Integrated Food Systems Governance: Scaling Equitable and Transformative Food Initiatives through Scholar-Activist Engagement

Colleen Hammelman,Sanjay Kharod,Julian Agyeman,Jose Oliva,Charles Levkoe,Elisa Munoz,Amanda Wilson,Ana Moragues Faus

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2020.092.003

Abstract

Community-based efforts to transform food systems involve a diverse range of actors and increasingly attempt to focus on public engagement in policymaking processes. These initiatives often emphasize opportunities for more participatory forms of engagement rooted in systems thinking, which recognizes the interconnections between environmental, social, and economic injustices. Similarly, food systems scholars are increasingly engaged in participatory action projects seeking to make productive linkages between academic research, policymakers, and community organizations in search of tangible food systems change. This collective essay, based on a roundtable discussion at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in New Orleans, describes integrated food governance processes currently underway—particularly those engaging anchoring institutions from civil society, government, and academia—to demonstrate both the promise and the challenges of networked governance efforts in pursuing more equitable food systems. In particular, we focus on how differing anchor institutions engage in translocal governance, coalition building, and adaptation. This research contributes to literature and practice on food systems governance, systems thinking, and anchoring institutions by proposing an analytical framework and providing a series of case studies of integrated governance initiatives for pursuing social and ecological justice in food systems.

Highlights

Social movement networks focusing on sustainable food systems and the connections with social and ecological justice have made significant headway over the past decades (Alkon & Guthman, 2017; Sbicca, 2018)
This paper describes several efforts of integrated food system governance through which food policy councils, civil society, and academics serve as anchoring institutions pursuing systems-level transitions to more just and sustainable food systems
We presented case studies of networked approaches from the perspective of different anchoring institutions, the roles that actors can play in these networks, and the possibilities and pitfalls encountered in this work

Summary

Introduction

Social movement networks focusing on sustainable food systems and the connections with social and ecological justice have made significant headway over the past decades (Alkon & Guthman, 2017; Sbicca, 2018). Moragues-Faus and Sonnino (2019) observed in the case study of the Sustainable Food Cities Network (SFCN) in the UK that substantial power can be mobilized through translocal networks that reconfigure the food governance context away from a compartmentalized approach to a model that is integrated, cross-sectoral, and participatory These are important developments to follow because they represent grassroots efforts to identify food systems problems and to highlight specific ways that place-based, networked initiatives anchored in civil society can scale up to affect policy (Mount, 2012). Universities have served as key anchors in governance networks

Methods

Conclusion