There were a lot of important words and concepts behind them in  this first Keyword group. I always find it important to have succinct explanations to words readily available so everyone is on the same page of discussion. My most important takeaway is how critically connected many of these terms are and how understanding them all in context of each other is crucial for all keywords individually. For example how land tenure is legitimized can have massive implications for food security, even the term “access” can also have meaning in land tenure. Who has access to lands once defined under public ownership? How can proper acroecological practices be undertaken when land tenure is under dispute.

The globalization of of our food systems have placed monoculture cash crops at the forefront of the worlds food production but have had massive impacts to local communities, large-scale enterprises like cattle ranching contribute massively to water consumption and deforestation. The transition to wage labor disconnects the farmer from the produce, while at the same time commercializing first foods that have been harvested methodically for thousands of years. In the context of corn as a first food the agroecological practices of indigenous people in the south and central america have been deeply intertwined with their culture, especially as over millennia the purposeful manipulation of corn from its organic state to calorie dense crop demonstrates the value of indigenous led agricultural practices.