2. Food Systems, Food Movements, Food Justice

2019 ◽  
pp. 33-59 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Food Movements

Fulfilling the Right to Food for South Africa: Justice, Security, Sovereignty and the Politics of Malnutrition

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 112-152
Author(s):  
Busiso Helard Moyo ◽  
Anne Marie Thompson Thow
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Right To Food ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Despite South Africa’s celebrated constitutional commitments that have expanded and deepened South Africa’s commitment to realise socio-economic rights, limited progress in implementing right to food policies stands to compromise the country’s developmental path. If not a deliberate policy choice, the persistence of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms is a deep policy failure.  Food system transformation in South Africa requires addressing wider issues of who controls the food supply, thus influencing the food chain and the food choices of the individual and communities. This paper examines three global rights-based paradigms – ‘food justice’, ‘food security’ and ‘food sovereignty’ – that inform activism on the right to food globally and their relevance to food system change in South Africa; for both fulfilling the right to food and addressing all forms of malnutrition. We conclude that the emerging concept of food sovereignty has important yet largely unexplored possibilities for democratically managing food systems for better health outcomes.

scholarly journals Eating More Broccoli Doesn't Stop Bullets: Learning PSE Approaches from Decades of Community-led Food Justice Organizing (P04-168-19)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Porter
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
School Food ◽  
Farmers Market ◽  
Funding Sources

Abstract Objectives While federal nutrition programs have just begun to allow some policy, systems and environmental (PSE) approaches, social movements for community food justice have been working for PSE change for decades. This presentation gleans lessons and examples for PSE approaches from their work. Methods Participatory research with community leaders in food justice work in US communities, including case studies over 7 years with 5 community-based food justice organizations, supplemented with literature and practice reviews. Results Food justice organizers begin with the end in mind, and their end is not behavior change or even food security, but community-led food systems that deliver equity and health. Their work is not evidence based, but ethics based and evidence informed. Their strategies do not center food, nor even food systems, but people and communities; e.g., they design food production strategies not to maximize vegetable yields (though these are still substantial), but to nourish leadership development, relationships, and dignity. Organizers invest heavily in networking, mentoring, and advocating activities. Any attention to individual behavior change outcomes, such as vegetable consumption, is forced by grantors; and though these organizations struggle financially, many pass up funding with such requirements. Starting in the 1970 s, food justice organizations and collaborations have emerged in thousands of US communities. Without any core funding or other infrastructure support, collectively they have secured national food policy changes such as WIC farmers market programs, community food project funding streams, and school food improvements. They have transformed community landscapes with gardens, farms, markets, cooperatives, and community kitchens by nurturing community leadership and power to reshape their own local physical, political and social environments. They have helped found food policy councils, to institutionalize these powers. This presentation will share practical PSE strategies. Conclusions 1) Those interested in PSE approaches to create public health nutrition and reduce health disparities can learn from expertise in this movement. 2) To change PSEs for these ends, a top investment priority should be supporting organizations who have been doing this work for decades. Funding Sources USDA/NIFA/AFRI & NIH.

scholarly journals Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara A. L. Smaal ◽  
Joost Dessein ◽  
Barend J. Wind ◽  
Elke Rogge
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Theory Of Justice

Abstract More and more cities develop urban food strategies (UFSs) to guide their efforts and practices towards more sustainable food systems. An emerging theme shaping these food policy endeavours, especially prominent in North and South America, concerns the enhancement of social justice within food systems. To operationalise this theme in a European urban food governance context we adopt Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional theory of justice: economic redistribution, cultural recognition and political representation. In this paper, we discuss the findings of an exploratory document analysis of the social justice-oriented ambitions, motivations, current practices and policy trajectories articulated in sixteen European UFSs. We reflect on the food-related resource allocations, value patterns and decision rules these cities propose to alter and the target groups they propose to support, empower or include. Overall, we find that UFSs make little explicit reference to social justice and justice-oriented food concepts, such as food security, food justice, food democracy and food sovereignty. Nevertheless, the identified resources, services and target groups indicate that the three dimensions of Fraser are at the heart of many of the measures described. We argue that implicit, fragmentary and unspecified adoption of social justice in European UFSs is problematic, as it may hold back public consciousness, debate and collective action regarding food system inequalities and may be easily disregarded in policy budgeting, implementation and evaluation trajectories. As a path forward, we present our plans for the RE-ADJUSTool that would enable UFS stakeholders to reflect on how their UFS can incorporate social justice and who to involve in this pursuit.

The New Sacred Farm

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gretel Van Wieren
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Farm To School ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Sacred Spaces ◽  
The Social ◽  
School Programs

The food and faith movement in the U.S. is a loose amalgamation of religious communities and organizations, clergy members and lay volunteers, activists and agricultural practitioners who are working, in varied and diverse ways, to address the social, ecological, political, and ethical challenges posed by current food systems. Oftentimes these groups work hand-in-hand with secular food and food justice organizations in organizing community supported agriculture projects, farm to school programs, educational efforts around health, nutrition, cooking, and gardening, and public policy advocacy efforts. What distinguish religious approaches to this work are the ritual practices and narrative tropes that oftentimes orient them. This paper explores some of these motifs by examining the work of three religious, community-based farming projects. It concludes that these religious farms and others like them should be considered sacred spaces for how they ritualize and symbolically interpret agricultural and food practices.

Disruptive Food Supply Chains

2018 ◽  
pp. 826-841
Author(s):  
Tony Beck
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Food Movements ◽  
Alternative Food Movements

Alternative food movements have, from their origins, espoused values of social justice and environmental stewardship in an attempt to challenge existing economic and social norms related to food and farming. Three alternative food movements in North America exemplify the trade-offs between the three pillars of sustainable development: social equity, environment, and economy. Organic food has brought environmental benefits, but has struggled to challenge the status quo and promote the social benefits of the original movement when it goes to scale. Farmers’ markets have brought social and environmental benefits, but only in some cases reduced costs when compared to mainstream market levels. Consequently, good-quality food is often out of reach of low-income groups, as highlighted in a case study of access by underserved people in British Columbia, Canada. Regional food movements are a hybrid approach that balance some of the gains and some of the challenges of these systems. The extraordinary concentration of power in North American food systems stands in contrast to notions of social equity and undermines efforts to effect change in pursuit of sustainable alternative food systems.

scholarly journals Cultivating Powerful Participation: Reflections from a food justice and facilitation learning experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Jamie Bain ◽  
Noelle Harden ◽  
Shirley Nordrum ◽  
Ren Olive
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Working Together ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened awareness of systemic racism this past year, food systems practitioners are increasingly turning their attention toward the intersections of racial equity and the good food movement. Un­packing the racist history of the food system is a key step in this journey toward food justice, one that must be followed by intentional action bridg­ing diverse perspectives through skilled facilitation. Through a project called Cultivating Powerful Par­ticipation, the University of Minnesota Extension and food justice practitioners across Minnesota are working together to equip leaders with the neces­sary relationships, skills, and tools to cultivate a vision of food justice. In this reflective essay, we draw on our experiences leading this initiative to demonstrate the power and impact of approaching food justice through an action-oriented framework that equips community food justice leaders to become seasoned facilitators. Using themes and evaluation data from our program, we share prom­ising practices and specific facilitation methods that others can adapt to embrace a justice orientation in their work.

scholarly journals Working for Justice in Food Systems on Stolen Land? Interrogating Food Movements Confronting Settler Colonialism

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Bohunicky ◽  
Charles Levkoe ◽  
Nick Rose
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Food Movements ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Movement Organizations ◽  
Political Economic

The evolving practice and scholarship surrounding food movements aim to address social, political, economic and ecological crises in food systems. However, limited interrogation of settler colonialism remains a crucial gap. Settler colonialism is the ongoing process of invasion that works to systematically erase and replace Indigenous Peoples with settler populations and identities. While many progressive and well-intentioned food movements engage directly with issues of land, water, identity, and power, critics argue they have also reified capitalism, white supremacy, agro-centrism and private property that are central to the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous Peoples. Scholars and advocates have called for greater accountability to the contradictions inherent in working towards social and ecological justice on stolen land. We write this paper as three settler activist-scholars to interrogate ways that social movements are responding to this call. A community-engaged methodology was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with individuals working in settler-led food movement organizations in Northwestern Ontario, Canada and in Southern Australia. We present our findings through three intersecting categories: 1) Expressions of settler inaction; 2) Mere inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and ideas; and, 3) Productive engagements and visions to confront settler colonialism. To explore the possibility of deeper engagements that confront settler colonialism, we suggest a continuum that moves from situating our(settler)selves within the framework of settler colonialism to (re)negotiating relationships with Indigenous Peoples to actualizing productive positions of solidarity with Indigenous struggles. We argue that this work is essential for food movements that aim to transform relationships with the land, each other, and ultimately forge more sustainable and equitable food futures.

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