Food Security

 Questions from Chapter 4

1) Define Food Security. Traditionally, what have the ethics discussions around food been?

2) In discussing Food Security, how did Amartya Sen use the concept of entitlement?

3) What are some of the ways industrialized countries, like the United States, care for its own people when households face economic challenges, and cannot earn enough money for food?

4) In developing countries, food aid is often delivered from developed countries, and distributed in poor communities. How does this disrupt the activities of local farmers?

5) Use this example to answer the following questions:

Consider asmall city of 1000 households with high unemployment. It was announced that a company was coming to build a factory that would provide jobs for about 700 people, yet the development would cause 100 families to lose their jobs.

a. Explain the pros of the situation.

b. What are the ethical questions that may be raised here? Explain.

c. How would utilitarian thinkers feel about this situation? 

d. What may be a solution here? IF you can, explain how Kant might respond.

6) In the United States many small farmers have sold their farms and moved to urban areas. This has resulted in much larger, highly efficient farms. What are the pros and cons to this situation, and how would utilitarians justify this?

7) Define farmer agency. How does it apply in regards to the situations in 5 and 6.