Popular Searches

Food is essential to human survival: it fuels our bodies and provides livelihoods. Our lands and oceans produce enough food, yet about one-third of its global production is wasted every year. Annually, about 44 million people in the United States face food insecurity, including 13 million children (https://www.feedingamerica.org/). Many do not know where their next meal might come from, and suffer from malnutrition. Other concerns related to food include safety, access, nutrition, rising costs, food processing, working conditions, and sustainable agricultural and fishing practices to name a few. Moreover, the future of the food supply will be further challenged by climate change, environmental degradation, and worldwide poverty and inequality.

For this challenge, consider one aspect related to food and identify a problem within that aspect to solve. Research the problem and propose an innovative solution to address it, so that current and future generations are able to have access to safe, healthy, high quality, and culturally appropriate food. As you develop your project, be sure to contact and interview people, organizations, and pertinent groups so you can incorporate their insights.

Getting Started

Reference resources provide a starting point for your research projects.

Credo Reference

Credo Reference provides hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and more in one place. Below is a sample of keyword searches in Credo Reference related to this topic:

Call Numbers and Subject Headings

You can use the list of call numbers and subject headings below as keyword searches in our catalog and databases, or you can go to these sections of the library to find books on these topics.

  • HD9000-9495 Agricultural industries
  • TD100-200 Environmental Technology

Books

Books from Lane Library

The books in this list are located either in the Franzen Center on Floor 3A or as an e-book.

Search terms for additional books in Lane Library’s catalog:

Discovery Search: Search Lane Library’s books, ebooks, and articles in one place.

Books from other libraries

WorldCat: Search for books not available at Lane Library and borrow from other libraries for free through interlibrary loan.

Articles

Databases

The following databases are useful places to search for Food related articles. Contact a librarian if you would like more information on how to search for articles on your specific topic.

Get articles from other libraries

If you cannot find a full-text version of the article you need, request it through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan is a free service that allows you to borrow books and articles from other libraries. Find answers to frequently asked questions about ILL here.

Government Sources, Statistics, and Websites

Government sources

“The mission of USDA’s Economic Research Service is to anticipate trends and emerging issues in agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America and to conduct high-quality, objective economic research to inform and enhance public and private decision making”

“As the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future works to give families and communities in some of the world’s poorest countries the freedom and opportunity to lift themselves out of food insecurity and malnutrition”

Statistics

Peter Conlon

Conlon, Peter

Assistant Librarian - Access Services

[email protected]