where certain issues and inequities have been resolved and work backward to identify the technological, socio-cultural, and/or structural-policy-economic changes that would be needed to achieve that ideal future. The projects posted here offer a snapshot of the range of ideas that this thought exercise generated during the 2022-2023 class.
The co-instructors of the TFS Seminar in 2022-2023 were Lesli Hoey, Ivette Perfecto, and Meha Jain. And the 15 students were: Carlina Arrango, Coco Rios Escobar, Dinah George, Jack O’Brien, Kenneth Matthews, L’Oreal Hawkes, Lunia Oriol, Macy Robinson, Megan Gross, Naajia Shakir, Nayethzi Hernandez, Rasha Mohamed, sara faraj, Skyler Kriese, Taylor Kaili “TK” McKenzie
Jack O’Brien
Finding the Magic; Creating shared space in an increasingly unequal and racially divided Ireland
This project sought to summarize the socioeconomic upheaval that has transformed Ireland over the past thirty years in particular. Centering Muck and Magic community garden, the idea of community gardens as ‘embodying the radical imaginaries’ of a more equal, anti-racist Ireland is explored. Full project here.
Lunia E. Oriol
Circumpolar Northern Food Systems in a Changing World
In the Circumpolar North, farming is generally limited due to its cold climate and short growing season. However, these trends may change. Due to climate change, these northern regions are warming at an accelerated rate, raising questions about future changes to land and water use patterns. In particular, these impacts are likely to increase the agricultural productivity of the North American Arctic, which includes Alaska and northern Canada. However, while opportunities grow for agriculture, aquaculture is under threat. Current impacts are seen through AK’s canceled snow crab season and Nova Scotia’s lobster flocking to colder temperatures. For many Alaskan and Canadian fishermen, the fishing industry is their livelihood and a source of food and economic security. We must transform our food system, and it takes all of us to “push the needle.” I think of adrienne marie brown when I say that changemakers in the food system should focus on “inch wide mile deep” work. Our parts will and must be small, because no one individual can solve the myriad of wicked problems we face. The stories featured in this project aim to draw a light on the critical work those in agriculture and aquaculture are doing to improve their local food systems in Alaska and northern Canada. Full project here.
Macy Robinson
Farmville NC’s modern take on “Honoring Our Past, Shaping Our Future” through agribusiness transformation
My hometown in eastern North Carolina has a long history of excellence in the tobacco industry. Over the past fifty years, however, the economic growth in Farmville began to stall and tobacco production began to shift to other areas of the state, and even to other countries. After years of an agricultural lull, Farmville is slowly starting to restore its legacy as innovative and inspiring leaders in sustainable agriculture are moving into town and changing the tides. This op-ed is a culmination of local knowledge, transformative food system ventures, and love for a little town that lives up to its name. Full project here.
TK McKenzie
Bills To Help Return Hawaii To A More Resilient Food System, The biggest threat to food sovereignty is the current dependence on importation.
TK transformed her backcasting project into an OpEd that was published in the Honolulu Civil Beat. Read her article here.
