Food economics: Teaching for the future of agriculture, nutrition, and health

Abstract This article introduces “Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health,” a new open access textbook that helps equip students with the skills needed to analyze complex food systems issues and contribute to a sustainable, equitable, and healthy future of food. Recognizing that students enter courses with pre‐existing beliefs about food and face barriers to sustained engagement in coursework, the textbook uses analytical diagrams, data visualizations, and real‐world applications to spark and keep interest. Food economics education plays an important role for cultivating a skilled workforce, promoting evidence‐based policy, and bridging cultural and disciplinary divides to address food system problems.