Implications of a food system approach for policy agenda-setting design

Abstract

A call to governments to enact a strategy for a sustainable food system is high on the global agenda. A sustainable food system presupposes a need to go beyond a view of the food system as linear and narrow, to comprehend the food system as dynamic and interlinked, which involves understanding social, economic and ecological outcomes and feedbacks of the system. As such, it should be accompanied by strategic, collaborative, transparent, inclusive, and reflexive agenda-setting process. The concepts of, directionality relating to an agreed vision for a future sustainable food system, and, reflexivity which describes the capacity for critical deliberation and responsiveness, are particularly important. Based on those concepts, this paper proposes an evaluative framework to assess tools and instruments applied during the agenda-setting stage. We apply the evaluative framework to recent food policy processes in Finland and Sweden, revealing that their agenda-setting design cannot be assessed as fully addressing both directionality and reflexivity, thus possibly falling short of the policy design needed for enable more transformative policy approaches.

Response and resilience of Asian agrifood systems to COVID-19: An assessment across twenty-five countries and four regional farming and food systems

“…Sustainable intensification and diversification of production is required in the coming decades in order to meet the diverse needs of societies with greater disposable income and changing consumption preferences whilst enhancing natural resource management and ecosystem services (FAO, 2020a). Such intensification and diversification face multiple constraints and challenges, including widespread degradation of natural resources (Pretty, 2018), climate change (Beddington et al, 2012), the limits of planetary boundaries (Rockström et al, 2017), the urgent need to transform food systems (Steiner et al, 2020;Kugelberg et al, 2021) and foster inclusive development (World Bank, 2020a). COVID-19 has exacerbated these challenges (WFP, 2020; OECD, 2021) and created new opportunities (FAO, 2020h;World Bank, 2021).…”

A Sustainability Compass for policy navigation to sustainable food systems

“…Despite the acknowledgement of, and momentum for, food system transformation, decision-makers face difficulties to design and implement the required sustainability policies for change towards desired directions. This is partly grounded in the complexity of food systems, which links both diverse policy domains, needs and value judgements, but also due the influence of policies that are already in place ( Kugelberg et al, 2021 ; OECD, 2021 ; Rogge and Reichardt, 2016 ). Evidence-based policy making requires tools that, besides providing scientific information, can make transparent how political negotiation can or has influenced policy design ( Ottersen et al, 2014 ).…”

“…Food system sustainability frameworks are often designed to shed light on such complex dynamics in food systems and to facilitate the informed dialogue and negotiation necessary for the design of integrated food policies ( Weaver and Jordan, 2008 ). Given the plurality of perspectives to achieving transformation in food systems ( Béné et al, 2019b ; Herrero et al, 2020 , 2021 ; Klerkx and Begemann, 2020 ; Klerkx and Rose, 2020 ; Leach et al, 2020 ; Loboguerrero et al, 2020 ; Rose et al, 2021 ) and the growing urgency to manage trade-offs ( Oliver et al, 2018 ; Zurek et al, 2021 ), it is vital that such frameworks accommodate evaluation of ‘directionality’ and ‘reflexivity’ ( Kugelberg et al, 2021 ; TEEB 2018 ) to support decision making for equitable sustainability strategies ( Leach et al, 2010 ; Patterson et al, 2017 ). Interest to design sustainability policies for food systems continues to grow among actors representing countries and regions ( Global Alliance for the Future of Food, 2021 ; Global Panel, 2020 ; IPES-Food and ETC Group, 2021 ; UN Food Systems Summit, 2021 ).…”

“…Aiming to live up to these principles, this paper presents an integrated framework that is designed to support reflexivity and evaluation of the direction of policy processes for food system transformation. Here we understand policy processes as ‘political problem-solving processes’ ( Rogge and Reichardt, 2016 ; Weible and Sabatier, 2017 ) that typically involve a number of stages: ‘agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making, policy implementation and policy evaluation’ that are often performed in an iterative and non-linear manner ( Kugelberg et al, 2021 ). The framework we present is designed to visualize the (lack of) progress vis-a-vis key sustainability goals and in doing so, make potential synergies or trade-offs in policy choices across different goals visible.…”

Effective Mainstreaming of Agricultural Emissions into Climate Action Agenda: The Case of Institutions and Smallholder Dairy Production Systems, Western Kenya

“…Further, a focus on specific elements, such as productivity, may fail to capture critical socio-economic and ecological linkages and feedbacks therein [15]. In turn, this could undermine policy effort, as well as meaningful transformation in a food system [112].…”