Food System Transformation Research Articles

Agricultural technology adoption for smallholder small grain farmers in Zimbabwe. Implications for food system transformation and sustainability

Abstract Food security is a perennial concern in natural regions IV and V of Zimbabwe, that receive low rainfall per annum. Improved small grain varieties and conservation agriculture practices provide a promise for bumper harvests in these dry regions. This study focused on four districts (Binga, Chiredzi, Hwange and Matobo) from these two regions to determine patterns for improved small grain varieties and conservation agriculture technology adoption by smallholder small grain farmers. Data were collected from 281 respondents using structured questionnaires and interviews. The statistical package Stata (version 16) was used to analyse data. Logit and multinomial models were used to compare non-adopters and adopters of technologies in order to show the rationale for adoption. Results indicated that 56% of the sample were non-adopters while 44% were adopters. Adoption patterns varied with location, education, land size, marital status, frequency of extension visits and access to credit. The study recommends increased funding to research institutions that develop high-yield small grain varieties. Comparative studies are recommended in other semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe to support the study findings in informing future policy.

Food Systems Transformation in Scotland—The Journey to, Vision of, and Challenges Facing the New Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act

Building on growing global and local calls for food systems transformation, and years of policy and legislative consultation (2009–2022), the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed transformational food systems legislation in June 2022. Built on a clear vision, clarity of purpose, a common set of outcomes, an agreed direction of travel, strong partnership working, sufficient time, and independent oversight, the Good Food Nation (GFN) (Scotland) Act is an innovative legislative framework designed to foster a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable Scottish food system for all. It places, for the first time, statutory responsibilities on the Scottish Government and relevant authorities (all Scottish local authorities and public health boards) to develop and implement national and local GFN plans, and importantly, makes provision for the establishment of a new independent, statutory Scottish Food Commission to oversee the implementation, with significant powers of oversight and scrutiny and a formal remit to make recommendations to any Scottish ministers and relevant authorities regarding issues/actions relevant to the Good Food Nation Plans. This paper outlines Scotland’s agriculture, food, and drink sector, reviews its food policy and GFN journey since the establishment of the Scottish parliament in 1999, critiques the core principles, stated outcomes, key provisions, and planned timescales of the GFN (Scotland) Act, reflects on its transformational potential, and considers unresolved concerns and remaining tensions.

Transforming food systems: a gendered perspective on local agricultural innovation in Cuba.

Compared to many countries, Cuba has made significant progress in advancing women's rights and gender equity; however, disparities remain. In the country's rural communities and agricultural sector, women continue to face barriers to equal participation and recognition for the value of their work. This case study shares the story of gender equity efforts that have been conducted within the framework of a broader development project-the Project to Strengthen a System of Innovation in Local Agricultural Development (PIAL, for its initials in Spanish). PIAL began in 2001 as a participatory plant-breeding initiative aimed at increasing the genetic diversity of key crops such as maize and beans. Over the course of two decades, the project's goals expanded to include an emphasis on increasing women's participation. In the beginning, those efforts focused on including women in the participatory plant-breeding activities, which enabled them to prioritize traits they cared about such as grain texture, cooking speed, and taste in the selection process. Over time, the participatory nature of the PIAL methodology empowered women to identify and pursue capacity-building in other areas of local agricultural innovation. While PPB remained central to PIAL, women also chose to pursue opportunities in seed bank management, leadership training, and small-scale farm-based entrepreneurship. The results of the PIAL work on gender have included not just more inclusive plant breeding, but also important economic improvements for rural women as they have been able to diversify their livelihoods, and social change as they have gained confidence and recognition as leaders in their households, communities, and beyond.

Developing biodiversity-based solutions for sustainable food systems through transdisciplinary Sustainable Development Goals Labs (SDG-Labs)

Although biodiversity is a central component of food systems, conventional food systems have become one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss globally. There is an increasing need to transform food systems to provide sufficient and nutritious food, but with minimal negative impacts on the environment and society. One of the possible avenues to enable the sustainable transformation of food systems might be through the development of locally appropriate biodiversity-based solutions. In this paper we report the insights and lessons learned during the design and implementation of transdisciplinary projects that employed the concept of Sustainable Development Goals labs (SDG-Labs) to create biodiversity-based solutions to transform food systems. The six SDG-Labs outlined in this paper were implemented in Armenia, China, Japan, Madagascar, Thailand, and Uganda. Collectively they developed very diverse biodiversity-based solutions that used different components of biodiversity, ranging from novel cultivation systems with endangered plants, to gardens using tree species for wind breaks, or novel tea-forestry production systems. Beyond their ability to leverage different components of biodiversity to transform local food systems (also conserving biodiversity in the process), all solutions had multiple co-benefits such as climate change adaptation/mitigation and livelihoods generation, among other sustainability domains. Through a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis we synthesized the experiences gained during the design and implementation of all six SDG-Labs. The findings suggest the great promise of these transdisciplinary approaches for developing solutions at the biodiversity-food-climate nexus. However, this synthesis paper also points to the multiple context-specific challenges that should be overcomed to maximize the potential of SDG-Labs to both enable the sustainable transformation of (local) food systems and/or be scaled up effectively.

‘We’ve Never Done This Before’

How do you build a community around a systemic problem such as food justice in a crisis via creative resilience methodologies? In what ways can the lessons learned in a creative crisis response help foster a more adaptive and responsive food system in preparing for future crises? ‘We’ve never done this before’ became the motto of Fawkner Commons when local residents, Jen Rae from Fair Share Fare and partner Sally Beattie co-founder of Fawkner Food Bowls mobilised local food producers, community members and partners to covert a community garden into an urban farm and a disused lawn bowling club into a community-led COVID-19-response food hub. Fawkner, the most food insecure and culturally diverse suburb in the City of Merri-bek1 (5kms north of the CBD of Melbourne, Australia) was heavily impacted by the 2020–21 COVID-19 Victorian state lockdowns, restrictions, case numbers and deaths. While most food relief organisations closed or were overwhelmed, Fawkner Commons became a central hub for food aggregation and provisioning, distributing over $116K boxes of no-cost/low-cost culturally relevant food boxes and over 2,400 prepared meals in 2020. This article is a critical reflection delving into some of the creative methodologies underpinning the success of Fawkner Commons and its legacy in the community. With a focus on social cohesion, accessibility and inclusion, it offers lessons to support the transformation of other hyperlocal food systems to become more adaptive, responsive and collaborative working with communities, artists, local government and food organisations.

Geographies of Public Deliberation: A Closer Look at the Ingredient of Space

Since its inception, public deliberation has been largely seen as an effective tool of inclusion and transformation within democratic politics. However, this article argues that public deliberation is not necessarily inclusive and transformative. These aspirations can only be achieved if certain conditions are met. The qualitative analyses drawn upon in this public deliberation study included virtual and face-to-face conversations between participants (N = 70) about opinions on eating together. The article examines factors that can impede food system transformation initiatives. This can be particularly problematic in low- and middle-income countries because corruptibility can reduce the stringency of food system transformation policy. This study was conducted with participants from the Dutch cities of Almere and Amsterdam. The article argues that public deliberation can be truly transformative when (1) it is institutionally sanctioned, and (2) participants in the deliberation are given more time to make their arguments and reconsider these arguments in light of what others have to say.

Visualizing Data Interoperability for Food Systems Sustainability Research—From Spider Webs to Neural Networks

Food systems represent all elements and activities needed to feed the growing global population. Research on sustainable food systems is transdisciplinary, relying on the interconnected domains of health, nutrition, economics, society, and environment. The current lack of interoperability across databases poses a challenge to advancing research on food systems transformation. Crosswalks among largely siloed data on climate change, soils, agricultural practices, nutrient composition of foods, food processing, prices, dietary intakes, and population health are not fully developed. Starting with US Department of Agriculture FoodData Central, we assessed the interoperability of databases from multiple disciplines by identifying existing crosswalks and corresponding visualizations. Our visual demonstration serves as proof of concept, identifying databases in need of expansion, integration, and harmonization for use by researchers, policymakers, and the private sector. Interoperability is the key: ontologies and well-defined crosswalks are necessary to connect siloed data, transcend organizational barriers, and draw pathways from agriculture to nutrition and health.

Data for decision-making for sustainable food systems transformation in the Eastern Cape of South Africa: what is needed?

Transforming global food systems to promote food and nutritional security can help alleviate both poverty and ill-health, and support sustainable development. Such transformations need to be tailored and sensitive to the vulnerabilities and needs of marginalized communities yet are hindered by knowledge gaps. In particular, the food and nutrition security needs of the most vulnerable are often poorly understood, as are the policy frameworks and resource requirements associated with meeting their needs. To aid the development of frameworks to address these gaps, we review the current state of indicators relating to food systems for the improvement of food and nutrition security at the national and sub-national levels in South Africa. We identify gaps in the decision-making data in South Africa, including absence of food and nutrition security indicators. Integration of the South African Multidimensional Poverty Index and Food System Dashboard indicators could help address this, especially if applied at a sub-national level. Participatory food system mapping could also link data collection with system-level interactions and feedback loops to inform sub-national stakeholders in achieving food and nutritional security.

Governance principles for accelerating food systems transformation in the European Union.

Governance principles for accelerating food systems transformation in the European Union.

Is this the future? Image and imagination in visual discourses on digital farming in Austrian media

ABSTRACT Using qualitative discourse analysis methodology, the article contributes critical analysis of visually mediated photographic representations of the multi-layered ‘digitization’ concept related to agriculture. In the sample of Austrian print and online media, novel digital farm technologies are mainly presented as a hope to transform food systems to help tackle challenges such as alleviation of heavy work load, foster competitiveness, or support sustainable rural development. Based on perspectives of Visual Geographies and sociologies of expectations in science and technology, the Austrian case shows that the media communication using images of agricultural technologies rather uncritically reproduce societal norms and expectations of how technologies provide solutions, often without specifying systemic complexities, risks and alternative approaches. In addition, it highlights the decisive role of expectations and the prominent role of private developers, affecting the creation of future paths of technology use in agriculture even in regions which are spatially and economically relatively unsuitable for widespread use of large, expensive digitally enhanced machinery like in many Southern parts of Austria. Therefore, the non-transparent mechanisms of how expectations in discourses contribute to political decisions and research directions on agricultural technologies should be subject of further exploration.

Fix my food: An urgent call to action from adolescents on how they experience and want to see change in their food systems.

Global food systems are failing adolescents. Poor diet quality driving malnutrition among adolescents around the world and the quality of foods eaten by adolescents not only determines their health and development, but also is the foundation of thriving communities. The present study aimed to engage adolescents across low-income, middle-income and high-income countries to determine their lived experience of food, food systems and the challenges they face within their food systems. The study used the Distributed Data Generation method pioneered by the Young and Resilient Research Centre, at Western Sydney University, to conduct workshops with adolescents aged 10-19 years across the globe in collaboration with UNICEF. Participatory workshops were designed to capture qualitative data on adolescents lived experiences and perspectives of their food systems, food sustainability and food security, and how improvements can be made. Thematic analysis was undertaken to analyse qualitative data. Descriptive statistics were generated for demographic data captured. Six hundred and forty adolescents across 18 countries participated. Three key themes emerged, which included experiences of food, challenges to food systems and strengthening food systems. Adolescents saw potential in empowering communities to create change and contribute to food system transformation. Adolescents called for inclusion in decision-making from local food practice to large global policy development. The study results demonstrated how adolescents experience their food systems and want to see sustainable change, although they also want to be a part of the change. Adolescents described that there needs to be an active choice to work with them, listen to their lived experience and across all levels of society strengthen food systems. To achieve this, adolescents need to be involved in decision-making around their food systems for a sustainable future.

Using System Dynamics to Understand Transnational Corporate Power in Diet-Related Non-communicable Disease Prevention Policy-Making: A Case Study of South Africa.

Complex interactions between political economy factors and corporate power are increasingly recognized to prevent transformative policy action on non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention. System science offers promising methods for analysing such causal complexity. This study uses qualitative system dynamics methods to map the political economy of diet-related NCD (DR-NCD) prevention policy-making aiming to better understand the policy inertia observed in this area globally. We interviewed 25 key policy actors. We analysed the interviews using purposive text analysis (PTA). We developed individual then combined casual loop diagrams to generate a shared model representing the DR-NCD prevention policy-making system. Key variables/linkages identified from the literature were also included in the model. We validated the model in several steps including through stakeholder validation interviews. We identified several inter-linked feedback processes related to political economy factors that may entrench different forms of corporate power (instrumental, structural, and discursive) in DR-NCD prevention policy-making in South Africa over time. We also identified a number of feedback processes that have the potential to limit corporate power in this setting. Using complex system methods can be useful for more deeply understanding DR-NCD policy inertia. It is also useful for identifying potential leverage points within the system which may shift the existing power dynamics to facilitate greater political commitment for healthy, equitable, and sustainable food system transformation.

The role of the fishery industry in the shift towards sustainable food security: a critical study of blue food.

Blue foods have traditionally been undervalued in their contribution to global food systems. Yet they are incredible sources of locally produced nutrition for millions of people. In late 2022, there was a call for global action on food system transformation in the United Nations Food Systems Summit. The Blue Food Assessment, a scientific assessment of blue foods and their potential to contribute to sustainable and just food systems, reveals gaps where innovation could meaningfully bolster the blue food ecosystem. This article aims to examine the dynamic impact of the fishery sector on long-term food security in 27 European Union (EU27) countries while considering the contribution of agricultural output, energy production, economic development, and governance between 1990 and 2022. The findings showed a substantial positive link between fishery production and sustainable food security at a 5% statistical level, except the fifth quantile, using the new method of moment quantile regression (MMQR) with fixed effects. From the first to the ninth quantiles, fishery output considerably improves sustainable food security, with a more substantial benefit at the highest (≈ 0.021) and a lower impact at the lowest quantile (≈ 0.010). The findings also show that the EU13 developing countries see a more significant positive impact, at a 5% statistical level, on sustainable food security from fishery output than the EU14 developed nations. On the other hand, the findings also show that the EU14 developed countries see a more significant positive impact, at a 1% statistical level, from the agricultural output on sustainable food security than the EU13 underdeveloped nations. The results show a strong positive correlation between agricultural production and long-term food security at the median and most recent quantiles (≈ 0.362). In the EU27 area, sustainable food security rose across median and recent quantiles, supporting the growth hypothesis for nations that produce fisheries. In the EU27, the impact of governance was positive and statistically significant at 5% for both older and more recent quantiles. The findings also show that the EU14 nations have a more substantial beneficial effect of governance, at a 1% statistical level, on sustainable food security than the EU13 countries. With the help of effective fishery sector production, policymakers may raise the degree of food security in the EU14 and EU13 nations and ensure long-term food security.

Model-based scenarios for achieving net negative emissions in the food system

Most climate mitigation scenarios point to a combination of GHG emission reductions and CO2removal for avoiding the most dangerous climate change impacts this century. The global food system is responsible for ~1/3 of GHG emissions and thus plays an important role in reaching emission targets. Consumers, technology innovation, industry, and agricultural practices offer various degrees of opportunity to reduce emissions and remove CO2. However, a question remains as to whether food system transformation can achieve net negative emissions (i.e., where GHG sinks exceed sources sector wide) and what the capacity of the different levers may be. We use a global food system model to explore the influence of consumer choice, climate-smart agro-industrial technologies, and food waste reductions for achieving net negative emissions for the year 2050. We analyze an array of scenarios under the conditions of full yield gap closures and caloric demands in a world with 10 billion people. Our results reveal a high-end capacity of 33 gigatonnes of net negative emissions per annum via complete food system transformation, which assumes full global deployment of behavioral-, management- and technology-based interventions. The most promising technologies for achieving net negative emissions include hydrogen-powered fertilizer production, livestock feeds, organic and inorganic soil amendments, agroforestry, and sustainable seafood harvesting practices. On the consumer side, adopting flexitarian diets cannot achieve full decarbonization of the food system but has the potential to increase the magnitude of net negative emissions when combined with technology scale-up. GHG reductions ascribed to a mixture of technology deployment and dietary shifts emerge for many different countries, with areas of high ruminant production and non-intensive agricultural systems showing the greatest per capita benefits. This analysis highlights potential for future food systems to achieve net negative emissions using multifaceted “cradle-to-grave” and “land-to-sea” emission reduction strategies that embrace emerging climate-smart agro-industrial technologies.

The UNFSS+2 Stocktaking moment: tracking progress amidst absent global targets?

This short communication discusses the need to transform food systems towards sustainability and focuses on recent political events. Especially the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) from 2021 and the respective stocktaking event, which took place in July 2023, are presented and critically analyzed as the process has faced criticism for its lack of transparency, corporate influence, and perceived disregard for human rights frameworks. In this context, the recent UNFSS +2 Stocktaking Moment (STM) in Rome aimed to assess developments in 2021. While over 100 countries presented their progress, many reports focused more on intentions rather than measurable achievements. The outcomes of the STM were perceived as mixed messaging, as no binding agreement or declaration was signed by member states. A major point of criticism is the absence of comparable targets and indicators for tracking and comparing progress across countries, which hinders effective global stocktaking. The paper also underlines the need for universally agreed-upon targets and indicators to provide a clear direction for food systems transformation. It proposes the development of a roadmap with intermediate targets and gradual steps. Alignment with international frameworks such as the Agenda 2030 and the Rio Conventions is also recommended. Collaboration among policymakers, marginalized groups, civil society, scientists, and business leaders is highlighted as being crucial, ensuring inclusive participation and addressing diverse perspectives. Furthermore, the importance of addressing food systems injustices (such as unfair trade practices, exploitative working conditions, and the disproportionate impact of climate change), particularly in Africa, is highlighted. Overall, the paper highlights the challenges and complexities involved in transforming food systems towards sustainability and calls for concerted efforts to address these issues at both global and local levels.

Biotechnology activism is dead; long live biotechnology activism! The lure and legacy of market-based food movement strategies

Scholarly debate over the transformative potential of neoliberal, market-based, food movement strategies historically contrasts those who value their potential to reform the food-system from the inside against those who argue that their use concedes the primacy of the market, creates citizen-consumers, and undermines overall movement goals. While narrow case studies have provided important amendments, the legacy of such strategies requires impacts to be evaluated both contextually and more broadly than the specific activism. This study thus conceptualizes the ‘case’ of U.S. biotechnology market activism expansively, drawing on interviews with 25 activists from diverse organizations to investigate the legacy of two food-labeling movement strategies (one public and mandatory, one private and voluntary). The results support that the legacy of market strategies extends more broadly than the immediate initiative. They also confirm that the consequences of such neoliberalized strategies are most productively assessed contextually and applied, rather than categorically—as most clearly illustrated by the counterintuitive results of the failed mandatory labeling effort. Of the two market strategies, voluntary labeling demonstrated the most problematic relationship to broader movement goals of food system transformation, in part because of the greater potential for overlapping credence claims and in part due to the risks of niche market logic.

Policy Insights from High-Income Countries to Guide Safe, Nutritious, and Sustainable Alternative Proteins for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The United Nations has encouraged governments to promote sustainable healthy diets to address undernutrition, obesity, and climate change. This perspective paper examines policy insights from selected high-income countries in Asia, Europe, and North America to understand how traditional and novel alternative proteins (AP) may support sustainable healthy diets in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where populations experience malnutrition in all forms. AP products must be affordable, locally sustainable, and culturally acceptable to improve diet quality and health. Food-based dietary guidelines are a policy tool to guide AP product formulation, manufacturing, processing, labeling, and marketing to ensure that these products complement traditional plant- and animal-source proteins in sustainable healthy diets. This paper suggests that a new food categorization taxonomy is needed to guide AP product recommendations. Decision-makers must harmonize multisectoral policies to ensure LMIC populations have access to sustainable healthy diets to achieve a protein transition and food systems transformation by 2050.

The nascent state of urban food policy action in Asian cities

While the important role of cities in food system transformation has long been understood, there is a more recent recognition that food-related outcomes also have an important influence on how well cities can achieve their own broad socio-economic and other aspirations. This recognition has led many cities, around the world, to engage more actively in food policies and programs. The literature documenting this experience is largely case study-based and primarily covers actions and outcomes in larger cities. We analyze the overall state of urban food policy across Asia, drawing attention to distinctive patterns across city size categories and testing hypotheses which may explain the diversity of observed patterns of food policy engagement. Particular attention is given to demographic, institutional, and geographical factors which have likely influenced either the motivation or the capacities of cities to act on food matters. We find that most Asian cities are at an early stage in efforts to apply coherent and coordinated approaches to address food-related challenges and opportunities. The opportunities for future economic gain and avoidance of social costs may be greatest among the region's fast-growing small- and medium-sized cities, yet many such cities lack the requisite capacities to influence complex food system matters and will require assistance from national agencies and others.

Editorial: Equity and trade-offs in agriculture and food system transformation

Editorial: Equity and trade-offs in agriculture and food system transformation

Catalysing sustainable development through regional food system governance: Strengthening the translation of regional food system policy guidance to national level in the Pacific

AbstractRecent food system shocks and increasing climate change exposures highlight the urgency of strengthening food systems at different scales, including global, regional and national, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper investigated opportunities to strengthen the translation of regional food system policy guidance to the national level in the Pacific Island region. We applied a theory‐informed, empirical study design, based on interview data. We found that inadequate regional–national translation of food system policy guidance arises from (i) competing demands on limited resources, exacerbated by challenges of financing multisectoral initiatives; (ii) often weak regional–national dialogue; and (iii) perceived tension of economic, social and environmental priorities in dominant policy paradigms. These barriers may be addressed by establishing a regional food system governance structure and accountability mechanisms as well as a paradigm shift to balance focus between food system priorities. Current drives to implement National Food System Transformation Pathways may provide necessary impetus to realise these opportunities.