Using the Perspectives of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agents to Develop a Sustainable Eating Curriculum

Sustainable eating may benefit both the environment and human health. Currently, no Extension programs addressing healthy and sustainable eating are available that target adults in communities. Since sustainable eating is a sensitive topic, this project engaged Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Ext...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lindley Barker, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Annie Koempel, Katie Pickford, Tammy Stephenson, Dawn Brewer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Mississippi State University 2024-12-01
Series:Journal of Human Sciences and Extension
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Online Access:https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol12/iss3/7/
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Summary:Sustainable eating may benefit both the environment and human health. Currently, no Extension programs addressing healthy and sustainable eating are available that target adults in communities. Since sustainable eating is a sensitive topic, this project engaged Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension agents in Kentucky, to garner their community expertise and perspectives on sustainable eating to help develop an appropriate Extension curriculum. By following the Curriculum Development Process for Cooperative Extension Programming model, we involved FCS agents in developing and reviewing a sustainable eating curriculum. The proposed curriculum included content that reflected sustainable eating principles of reducing overconsumption of foods, limiting the consumption of highly processed and packaged foods, promoting consumption of more plant-derived foods, promoting consumption of locally raised foods and animals, and reducing the amount of food waste. Twenty-six structured Zoom interviews with Kentucky FCS agents obtained their views of the acceptability and appropriateness of five proposed lesson outlines on sustainable eating. Themes included 1) acceptable lesson material, 2) minimize jargon and use appropriate language, 3) be mindful of lesson length and being overwhelming, and 4) frame messages around community needs. Results will be used to develop and pilot a full sustainable eating curriculum.
ISSN:2325-5226