Spring 2027

Labor in Global Food Systems

An overview of current food systems, focusing on how new technologies and globalization reshape them and impact workers throughout the food chain.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Nan Enstad

Students reported the class involved a significant amount of busywork and felt unfocused, though they did not find the content super hard.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe food commodity chains, the workers at the chains' nodes, and the systems of power that govern the chain

  • Place an understanding of local social conditions and change in the global context of rural and urban life, including political, ecological, economic, geographic, historical, and cultural dimensions of the food system

  • Frame independent research projects based on sociological articles

  • Apply interview methodologies to gain knowledge of a type of food system labor

  • Ethically apply research methods, such as qualitative, quantitative, historical, interdisciplinary, participatory, and action approaches, and evaluate findings

  • Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills that are applicable in a professional setting

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

3 credits in C&E SOC or SOC

  • 3 credits in C&E SOC or SOC
C&ESOC/SOC 341

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • 3 credits in C&E SOC or SOC

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

NAN ENSTAD is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Nan Enstad

The course covers interesting topics and incorporates current issues, with projects that some students found fun. Discussion is central, and students interested in social justice and food systems often enjoyed the material.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2021: 3.68 GPA, 82.1% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Fall 2022: 3.50 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.55 GPA, 83.9% A/AB (n=31 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Nan Enstad

Students reported the class involved a significant amount of busywork and felt unfocused, though they did not find the content super hard.

Past student reviews · Nan Enstad

One student found Professor Enstad's feedback vague and frustrating to incorporate, noting that doing well often required aligning with her specific views.

Topics

  • Implications of globalization for food chain workers
  • Social movements promoting local production, fair trade, and labor justice
  • Political, ecological, economic, and cultural dimensions of the food system

Skills

  • Describing food commodity chains, worker nodes, and governing power systems
  • Framing independent research projects based on sociological articles
  • Applying interview methodologies to study food system labor
  • Demonstrating verbal and written communication skills for professional settings

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2023— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2023

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2023 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1292 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "e02096fbede40758486c0bd8a73c4ddf91d028f815d41d67648d537c3e2acb7f",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}