S. Food Systems and US Environmental Law

We eat food every day. The food system, from agricultural production to processing and distribution to consumption and waste, shapes our lives. The food system also profoundly affects our environment, climate, and public health. This course explores the environmental impact of modern agriculture and the U.S. laws that attempt to address it.

Today’s industrial food system bears little relation to the bucolic family farms that were in Congress’s mind when it passed most modern environmental laws. Since the 1970’s, U.S. agriculture has grown increasingly concentrated and industrial. Arguably, the system is a success: we now produce about 60% more food than we need, food is about one-third less expensive today than in 1980; and less than 2% of U.S. employment is in agriculture.

On the other hand, the increased industrialization, without the environmental safeguards applicable to other industries, has led to agriculture being a major source of environmental and health harm. Agriculture occupies approximately 60% of the country’s contiguous land and is the main driver of biodiversity loss. Fertilizers and pesticides running off monoculture fields pollute waters and endanger workers, surrounding communities, and downstream consumers. Almost all our meat is produced in industrial-scale “concentrated animal feeding operations” that house tens of thousands of animals and produce more waste than many cities, yet lack sewage treatment systems and cause significant water and air pollution. Through greenhouse gas emissions and land use, agriculture drives about one-third of climate change. And agriculture is one of the most highly concentrated and unequal sectors of the economy, one in seven in the U.S. are food insecure, and we face a pandemic of food-related chronic diseases.

U.S. environmental and farm laws seek to address (some of) these harms; this course studies the strengths and weaknesses of current law, and explores alternative approaches to environmental and public health protections. How to regulate highly variable biological systems? How to manage the diffuse and unreported nature of most agricultural pollution? How to address the fact that the “machines” of meat production are sentient beings? How should the disparate impacts of food and its production affect policy choices? We consider these questions and more as we confront the need to transform our current food system if we hope to achieve environmental (and social) goals.