Activity 1

Students undertake an internet image search for ‘food security’.

Complete a see, think, wonder activity to initiate discussion and analyse previous understandings:

Complete a secondary image search for ‘Food security in Australia’.

• Do different images appear?
• Complete a brainstorm highlighting what you already know about food production, transport and consumption in Australia.
• Share your ideas as a class.

As a class discuss the term ‘Right to Food’. What does it mean and why is it a right?

Access: Public sector guidance sheet - Right to an adequate standard of living, including food, water and housing

And then read: The ‘Right to Food’ and Food Security

• Why is the ‘right to an adequate standard of living, including food, water and housing’ a human right?
• Is Australia meeting this obligation and right for all Australians?
• What key issues does Australia face in establishing food security for all?
• What is being done to work towards food security for all Australians?

Activity 2

An evolving understanding of food security

Understandings of the concept of food security have changed and evolved in important ways over the past 50 years (e.g. Maxwell, 1996; Shaw, 2007; Berry et al., 2015)…. The term “food security” was first defined at the World Food Conference in 1974, amid a time of soaring food prices and widespread concern about the impact of market turmoil on world hunger. In that context, food security was defined as “[the] availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices” (FAO, 1974).

This definition reflected the dominant thinking at that time that hunger was predominantly the product of lack of availability of sufficient food supplies at the global level and of international price instability. Within a decade, however, valuable research that sought to explain why famines arose historically in certain contexts, despite widespread food availability, led to important breakthroughs in our understanding of food insecurity (Sen, 1981). This work showed that availability is only one component of the broader picture of why hunger persists, and that a person’s ability to access food is extremely important. It also showed that there are a number of factors, such as market conditions, employment and livelihood viability, and ownership of assets that help to explain why some of the world’s most vulnerable people have been unable to access food even in situations of abundant food supply.

In 1996, the definition of food security was further updated, to incorporate nutritional and cultural dimensions (FAO, 1996), and with the addition of the word “social” in FAO’s 2001 State of Food Insecurity report, this remains the most authoritative and widely used definition of the concept today:

“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”

Taken from: Chapter 1, Food Security and Nutrition: Building a Global Narrative Towards 2030, page 6-7

• What is meant by ‘an evolving understanding of food security’?
• How has the definition of food security changed over time? What factors or findings led to these changes?
• List and describe the six dimensions of food security.
• How are the six dimensions interconnected?
• What factors impact each of these dimensions (and thus threaten food security)?

Further reading:

• Food span: Food security and hunger lesson plan
• FUSE Background Paper: Social factors and food choice in Australia

Curriculum links: VCGGK150

Activity 3

Write the following question on the board to discuss in groups and then develop some written responses as a class.

‘How will we feed 9 billion people by 2050?’

Using a world map or globe, ask students which countries or regions they predict are most and least vulnerable to food insecurity, and why.

Watch:
Sara Menker: A global food crisis may be less than a decade away (TEDGlobal)
Agriculture and Food Security (World Economic Forum)

• What food security issues do we face as a world?
• Describe the distribution of calories on a global scale
• What are the key causes of these disparities?
• List the implications of these disparities
• What is meant by a “green revolution”?
• Research examples of “green revolutions” in places such as India. Consider the social, economic and environmental outcomes of these changes.
• Brainstorm some ways to improve global food security in the next decade.
• Predict the future of food security in a world regional context by 2100.

Curriculum links: VCGGC127, VCGGC128, VCGGC129, VCGGK135, VCGGK136, VCGGK138

Activity 4

Read and explore:

• What is food security? (Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment)

Watch:

• Does Australia have 'food security?' (The Age and Sydney Morning Herald)
• The inspiring woman tackling Australia's growing food insecurity problem (Nine News Australia)

Consider the SHEEPT factors:

• What does Australia do well in securing food availability for its population?
• What are the challenges our country faces in terms of food security? How are these currently being addressed?
• Australia is often described as ‘food secure’ due to having ample supplies of safe, healthy food. Simultaneously, a greater proportion of the Australian population is malnourished than ever before. Discuss, with reference to the six dimensions of foods security.
• Because Australia is a food secure nation today, does that mean all citizens are well nourished?
• Poverty is one issue that impacts 13.6% of Australians. Using a mind-map, research other poverty data for Australia and discuss interconnections between poverty and local food security.
• Predict the future of food security in Australia based on your research.

Curriculum links: VCGGK138, VCGGC130
Cross curriculum links: VCEBR020, VCEBR022, VCCCC036, VCCCC037

Activity 5

Investigate your local region:

• Using Google Earth and observations describe your regions' natural and human characteristics (soil, water resources, vegetation density, urbanisation, climate etc). How might these characteristics impact the region’s ability to grow and produce food?
• Using your local supermarket website, investigate where particular products come from. Are they locally grown and produced or imported? Are you surprised by the results? Why?
• Using your local supermarket website, investigate where particular products come from. Are they locally grown and produced or imported? Are you surprised by the results? Why?
• Would you describe your local region and rural or urban? Does that impact your level of food security? Why?
• Research a food insecurity issue in your location region or nationally using this lotus diagram:
  
  Download Lotus Diagram Template 26.5KB .docx file
• Predict some of the food security issues your region may face in the future as a result of population changes, climate shifts or urbanisation.

Curriculum links for activities 1–3: VCGGK133, VCGGC127, VCGGC128, VCGGK154

Additional resources

• World Vision: Food security classroom resources and videos
• Global Education: Food security units of work, links and information
• Food span: Food security and hunger lesson plan
• Peace Corps: Food security game investigating inequalities
   

Next