Measures to Increase Local Food Supply in the Context of European Framework Scenarios for the Agri-Food Sector

Ariane Voglhuber-Slavinsky,Enno Bahrs,Simon Berner,Ewa Dönitz,Hartmut Derler,Björn Moller

doi:10.3390/su131810019

Abstract

The issue of local food supply has attracted considerable political and public attention, due to the changing preferences of consumers, who have more awareness about ecological sustainability, in particular, but also due to recent developments concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to identify measures facilitating local food value chains, which are resilient to different nationwide and global future developments, the aim of our analysis was to set the identified measures derived from the local roadmap of the city of Graz in the context of European scenarios for the agri-food sector in 2035. The results show that certain measures are applicable under all of the described scenarios, such as the food policy council, whereas some measures—for example, open food labs—are less suitable or need to be adjusted to fit the purpose within changing framework conditions. Setting specific measures for a city region in the broader context of European agri-food scenarios provides a systemic perspective, thus making the multiple links and influences more visible.

Highlights

The future food system must produce more food on less land while, at the same time, contributing to a carbon-neutral future
This paper focuses on the interaction of local food systems in a global environment
Six measures comprise the core elements of the road map developed within the previous foresight project, Smart Food Grid Graz (SFGG), with the aim to enhance a local food supply of the Austrian city region Graz

Summary

Introduction

The future food system must produce more food on less land while, at the same time, contributing to a carbon-neutral future (e.g., towards the 1.5 ◦ C goal). In recent years, several strategies and concepts have been developed to feed more than 10 billion people by 2050, such as sustainable intensification [2], circular food systems [3], and sustainable food systems [4]. What these strategies and concepts have in common is that they foresee radical transformations, transitions, or regime shifts of the food system toward ecologically, socially, and economically sound food provision [5,6]. Six measures (see Section 4.1) comprise the core elements of the road map developed within the previous foresight project, Smart Food Grid Graz (SFGG), with the aim to enhance a local food supply of the Austrian city region Graz. Roadmaps are usually oriented to the following three questions: (1) Where do we want to go?; (2) where are we now?; and (3) how can we get there? [59]

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion