2009 AFHVS presidential address: the steering question: challenges to achieving food system sustainability

摘要

In this address I examine the challenges of achieving food system sustainability. Starting from the position that most people want a food system that is “sustainable” and that we have a great reservoir of unapplied technical knowledge applicable to increasing sustainability, I argue that the big issue is collective decision-making to accomplish the goal of sustainability. Using the metaphor of a sailing ship, I raise three questions about steering collectively toward sustainability: What do we want? What are our options? And, how do we decide among the options? Keywords Sustainability - Food system - Agrifood social movement - Governance Presented at the 2009 meetings of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society in State College, Pennsylvania, May 2009. This paper was not subjected to the journal’s standard peer review process.