Activity 1: The Food System Chain

1. Share the food production steps, and discuss what needs to happen at each step. Some prompting questions and possible answers may include:
   • Preparation (getting ready to grow food):
     • What does the farmer need to begin growing a crop? (seeds, fertilizer, equipment, land)
   • Growing the food:
     • What does the farmer need for the crop to grow? (sunshine; rain; labor or hands to work, weed, and care for the crop; understanding of growing food; knowledge about land and agriculture)
   • Harvesting and transportation (moving food from the field):
     • What is needed to harvest and transport the crop from the field? (hands or laborers; mechanical harvesters; trucks, trains, ships, or airplanes; fuel; satisfactory/safe roads)
     • Where is the crop moved after it is harvested from the field? (some may be kept for personal use by the family, taken to local markets to be sold, or taken to a farmers’ co-op, and some may be taken to processing factories or be held in a storage facility) How far does the crop have to travel in each of these situations?
   • Storing the food:
     • How might the food be stored? (by canning, freezing, drying, salting, or storing in a cellar or in a storage facility with controlled temperature)
     • Where might the food be stored? (grain elevators, refrigerators, large freezers, or other controlled environments)
     • Is this the only step in which the food may be stored? (no, food may also be stored after processing before it is distributed for purchase)
   • Processing the food:
     • What might happen to a tomato crop at a food processing factory? (if destined for ketchup, the tomatoes would be washed, heated, skinned, and smashed; the tomato smash would be mixed with salt and other spices to make ketchup; the ketchup would be bottled and labeled for distribution to a market) What else could happen to a tomato crop? What about other crops?
   • Distribution:
     • How does a farmer sell a product? (at a local farmer’s market; directly to a local supermarket where individual negotiations are made; to a farmers’ co-op where many farmers bring their products together to sell to a larger buyer)
     • How is the crop resold to larger national or international markets? (it could be sold through a large corporation or purchased by the government; it could be sold over the internet to an international buyer like a supermarket or processing plant)
   • Preparing and consuming the food (at home or in a restaurant):
     • Discuss how people need money to buy food unless they grow their own.
     • Discuss how people must understand how to use the food safely and choose foods that keep them healthy.
2. Have students complete the Who Makes Your Cereal? activity sheet to get them thinking independently about food production.
3. Divide the class into groups of five. Give each group a copy (on different colors of paper) of the Food System Chain activity sheet. Ask students to cut apart the “links” and give one to each group member.
4. Ask them to think about the food production steps that you discussed and possible weaknesses that could occur in the system. Allow ten minutes for students to answer on a separate sheet of paper the “what if” question listed on their “link.” Prompt them to answer in three to four complete sentences.
5. Once everyone is finished, have all the students with the same question get into a group together and discuss their responses.
6. Each group should now write one paragraph incorporating everyone’s ideas and any new ones sparked by the discussion.
7. Each group should present their final paragraph to the class.
8. Ask students to regroup with the four other students who have “links” of the same color. Now regrouped, students should use a stapler to connect the links of their chain in the correct order.
9. Display chains and final paragraphs on a bulletin board titled “The Food System Chain is Only as Strong as its Weakest Link.”

Activity 2: Hunger

1. Share Peter Menzel's Hungry Planet Family Portraits, which show families from around the world with what for them is a week’s worth of food. Discuss what the photos show about food systems in different countries. Consider the variety, quantity, and packaging of foods.
2. Display the World Food Programme HungerMap Live. Ask students to identify and write down the countries most severely affected by hunger. Ask the students to respond to the following questions concerning these areas:
   • Are there climatic or geographic similarities between these countries? How may the weather or insect populations affect the food supply?
   • Do these countries have stable governments? Is there war or civil unrest? Which links in the food system chain might this affect?
   • What can be done to help people overcome hunger or food insecurity in America? In the world?
3. Discuss with students what can and is being done to help address hunger issues locally and globally. What kinds of resources exist in your community for people who have difficulty purchasing enough food? Think about food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, and community gardens. Discuss which links of the food system chain are strengthened by local efforts to fight hunger.