Food Insecurity in Kentucky

Readers explore topics related to concerns about food and its availability around the globe. A variety of essays and articles are presented, each of which adopts a differing viewpoint. Readers are urged to develop informed opinions about this expansive topic through analysis and inquiry. Subjects such as food insecurity as a developmental risk for children; food insecurity as a source of conflict among nations; climate change and its impact on food security; overpopulation and its impact on the availability of food; and the role of biotechnology in addressing food security questions are addressed.

This volume explores the experience of hunger and food insecurity among college students at a large, public university in north Texas. Ninety-two clients of the campus food pantry volunteered to share their experiences through qualitative interviews, allowing the author to develop seven profiles of food insecurity, while at once exploring the impact of childhood food insecurity and various coping strategies. Students highlighted the issues of stigma and shame; the unwillingness to discuss food insecurity with their peers; the physical consequences of hunger and poor nutrition; the associations between mental health and nutrition; the academic sacrifices and motivations to finish their degree in the light of food insecurity; and the potential for raising awareness on campus through university engagement. Henry concludes the book with a discussion of solutions--existing solutions to alleviate food insecurity, student-led suggestions for additional resources, solutions in place at other universities that serve as potential models for similar campuses--and efforts to change federal policy.

Following years of complacency about food security and agriculture, world food prices began increasing in 2000 and currently remain well above long run trends. Research into this phenomenon reveals a highly complex and cross-disciplinary issue, which is fast becoming a defining feature of our times. Fuelled by a huge variety of interlinking factors, including rapid or improved economic growth -particularly in Asia and Africa - as well water scarcity, climate change, and the increasing demand for biofuels, the renewed urgency due to recent high food prices has focused much-needed attention on the challenges of food security. The articles in these volumes address the major challenges and debates around food security and the policies, investments, and technologies required to reduce or eliminate food insecurity. Organised thematically, each volume is introduced by an essay that synthesizes the topics covered therein, including the following:Volume One: Food Demand, Access and UtilizationVolume Two: Producing Enough FoodVolume Three: Markets, Value Chains, Trade and Macroeconomic PolicyVolume Four: Food Policy for Food Security

Global food price spikes in 2008 and again in 2011 coincided with a surge of political unrest in low- and middle-income countries. Angry consumers took to the streets in scores of nations. In some places, food riots turned violent, pressuring governments and in a few cases contributed to theiroverthrow. Foreign investors sparked a new global land rush, adding a different set of pressures. With scientists cautioning that the world has entered a new era of steadily rising food prices, perhaps aggravated by climate change, the specter of widespread food insecurity and sociopoliticalinstability weighs on policymakers worldwide. In the past few years, governments and philanthropic foundations began redoubling efforts to resuscitate agricultural research and technology transfer, as well as to accelerate the modernization of food value chains to deliver high quality foodinexpensively, faster, and in greater volumes to urban consumers. But will these efforts suffice?This volume explores the complex relationship between food security and sociopolitical stability up to roughly 2025. Organized around a series of original essays by leading global technical experts, a key message of this volume is that actions taken in an effort to address food security stressorsmay have consequences for food security, stability, or both that ultimately matter far more than the direct impacts of biophysical drivers such as climate or land or water scarcity. The means by which governments, firms, and private philanthropies tackle the food security challenge of the comingdecade will fundamentally shape the relationship between food security and sociopolitical stability.