scholarly journals A global food systems framework for pandemic prevention, response, and recovery

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Anastasia Lambrou ◽  
Isha Berry ◽  
Amelie Hecht ◽  
Alain Labrique
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Emerging Infections ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
Global Food

COVID-19 has highlighted the dynamic relationship between pandemic threats and global food systems. Despite important connections, research and policy-making on food systems and pandemics largely operate in silos. We propose a framework that integrates food systems and pandemic planning and response, exploring the role of the food system in shaping pandemics and, consequently, the role of pandemics in disrupting a now global food system. This framework highlights important connections between food production, distribution, and consumption at each stage of the pandemic cycle: preven­tion, response, and recovery. We use recent experiences with COVID-19 to illustrate vulnerabilities in systems interaction during the prevention and response phases. Over the long term, in the recovery phase, food systems must transform, adopting an enhanced level of functioning to improve resilience. To reduce population health risks and promote sustainable food systems, we call for implementation of surveillance systems for both emerging infections and food systems functioning in order to strengthen global food supply chains, create stakeholder resource coordination mechanisms, and address underlying socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Multidisciplinary global actors should draw on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the inevitable next one.

scholarly journals Seafood in Food Security: A Call for Bridging the Terrestrial-Aquatic Divide

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacia Stetkiewicz ◽  
Rachel A. Norman ◽  
Edward Hugh Allison ◽  
Neil L. Andrew ◽  
Gulshan Ara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Relative Role ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
Global Food

The contribution of seafood to global food security is being increasingly highlighted in policy. However, the extent to which such claims are supported in the current food security literature is unclear. This review assesses the extent to which seafood is represented in the recent food security literature, both individually and from a food systems perspective, in combination with terrestrially-based production systems. The results demonstrate that seafood remains under-researched compared to the role of terrestrial animal and plant production in food security. Furthermore, seafood and terrestrial production remain siloed, with very few papers addressing the combined contribution or relations between terrestrial and aquatic systems. We conclude that far more attention is needed to the specific and relative role of seafood in global food security and call for the integration of seafood in a wider interdisciplinary approach to global food system research.

scholarly journals Serving Social Justice: The Role of the Commons in Sustainable Food Systems

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sumner
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
The Commons

Food is a source of sustenance, a cause for celebration, an inducement to temptation, a vehicle for power, an indicator of well-being, a catalyst for change and, above all, a life good.  Along with other life goods such as potable water, clean air, adequate shelter and protective clothing, food is something we cannot live without.  The global corporate food system, however, allows 800 million to go hungry, while an even larger number of people grow obese.  Based in money-values, this food system promotes accumulation first and foremost, enriching a few while creating economic, social and environmental externalities that are destroying local economies, devastating individuals, families and communities and degrading the planet. What would a food system look like that was based in life-values, centred on the commons and anchored by social justice?  This paper will focus on the creation of sustainable food systems, beginning with the crises of the global corporate food system and then moving to the heart of sustainable food systems – the civil commons.

scholarly journals Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Colin Ray Anderson ◽  
Janneke Bruil ◽  
M. Jahi Chappell ◽  
Csilla Kiss ◽  
Michel Patrick Pimbert
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Ecological Economic ◽  
Sustainable Food System

AbstractIn this introductory chapter, we introduce agroecology as an urgent alternative paradigm for food and farming in a time of growing ecological, economic and social crises. We briefly outline the role of food systems in these intersecting crises and introduce how agroecology is much more than a ‘technical fix’ that calls to tweak the existing system. It is rather a framework for transformation that can be adopted in pursuit of a more just and sustainable food system. The chapter describes the origin of the book and provides a roadmap to help the reader navigate the flow of the manuscript.

scholarly journals Hunger and Obesity as Symptoms of Non-Sustainable Food Systems and Malnutrition

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Steiner ◽  
Bernhard Geissler ◽  
Eva Schernhammer
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Calorie Intake ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Global Food System ◽  
Global Food ◽  
Innovation Policies

Among the great challenges the world faces are how to ensure food security for its growing population—projected to rise to around 10 billion by 2050—so it can meet their nutritional needs for a healthy life. Current regulations and literature on food security mainly focus on food quantity (i.e., portion sizes), daily calorie intake and methods for increasing food production and too little on food and diet quality and the holistic effects of (mal)nutrition. From a systems perspective, in order to promote innovation policies for more sustainable food systems, food security cannot be viewed independently; rather, it is characterized by the interplay of an extensive network of economic, environmental and social dimensions that should all be taken into account in a comprehensive resilient and sustainable global food system. Here, we highlight one aspect of this vast network that we consider a particular challenge—yet also a great opportunity—for innovative policies geared toward more sustainable food systems: the interplay of hunger and obesity, including resulting policy strategies beyond potential efficiency improvements in farming practices. Future studies need to emphasize the importance of an in-depth understanding of the interdependencies within the global food system and its interrelatedness with societal and natural systems as part of coupled human-environment systems and in the face of continuing population growth and food demand globally. Recommended strategies for achieving sustainable food security systems include innovative educational approaches and stakeholder-driven innovation policies based on mutual learning processes between society, science, industry and policymakers, as well as fostering increased responsibility of all members of society along the agriculture and food value chain.

scholarly journals Response-to-Failure Analysis of Global Food System Initiatives: A Resilience Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prince Agyemang ◽  
Ebenezer Miezah Kwofie
Keyword(s):  
Failure Analysis ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
Global Food System ◽  
Invaluable Tool ◽  
Transformational Framework ◽  
Global Food

International food system initiatives have led the efforts to combat the threats to global food security resulting from the failure of the current food systems. This study set out to investigate and assess the contributions of global food system initiatives in tackling the food system challenges. In assessing the food system initiatives, we develop a three-step methodology for Food System Initiative (FSI) selection and then conduct a qualitative evaluation using relevant indicators based on food system failure narratives. Furthermore, the authors synthesize present literature in the context of the extent to which coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has compounded food system challenges and, together with the response-to-failure analysis, recreate a resilient transformational framework, which will be an invaluable tool to FSI during and after the COVID-19 era, and guarantee we build back better. The findings show that while considerable effort is being made in addressing food system failures, the current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges and would require a paradigm shift not only in the implementation of conventional food system initiatives but also in the role of food system actors. The food system resilience framework presented provides useful pathway in expanding the understanding of the role of all key stakeholders and in identifying tipping points for building the desired resilience moving forward.

scholarly journals The Role of Healthy Diets in Environmentally Sustainable Food Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 31S-58S
Author(s):  
Michael Clark ◽  
Jennie Macdiarmid ◽  
Andrew D. Jones ◽  
Janet Ranganathan ◽  
Mario Herrero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dietary Patterns ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
International Health ◽  
Simultaneous Action ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Healthy Diets

Background: The global food system is directly linked to international health and sustainability targets, such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement climate change targets, and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. These targets are already threatened by current dietary patterns and will be further threatened by 2050 because of a growing population and transitions toward diets with more calories, animal-source foods, and ultra-processed foods. While dietary changes to healthier and predominantly plant-based diets will be integral to meeting environmental targets, economic, social, and cultural barriers make such dietary transitions difficult. Objective: To discuss the role of healthy diets in sustainable food systems and to highlight potential difficulties and solutions of transitioning toward healthier dietary patterns. To do so, we synthesize global knowledge and conduct a series of case studies on 4 countries that differ in their social, economic, political, and dietary contexts: Brazil, Vietnam, Kenya, and Sweden. Conclusions: No single “silver bullet” policy solution exists to shift food choices toward sustainable healthy diets. Instead, simultaneous action by the public sector, private sector, and governments will be needed.

scholarly journals Redressing the Corporate Cultivation of Consumption: Releasing the Weapons of the Structurally Weak

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Friel
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Issue Framing ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Global Food System ◽  
Global Food

Corporate control of the global food system has resulted in greater global availability of highly processed, packaged and very palatable unhealthy food and beverages. Environmental harm, including climate change and biodiversity loss, occurs along the supply chains associated with trans-national corporations’ (TNCs’) practices and products. In essence, the corporatization of the global food system has created the conditions that cultivate excess consumption, manufacture disease epidemics and harm the environment. TNCs have used their structural power – their positions in material structures and organizational networks – to establish rules, processes and norms that reinforce and extend the paradigm of the neoliberal corporate food system. As a result, policy and regulatory environments, and societal norms are favourable to TNC’s interests, to the detriment of nutrition, health and environmental outcomes. There is hope, however. Power, of which there is many forms, is held not just by the TNCs but by all actors concerned about and connected to the food system. This paper aims to understand these power dynamics, and identify how structurally weak, public-interest actors can release their agency and work to achieve positive structural change. Such an analysis will help understand how the status quo can be disrupted and healthy and sustainable food systems created. The paper draws from the health governance and social movement literature, examining the Doha Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and Public Health, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and the Divestment movement. These cases demonstrate the many ‘weapons of the weak’ that can, against all odds recalibrate structural inequities. There is no one approach to transforming the corporate food system to become a healthy and sustainable food system. It involves coalition building; articulation of an ambitious shared vision; strategic use of multi-level institutional processes; social mobilization among like-minded and unusual bedfellows, and organized campaigns; political and policy entrepreneurs, and compelling issue framing.

Disruptive innovation and operationalization in local and sustainable food systems: Examining the University of Toronto-Local Food Plus partnership

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-139
Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
The University

This paper traces the partnership between the University of Toronto and the non-profit Local Food Plus (LFP) to bring local sustainable food to its St. George campus. At its launch, the partnership represented the largest purchase of local sustainable food at a Canadian university, as well as LFP’s first foray into supporting institutional procurement of local sustainable food. LFP was founded in 2005 with a vision to foster sustainable local food economies. To this end, LFP developed a certification system and a marketing program that matched certified farmers and processors to buyers. LFP emphasized large-scale purchases by public institutions. Using information from in-depth semi-structured key informant interviews, this paper argues that the LFP project was a disruptive innovation that posed a challenge to many dimensions of the established food system. The LFP case study reveals structural obstacles to operationalizing a local and sustainable food system. These include a lack of mid-sized infrastructure serving local farmers, the domination of a rebate system of purchasing controlled by an oligopolistic foodservice sector, and embedded government support of export agriculture. This case study is an example of praxis, as the author was the founder of LFP, as well as an academic researcher and analyst.

The Role of Research and Innovation in the Transformation of Agri-Food Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-63
Author(s):  
Mariana Sandu ◽  
Stefan Mantea
Keyword(s):  
Technological Progress ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Determinant Factor ◽  
Rapid Transformation

Abstract Agri-food systems include branching ramifications, which connect in the upstream the input suppliers with farmers, and downstream farmers, processors, retailers and consumers. In the last decades, at the level of the regions, food systems have undergone rapid transformation as a result of technological progress. The paper analyzes the changes made to the structure, behavior and performance of the agri-food system and the impact on farmers and consumers. Also, the role of agricultural research as a determinant factor of transformation of agri-food system is analyzed. The research objective is to develop technologies that cover the entire food chain (from farm to fork) and meet the specific requirements of consumers (from fork to farm) through scientific solutions in line with the principles of sustainable agriculture and ensuring the safety and food safety of the population.

Sustainable Food Logistics Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaohui Wu ◽  
Madeleine Elinor Pullman
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Chain Management

Food supply chain management is becoming a critical management and public policy agenda. Climate change, growing demand, and shifting patterns of food production, delivery, and consumption have elicited a series of new challenges, such as food security, safety, and system resiliency. This chapter first introduces the typical players in a food supply chain and examines the global food system characterized by consolidation and industrialization. It then discusses some critical topics of the sustainable food supply chain that aim to address these challenges. These topics include traceability, transparency, certification and standards, and alternatives to industrialized food systems, including cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, and roles of small and medium-sized growers in regenerative agriculture. The chapter ends with a discussion of several important emerging logistics management topics, including last-mile delivery, new technology, and cold chain management.

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