This tag was created by Maria Frank. The last update was by Matt Gunther.

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Field Guides to Food

Food Production, Processing, and Preparation

Between the farm and your fork, plenty of people may share in the work of preparing the final, edible product. Artifacts that describe patterns in food production, processing, and preparation show how this work determines food availability on a systemic scale.

All the ways food gets made (and transformed into edible form)

Agricultural practices > Farming culture

[resources currently marked with this tag were originally marked with the Scalar tag "Farming culture" with the definition below]

This phrase encompasses the influences on social and cultural aspects of farm-life, including managerial structure, urban and rural identity, the family, gender relations, faith, tradition, and personal histories.

One particularly important phrase to note within this category is the family farm, which is used often used to mean:

Smaller or owner-managed operations, and to imply care for the land and community as opposed to "corporate" farming.

Farms owned and run by a single family, or
Farms owned by a single family

Can be misleading, however, as corporate ownership of agricultural land is prohibited in Minnesota and 8 other states, and very large industrial farms are often family-owned. Legal details here:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/ss/sscorpfarm.pdf

A transitional farm is one where

"the responsibility for a piece of agricultural land is changing hands" (see Farms Transitions Toolkit)

Ownership changing completely
Ownership shifting to the next generation
Management of day-to-day operations is changing, but ownership is not

Related terms: family farm, transitional farm

Within the tag family "The Food System."

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Contents of this path:
1. Institutional Structure Ways of representing food in context so that the systemic nature of food relationships is revealed.
  
  As a new practice or value grows in popularity and becomes commonplace over time, it sometimes becomes an organizing force in society. When this happens, practices and values take on the characteristics of a “social institution”. Artifacts that trace this process within a food system deal with institutional structure.
  
  Join the Discussion!
2. Information / Knowledge Building Examples and processes related to the ways that people are gaining knowledge about food in its systemic context.
  
  We all borrow food practices and values from other people. But what are the channels through which we do this? Under what conditions do some people become teachers, and others learners? Items that describe social patterns in these channels and conditions help to explain how “structures of information and knowledge” become a factor shaping the food system.
  
  Join the Discussion!
3. Food Production, Processing, and Preparation

Agricultural practices > Farming culture

This page has paths:

Contents of this tag: