Equitable Food Systems Research Articles

Campus Food Movements and Community Service-Learning: Mobilizing Partnerships through the Good Food Challenge in Canada

This paper addresses the growing collaborations among students, faculty and community-practitioners attempting to build healthy, equitable and sustainable food systems within post-secondary institutions and the ensuing implications for food movements. Specifically, we investigate the role of Community Service-Learning (CSL) in fostering food systems change through a case study of Planning for Change: Community Development in Action, a graduate CSL course at the University of Toronto and a partnership with Meal Exchange, a national non-profit organization, to develop the Good Food Challenge on college and university campuses across Canada. Using CSL to support social movements is not uncommon; however, there has been little application of these pedagogical approaches within the field of food systems studies, especially in the area of campus food movements that engage diverse groups in mutually beneficial and transformative projects. Our description of the case study is organized into three categories that focus on key sites of theory, practice and reflection: classroom spaces, community spaces and spaces of engagement. Through reflection on these spaces, we demonstrate the potential of CSL to contribute to a more robust sustainable food movement through vibrant academic and community partnerships. Together, these spaces demonstrate how campus-based collaborations can be strategic levers in shifting towards more healthy, sustainable and equitable food systems.

San Jose Food Works Study: Demonstrating the Economics of Local Food Systems Toolkit Methodology

Like many fast-growing cities with a history as a major food production area, San Jose, California, has largely left its agricultural heritage behind. Much of its famed Valley of the Heart’s Delight, so-called because of the vista of springtime blos­soms and once a nationally important fruit produc­tion region, has been developed into the Silicon Valley, now a global high-tech center. The San Jose Food Works study makes a case that the food sector can be an important driver for achiev­ing the city’s goals for economic development, place-making, public health, and sustainability. The study analyzes the economic contributions to the city from each food supply chain sector––produc­tion, distribution, processing, retail, and food service. It also engages stakeholders from agencies, busi­nesses, and community-based organizations in identifying gaps and opportunities for strengthen­ing these contributions. The recommendations developed with these stakeholders reflect a new commitment to collaborate on building a more robust, equitable, vibrant, and sustainable local food system. This reflective essay describes the practitioner-led development of a city-scale food supply chain assessment, as a process and product that demonstrate the methodology presented in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economics of Local Food Systems Toolkit (Thilmany McFadden et al., 2016).

Understanding Farm Diversity to Promote Agroecological Transitions

Agroecology is increasingly promoted by scientists, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), international organisations and peasant movements as an approach to foster the transition to sustainable and equitable food systems. The challenges to agroecological transitions are not the same for all farmers, as they can face different social and bio-physical conditions. We developed a farm typology combining participatory and quantitative methodologies to assess and categorise farm diversity and its implications for developing strategies to promote agroecological transitions. The participatory typology was developed during workshops to acquire insights on local farmers’ perceptions and knowledge, and to generate hypotheses on family farm diversity. The participatory-based hypotheses were tested in the quantitative farm characterisation, which provided information on household characteristics, production strategies, land use, participation in public policies and extension services. Farms were located in Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais, Brazil, which harbour a wide diversity of farmers and where different actors have been engaged in agroecological transitions for the past 30 years. Our main findings were: (i) In the face of agroecological transitions, farmers differ in their management strategies, practices and principles; (ii) farmers identified as agroecological typically had stronger engagements in a network composed of farmers’ organisations, universities and NGO’s; (iii) agroecological farms showed great potential to provide a wide range of ecosystem services as they featured a higher crop diversity and a higher number of crops for self-consumption; (iv) to promote agroecology, it is crucial to recognise peasant knowledge, to change the dominant discourse on agriculture through social movement dynamics, and to generate support from public policies and funds; and (v) participatory and quantitative methodologies can be combined for more precise and relevant assessments of agroecological transitions.

Settler colonialism and the (im)possibilities of a national food policy

In this perspectives piece we ask: is it possible for a national food policy to form the foundation for sustainable and equitable food systems in Canada? First, we argue that under the current settler government, such a policy does not provide this foundation. Second, we consider what is possible to achieve within the scope of a national food policy, recognizing our responsibility as settlers to hold our government accountable so policies do not exacerbate food system inequities. To mitigate some of the harmful effects of current food-related policy, we make three suggestions: 1) restrict land access based on capital, number of properties owned, acreage, and interest in food provisioning; 2) support relevant and culturally appropriate markets by divesting from industrial scale food chains, and re-invest in marginalized food provisioners; and 3) direct funding to diverse non-consumptive food networks rather than export-oriented agro-food industries. To be clear, these suggestions will not decolonize a national food policy; rather, we argue they present short-term actions within the current settler state to address some of the ways the Canadian government inhibits Indigenous food systems.

Triggering a positive research and policy feedback cycle to support a transition to agroecology and sustainable food systems

ABSTRACTAn ecologically sustainable and socially equitable food system, one that restores ecosystem services, enhances human welfare, and promotes community-based economic development, is urgently needed. Applied agroecological research and the development of regional and community food systems are key means through which pressing ecological and social externalities may be mitigated. However, progress in both of these areas has been limited, particularly in the USA, with constraints in each likely holding the other back. In this article, we first review and explore how public investment in agroecology research and development has been limited in the USA. We then discuss how agricultural research funds could be shifted to better support the development of more resilient and equitable food systems. Finally, we explore a broader set of structural obstacles to food system change and identify key policies that could work jointly to strengthen a positive feedback cycle of research, policy, education and practice. Such a feedback cycle could work to accelerate a transition to ecological farming and food system norms that enhance natural resources sustainability, equity and resilience.

Linking alternative food networks and urban food policy: a step forward in the transition towards a sustainable and equitable food system?

AbstractSeen as a response to the incumbent crisis affecting the food system, alternative food networks are a promising link of a new food chain, founded on a sustainable paradigm. Their activities aim at realizing a process of ‘re-localization’ and ‘re-socialization’ of food production-distribution-consumption practices, holding a prospect for the construction of a more environmentally sound, socially just and economically sustainable local food system. In order to provide such benefits, though, a host of regulatory constraints and logistical and operational barriers have to be overcome. In this paper we argue that a potentially effective force supporting the development of alternative food networks is detectable in the rapidly diffusing trend constituted by the adoption, by local governments, of a set of urban food policies integrating food issues into the many spheres of urban regulation. Such policy effort may help to coordinate public intervention with the purpose of setting the ground for a healthy local/regional food system, and provide alternative food networks with stronger connections, political capital and legitimization.

What does it mean to do food justice?

'Food justice' and 'food sovereignty' have become key words in food movement scholarship and activism. In the case of 'food justice', it seems the word is often substituted for work associated with projects typical of the alternative or local food movement. We argue that it is important for scholars and practitioners to be clear on how food justice differs from other efforts to seek an equitable food system. In the interests of ensuring accountability to socially just research and action, as well as mounting a tenable response to the 'feed the world' paradigm that often sweeps aside concerns with justice as distractions from the 'real' issues, scholars and practitioners need to be more clear on what it means to do food justice. In exploring that question, we identify four nodes around which food justice organizing appears to occur: trauma/inequity, exchange, land, and labor. This article sets the stage for a second one that follows, Notes on the practice of food justice in the U.S., where we discuss attempts to practice food justice. Key words: food justice, food sovereignty, food movement, food security, alternative agri-food systems

Critical Food Systems Education and the Question of Race

Studies of food systems education have largely avoided questions concerning race. In this commentary, we interrogate the racial assumptions behind certain food systems education projects. Food systems educators are often motivated by a whitened cultural desire to bring good food to others and see garden-based learning projects, which seek to instill healthy nutritional behaviors, as the solution to the problem of purported food deserts. We argue that food systems education is in need of a critical intervention. In this commentary, we propose critical food systems education (CFSE) as a theoretical framework, set of pedagogies, and vision for policy that moves beyond teaching students about the food system, and helps them realize their potential to structurally transform it through collective action. The CFSE perspective is theoretically grounded in food justice, food sovereignty, political agroecology, and critical pedagogy. The CFSE approach is not merely theoretical, but arises from the examples of grassroots social movements throughout the world that have developed radical forms of food systems education. We highlight this approach using the example of the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (MST). The MST opposes a racialized discourse of the peasantry as backwards and ignorant. The movement's leaders reject a vision of education that reproduces white modernity, and instead support a vision that advances radical agroecological education programs that train students to be political subjects capable of creating a socially and environmentally equitable food system. The example of the MST underscores the potential of CFSE as a corrective for the food systems education's racialized assumptions.

Contribution of Farmers’ Markets to More Socially Sustainable Food Systems: A Pilot Study of a Farmers’ Market in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Australia

This pilot study explored farmer motivations for participating in a farmers’ market in ACT to shed light on whether it contributes to a more socially sustainable food system. An adaptation of ethnography including interviews, observations, and document analyses found three main themes—authentic, fresh, high quality food defines this farmers' market; desire for re-connections; and strengthening community—which were evaluated against a social sustainability framework. Findings showed that the Capital Region Farmers Market is a socially just and equitable food system where social capital can thrive. The study provides preliminary evidence that farmers’ markets can play a role in improving sustainability from a social perspective.

A social–ecological systems analysis of impediments to delivery of the Aichi 2020 Targets and potentially more effective pathways to the conservation of biodiversity

The Aichi 2020 Targets, under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), aim to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2020, in order to ensure that ecosystems continue to provide essential services. Here we apply a social–ecological systems analysis to provide insight into the diverse system interactions that pose impediments to delivery of the Aichi Targets. We applied an analytical framework of pair-wise exchanges along six axes between the social, economic, environmental and political loci of the global social–ecological system. The analysis identified that many impediments result from partial decoupling in the system through phenomena including delayed feedbacks and insufficient information flows. It suggests 15 of the Aichi Targets are unlikely to be delivered; 3 are likely to be delivered in part; and 2 in full. We considered how interventions at leverage points may overcome the impediments, and compared these to actions included within the Implementation Decision for the Aichi Targets, to find gaps. These new leverage points to fill identified gaps involve many aspects of system re-coupling: co-production of knowledge and more equitable food systems governance (environmental–social axis); support for social change movements (social–political axis); an appropriate financial target for biodiversity conservation investment, with a clear means of implementation such as a currency transaction tax (economic–political axis); and co-governance of natural resources (environmental–political axis). The recently released Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 shows that 18 of the 20 Aichi Targets are tracking in accordance with our analysis; and that current efforts are unlikely to result in an improvement in the base state of biodiversity by 2020, confirming some of our results. We argue that attention to the interactions within, and the partial decoupling of, the global social–ecological system provides new insights, and is worthy of further attention both for delivery of the Aichi Targets and for guiding longer term actions for the conservation of biodiversity.

Good Food and Good Jobs for All: Challenges and Opportunities to Advance Racial and Economic Equity in the Food System

The divide between the good food movement and the one for good jobs is a racial and economic justice issue. The report examines populations most impacted by inequities in the food system. Then, it looks at challenges for food and labor in engaging across movements. Last, it identifies opportunities to bridge the divide and advance a more equitable food system.

Food System Disparities

The purpose of this research was to identify food system and health indicators to determine if there were patterns of food system inequities based on race, ethnicity and/or socio‐economic class in New England, the Northeast (USDA Designation) and the United States. Indicators include, but are not limited to, farm and land ownership, food desserts and population profiles, poverty status, obesity and diabetes. Federal food assistance program participation rates such as WIC, School Breakfast & Lunch and the Supplemental Nutrition Program were reviewed. Employment rates, wages and health care access are also considered. In addition to the moral call to a more equitable system, recent healthcare and economic analysis indicate the quality of life and financial benefits of a more just food system Results indicate being White (Non‐Hispanic) puts you at a food system advantage you are far more likely to own farm land, have better access to food and purchasing power, and have healthier diets and more robust incomes than Blacks or Hispanics. Strategies that may help to identify disparities through better tracking, and those designed to structurally promote more equitable food system will be briefly identified.

Cameroon: Perspectives on Food Security and the Emerging Power Footprint

The reality that food security is a contested concept and ultimately a matter of perspective has considerable implications for Cameroon’s partnerships with emerging powers. This article argues that Cameroon could achieve a more sustainable and equitable food system if greater policy attention is directed toward understanding the range of perspectives that contend to influence food security policy, and to engaging with viewpoints that vie to assess the ‘footprint’ of emerging powers in this area. The analysis presented below shows that the principal perspectives that compete to influence Cameroonian policy vary depending on the particular dimension of food security or aspect of emerging power activity under discussion. This finding challenges previous typologies, and encourages more nuanced interpretations of debates on these matters moving forward.

Coping with food crises: Lessons from the American Dust Bowl on balancing local food, agro technology, social welfare, and government regulation agendas in food and farming systems

This paper examines four broad policy and public responses to the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s as a way of exploring how society today could address our own “food crisis”. More particularly, in the Dust Bowl some argued that solutions would be found by engineers and farmers who would develop new ways of watering dry fields. A second group believed that inappropriate political and economic incentives had led to bad farming practices prior to the drought and this contributed to wide-spread erosion. To this group, the best solutions included governmental regulation of farm practices. A third group focused on the welfare of individuals, arguing that creating a social safety net to protect marginalized families was the highest priority. Finally, there were commentators who advocated for a smaller scale, ecological, and holistic approach to farming. Today, the same four perspectives are present in debates about how to maintain global food security in light of population growth, high energy prices and climate change. Exploring the similarity of the discourses between today's food crisis and the one that hit American society 80 years ago reveals that advocates of the four different camps are motivated by very different principles. Briefly, proponents of technological solutions base many of their arguments on the assumption that human ingenuity is capable of producing extremely productive food systems. The managerial arguments, by contrast, are based on the idea that the natural environment can be rationally and efficiently managed using scientific principles. The social welfare narrative seeks to create a more equitable food system. Finally, the ecological and holistic narrative argues that diverse, small scale and local food systems are a prerequisite for long term sustainability. The primary contribution of this paper, therefore, is to expose these deeply held ontological tensions as a way of arguing that policy makers today must de-politicise arguments and use the principles embedded in all four narratives when designing programmes to ensure that the 21st century does not face a repeat of the crisis of the 1930s.

The Food and Water System: Impacts on Obesity

The Weight of the Nation™ (WON) conference was held in Washington, D.C. This article presents the issues and topics presented and discussed within the Food and Water System: Agriculture, Access and Sustainability track. Areas for opportunity are outlined in this article.

Abstract A56: The role of food distributors within small stores in San Diego, CA, and produce purchasing behavior among Latino grocery shoppers.

Abstract Limited research has been conducted to examine the role and impact of produce and non-produce food distributors within small stores. Dietary intake is an important determinant of risk for obesity and cancer (American Cancer Society, 2009). Improving the food environment of small stores by incorporating fresh produce into their retail environment is an important step in creating an equitable food system. Lack of access to healthy food disproportionately impacts racially/ethnically diverse, low-income populations, such as Latinos, and lead to obesity disparities with the United States (Lindsay, Sussner, Greaney, & Peterson, 2008). Without access to healthy and affordable produce, residents cannot meet the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables a day set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Freuhaft & Karpyn, 2010). Understanding the role of food distributors within small stores may help to increase both the access and sales of affordable, fresh produce among Latinos in urban communities. As part of a larger NIH-funded study, El Valor de Nuestra Salud (The Value of Our Health), structured interviews were conducted with small store owners/managers, employees, and customers in San Diego, California. Interviews were coded to understand the marketing tactics of produce and non-produce distributors, their impact on food selection and display, as well as their overall relationship with and influence upon small stores. Interviews were also coded to determine how a food distributor's presence within a store affects the purchasing of fresh produce among Latino customers. Preliminary analyses revealed the use of strong tactics by distributors, such as store owner incentive programs and customer-directed marketing strategies, to encourage the sale of unhealthy, non-produce items within small stores. Preliminary analyses also documented the role food distributors play in developing a supportive relationship with small store owners while also portraying a negative view of farmers and other produce distributors, further preventing the development of additional food distribution relationships. Understanding the food distribution system in San Diego is critical for promoting fruit and vegetable consumption among Latinos. Food distributors play an important role in structuring the food system and that role needs to be considered in the creation of future interventions. Further research on the food distributor-small store relationship needs to be conducted in order to effectively change the food retail environment in urban communities. Citation Format: Jennifer C. Sanchez, Julie Pickrel, Guadalupe X. Ayala. The role of food distributors within small stores in San Diego, CA, and produce purchasing behavior among Latino grocery shoppers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2012 Oct 27-30; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A56.

3rd AESOP Sustainable Food Planning: Thematic Group Meeting, Cardiff, 28-29 October 2011

The very nature of humanity's global existence focuses on the production, distribution and availability of food (Flannery and Mincyte, 2010; Inglis and Gimlin, 2009). The importance of viable sustainable food systems is a challenge facing governments across the world, from developed nations to developing nations; the very notion of food often dominates the global political agenda, generating conflicts, creating crisis and causing dilemmas. There is a risk of strategic food concerns increasing over the coming years; with fossil fuels dwindling and populations rising, the need to source food sustainably is an ever important concern in our daily lives (Steel, 2009; Wekerle 2004; Wiskerke and Viljoen, 2012). The first meeting organised by the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Thematic Group on Sustainable Food Planning meeting was held in Almere, The Netherlands in 2009. The meeting's theme was built around examining the need for sustainable food systems and, in particular, thinking of new ways to source, transport and enable populations to have access to produce (Urban Performance Group, 2009). A subsequent meeting, a year later in Brighton, continued this in-depth discussion, bringing together a relatively large number of policy-makers, practitioners and an assortment of academics. The third meeting in 2011, located in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, maintained this theme of cross-disciplinary dialogue. The conference venue was CardiffUniversity's Glamorgan Building, a stunning former county council office situated between two large parks. Jointly hosted by CardiffUniversity's School of City and Regional Planning and the Sustainable Places Research Institute, the conference format followed that of its two predecessors, with the event spanning two days and including several parallel sessions. Despite the meeting's relatively short duration, the event hosted over 30 papers from a variety of authors. The most striking difference between the earlier events and that in Cardiffwas the restriction on delegate numbers. Unlike the two previous meetings, this event made provisions for 80 delegates to attend, a relatively small number for such a pertinent and interesting topic. Contrary to this reviewer's initial feeling, the restriction on attendance proved to be a positive factor, providing an intimate relaxing atmosphere for the two-day event. Furthermore, although the meeting was small, it was still impressively able to attract a breadth of delegates, ranging from academic nutritionists, planners, geographers and agro-scientists to policy-makers and practitioners. Over a third of these delegates were from outside the UK, adding a distinctive flavour to the meeting. However, perhaps the most notable feature was that over 30 research students attended the meeting, a particularly high number for such a small event. A chronological reflection on the Cardiffmeeting The Thematic Group's third meeting aimed to address a particular question: 'are there new paradigms for urban and rural planning capable of supporting and developing sustainable and equitable food systems?' The introductory message, conveyed by Professor Kevin Morgan and Professor Terry Marsden of CardiffUniversity in the Meeting Handbook, informed delegates that four parallel sessions would attempt to explore the stated need for a more 'sustainable food planning' approach - 'Urban Agriculture', 'Urban-Rural Linkages', 'Community Food Systems' and 'Urban Food Strategies' - with each containing two or three papers and a small discussion segment. Complementing these parallel tracks were four plenary sessions, which were delivered by a variety of leading experts from around the globe. The variety of keynote speakers on offer was impressive, ranging from the orchestrator of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) 'Food for Cities' initiative to a leading urban design academic and several other influential thinkers. …

Planners Coming to the Table

Planners Coming to the Table

The emerging role of a food system planner: Integrating food considerations into planning

Recently, the planning profession in North America has begun to recognize the importance of integrating food considerations into planning. However, the field of food system planning is still in its infancy, and its proponents seek a more thorough understanding of the applied role of planning practitioners in this emerging field. This exploratory investigation included interviews with a small sample of self-identified "food system planners" in Canada and the United States whose work is quietly nurturing this emerging subfield in the planning profession. Based on the views of this sample of planners, we offer several considerations on how the professional planning establishment can enhance the ability of planners to contribute to the development of holistic, sustainable, and equitable food systems. The lessons learned here may be applicable to other fields and disciplines where food system work is an emerging focus.

Supporting Equitable Food Systems Through Food Assistance at Farmers' Markets

The failure to consider access to food resources in an integrated way may lead to inequalities in nutritional opportunities among populations. Working with community groups and other public agencies, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has led interagency food system planning in San Francisco, California, since 2002. We report on one of the interventions within that initiative-a partnership between a public health agency, a local nonprofit organization, and the local food stamp program to institutionalize improved access to farmers' markets for federal food assistance beneficiaries. We further report on monitoring data collected at farmers' markets that documents significant and sustained increases of utilization by food stamp recipients since the initial intervention.