SMNR: Agriculture and Food. Law and Policy. Principle and Practice.

• Semester: Spring 2026
• Course ID: 397S
• Credit Hours: 3
• Unique: 30160

Description

This new seminar will examine major aspects of food production and consumption in the  United States, with a consistent emphasis on both market-driven and regulatory features. Special emphasis will be placed on the state-based and regional shaping--regulatory and otherwise--of the life-cycle of industrial-scale food production, from its intensive demands on soil and water; its extensive geographies; and its pollutive atmospheric conditioning to its prevalent end-state as methane-enhancing food waste.

Topics within the scope of inquiry may include, by example: state versus federal authority over food regulation; rising challenges to food safety; fertilizer and pesticide use and their regulation; induced preference formation for food products; "ultra-processed" (or "hyper-processed") foods; MAHA-policy influence; shrinkflation; the science and regulation of "novel" proteins; the use of treated frack water as irrigation water; the biodigestion of agricultural waste; food equity; and locovorism. 

Assessment methods will include a paper requirement. There will be no final exam.

Given the course's inter-disciplinary focus, cross-registrations from other departments will be welcome.

This course is designed to complement the seminar on the federal regulation of food safety being offered by Professor Tom McGarity this term.