Sustainable Food Production

Volledige vakbeschrijving

This course builds upon the Life Cycle Assessment project and the course Engineering in a Circular Economy. The aim of this course is to give you insights into the current challenges of sustainability in food production ecosystems. You gain a deeper understanding of the role of food in health and the economy, on the pressures on maintaining an adequate food supply and the factors that can affect future food availability. You apply some of the tools and methods used in sustainability assessment (Life Cycle Assessment, Cradle-to Cradle), and use them to analyse several existing more complex case studies where these tools were applied. Issues of scale (case studies at global, regional and local level), stakeholders (who to involve) and future- proofing (scenario studies) are addressed. The role and impact of biotechnology on sustainable food production is evaluated and consumer acceptance of GMOs and key innovations such as the CRISPR genome editing tools in food production is also discussed.