Lecture

Food Production Systems

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

HUM-120(a): Sustainable Food: production, health & society

Le cours présente divers enjeux liés à l'alimentation durable: production, sécurité alimentaire, nutrition et santé, enjeux sociaux et culturels. L'approche interdisciplinaire intègre les SHS et les sciences de l'ingénieur et initie au travail de groupe et ...

Description

This lecture covers the theory of production systems in food production, including the role of human work, animals, and mechanical tools. It also delves into historical contexts, such as the birth of agriculture and the industrial revolution, and discusses the problem of hunger, undernutrition, and food security.

Instructor

Jérome Feige

Expertise Skeletal muscle biology, aging, stem cells, regenerative medicine, nutrition ResearchMuscle & Aging Lab Our reserach projects study the mechanisms leading to the dysfunction of skeletal muscle during aging, particularly the condition of sarcopenia, in which muscle mass and muscle function decline due to age. Sarcopenia involves multiple pathophysiological processes such as impaired neuro-muscular transition, altered excitation/contraction coupling, impaired regenerative capacity linked to stem ce

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Agricultural and food sciences

Agriculture: Topics in agriculture

Related concepts (32)

Food system

The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution, and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps.

Food prices

Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices affect producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing and food distribution. Fluctuation in food prices is determined by a number of compounding factors. Geopolitical events, global demand, exchange rates, government policy, diseases and crop yield, energy costs, availability of natural resources for agriculture, food speculation, changes in the use of soil and weather events directly affect food prices.

Food industry

The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, family-run activities that are highly labour-intensive, to large, capital-intensive and highly mechanized industrial processes. Many food industries depend almost entirely on local agriculture, animal farms, produce, and/or fishing.

Food loss and waste

Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about one-third of the world's food is thrown away. A 2021 meta-analysis that did not include food lost during production, by the United Nations Environment Programme found that food waste was a challenge in all countries at all levels of economic development.

Food desert

A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with greater access to supermarkets and vegetable shops with fresh foods may be called a food oasis. The designation considers the type and the quality of food available to the population, in addition to the accessibility of the food through the size and the proximity of the food stores. In 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture reported that 39.5 million people or 12.

Related lectures (64)

Global Food Challenges

Explores global food challenges, including sustainability, nutrition, health, and climate impact on agriculture.

Food Production: Systems and Challenges

Explores food production systems, historical context, hunger factors, and food security dimensions.

Lowimpact Food: From Idea to Sustainable Business

Explores the journey of Lowimpact Food founders from idea to sustainable business, focusing on reusing food byproducts and transforming mealworms into protein powder.

Food Security: Challenges and Innovations for Sustainable Solutions

Addresses global food security challenges and the need for innovative solutions to ensure sustainable nutrition for all.

Project Work Guidelines