The diversity of agricultural and animal species resulting from natural selection operated by farmers, shepherds, and fishermen over centuries.
A process named after its inventor, the French confectioner Nicholas Appert. It destroys microorganisms in food through exposure to very high temperatures, usually by sealing the food in airtight containers and placing them in boiling water.
Fuels produced from organic matter through various industrialized biological processes that take place rapidly rather than over millennia, as in the case of fossil fuels. Biofuels include bioethanol, made through fermentation from sugar or starch crops; and biodiesel, made from vegetable oils and animal fats. Second-generation biofuels are produced from nonfood cellulosic biomasses like agricultural waste and woody crops, whereas third-generation ones are based on algae, fungi, and other microorganisms.
Technology that allows all the participants in a network to have access to a dispersed database of transactions (known as a digital ledger) and provide independent confirmation for them.
An agricultural supply network in which consumers agree with farmers in advance to buy their harvest or a portion of it, usually delivered at agreed-upon intervals.
Agricultural production based on a written arrangement between buyers (usually large corporations, distributors, or retail organizations) and farmers, who maintain the ownership of their land but agree to sell a specific crop at an agreed-upon price, so long as the product meets specifications and standards imposed by the buyers, ranging from safety standards to dates of delivery and even the appearance of the produce.
Expected or unexpected side effects of a productive activity that impacts other parties but the cost of which is not factored into the final cost of the goods or services derived from that activity. Externalities can be positive, as in the landscape management often connected with agricultural activities, or negative, like the release of sluices from animal farms into public waters, which then require purification at the taxpayers’ expense.
Massive investments and speculation on commodities in stock markets from actors that are not directly involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of food (international investors, sovereign funds, and pension and hedge funds).
Conceptually analogous to a watershed, this term indicates the geographic area from which food flows toward a specific location and its population (producers, distributors, and consumers).
The practices connected to the production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food in a given community.
An area where fresh and nutritious food is not available, with a prevalence instead of outlets selling fast food or highly processed, prepackaged products.
A short-lived food-related practice that captures the imagination of consumers through media and celebrities.
The distance between the production site of food and its end destination. This statistic is mostly used to measure the consumption of fossil fuels and other forms of energy necessary for transportation.
Various political, social, and cultural initiatives the goal of which is to bring change to the food system, which is perceived as deficient and in crisis. Although they are unrelated, such initiatives are often perceived as expressions of a large, albeit unorganized, social movement.
An analytical approach established in the 1980s by Harriet Friedmann and Philip McMichael to define ways of organizing a food system that reflect production structures and power relations among its actors.
Prevention of food-borne illnesses. Food-safety measures extend to the production, processing, distribution, storage, preparation, and consumption of food.
According to the definition adopted in 1996 at the World Food Summit by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security are availability, stability of supply, access and utilization.”
The right of communities at all scales, from a village to a whole nation, to democratic self-determination regarding what food is grown, distributed, imported, and eaten.
The totality of structures, infrastructures, dynamics, processes, networks, and relations that determine the production, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales, consumption, and disposal of food.
A general term used to indicate the most economically developed countries, such as Canada, the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, located in the Northern Hemisphere, together with Australia and New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere.
A general term that refers to countries that have not reached the level of development that characterizes the Global North, including superpowers such as Russia, China, and India, as well as other nations in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
An organism whose genes have been transferred from varieties in the same species or from other species.
A new approach to agriculture, promoted from the late 1960s, that aimed to increase agricultural output by introducing new high-yield crop varieties, often with the support of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and mechanization.
The physical and psychological consequences of lack of food, often mediated by cultural perception and social dynamics.
The connections among everyday devices (tools, machineries, sensors, software, and mobile applications) and human users to exchange data and information through the internet.
Acquisition of large tracts of private or public land by national or transnational actors, often with the mediation of local authorities and national governments.
The choice of limiting acquisition and consumption of food to items grown and produced as close as possible to the point of consumption.
The practice of growing a single crop at a time in a farm or on a field. Often practiced in extensive and mechanized agriculture.
A substance that living organisms need to grow and survive.
The word refers to both the necessary amount and variety of food and water required by living organisms to survive and the processes through which such substances are metabolized.
A label required in most countries on prepackaged foods, carrying nutritional information considered relevant for consumers.
Excessive or exclusive focus on individual nutrients, taken out of the food context in which they are found, in order to maximize their supposed impact on specific aspects of physiology and health.
A production system that avoids the excessive use of industrially produced chemical inputs, emphasizing the health of soils, the ecological systems and processes that best support it, biodiversity, and farming communities.
The linear sequence of processes, actors, and locations involved in the production, distribution, and sale of a commodity, from start to end.
The complex network that connects multiple nodes directly and indirectly involved in the production, distribution, and sale of a commodity. It differs from a supply chain in that it expands a linear process to include all the factors that may impact it, extending it to external nodes and multidirectional connections.
Socioecological processes that look at maintaining the long-term functionality and productivity of a system in terms of its environmental impact, its social fairness, and its economic viability.
This refers to both the flavor and organoleptic attributes of a food (as in, “this food tastes good”) and the capacity to judge its value and appropriateness (as in, “this meal is in good taste”).
The ability to trace a product through all stages of production, processing, distribution, and retail while identifying the actors involved at each stage, generally through the use of technology such as barcodes and blockchain.