Food System Thinking

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future has been applying big-picture thinking to the food system since 1996, and has been educating the public, policymakers and advocates on key food system issues. The Center has focused on issues such as the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and the resulting increase in antibiotic-resistant organisms, the public health risks of arsenic in some agricultural antibiotics, and the "food desert" phenomenon whereby some communities cannot easily access healthy foods. The Center funds research on these and other food system issues, and also tries to translate its research findings into policy. It often partners with impacted communities to both conduct the research and disseminate the findings.