National Food Policy Research Articles

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.

New farmers and food policies in Canada

As the demographics of farmers are shifting, the ways agricultural and food policies affect and influence the decision-making and behaviours of new farmers is also changing. At the same time, there is growing interest in contesting and rebuilding Canadian food systems to address environmental and social injustices. Many new farmers are interested in agro-ecological approaches to agriculture, including both ecological practices and community-based economies. This paper examined the findings of a national survey of 1,326 new farmers, to explore challenges and opportunities in the Canadian food and farming system, as well as the municipal, provincial, and federal policies that they recommended. We also examined which programs are serving new farmers best, and how these successes could be translated elsewhere. We found that an increasing number of new farmers are coming from non-farming backgrounds and are women, potentially challenging the status quo. In particular, respondents reported facing difficulties in accessing agricultural knowledge, and that available institutional resources may not be appropriate to new types of ecological farming practices. The most significant barriers concerned affordable land and financing their developing farms. Nevertheless, these new farmers are finding diverse ways to develop their livelihoods, potentially transforming Canadian agriculture. A national food policy that works with local and regional partners and that recognizes the changing realities of new farmers is a necessary first step in helping build a sustainable, healthy, just, and resilient food system in Canada.

Closing the loop on Canada's National Food Policy: A food waste agenda

In the near future, Canada will be implementing a national food policy; in doing so, it will be joining a growing number of countries with policies and strategies that address the growing problem of food waste. Food waste is a major economic drain estimated to cost Canada $31 billion dollars annually or $107 billion in true cost, when the costs of wasted water, energy, and resources are included (Gooch & Felfel, 2014). Despite the staggering cost, there is currently a limited number of scholars tackling the issue of food waste in Canada (Abdulla, Martin, Gooch, & Jovel, 2013; MacRae et al., 2016; Parizeau, von Massow, & Martin, 2015). Some of the leading think tanks and research institutions, such as the World Resources Institute (WRI), National Defence Research Council (NRDC), as well as inter-sectoral collaboratives such as Canada’s National Zero Waste Council (NZWC) have identified several priorities to address food waste. Key priorities include, but are not limited to: 1) education and awareness; 2) harmonizing food waste quantification through waste audits and establishing reduction targets; 3) addressing confusion over “best before” labels; 4) incentivizing surplus food donation; and 5) landfill bans on food waste. While these priorities are currently being debated and consulted upon in Canada, several countries around the world have already reached the implementation stage. Canada is therefore in a position to learn from the impacts of policies in other countries with a view to developing a more sustainable, systematic, and just approach to food waste prevention and reduction in Canada.

Food for thought: How trade agreements impact the prospects for a national food policy

This article examines the prospect for a national food policy through the lens of trade agreements and the concept of policy space. It traces the shrinking of domestic policy space in recent decades as a result of trade agreements. Advocates such as Food Secure Canada seek a “coherent” food policy that supports a sustainable, more domestically-focused, food system. This article argues that the prospects for such a policy are constrained, based on Canada’s past history, under both Liberal and Conservative governments, as well as recent bilateral and regional agreements. It examines the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) which included the United States, and the subsequent Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) negotiated by the remaining eleven partners after the US departure. Focussing on market access, standards, regulatory harmonization and procurement, I argue that provisions in these agreements, along with what we might expect in future trade negotiations, pose challenges for the development of a national food policy.

Tackling household food insecurity: An essential goal of a national food policy

Eradicating household food insecurity is essential to the articulated vision of a national food policy that aims to promote healthy living and safe food for families across the country. Household food insecurity refers to the insecure or inadequate access to food due to financial constraints. Despite federal commitments to improve the situation, food insecurity in Canada increased between 2007-08 and 2011-12. It currently affects more than four million Canadians, and is particularly grave in Indigenous communities. Food insecurity takes a toll on individuals’ health and well-being, and it is a burden on our healthcare system. The social epidemiology of household food insecurity shows it to be inextricably linked to the social and economic circumstances of households. Federal and provincial policy interventions that improve the financial circumstances of very low income households have yielded reductions of up to 50 percent in household food insecurity prevalence and severity. Yet, prevalence rates remain high. A national food policy represents an invaluable opportunity to address food insecurity in Canada. To do so, this policy must transcend the conventional boundaries of agriculture and agri-food. Addressing food insecurity requires the integration of policy actions across the three levels of government. In addition, performance targets must be established, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms implemented, to ensure that policies and programs meant to address food insecurity actually have a meaningful impact.

Federalism and fragmentation: Addressing the possibilities of a food policy for Canada

Canadian federalism poses unique challenges for the development of a national food policy. Under the Constitution Act, 1867, the federal government and the provinces are granted powers to govern exclusively in certain areas and to share jurisdiction in others. Where one level of government has exclusive jurisdiction, the other level of government is not permitted to interfere. However, good food system governance requires addressing policy coherence and coordination horizontally, across sectors such as agriculture, trade, health, finance, environment, immigration, fisheries, social protection, and vertically between the federal government, the provinces, and international and transnational actors. The development of a national food policy for Canada offers an opportunity to harmonize law and policymaking, and clarify the key roles that all levels of government play in the development and governance of food systems. This will require identifying sites of conflict and overlap, but also spaces for collaboration, coordination, and innovation. A national food policy will necessarily have to work within the constraints of Canadian constitutional law, but federalism and the division of powers can be harnessed to create a more just, equitable, democratic and sustainable food system.

Governance recommendations from forty years of national food strategy development in Canada and beyond

This paper contributes to Canada’s current national food policy discussion by introducing lessons gleaned from the development of two earlier Canadian government food policy efforts, A Food Strategy for Canada (1977) and Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security (1998), as well as lessons drawn from national food strategy development in seven other countries. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of these previous policy-making processes, we show how today’s food policy conversation builds on the legacy of 1998's Action Plan. We then offer food policy governance recommendations designed to avoid the mistakes of the previous efforts. This paper explores international precedents for governance mechanisms designed to be inclusive of key food systems’ stakeholders, and to meaningfully include multiple levels of government in food governance. Drawing on both our domestic and international research, we conclude by recommending the establishment of a multi-sectoral and inter-governmental National Food Policy Council. We show how such a Council, operating in close cooperation with other key mechanisms, could help govern the pan-Canadian food strategy we advocate.

Can we eat our way to a healthy and ecologically sustainable food system?

The food system is a major contributor to climate change, biodiversity loss, eutrophication and deforestation. This article examines national dietary guidelines as a way to shift dietary patterns in the population toward diets that continue to promote health while being more ecologically sustainable. While some sustainability principles may be inherent in the 2007 Canada’s Food Guide (e.g., an emphasis on plant-based foods), these were not made explicit. As Health Canada undertakes a revision of its national dietary guidance, a unique opportunity exists to situate dietary guidelines within the broader context of Canada’s first-ever national food policy. Coherence between these two policies has the potential to position the role of diets as a core link between food systems and both human and ecological health. This paper explores the possibilities of advancing sustainability principles within Canadian national dietary guidelines by drawing on evidence-based literature and key sustainability messages within dietary guidelines from four countries that have integrated many of these principles. Lessons and perspectives from international experiences on incorporating environmental sustainability into dietary guidelines are described including: influence of the food industry; cross-sector collaboration and alliances; civil society participation; and “win-win” messages. Application of these lessons to Canada, followed by opportunities to advance the incorporation of sustainability principles within the country’s national dietary guidelines are then proposed.

The need for contextual, place-based food policies: Lessons from Northwestern Ontario

In recent years, several reports have highlighted the need for a national food policy that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing food systems (CAC, 2014; Levkoe & Sheedy, 2017; Martorell, 2017; UNGA, 2012). These findings suggest that, at the core, resilient food systems must be built on interconnected knowledge and experience that emerge from place-based interrelationships between human and ecological systems. Drawing on these important learnings, this commentary voices our hopes and concerns around the recent efforts of the Canadian Government to develop a food policy for Canada. While we commend the Government’s desire to “set a long-term vision for the health, environmental, social, and economic goals related to food, while identifying actions we can take in the short-term”, we caution any tendency to develop “best practices” that assume a universal, or “one-size fits all” approach to food policy development. We argue that Canada requires a set of contextual, place-based food policies that emerge from the grassroots, address local needs and desires, and build on the strengths and assets of communities.

Food Counts: Food systems report cards, food sovereignty and the politics of indicators

The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems recognized that "current systems will be held in place insofar as these systems continue to be measured in terms of what industrial agriculture is designed to deliver, at the expense of many other outcomes that really matter in food systems" (IPES 2016: 57). In response, they called for new food systems indicators rooted in social justice, support for local economies, ecological regeneration and democratic engagement. This paper reflects on the ways that indicators can serve as a tool to understand the current state of food systems, challenge existing approaches and (re)frame a future vision of equity and sustainability. Our analysis focuses on the development of Food Counts: A Pan-Canadian Sustainable Food Systems Report Card, a first attempt to bring together existing measures of social, environmental, and economic well-being to help researchers, policy makers, and practitioners examine food systems more comprehensively. The report card used a food sovereignty framework and an integrated systems perspective and make connections to a global movement for collective social change. Beyond its practical value, and particularly in the context of Canada's development of a national food policy, our analysis illuminates the limited kinds of data available, the privileging of scientific expertise over traditional knowledge, the assumed value of certain indicators, and the reductionist nature of using data to represent complex food systems. We argue that while report cards can make visible numerous food systems' elements, they can also obscure divers experiences, reinforcing unsustainable practices and policies.

Lessons learned and insights from the implementation of a food and physical activity policy to prevent obesity in Mexican schools: An analysis of nationally representative survey results.

Obesity is a serious problem among children in Mexico. In 2010, the government implemented a national food and physical activity policy in elementary schools, to prevent obesity. The goal of this study is to assess the implementation of this policy, using the logic model from a descriptive survey with national representativeness at the elementary school level and based on a stratified cluster design. We used a systematic random sampling of schools (n = 122), stratified into public and private. We administered questionnaires to 116 principals, 165 members of the Food and Physical Activity Committees, 132 food school food vendors, 119 teachers, 348 parents. This study evidences a significant deviation in implementation from what had been planned. Our lessons learned are the importance to: base the design/implementation of the policy on a theoretical framework, make programs appealing to stakeholders, select concrete and measurable objective or goals, and support stakeholders during the implementation process.

Food tourism and events as tools for social sustainability?

PurposeFood tourism and events are often prefaced as tools for sustainability within national and intra-national food and agricultural policy contexts. Yet, the realities of enhancing sustainability through food tourism and events are problematic. Sustainability itself is often conceived broadly within policy proclaiming the benefits of food tourism and events, with a need for further deconstruction of the ways each dimension of sustainability – economic, environmental, social and cultural – independently enhances sustainability. The lack of clarity concerning the conceptual utilisation of sustainability works to compromise its value and utilisation for the development of food tourism and events in peripheral areas. In recognition, this paper aims to turn attention to social sustainability within the context of a local food festival, to ask the following: in what ways is social sustainability enhanced through a local food festival, who benefits from this sustainability, and how?Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the development of a local food festival in a rural coastal community on Scotland’s west coast. The concept of social capital is used to examine the unfolding power relations between committee members, as well as the committee and other social groups. Observant participation undertaken over a 10-month period, between December 2015 and September 2016, renders insights into the ways event planning processes were dependent on the pre-existing accruement of social capital by certain individuals and groups.FindingsLocal food festivals have the potential to enhance social sustainability, in offering opportunity to bridge relations across certain diverse groups and foster an environment conducive to cohabitation. Bridging, however, is dependent on preconceived social capital and power relations, which somewhat inhibits social integration for all members of a community. The temporally confined characteristics of events generates difficulties in overcoming the uneven enhancement of social sustainability. Care, thus, needs to be upheld in resolutely claiming enhancement of social sustainability through local food events. Further, broad conceptualisations of “community” need to be challenged during event planning processes; for it is difficult to develop a socially inclusive approach that ensures integration for diverse segments without recognising what constitutes a specific “community”.Originality/valueThis paper is situated within the context of a peripheral yet growing body of literature exploring the potential of events to develop social sustainability. In extending work examining events and social sustainaility the paper turns attention to the gastronomic – examining the extent to which social sustainability is enhanced through a local food festival, for a rural coastal community – Mallaig, on Scotland’s west coast.

Toward anti-colonial food policy in Canada? (Im)possibilities within the settler state

This perspective piece teases out some of the tensions between the development of a national food policy, which has gained significant traction in Canada over the past few years, and Indigenous food sovereignty, which long predates the Canadian government and its policies and has a rich history and current practice of organizing. Drawing from our observations and discussions at conferences, workshops, and events, and pointing to key aspects of discourse commonly embedded in such discussions, we critically reflect on how settler engagements with Indigenous peoples in developing a national food policy may reify, rather than dismantle, colonial relationships. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of process and the ability for settlers to accept discomfort and incommensurability if we are to move towards spaces that embody solidarity, respect, and resistance.

Sustainable Eating Patterns Should Be Part of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Promoting sustainable eating patterns is an approach to limiting the environmental impact of resource-intensive food production. Incorporating the concept of sustainable eating patterns into the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) would be congruent with established federal policy goals, but societal, economic, and agricultural impacts also need to be considered. The healthy eating patterns established in the 2015–2020 DGA are not markedly different than the proposed sustainable eating patterns. Introducing sustainable eating patterns in the DGA would be a convenient and efficient strategy to align US nutrition policy with related global and national food and agriculture policies. The DGA is an appropriate medium for introducing sustainable eating patterns into US nutrition policy to create awareness that consumers’ food purchasing behaviors affect the environment.

Трактовки и способы измерения продовольственной безопасности в современной России: дискурсивные и реальные противоречия

Ирина Владимировна Троцук – доктор социологических наук, доцент, ведущий научный сотрудник, Центр аграрных исследований, Российская академия народного хозяйства и государственной службы при Президенте РФ; доцент, кафедра социологии, Российский университет дружбы народов. Адрес: 119571, Москва, просп. Вернадского, д. 82. E-mail: irina.trotsuk@yandex.ru
 Александр Михайлович Никулин – кандидат экономических наук, директор, Центр аграрных исследований, Российская академия народного хозяйства и государственной службы при Президенте РФ. Адрес: 119571, Москва, просп. Вернадского, д. 82. E-mail: nikulin@ranepa.ru
 Стивен Вегрен – профессор политологии, Южный методистский университет. Адрес: Dallas, Texas, 75275, USA. E-mail: swegren@smu.edu
 Цитирование: Троцук И.В., Никулин А.М., Вегрен С. (2018) Трактовки и способы измерения продовольственной безопасности в современной России: дискурсивные и реальные противоречия // Мир России. Т. 27. № 1. С. 34–64. DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2018-27-1-34-64
 
 В статье охарактеризованы форматы внимания политиков и ученых к проблемам продовольственной безопасности, особенно к ее противоречивым определениям в интеллектуальных и идеологических дискуссиях в связи с разработкой программ и доктрин продовольственной безопасности. Также отмечена важность концепции продовольственного суверенитета как критически альтернативного ей подхода. Обращаясь к историческому и современному опыту обеспечения продовольственной безопасности в России, авторы отмечают зигзаги продовольственной политики – переход от советской автаркической модели продовольственного самообеспечения через попытки либерализации продовольственной политики 1990-х гг. к новой протекционистской и автаркической доктрине 2000-х гг. Критическому осмыслению в статье подвергаются индикаторы продовольственной безопасности: так, показатели валового роста производства разных видов продовольствия все же недостаточны для оценки национальной продовольственной безопасности, поскольку ключевыми являются индикаторы эффективности аграрного производства, доступности качественных продуктов питания для всех слоев населения и возможность потребителей контролировать вопросы продовольственного обеспечения. В заключительной части статьи представлен обзор социологических исследований продовольственной безопасности в России и прежде всего результатов мониторингов Центра аграрных исследований РАНХиГС в 2015–2017 годах, зафиксировавших противоречивую «двойную автаркию» в ответах респондентов: с одной стороны, они поддерживают политический курс на продовольственный протекционизм и национализм (автаркия государственная); с другой стороны, стремятся к продовольственному суверенитету (автаркия семейная), интенсифицируя натуральное самообеспечение.

A review of data assimilation of remote sensing and crop models

Abstract Timely and accurate estimation of crop yield before harvest to allow crop yields management decision-making at a regional scale is crucial for national food policy and security assessments. Modeling dynamic change of crop growth is of great help because it allows researchers to determine crop management strategies for maximizing crop yield. Remote sensing is often used to provide information about important canopy state variables for crop models of large regions. Crop models and remote sensing techniques have been combined and applied in crop yield estimation on a regional scale or worldwide based on the simultaneous development of crop models and remote sensing. Many studies have proposed models for estimating canopy state variables and soil properties based on remote sensing data and assimilating these estimated canopy state variables into crop models. This paper, firstly, summarizes recent developments of crop models, remote sensing technology, and data assimilation methods. Secondly, it compares the advantages and disadvantages of different data assimilation methods (calibration method, forcing method, and updating method) for assimilating remote sensing data into crop models and analyzes the impacts of different error sources on the different parts of the data assimilation chain in detail. Finally, it provides some methods that can be used to reduce the different errors of data assimilation and presents further opportunities and development direction of data assimilation for future studies. This paper presents a detailed overview of the comparative introduction, latest developments and applications of crop models, remote sensing techniques, and data assimilation methods in the growth status monitoring and yield estimation of crops. In particular, it discusses the impacts of different error sources on the different portions of the data assimilation chain in detail and analyzes how to reduce the different errors of data assimilation chain. The literature shows that many new satellite sensors and valuable methods have been developed for the retrieval of canopy state variables and soil properties from remote sensing data for assimilating the retrieved variables into crop models. Additionally, new proposed or modified crop models have been reported for improving the simulated canopy state variables and soil properties of crop models. In short, the data assimilation of remote sensing and crop models have the potential to improve the estimation accuracy of canopy state variables, soil properties and yield based on these new technologies and methods in the future.

Informing National Food and Water Security Policy through Water Footprint Assessment: the Case of Iran

Iran’s focus on food self-sufficiency has led to an emphasis on increasing water volumes available for irrigation with little attention to water use efficiency, and no attention at all to the role of consumption and trade. To better understand the development of water consumption in relation to food production, consumption, and trade, we carried out the first comprehensive water footprint assessment (WFA) for Iran, for the period 1980–2010, and estimated the water saving per province associated with interprovincial and international crop trade. Based on the AquaCrop model, we estimated the green and blue water footprint (WF) related to both the production and consumption of 26 crops, per year and on a daily basis, for 30 provinces of Iran. We find that, in the period 1980–2010, crop production increased by 175%, the total WF of crop production by 122%, and the blue WF by 20%. The national population grew by 92%, and the crop consumption per capita by 20%, resulting in a 130% increase in total food consumption and a 110% increase in the total WF of national crop consumption. In 2010, 26% of the total water consumption in the semi-arid region served the production of crops for export to other regions within Iran (mainly cereals) or abroad (mainly fruits and nuts). Iran’s interprovincial virtual water trade grew by a factor of 1.6, which was mainly due to increased interprovincial trade in cereals, nuts, and fruits. Current Iranian food and water policy could be enriched by reducing the WFs of crop production to certain benchmark levels per crop and climatic region and aligning cropping patterns to spatial differences in water availability and productivities, and by paying due attention to the increasing food consumption per capita in Iran.

Putting Food Sovereignty to Work: Civil Society Governmentalities and Canada’s People’s Food Policy Project (2008–2011)

ABSTRACTThe People’s Food Policy Project (PFPP) used ‘food sovereignty’ to unite civil society organizations and build a national food policy agenda in Canada from 2008 to 2011. Agri-food scholarship largely highlights the resistance and empowerment dynamic of food sovereignty in the context of neoliberal capital relations. We propose that the story of what food sovereignty discourse does, or could do, in the work of civil society organizations (CSOs), is more complicated. This article contributes to agri-food literature and CSOs studies by examining the governmentalities of the PFPP. We find that the PFPP’s food sovereignty produced at least two discourses: food sovereignty as ethic, or a governmentality of resistance and agrarian empowerment; and food sovereignty as tactic, which we see as a governmentality of administration by CSOs. While PFPP activists increasingly share a spoken commitment to food sovereignty, the analytic of governmentality allows us to show these important differences in the movement, rooted in how CSO actors understand their day-to-day work, and the tensions these differences bring to their seemingly united agenda.

POLA WILLINGNES TO PAY (WTP) KOMODITI TAHU DAN DAGING MASYARAKAT KOTA MALANG

Soybeans and meat are the most strategic food commodities and are very risky if it is fully entrusted to the mechanism of the free market. The point is, soy and meat commodities have a very central role in national food policy channels. One of the agricultural ministry targets for 2010 - 2014 is to increase food diversification, especially to reduce rice and wheat consumption. During 2010 - 2014, rice consumption is targeted to fall by 1.5% per year and balanced by increasing in consumption of tubers, animal foods, fruits and vegetables. On the other side, it is also strived to achieve a diverse, nutritious, balanced and safe food consumption pattern as reflected by the increase of Expected Food Pattern (PPH) scores from 86.4 in 2010 to 93.3 in 2014. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of the community in taking decision to buy food products from both tofu and meat sources and to analyze the key factors of consumer’s willingness to buy tofu and meat by using multiple linear regression methods. The results of the study showedthat the characteristics of respondents in the research that affected the gender of respondents were women because married women were the decision makers in terms of household needs. The factors that affected the willingness of consumers to pay tofu were: taste, price and size. Meanwhile, thefactors that affected consumers' willingness to pay for meat were price and shape.

Obesity and Weight Control: Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Our global population recently arrived at the landmark figure of seven billion, and the nutrition problems we face are increasing as rapidly, with the longstanding crisis of undernutrition joined by the escalating problem of overconsumption and obesity. Over the past 30 years, it has become clear that control of body weight is as simple as matching energy intake to expenditure, yet how to achieve this in the current obesigenic environment is far from simple. A review of causative mechanisms shows controlling eating behaviour and food intake as central to regulation of body weight, but in an environment where the need to suppress intake is uppermost, there are few physiological mechanisms with which to tackle this. Macronutrient composition, energy density, food format (beverages), palatability, portion size and hedonics all influence intake and readily promote overeating. Currently, the most successful obesity treatment is restrictive bariatric surgery, both invasive and expensive, achieving better outcomes than diet and exercise. Despite considerable advances, there remains a critical gap in translation of underpinning knowledge into successful public health outcomes, as recently outlined in the 2nd Lancet series in obesity with no country reporting decreased obesity prevalence in the last 30 years. Future contribution may come from better understanding of mechanisms including gut-brain axis and regulation of appetite, the gut microbiome and the genetic underpinning of bodyweight control. Clearly, prevention is the key, with nutrition education required to lead changes in behaviour, and possibly the only viable long-term approach. Whether the global obesity trend can be reversed without significant change in national food policies and/or the built environment however is under debate, and without doubt a major public health challenge for tomorrow if there is to be light at the end of the obesity tunnel.