Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
Capstone Project Stage 1
(end of module 3)
The diagram below summarizes the topics you will explore in Stage 1 for your assigned region based on what we've covered in
Modules 1, 2 and 3. At this point you should know your assigned region. For Stage 1, you will do your data collection on your own,
and submit a PowerPoint and your completed worksheet electronically via the drop box.
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
What to do for Stage 1?

Confirm with your instructor which region you will be studying and introduce yourself to your group members. The
assignment for Stage 1 will be completed individually, but future stages will be completed as a group, so it’s good to
start getting to know your group members.

Download and complete the CapstoneProject_Stage1.docx worksheet that contains a table summarizing the data you’ll
need to collect to complete this stage. You need to think deeply about each response and write responses that reflect
the depth of your thought as informed by your research. Do not just write one-word answers.

Create a powerpoint file that you’ll use to store maps, data, graphs, photos, etc. that you collect related to your assigned
region. For every piece of information that you put in your powerpoint file, you MUST include a citation that clearly
explain where that piece of information came from.

Include questions that you have about your region related to the key course topics covered so far in the Stage 1
worksheet. Be sure to include in this document a record of your efforts to answer the questions so far.

Upload your Stage 1 powerpoint file and worksheet to the dropbox. (see rubric below for individual assessment).
Rubric for Stage 1 Individual Assessment:
Criteria
Stage 1 worksheet and ppt files for assigned region
uploaded to drop box by deadline
All questions in the Stage 1 worksheet answered
thoughtfully with evidence of research into the
assigned region
PowerPoint file includes relevant images, graphs
and data for assigned region
Proper citations are included for all items in
worksheet and PowerPoint
Total Possible Points
Possible
Points
5
10
10
5
30
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
Stage 1: Introduction to your regional food system and soils
Remember, this worksheet will likely expand into a longer version as you gather information, new questions and new resources to
address these questions.
Region Name
Country
State/Province
Regional Food Setting
Explore your region in Google Earth. What are the topographic features?
(such as plains, valleys, mountains/ridges, wetlands) What are the features of
main settlements such as towns and cities? What is the approximate
population of the region? Characterize areas of the region and thus the food
consumers as high, medium, or low income, or mixed? What are the major
features of the transportation system? Describe your initial impressions of the
region with regard to food production and consumption. You may want to
produce a labeled map of the region showing key features.
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
Regional Food Setting
What are the major different sources of food that are produced in this region?
Comment on the size of the region’s food-producing operations. What are the
most productive or highest value farm areas? What areas are less productive
or valuable? Which areas are characterized by large farms or corporate
farming? Which areas are characterized by small farms?
Aquaculture, oceans, agriculture, livestock, hunting?
Regional Food Setting: consider as a coupled human and natural system
(CHNS)
How do human systems impact on food production and the environment
through factors such as transportation systems and consumption preferences
in the region? Are there any external markets that loom large? Government
policies that are specific to the region? Briefly common on how environmental
factors such as climate and soils impact on human decisions about what to
grow and where? (More details on these factors are examined below)
It would be valuable to create an initial draft diagram the interaction of the
Human and Natural systems in the region like the ones we see in the text and
in class.
History of Food Systems
This could be situating the current food system in global historical trends we
see in class, or discussing any interesting local variation from that history that
existed previously. What changes have occurred in the food systems of the
region in the past 20 years? How about the past 50-60 years? (you can ask
people such as a parent about this question) Also, in most places there is the
coexistence of traditional or alternative food systems with a dominant modern
one---comment on these systems. What is the different histories of these
different food systems? Are you aware of the changes in human factors
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
(market forces, transportation, policy-influenced factors such as an irrigation
or water project) that have created changes in food systems? Have there been
changes in environmental factors (improvement or deterioration of soil or
water resources) that have led to changes in food systems? It would be
valuable to create an initial draft diagram the interaction of the Human and
Natural systems in the region like the ones we see in the text and in class.
Soil Types, Nutrients, and food production environments
What soil types are present in your region, at the level of detail presented in
module 3.1, i.e. age, climate that formed them, rough soil order from the
USDA? What kind of topography is in your region? Is it typically level or
sloping? Are the soils generally deep or shallow? Are the soils typically well
drained or poorly drained? Do they tend to have high or low pH and/or
fertility?
Employ spatial thinking and start with the maps provided in Module 3.1, and
the ISRIC soil mapper presented in the Formative Assessment 3.1, where you
can map soil properties and soil classification. See the global soil type map at
the end of module 3.1 for the USDA soil orders at a global level that denote
the age of soils and other key properties. These soil orders can be mapped on
the ISRIC mapper in the same way that you were able to visualize soil pH in the
formative assessment.
In a similar way A U.S. national map of soil orders like those referred to in
module 3.1 can be found at:
http://hydro_bm.esri.com/Soils/soilOrderMap1Beta.htm
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) global map of phosphorus
retention in soils that was described in module 3.1 can be found in a high
resolution version at:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/use/?cid=nrcs142p2_
054014
An excellent resource that divides the U.S. into major land use areas and gives
a summary of topography, soils, water, and production conditions in general is
the NRCS Major Land Resource Regions and Resource Areas of the United
States, Caribbean, and Pacific Basin:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_050898.pdf
For a more detailed look focused on a particular county, go to the NRCS Online
Soil Surveys here and select your state and county-level region:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/soilsurvey/soils/survey/state/
For many counties in most states a soil survey for entire state is archived
online as a pdf. You may have to select not the “current” version but the
second most recent, to access a pdf publication that usually contains a useful
overview of soil resources in the county. This can be the most complete and
easy to access resources at a very local level, since the soil survey books
include topographic maps and detailed soil series and land use descriptions.
If you select the “current” survey from the NRCS soil survey site above, you
can also use the online Web Soil Survey, which may only be useful if you are
already familiar with soil classification and soil series. Select your state and
county and use the Interactive Map tools to select your Area of Interest and
request soil survey information. The interactive map however can be slow to
load, and can be extremely detailed in a way that is not interesting for a
beginning user, and requires an area of interest smaller than most counties
(less than 100,000 acres). If you do use this you may just want to explore the
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
percentage breakdown of soil series and their general characteristics, e.g.
whether they are acid or neutral, well drained or not, etc.
Soil Impacts
What affect does the food system in your assigned region have on soil?
Topography and drainage? Erosion issues? Excess or shortage of fertility and
organic matter amendments? Pollution of soils or waterways by industries or
by agriculture itself? (you’ll return to water quality in the next stage)
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Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 1 Worksheet
Questions about your region?
What additional information do you still need to find?
Where have you looked or searched for this info so far?
References and Key Resources
Include web links, newspaper articles, citations to primary literature,
databases, personal communications, etc.
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