Administering and Managing the U.S. Food System: Revisiting Food Policy and Politics

(Hardback)

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Description

Food and the systems that produce, disrupt, prepare it are central to all human life. Yet, scholarly analysis of the food systems that support human life are highly fragmented across a variety of disciplines. Public administration, with its focus on the doing of public policy, would seem to be a logical home for analysis of food systems in action. However, food is largely ignored by public administration scholars, and scholars from other disciplines can unintentionally draw up established public administration literature. The chapters in this edited volume highlight where the lenses and languages of public administration can and should be used to analyze food systems. Viewed collectively, the editors argue that the lenses and languages of public administration can and should become a common ground for scholars and practitioners to discuss food systems.

Reviews

Hoflund, Jones, and Pautz have edited an exceptional collection that challenges existing narratives about food politics and examines the unintended consequences of policies that impact sustainability, healthcare, and civic engagement. Readers who are interested in public administration will be engaged by case studies on the Farm Bill, SNAP program, school lunch initiatives, food labeling, and food processing. Readers who are drawn to food politics will be inspired by applications of public administration frameworks and methods that will advance their understanding of the policy process and its impacts. This is an important volume that examines problems in and proposes solutions to crises that plague the U.S. food system.

-- Courtney Thomas, Virginia Tech

Administering and Managing the US Food System is a must-read for those who want to learn more about food policy in America. This volume speaks to the major challenges facing public servants today school lunches, food insecurity, regulating organic foods, processing plants, and more. Hoflund, Jones, and Pautz deliver on their promise to explain the intersection of food policy and public administration.

-- Amanda Olejarski, West Chester University

"This volume provides a much-needed introduction to the interface between the food system and public administration for students and scholars alike. The accessible and diverse compilation of cases illustrate how the field of public administration has much to offer in terms of creating a more equitable, democratic, and sustainable food system that impacts every American, every day.

-- Jill Clark, Ohio State University

Author Bio

A. Bryce Hoflund is associate professor and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Chair of Healthcare Administration and Policy in the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

John C. Jones is assistant professor in the center for environmental studies at Virgina Commonwealth University.

Michelle C. Pautz is professor of political science and assistant provost for the common academic program at the University of Dayton.