This document provides information about a course on food security and globalization taught at Ohio State University. The course will be taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:10 AM to 12:30 PM in Room 210 of the Animal Sciences Building. It will address concepts of food security and poverty from a social sciences perspective. Students will learn about causes and solutions to food insecurity on micro and macro levels. The course will also examine the impacts of globalization on food security. Grading will be based on quizzes, homework, papers, presentations, and a final exam.

1. Food Security and Globalization
AEDECON/INTSTDS 4532, Autumn 2015
Ohio State University
Instructors:
Ms. Khushbu Mishra, E-mail: mishra.67@osu.edu
PhD Student, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
Mr. Richard Gallenstein, E-mail: gallenstein.6@osu.edu
PhD Student, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
TA: Danbee Song, E-mail: song.900@osu.edu
PhD Student, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
Time: Tuesday and Thursday, 11:10 AM – 12:30 PM.
Place: Room 210, Animal Sciences Building.
Prerequisite: AEDE 2001 or Econ 2001, OR instructor’s permission
Credit: 3 units.
Course Website: http://carmen.osu.edu.
Office Hours: Tuesdays 12:30-2:00 PM in Room 327, Agricultural Administration Building OR by
appointment.
Course Description: The course addresses food security and poverty primarily from the
standpoint of the social sciences. Concepts, theories, and tools for analyzing food security and
nutritional intake are introduced. The roles of biological science and institutions are examined.
Policies and policy reforms for improving food security are studied. Food security is examined
in a global context with emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, since these are the
areas of the world where malnutrition is the most prevalent.
Course Objectives:
• To learn what food insecurity is, who is affected, and how it affects the lives of those who
suffer from it;
• Understand the complex nature of poverty and hunger;
• Understand the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and be able to apply it;
• Gain the tools to understand causes andsolutions to food insecurity on a micro and macro
level;
• To introduce students to globalization and its impacts on food security;
• Understand the relationship between food prices and food security
Grading: Your performance in the course will be assessed as follows:
Item Weight (percent)
Quizzes 10

2. Homework 10
Papers 25
Class Presentation 25
Final 30
Total 100
Reading Assignments and Class Participation: One textbook is assigned and you will need to
read it and write a report on it. Supplementary readings will be provided through the Carmen
website. The supplementary readings are meant to expand on topics covered in class. Class
participation will be expected during class discussions and will be of great benefit to students in
preparation for the exams.
Quizzes: There are fifteen reading assignments; you will be quizzed on eleven of these.
The quizzes will be selected by the instructors but will not be disclosed to the students
beforehand. The quiz names in the course calendar below correspond to the name of
the readings. The lowest single quiz grade for the semester will be dropped for each
student. The quizzes are primarily for the purpose of ensuring that the readings are
done.
Homework: There will be two homework assignments in the course.
Paper: Two papers will be assigned in the class, one on food security in a country of your choice
and the other on the textbook. Papers will be submitted online via the Carmen website and will
be returned through email. Students who wish to receive comments on their papers will need
to indicate this on the cover page.
Class Presentation: The class will be divided into groups of five for a group presentation during
mid semester. The purpose of this assignment is to foster independent and group work while
improving public speaking skill.
Exams: The final will be comprehensive yet will give heavy emphasis to the second half of the
course material. A study guide will be provided in advance of the final exam.
Textbook (available in the campus bookstore and area bookstores that sell OSU textbooks):
Roger Thurow. The Last Hunger Season: A year in an African Farm Community on the Brink
of Change Public Affairs Publishers, 2011.
Relevant Websites:
www.fao.org United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
www.ifpri.org International Food Policy Research Institute
http://www.foodsecurityportal.org Food Security Portal
www.wfp.org United Nations World Food Program
www.fews.net USAID Famine Early Warning Systems

3. Course Policies:
1. Attendance policy: If a student misses class on the day of a quiz or test, the student will
receive a zero unless I am notified in advance of the absence and have given permission
for the absence. Excused absences are limited to serious issues such as doctor
appointments, family crisis, etc. and documentation will be expected for the excuse. Note
that the lowest quiz grade for each student will be dropped to accommodate the rare
emergency without forewarning. Homeworks are expected to be turned in during the
class period on the day that they are due and therefore an absence will indicate the
assignment is late even if the assignment is turned in later that same day, unless the
absence is excused.
2. LateSubmissionofAssignments: A late homework assignmentwill be penalized 5% the
first day it is late and then 2.5% of the grade for each day onwards.
3. Academic Honesty: Academic misconduct of any kind is not acceptable. Probably the most
common form of academic misconduct is plagiarism, defined as follows in the university’s
Code of Student Conduct: “Plagiarismis the representation of another's work or ideas as
one's own; it includes the unacknowledged word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing of
another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's
ideas.” For a detailed definition of academic misconduct, see
http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp. Also, read “Ten Suggestions for Preserving
Academic Integrity” at http://oaa.osu.edu/coamtensuggestions.html. To resolve any doubt
about what activities constitute academic misconduct and what procedures are followed,
consult the instructor. All written assignments will be submitted over Carmen and will be
subjected to an originality check that analyzes documents for plagiarism. Papers that are
marked for plagiarismwill be investigated.
4. Disability Services: Students with disabilities that have been certified by the Office for
Disability Services will be appropriately accommodated, and should inform the
instructor as soon as possible of their needs. The Office for Disability Services is located
in 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue; telephone 292-3307, TDD 292-0901;
http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu/.

4. Course Calendar, AEDECON/IS 4532, AUTUMN 2015
Date Topic Quiz Assignment
Introduction to Food Insecurity
8/25 Syllabus/ Famines
08/27 Incidence of Food
Insecurity 1
The State of Food Insecurity 2013
http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3434e/i3434e.pdf
Homework
1 assigned
9/01 Incidence of Food
Insecurity 2
The Economic Lives of the Poor
http://economics.mit.edu/files/530
9/03 Nutritional Aspects
of Food Insecurity
9/08 Measuring Food
Insecurity
The State of Food Security 2015
http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4646e.pdf
Homework
1 due
9/10 Impacts of Food
Insecurity
Country
Food
Security
Paper
Assigned
Solutions & Challenges Part 1
9/15 Income and Food
Security
9/17 Raising Incomes Challenges of Education
9/22 Population Growth
and Food Security
9/24 Health Care and
Food Security
Economic and Social Burden of Malaria and
AIDs
9/29 The Environment
and Food Security
Climate Change and Food Security
10/1 Gender and Food
Security
CARE Project in India

5. Discussion of
student
presentation
10/6 Student
Presentations
Country
Food
Security
Paper Due
10/08 Student
Presentations
10/13 Student
Presentations
10/15 Autumn Break
Tools for Analysis
10/20 Sustainable
Livelihoods
Framework 1
10/22 Sustainable
Livelihoods
Framework 2
Last Hunger
Season
Paper
Assigned
10/27 Risk Management
10/29 NO CLASS
11/03 Microeconomics
Solutions & Challenges Part 2
11/05 Food Aid
11/10 Agricultural
Development 1:
Raising Agricultural
Yields
Agriculture in the Global Economy
11/12 Agricultural
Development 2:
Green Revolution
Last Hunger Season 1
11/17 Agricultural
Development 3: GR
controversies and
conservation
agriculture
11/19 Agricultural
Development 4:
Adoption of new
technologies and
practices
AGRA Seed Value Chain
Globalization

6. 11/24 Macroeconomics Economics
Homework
Assigned
12/01 Globalization and
Political Economy
Last Hunger Season 2
12/03 World Trade and
Food Security 1
Tanzania Export Ban Last Hunger
Season
Paper Due
12/08 World Trade and
Food Security 2
Food, Fuel, and Financial Crisis Economics
Homework
Due
12/14 FINAL EXAM
12pm - 1.45pm