Stakeholder Perceptions of Policy Tools in Support of Sustainable Food Consumption in Europe: Policy Implications

Nína M Saviolidis,Margherita Del Prete,Antonella Samoggia,Cristina Fedato,Gudrun Olafsdottir,Mariana Nicolau,Matthew Gorton,Laura Brimont,Hildigunnur Sigurdardottir,Pierre-Marie Aubert,Sigurdur G Bogason,Elise Huber,David Von Berlepsch

doi:10.3390/su12177161

Abstract

Transitioning agri-food systems towards increased sustainability and resilience requires that attention be paid to sustainable food consumption policies. Policy-making processes often require the engagement and acceptance of key stakeholders. This study analyses stakeholders’ solutions for creating sustainable agri-food systems, through interviews with a broad range of stakeholders including food value chain actors, non-governmental organizations, governmental institutions, research institutions and academic experts. The study draws on 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in four European countries: France, Iceland, Italy and the UK, as well as three interviews with high-level EU experts. The interviewees’ solutions were analysed according to a five-category typology of policy tools, encompassing direct activity regulations, and market-based, knowledge-based, governance and strategic policy tools. Most of the identified solutions were located in the strategic tools category, reflecting shared recognition of the need to integrate food policy to achieve long-term goals. Emerging solutions—those which were most commonly identified among the different national contexts—were then used to derive empirically-grounded and more universally applicable recommendations for the advancement of sustainable food consumption policies.

Highlights

IntroductionThere is growing recognition that contemporary agri-food systems are neither sustainable nor resilient, and that they are in need of profound transformation in order to meet multiple challenges [1]
There is growing recognition that contemporary agri-food systems are neither sustainable nor resilient, and that they are in need of profound transformation in order to meet multiple challenges [1].The challenges faced by agri-food systems are complex and interconnected
Transitioning agri-food systems towards increased sustainability and resilience requires that attention be paid to sustainable food consumption policies

Summary

Introduction

There is growing recognition that contemporary agri-food systems are neither sustainable nor resilient, and that they are in need of profound transformation in order to meet multiple challenges [1]. The challenges faced by agri-food systems are complex and interconnected. Food is a cross-cutting issue implicated in multidimensional sustainability, such as environment, health, food security and socio-economic issues, amidst growing demand driven by population growth and increased affluence. The need to transform agri-food systems to address these challenges has been highlighted in various socio-economic and political agendas by academia and other institutional actors recently at both the international and regional levels; e.g., [1,3,4,5,6]. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) [8] defines a food system as “the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded” (p. 1)

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