Food Literacy: Reconnecting the City with the Country

Abstract

The disconnect between city food consumers and country food producers is explored as both a problem and an opportunity for farmers and agricultural scientists. In the city there is growing interest and concern over food and how food is produced, but the general level of knowledge is alarmingly low. In the country, farm enterprises play a central role in the success of a wide range of agricultural input businesses and the food supply chain, but the farm share in the value of these input and output chains can be very low. 'Food Literacy' is described as a concept involving three main domains; food, nutrition and health; agriculture, environment and ecology; and social development and equity. A greater focus on food literacy has the potential to benefit all stakeholders in the food supply chain, and that means all of us. A greater focus on food literacy is part of the shift in agricultural science away from a simple focus on maximising productivity towards a more complex focus that integrates health, food, sustainable agriculture and social equity outcomes.