By Amanda Kerr
The challenges surrounding agriculture and food are complex, making it essential that the next generation of leaders in agriculture and food systems is prepared to address these issues with an understanding of the nuances tied to the food we eat.
That’s why faculty from NC State University have partnered with the University of Georgia, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of Minnesota to develop new curriculum tools to help undergraduate students at land-grant universities think more expansively about the complexities within agriculture and related fields. Funded through a five-year Higher Education Challenge grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the initiative, known as STEPS (Systems Thinking for Educational Problem Solving), aims to equip students with the skills to better evaluate all facets of a problem and the impacts of potential solutions. The project is led by principal investigator Kevan Lamm at the University of Georgia.
“Systems thinking is really about how we can anticipate unintended consequences that happen when we make a decision,” says Katie Sanders, an assistant professor in NC State’s Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences, who is among the faculty members working on the project.