Abstract
The main outcome of sustainable agro-food systems is food and nutrition security. Nevertheless, about half of the global population is affected by food insecurity and malnutrition, a symptom of the dysfunctions of the current food system. This paper provides a review of the state of research on the sustainability of agro-food transitions, and the extent to which and in what ways such research examines food and nutrition security. A search carried out on Scopus in January 2018 yielded 771 documents; 120 of these were included in the systematic review. Agro-food represents a small share of the sustainability transitions research field. Most of the available research focuses on crops and the production stage. In general, it is assumed that a transition to sustainability in the agro-food arena would lead to increased food availability, improved food access, better food utilisation and increased food system stability and resilience. However, scholars also point out that the quest for food security (especially through intensification) may undermine transition towards sustainable agriculture and food systems. Likewise, it is assumed that a transition towards sustainable food systems implies changes in dietary patterns and nutrition habits. Nevertheless, food security and nutrition are still marginal topics in the literature on agro-food sustainability transitions. Furthermore, transformation of food systems, which should guide agro-food sustainability transitions, is the exception rather than the rule in the research field. This systematic review represents a useful contribution to research on transitions towards sustainability in agriculture and food sectors, and provides insights into how such research can contribute to addressing the grand challenges of food insecurity and malnutrition. The paper suggests the need to move beyond silos by fostering cross-sectoral collaboration and the integration of the agro-food sustainability transitions and food security research fields.
Highlights
Food security has an important history and represents a key concept for policymakers (Bureau and Swinnen 2018; Candel and Biesbroek 2018; Lang and Barling 2012)
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first systematic review-based paper that delineates the contours of research on agro-food sustainability transitions and analyses how it addresses food security and nutrition
Food security and nutrition are still marginal topics in papers dealing with agro-food sustainability transitions
Summary
Food security has an important history and represents a key concept for policymakers (Bureau and Swinnen 2018; Candel and Biesbroek 2018; Lang and Barling 2012). Food and nutrition security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to food of sufficient quantity and quality in terms of variety, diversity, nutrient content and safety to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life, coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health, education and care. The concept of ‘transition’ (Gazheli et al 2012; Loorbach and Rotmans 2010), as well as the field of transition studies, has recently received increasing attention both in the policy arena and in academic literature (European Environment Agency 2016; Falcone 2014; Lachman 2013; Markard et al 2012; STRN 2017) In this context, the notion of ‘transition’ gained wider recognition in research on agriculture (e.g. Elzen et al 2017) and food systems (e.g. Hinrichs 2014) over the past decade.
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