Food Systems
Prescott College > Areas of Study > Transformative Food Systems MA

Transformative Food Systems MA

Graduate Degree

Why this program?

You are passionate about food and the transformative power of conscious food systems. You understand that addressing complex problems requires complexity-thinking. You believe that all people, at all times, have the right to nutritious and culturally appropriate food. You know that regenerative agroecological systems are critical as climate solutions. You trust that cultivating food systems relationships can leverage change across multiple systems and sectors. You desire a vibrant and experiential online learning environment that supports your commitment to place, while prioritizing your professional goals.


What can you do with this degree?

The online MA in Transformative Food Systems is the first degree of its kind, a leading edge response to the planet’s urgent challenges. In a unique partnership with the Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA), an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), our curriculum provides a conscious food systems perspective. As well, we honor place-based and diverse ways of knowing, network building and complexity-thinking as tools to empower food systems leaders to guide the emergence of transformative change in the movements to establish food justice, create inclusive regional economies, address climate change, advance regenerative & agroecological approaches to the environment, support policy reform, and promote sustainable health and wellbeing.

Interdisciplinary concentrations are offered within the program course of study. Options include Innovative Entrepreneurship, Food Justice, Resilience Planning and Climate Solutions, Media & Communications, Organizational Leadership for Social Impact, Agroecology and Biodiversity, Education for Social Justice, and more.

With your interest in food systems, the concentrations in Agroecology & Biodiversity and Food Justice may be of particular interest, Prescott offers opportunities to pursue a certificate in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Organizational Management.

Career opportunities include:

  • Regenerative Agriculture Consultant
  • Climate and Food Systems Specialist
  • Food & Sustainability-based Non Profit Leadership
  • Transformational Change Consultant
  • Sustainable Supply Chain Manager
  • Conscious Food Systems Educator
  • Eco-Gastronomy Expert
  • Urban Agriculture Coordinator
  • Public Health and Food Policy Advisor
  • Resilience Planner
  • Food Journalism/Communications
  • Circular Economy Specialist

What will this program look like?

The Master of Arts in Transformative Food Systems is a leading-edge response to the planet’s urgent challenges, acknowledging a need for change that engages multiple systems and modalities. In a vibrant experiential online learning environment, supporting peer learning and  sense of place as an asset, students acquire a comprehensive understanding of food from a systems perspective.

The program combines a vibrant online learning environment with the skills, support, knowledge, and networks to help students become leaders in the movements to establish food justice, strong regional food economies, sustainable diets and health, food policy, biodiversity and climate resilience, restorative agroecological approaches to food production, and many other associated career pathways. The program centers equity, sustainability, and knowledge diversity with a common core of courses designed to be completed in one to two years, depending on the student’s chosen pace. All students complete a final Capstone project which can be a practicum, professionalization portfolio, a creative project, an applied research project, or a thesis document.


Available Concentrations

Agroecology & Biodiversity

Conservation Biology

Education for Social Justice

Innovative Entreprenership

Environmental Education

Food Justice

Media & Communications

Organizational Leadership for Social Impact

Outdoor Education

Resilience Planning and Climate Solutions


Certificate

Entrepreneurial Leadership and Organizational Management

Key Program Information

Delivery Method
Online

Number of Credits
36

Completed Fall 2025 Application Deadline:
Monday, August 4, 2025

Orientation:
Saturday, August 16, 2025

First Day of Classes
Tuesday, August 19, 2025

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Meet Our Faculty

MA IN TRANSFORMATIVE FOOD SYSTEMS

Admissions & Apply

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Robbi Mixon
Executive Director, Alaska Food Policy Council

Robbi Mixon has spent the last decade working with producers in Homer, running the local farmers market, and launching the Alaska Food Hub. She joined the Alaska Food Policy Governing Board three years ago, hoping to represent the interests of farmers and fishers on the Kenai Peninsula. Hear more in Season 3, Episode 5 of The Capstone podcast.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Alex Sawatsky
Assistant Director of Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Farms at Rutgers University

Alex Sawatsky created a course on small-scale organic farming for Rutgers with an emphasis on student-focused, experiential learning. His course is founded on the dynamic interaction of the elements of sustainability—economic, political, and social.  Hear more in Season 2, Episode 1 of The Capstone podcast.

Careers & Opportunities

Careers and Opportunities

On scales from local to global, issues such as food insecurity, environmental degradation, climate change, and social injustice have prompted the world to call for transformative change. Prescott College’s  leading edge response to these challenges is the MA Transformative Food System degree. Complex issues require leaders that understand complexity thinking, can convene diverse stakeholders, build diverse networks, and strategically guide the power of relational, conscious food systems to leverage transformative change.

Join us in this work. The MA in Transformative Food Systems: A degree of change!

Read more about what people are saying:

Transforming Food Systems through Conscious, Mindful Practices

Food Systems 2030

Policy Brief: Governance of Food Systems Transformation

10 Ways Forward to Transform Food Systems for Climate and Nature

Transformative changes of agriculture and food systems

Career Planning

Our Career Services team works with you to map out a plan that works for your goals and your life. There are many ways to get where you’re going, and we’ve seen it all!

Are you interested in being part of our community?

One thing we all have in common is our passion – passion for helping others, passion for the environment, passion for social justice and a passion for a different kind of learning experience.