The specialization Sustainable Food Systems of the MSc Organic Agriculture focuses on a social sciences perspectives on organic agriculture and organic food supply chains.

To attain the widely shared goal of the expansion of organic production, the demand for organic products would need to grow. Socio-economic constraints are major bottlenecks to such an expansion. To attain the societal goal of a healthy and environmentally friendly food and fibre production system, improved understanding of consumer preferences, psychology and communication theory is essential. Production, processing, and marketing of organic products is increasingly affected by international and national policies and legislation. Insight into the development and formulation of such legislation is crucial to the expansion of the organic food and fibre production system.

Students from this specialization will explore themes such as food security and sovereignty, food production and knowledge, access to social and natural resources crucial to livelihoods in rural and urban settings, sociology of agriculture, agro-ecology, and many more.

For a thesis supervised by Rural Sociology, three courses are compulsory:

• RSO-34806 Social Transformation towards Sustainable Food Systems
• The Sociology of Farming and Rural Life (RSO-30806)
• Sociology of Food and Place (RSO-31806)

Additionally, we recommend one or more of the following courses:

• Food Culture and Customs (RSO-22306)  
• Globalization and Sustainability of Food Production and Consumption (ENP-31806)