scholarly journals TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK TO MAP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS IN FOOD SYSTEMS

AGROFOR ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid EL BILALI ◽  
Lorenz PROBST
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Transition Management ◽  
Change Initiatives ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
The Social

Transitions to sustainable food systems are considered necessary to addresssustainability challenges in industrial food systems – but also to achieve food andnutrition security especially in countries of the South. To facilitate such transitions,we need a thorough analytical understanding of change processes in food systems.Different transition frameworks have been suggested in the literature, with theMulti-Level Perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions being the mostprominent. While MLP has proven to be a useful heuristic, earlier studies haveidentified weak points (e.g. regarding agency, power, landscape factors andinstitutional innovations) calling for the integration of complementary concepts.This paper proposes a framework for the analysis of sustainability transitions infood systems that integrates elements of the Social Practices Approach, TransitionManagement, Strategic Niche Management and Innovation Systems. The startingpoint of the suggested analytical process is to map emerging sustainable foodsystems along the MLP levels of niche, regime and landscape. To better understandprocesses of creating and developing initiatives in food systems, our mapping relieson Innovation System approaches (e.g. identifying actors and their networks),Transition Management (e.g. niche stabilization and expansion processes) andStrategic Niche Management (e.g. breakthroughs). As wider transitions require areconfiguration of relevant regimes, interactions across levels are of particularinterest. The Social Practices Approach helps to make niche-regime interactionsexplicit. Finally, by looking at the impacts and outcomes of change initiatives, wecan make statements about the type of transition pathway taken – and whether aninitiative has transformative potential or is an incremental adaptation. Further workis needed to refine and test the framework in different contexts.

scholarly journals How Can Dietitians Leverage Change for Sustainable Food Systems in Canada?

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 164-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liesel Carlsson ◽  
Edith Callaghan ◽  
Göran Broman
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
Organizational Policy ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Leverage Points ◽  
The Social

Purpose: In this paper, we begin to set out language defining sustainable food systems (SFS) in Canada, through the voices of dietitians, and identify leverage points where dietitians can affect change. Methods: Dietitians of Canada members were invited to a Delphi Inquiry process; questions explored a vision of SFS in Canada, barriers to that vision, and actions. Results were independently analysed by 2 members of the research team who used the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to structure the data. Results: Fifty-eight members participated. The resultant vision describes a future food system in 15 thematic areas of the social and ecological systems. Barriers are described according to how they undermine sustainability. High-leverage actions areas included: (i) facilitating knowledge development within the profession and public, (ii) influencing organizational policy to support SFS, and (iii) and influencing public policy. Approaches to such action included: (i) facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration and (ii) applying reflexive approaches. Conclusions: This research suggests a multidimensional understanding of food systems sustainability among dietitians. The vision provides some language to describe what dietitians mean by SFS and can be used as a compass point to orient action. Action areas and approaches have the potential to drive systemic change while avoiding unintended consequences.

scholarly journals Understanding Ethics in Sustainability Transitions: Towards Social Learning for Sustainable Food Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Food System ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Ethical Complexity

This thesis explores the importance of an appropriate understanding of ethics in sustainability transitions. Through a conceptual analysis, it finds that the dominant understanding of modernist ethics is unsuitable to the contexts of contingency in sustainability transitions, and that the participatory understanding of ethics as a complex system presents a far more adequate approach to the ethical complexity of socioecological systems. In particular, the strategy of „practising provisionality‟ is suggested, which understands the process of ethical decision-making as a process of social learning. This argument is further supported by a critical reflection on the food system context.

scholarly journals Review of Methodologies for Assessing Sustainable Diets and Potential for Development of Harmonised Indicators

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Eme ◽  
Jeroen Douwes ◽  
Nicholas Kim ◽  
Sunia Foliaki ◽  
Barbara Burlingame
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Socioeconomic Indicators ◽  
Nutrition And Health ◽  
Dietary Practices ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sustainable Diets ◽  
The Social

The underlying values and priorities that drive policy responses depend largely on the constructs that researchers and decision makers select to measure and the metrics used. Despite much recent attention being given to sustainable diets and food systems and to the importance of clearly measuring sustainability to meet targets, to achieve goals, and to appraise dietary and environmental policies, it is not commonly agreed how the different indicators of sustainable diets are assessed. The evidence base for assessment of these indicators are frequently weak, fragmented, and arbitrary. The aim of this paper was to compare a range of published methods and indicators for assessing sustainable diets and food systems in order to harmonise them. Keyword and reference searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, CAB Abstracts, and Web of Knowledge. Fifty-two studies (21 proposed methods and 31 used methods) that combined environment, nutrition and health, and socioeconomic aspects of sustainable diets were reviewed. The majority (over 90%) of the studies focused on high-income countries. Twenty-eight studies assessed the environmental effects of different dietary practices, eight of the studies examined the nutrition and health indicators used for assessing sustainable food systems, and seven studies assessed the social and economic costs of diets. A classification of the elements was developed, and common elements are proposed for standardizing. These elements were categorized into nutrition and health indicators, environment indicators, and socioeconomic indicators. Standardized or harmonized indicators can be used for consistency and applicability purposes and to support, implement, and monitor relevant policies.

scholarly journals Boundary politics and the social imaginary for sustainable food systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim L. Niewolny
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Agricultural Science ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Justice Movements

AbstractIn this essay, Kim Niewolny, current President of AFHVS, responds to the 2020 AFHVS Presidential Address given by Molly Anderson. Niewolny is encouraged by Anderson’s message of moving “beyond the boundaries” by focusing our gaze on the insurmountable un-sustainability of the globalized food system. Anderson recommends three ways forward to address current challenges. Niewolny argues that building solidarity with social justice movements and engendering anti-racist praxis take precedence. This work includes but is not limited to dismantling the predominance of neoliberal-fueled technocratic productivism in agricultural science and policy while firmly centering civil society collective action and human rights frameworks as our guiding imaginary for racial, gender, environmental, and climate justice possibilities for sustainable food systems praxis. She concludes by exploring the epistemic assertion to push beyond our professional and political imaginaries to build a more fair, just, and humanizing food system.

scholarly journals (Re)Commoning Food and Food Systems. The Contribution of Social Innovation from Solidarity Economy

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 548
Author(s):  
Adanella Rossi ◽  
Mario Coscarello ◽  
Davide Biolghini
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Solidarity Economy ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Governance ◽  
Food Policies ◽  
Italian Context

The need for a transition to sustainable food systems is widely recognised. Over the last three decades, movements have been demanding and proposing a radical transformation, foregrounding the social values of food. Experiences inspired by solidarity economy have given rise to highly innovative pathways, grounded on the redefinition of the food-related values and practices and the reconstruction of local, community-based food systems by referring to social and ecological sustainability. One can usefully draw from these experiences for identifying challenges, opportunities and benefits and for analysing the most effective modes of action leading to the creation of alternatives. Capturing and supporting this innovation is particularly important when looking at the opportunities offered by local food policies. This significantly involves the meanings, goals and forms that food governance takes on. The paper aims at investigating these aspects, reading the initiatives inspired by SE principles as an example of social innovation. Their engagement in re-signifying food in terms of “commons” and in “commoning” food systems constitutes a complementary key of analysis. Focusing on the Italian context, the paper draws on many years of qualitative research and direct involvement in these initiatives. The analysis provides useful insights about the potential for change existing in society and invites us to develop reflexivity on how local food policies capture the opportunity for a re-politicisation of food-related issues.

Evaluating the capacity of small farmers to adopt aquaponics systems: empirical evidence from Brazil

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Alexandria Brewer ◽  
Jose F. Alfaro ◽  
Tadeu Fabricio Malheiros
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Product Placement ◽  
Organic Production ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Farmers ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Small Scale Farmers

Abstract Aquaponics technology has recently been offered as a good option for sustainable food systems among small-scale farmers, particularly those seeking an organic production or dealing with land quality constraints, such as urban farmers. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence for the capacity of small farmers to adopt the technology. The unique requirements of aquaponics may create technical, economic and even cultural constraints and opportunities. This paper uses empirical evidence gathered with small-scale farmers in São Carlos, State of São Paulo, Brazil, to present the capacity of adoption for the technology, including possible limiting factors and incentives for farmers. The study conducted interviews with owners of ‘agriculturas familiares’ (Portuguese for small family owned farms) within 30 km of São Carlos. The interviews revealed that there is widespread interest in the potential profitability of aquaponics systems, significant interest in environmentally friendly practices, familiarity with organic production and hydroponics and a large base of agricultural knowledge in the community that can drive adoption. However, lack of initial financing, limited human power and concerns about product placement were significant barriers to adoption. For settlement farmers (those working on land formerly abandoned) poor soil quality and water scarcity are key issues that could be alleviated by the technology. The city of Sao Carlos present program for purchasing specific types of products from these farms could be used as a model for increasing aquaponics adoption and relieving success concerns.

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