Now what?

     With all that we have learned about Food Policy Councils, Community Food Assessments, Food System Planning, community engagement, farmers market appeal, and much much more, I have wondered throughout these lessons how I should take the material. My experience in the past with food systems is along the lines of food appreciation and hands-on work. What can I say- I love to eat awesome food and I love the experiences I've had volunteering at farms. I've always been conscious of food on an individual level, such as how I shop for food and what businesses I choose to support. I've never dealt with administrative implementation of food policy, and I'm not sure if I ever will work solely in this area.  At the same, I feel that this is an issue that can be integrated into any public policy or administrative framework.

     With my Environmental Studies classes, this course kind of closed the gap on how to go from theoretical ideals to actual implementation of these projects. Agriculture is hugely important in creating healthy communities, and hearing perspectives on what cities are doing to address a lack of healthy, fresh food was inspiring. Looking not only at the benefits and successes, but also at the obstacles and failures of projects created a realistic image in my mind of what food system planning needs to look like moving forward. It's amazing to be learning about an effort that really seems to be taking off fairly recently and has much more ground to cover. I'm excited to be part of the food system planning pioneers, and I hope I'm able to integrate what I have learned into my career.

     Personally, where I really want to see myself one day is working alongside one an active international entity like the United Nations or the World Bank. I want to push for environmentally sustainable projects to be prioritized in developing areas. A lot of this takes into account the power of ecosystem services like clean water and unpolluted soil as economic and social necessities. Because of the parallels between them, my passion for Environmental Justice has been matched by a new appreciation for Food Justice. It is in the overlapping of these movements that I see a big, shining future ahead of us... as long as we're ready to work for it. 

     For now though, I'll continue volunteering with farms around Tallahassee and beyond. Over the summer I'll be working in Northern India in the city of Naddi on implementing a solar oven project as well as working with local women on their organic gardens. I hope to utilize what I learned in class to create microfinance projects with the women based on the products we can make and grow. I can't wait to see where I can plug into the global environmental movement, and I know that somehow planning for agriculture will come with whatever I plan to do.