Community Food Security as an Entry Point for Food System Change: A Case by David Pelletier

The modern food system is a complex web of activities operating simultaneously. This case examines human dignity outcomes and effects in the US food system, and investigates the relatively limited power of local people to influence changes to improve their value statuses. The chapter explores this problem through the lens of community food security in the United States, drawing on the elements of the problem orientation, refering to the social process in evaluating an exploratory method, and leveraging the appraisal function of the decision process to make recommendations. The following section discusses the complexity of food systems related to communities, and outlines a dual policy problem for advancing food security in the United States. The next section outlines the problem orientation for community food security in the United States. Then, the chapter looks at a North Country Food and Economic Security Project concerning the social process, including methods to enable local communities and citizens to clarify, secure, and sustain some of their common interests. The method is appraised, and recommendations are made.