Thriving Food Systems
From regenerative agriculture programs to supporting broader coursework, we engage with partners, alumni and students to help create a just and thriving agriculture community and food system for both people and the planet.
Programs and Initiatives
Sust Land Use Programs
Defining Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is an increasingly used term to describe farming – think “organic” or “sustainable” as other categories in the same family. It is meant to convey a holistic approach to agriculture that puts the health of ecosystems as well as human communities next to crop production value.
As part of our Beyond the Buzzwords initiative with Tsai CITY, Managing Director at Yale Carbon Containment Lab Justin Freiberg (MESc '10) helps explain this term.
Related Reports
related reports
Key Events
The Big Connecticut Food Event
The Big Connecticut Food Event is designed to provide opportunities for emerging food and beverage brands to connect with the expertise that they’re going to need on their journeys, and for strategic and industry partners to meet the growing community of promising brands.
Our goal is to support the development of Connecticut’s entrepreneurship pipeline so it produces multiple food and beverage brands every year that each exceeds $2 million in annual sales.
Yale Food Systems Symposium
Healing Harvest: Transforming Food Systems for Tomorrow will convene cross-disciplinary leaders and thinkers to explore food systems’ capacity to heal communities, economies, ecologies, and human bodies. Leaders across a variety of sectors will share how they are transforming food systems to benefit the health of our society, along with the human and non-human life that depend on it.
Mentorship Opportunities
mentors
Each academic year, a cohort of professionals across different industries devote time to meet with students and discuss anything from industry trends to career advice to coursework support. Each Mentor meets one-on-one with students throughout the year.
This year we have several alumni with experience in different aspects of thriving food systems. Reach out and connect with them!
Alumni Visiting Mentors
What is a Food Desert or Food Apartheid?
“Food Desert” is a commonly used but inadequate term coined by researchers to define areas where people have low incomes and low physical access to supermarkets. The term "Food Apartheid" more accurately describes the racist and oppressive systems that create inequitable food environments.
As part of our Beyond the Buzzwords initiative with Tsai CITY, Food Systems and Equity Consultant and CBEY Resident Fellow Tagan Engel helps explain this term.
Have a read and let us know if you feel we are missing anything!
Also, watch this video from Malik Yakini, Executive Director at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, where he discusses food deserts, food apartheid, and food access.
