Jonathan Brooks

This course will examine the current and future challenges facing food and agricultural systems and their implications for policymaking at national and international levels. Population and income growth are expected to raise the global demand for food, increasing pressures on natural resources. While globally agriculture produces ample calories, nearly a billion people remain undernourished, while an even greater number are overweight or obese. There is a pressing need to improve consumer’s food security and nutrition, while ensuring sustainable production on the supply side. At the same time, climate changes will add to stresses facing the agricultural sector, which will itself need to make a much greater contribution to mitigation efforts. These long-term challenges need to be reconciled with immediate priorities in terms of rebuilding and strengthening resilience in the wake of the Covid pandemic and responding to the destabilizing impacts of the war in Ukraine. The course will examine how these challenges can be addressed in a coherent way, and the policy and institutional reforms that are required.