Food Policy

The welfare state continues to be eroded in the Global North. In Canada and the U.S., food banks are now one of the only systems of relief available. But in both countries, critics have accused food banks of being apolitical and thus taking away government responsibility to address inequality. The rise of food banks has been linked to the decline of the welfare state, leading to an assumption that an increase in public assistance can end the need for food banks. Yet little research exists that examines how other institutions such as the food industry drove food bank growth, or how food banks are politically active. The history of food banks in Canada presents an informative case study because the state was not directly involved in establishing food banks, thus allowing greater insight into the role of industry in the institutionalization of food banks and their political activity. Using environmental institutions and political ecology frameworks we conducted a literature review and interviews of experts, as well as a case study of one food bank. Our findings suggest that the factors leading to the existence of food banks cannot only be linked to cuts in welfare; rather, the influence of industrial decline and centralization of the food industry must also be taken into account, as well as social movements and the policy gap around food waste. Food banks can be political, using available resources as ‘fuel’ to challenge government failure. The case of Canadian food banks indicates that, to address inequality and food insecurity in the Global North, researchers and policy-makers should not only focus on welfare but need to tackle the cost-shifting practices of the food industry and work toward joined-up and nested food policy institutions. Further, food banks, or organizations that look like them, can help address rising food insecurity if they are provided with sufficient legal, political, and financial support.

La question alimentaire en Afrique : risque et politisation. Introduction In: Tiers-Monde. 2005, tome 46 n°184. La question alimentaire en Afrique : Risque et politisation. pp. 727-736. Abstract Pierre Janin and Charles-Edouard de Suremain. -The food question in Africa : risk and politisation. Introduction. Without pretending to a systematic comparison, this study examines the risks involved in the management of food in several African countries. The articles expose the gap between the initial intentions of food policies, their implementation and local situations. They stress the weakening of the State, the growing strength of trading networks and individual citizen initiatives, which constitute the most of the relations between the actors of the food system, while indicating the plurality of their perceptions, usages and normative frameworks. Such are the stages of a reflection which examines the relationships between theoretical frameworks, development models and the game of actors. Citer ce document / Cite this document : Janin Pierre, de Suremain Charles-Édouard. La question alimentaire en Afrique : risque et politisation. Introduction. In: Tiers-Monde. 2005, tome 46 n°184. La question alimentaire en Afrique : Risque et politisation. pp. 727-736.

Discussion on plant genetic engineering has experienced increasing momentum with the introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) corn in Germany and other European countries. This paper determines the various groups of German farmers, their attitudes and expected decisions on the use of GM foods using cluster analysis of 370 German farm managers. The results of cluster analysis indicate five main farmer groups who differ in terms of certain demographic characteristics and attitudes towards GM adoption. The study proposes tailored communication and risk management as an important measure that can be used by the biotechnology advocates to improve the level of acceptance.

Telecommunication and more specially mobile phones have the potential to provide solution to the existing information asymmetry in various lagging sectors like Agriculture. India’s agricultural sector suffers from low growth rates and low productivity. Issues in access to information is a week point at every stage of the agrisupply chain. For small farmers base economy like India, access to information can possible enable better incomes and productivity to the farmers. This paper through focus group discussions and in-depth interview with farmers in villages of India, has tried to find answers to the use and impact of mobile and mobile enabled services on agricultural productivity. The answers to these questions are of relevance to develop better policy environment conducive for the small and medium farmers and has implications for mobile operators, for information service providers, and for policy-makers. The results show that although, mobiles can act as catalyst to improving prod...

Article based on Food Secure Canada's policy action plan for food system transformation in the context of COVID-19, the Food Policy for Canada and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Co-authored with Anna Paskal and Susan Alexander.

In line with the social objectives of the PNPB (Brazilian Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel) and its “Social Seal” Framework, PETROBRAS has set up a 57 million liter/year biodiesel plant in the semi‐arid region of North of Minas Gerais State, where the socioeconomics indicators are very unfavorable. Despite the potential to boost the agricultural and agro‐industrial sector, the

A solução dos problemas na Amazônia não são independentes, mas conectada com outras partes do País e do mundo. A redução dos desmatamentos e queimadas na Amazônia depende do desenvolvimento de atividades agrícolas adequadas nas áreas já desmatadas e que tenham mercado, em vez do uso “sustentável” da floresta e de direitos difusos. Nesse sentido, uma política agrícola teria efeitos mais positivos do que uma política ambiental, que não pode ser efetuada de maneira isolada das demais regiões do País, sob risco de transferir contingentes populacionais de outras localidades. Há necessidade de elevar a produtividade das atividades agrícolas na Amazônia, reduzirem a pressão sobre os recursos naturais com risco de esgotamento, incentivar plantios racionais de recursos extrativos potenciais, substituir as importações de produtos tropicais (seringueira, dendê, cacau, etc.), melhorarem as relações de troca dos produtos amazônicos versus produtos importados da Zona Franca de Manaus, efetuar a r...

So begins a typical process of appreciative inquiry, a way of thinking and working with groups, organizations and commu-nities that assumes all human systems have at least some posi-tive features, ie something is working well. By fostering reflection on the system's ...

This paper reviews the application of a scenario for the 2015 agricultural policy and markets for the irrigated agriculture in Europe. Scenarios for irrigated agriculture 2015 are also described in detail including Reformed CAP and biomass demand. It is applied at the basin level for the Guadalquivir River in southern Spain. The methodology is based upon residual value of water and it combines budget and farm analysis at municipality level, with the Guadalquivir basin divided at 50 'comarcas'; in each of them 24 possible crops are selected with specific 'comarca' data bases. The 2015 scenario studies the present level of water use and value, and makes an analysis for 2015.This model allows the knowledge of water value and irrigated agriculture at 'comarca' level and 'aggregated basin level'.

Intensification of agricultural practices is occurring in Canterbury. Dairy farm conversions continue with land use for dairying increasing 132% since 1995. Current concerns emanate predominantly from issues of water quantity and quality, in particular the degradation of lowland streams. These and other costs are not transmitted through markets for dairy products, these negative externalities represent allocation and equity concerns for regional policy makers. This study canvassed regional policy administrators, assembled available valuation studies and performed rudimentary calculations based on New Zealand research to form an estimate of the external costs of dairy farming in Canterbury. External costs are estimated at $28.7 to $45 million annually. Using 146,000 hectares of dairy in Canterbury, external costs per hectare is calculated at $196.59 to $308.23. Damage to air resources from CO 2 equivalent emissions is the largest category and is estimated to be $24.2 to $40.4 million...

Background: Food and health research is concerned with production, marketing, choice, regulation and policy for food as it affects health, and the mechanisms and control of diet-related diseases, nutrition and obesity. It covers positive and negative impacts of food on health, as well as issues related to under and over consumption of food. The European Union-funded study FAHRE (Food and Health Research in Europe) has described structures and identified gaps and needs for food and health research across Europe. Methods: FAHRE was conducted by a consortium of partners in 7 European countries, including private and public research organisations, university-based researchers and civil society organisations. National advisers in 32 European countries made reports on the structures of food and health research, and nine experts made reports on food and health research themes. At the end of this phase, a stakeholder conference was held to review and discuss the findings, and from this a Strategic Document was developed and distributed electronically for wider consultation at national level. This report presents the findings of the Strategic Document. Results: FAHRE proposed that future research using public funding should address the global issue of unhealthy eating, including obesity, which causes preventable disability and disease, reduced working life and increased healthcare costs. FAHRE suggests a move of the focus of research from healthy food to healthy eating, and to overcome the existing separation between food research and health research through a shift of research towards food for health. EU member states have widely differing national systems for research management, and information is poorly standardised for comparisons. There are many research programmes in both food and health, usually managed by ministries of science, but rarely in collaboration with ministries of health. Industry mainly contributes 'near product' research: few industry small and medium enterprises are engaged with food and health research, nor are civil society organisations. EU food and health research has been focused within the agriculture research theme, and not sufficiently linked to health research. FAHRE recommends coordination of food and health research through an EU-level Coordinating Agency, with budget and representation from the three EU directorates Agriculture, Health and Research, the member states, and wider stakeholders including civil society and industry. There should be corresponding 'food and health research agencies' in the member states bringing together national policy-makers and stakeholders, and directing research funding. Food safety agencies may provide a model for this joint approach. Further proposals include strengthening social and policy research, accessing Structural Funds for research programmes, and more strategic approaches to determining research programmes and funding. Conclusion: Food and health research in Europe should move from 'healthy food', which concentrates on food as a product, to research for 'healthy eating' which is concerned with appropriate intake and reducing disease. Coordination of research on this theme, at European level, and between member states, could deliver major economic and social returns.

Food charity in the United States has grown into a critical appendage of agro-food supply chains. In 2016, 4.5 billion pounds of food waste was diverted through a network of 200 regional food banks, a fivefold increase in just 20 years. Recent global trade disruptions and the COVID-19 pandemic have further reinforced this trend. Economic geographers studying charitable food networks argue that its infrastructure and moral substructure serve to revalue food waste and surplus labor in the capitalist food system. The political-legal framework undergirding this revaluation process however is still poorly understood. Drawing on a 6-year institutional ethnography of the food banking economy in West Virginia, this paper takes a supply-side approach to examine the material and moral values driving the expansion of food waste recovery as hunger relief. Empirically, it focuses on the laws, contracts and fiscal incentives regulating charitable food procurement at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Feeding America. The assemblage of government agencies, private businesses and non-profit organizations enrolled into this gift economy at different scales I argue, serves to enclose food waste into a public-private governance structure that regulates food surpluses and ensures these will not disrupt the scarcity logics driving profitability along primary food circuits.

The development of supermarkets in Vietnam, as in other emerging countries, is accompanied by increasing consumer concern for food quality. This paper investigates whether farmer organizations are able to help small-scale farmers obtain access to supermarkets as well as examines the role that supermarkets and public support play in the emergence and development of these organizations. The paper is based on case studies of a number of stakeholders marketing vegetables, flavored rice and litchi fruit in Vietnam. Eight farmer groups operating in the form of private commercial organizations act as regular supermarket suppliers for the selected products. Their ability to supply supermarkets is related to the combination of functions they make available to their members, especially with regard to promoting and controlling quality for which they receive public support. Their participation in flexible contracts with supermarkets, shops and schools is also a key issue. Supplying supermarkets via farmer associations increases farmers' profits per kilo compared to traditional chains, but the quantities supplied to supermarkets remain limited. The paper argues that changes in farmer organizations are not primarily due to supplying supermarkets, but rather to public and international support for food quality improvement which has been of benefit to supermarkets.

This paper discusses Hungarian agriculture's future perspectives up to the year 2013, which marks the end of the EU financial period 2007-2013. It presents results of the authors' modelling work, and provides a brief analysis of quantitative changes in principal macro-indicators and qualitative changes in key agricultural policy areas. The authors' goal is to energize the lacklustre agricultural sector by offering guidelines to policy decision makers.

Over the past few years, there has been growing global interest in the link between food and health. This paper provides a review of some of the recent literature describing these linkages. The first section provides an overview of findings that link the consumption of fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, whole-grains, alcohol, sugar, dairy, fish, pulses, soy, and nuts to coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. The authors then summarize various international and domestic non-government organizations' views about these issues. The third section centres on the food industry and its responses to growing health concerns. The fourth section is an overview of public policy relating to food and health, including the use of food policy to change consumption behaviour and address obesity. This section also includes a discussion of the relevance of policies designed to discourage smoking to the current debate on obesity. The Conclusion highlights ways in which Canadian food p...

Sposoby produkcji jedzenia oraz jego związek z tożsamością mieszkańców Europy stały się u progu XXI wieku przedmiotem licznych dyskusji. Ich skutki dostrzec można w powstających rozwiązaniach prawnych – najlepszy przykład stanowi tu Wspólna Polityka Rolna Unii Europejskiej. Unijne miliony przeznacza się na dofinansowanie europejskiego rolnictwa, które w Polsce wciąż jest jednym z największych i najważniejszych sektorów gospodarki. Oprócz pieniędzy z Brukseli przyszły do nas także systemy jakości żywności. Unijni i krajowi eksperci jasno określili granice „regionalności” i „tradycyjności” produktów. Jednak czy to oni decydują o ich autentyczności?

Collective trademark and regional product qualification in food-processing industries have become a growing challenge for farmers in developing countries. This challenge is the target of collective actionbased programs aiming at framing the cooperation context that would enable a local community to turn inherited resources and know-how into new market opportunities. Literature acknowledges that social capital is a crucial local resource for successful collective actions since it is a source of trust and collective commitment within a community. This paper deals with testing the role of this resource in the collective action case of the cheese producers in Aculco (Mexico). Focusing on the connectedness dimension of social capital, we propose an original methodology that relies on the multiplex and structural properties of social networks. This allows us to disentangle the opposite and ambivalent effects of social capital on the ability of a community to reach the goals assigned by the collective action program. Our empirical study shows that these critical properties can work in favor of adherence to collective action but can also create elite capture, clannish behaviors and entry barriers, thus showing a failure of collective action.

§ The paper has been derived from the study conducted under the Lal Bahadur Shastri Young Scientist Award of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research given to the first author. We are grateful to ICAR for the award and financial support for undertaking this study.

Agriculture provides the main support for Zambia’s rural economy, and because of this, growth in the agricultural sector is the clearest avenue through which poverty reduction can be achieved in Zambia. Yet despite widespread recognition of the strong connection between agricultural development and poverty reduction, there is continuing under-provision of public goods investments for over a decade. Zambia’s primary policy objective of achieving accelerated growth and competitiveness in the agricultural sector cannot be achieved unless adequate public resources are committed towards catalyzing the desired growth. Strong evidence from southern Africa as well as throughout the world indicates that long–term public investment in research and development, extension services, rural infrastructure, and food safety and quality systems have high pay-offs and are among the most important drivers of agricultural growth and competitiveness. Agricultural-led development has been identified by Af...

Programs focused on developing community-level management skills and human capacity can increase the opportunities for small farmers to benefit from market participation. Using a framework that links the concepts of collective power and agricultural development, and drawing upon evidence from Mali, Mozambique, and Cameroon, the authors differentiate three types of approaches to capacity building. Contract/Business programs such as outgrower and cash-crop schemes facilitate farmer access to goods and services required for production and marketing of a target commodity. Project/Technology programs, usually mediated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focus on the promotion of improved technology. Process/Human Capacity investments also facilitate technology adoption and marketing, but focus initially on the development of foundation skills and social capital, including assistance for collective self-help, literacy programs, marketing activities, and decentralized development planning. Although the latter programs tend to be slower in producing tangible results, the skills emphasized often determine the ability of a community to access inputs and market production beyond the life of a project. #

Watershed programme is an important intervention in dryland areas to improve livestock productivity through increased feed and fodder supply. The present study has focused on the impact of watershed interventions on crop-livestock linkages with particular emphasis on how the interventions have affected the quantity of stovers/straws as livestock feeding materials in bridging the demand-supply gap. The study has been carried out in three typical Shivalik foothill watersheds (two treated and one untreated) in the Panchkula district of Haryana state. The impact of watershed development programme has been estimated by adopting both with and without approach and before and after approach. The untreated watershed has derived 65 per cent of its total income from animal husbandry. On the contrary, this sector has contributed 42 per cent and 20 per cent in two treated watersheds. The availability of supplemental irrigation enabled the villagers to step up cropping intensity. The number of go...

We show how government regulation played a critical role in shaping the beef industry over the past century. Technological developments in the late 19th century led to a highly concentrated meatpacking industry and fostered a national market for beef in the US, and the development of a national market for beef led to regulations to ensure quality uniformity, especially USDA grading. We explain the problems with beef quality created by USDA grading using tools from information economics. Because USDA's fairly coarse grading system failed to measure significant aspects of beef quality, beef production suffered from the multi-tasking problem, which led producers to focus on producing larger quantities of beef while ignoring quality issues. We show that producing high quality beef requires either ex ante input controls or ex post sorting. In turn, we show how newly developed programs such as USDA quality certification and branding are incentivizing production of higher beef quality and dealing with information problems arising under USDA grading. We conclude with the implications of the regulatory history for current regulation of beef markets.

At the beginning of the 21st century imports of agricultural and food commodities have become a major part of many nations' food baskets. Indeed the global food system has several merits for nations, businesses and individual consumers' well-being. However, as increasing evidence suggests that we are approaching an era of climate change and scarcity of cheap energy sources the sustainability of that system must be examined. One part of any food commodity chain is its 'food miles'-the distance the commodity travels from point of production to point of consumption, the required energy and resulting emissions. This paper presents a 1 year 'snapshot' of Canada's total import related food miles. It presents an analysis of the distance imported foods traveled from around the world to major points of consumption in Canada and documents the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions related to those imports. It presents both a macro scale picture of the equivalent emissions related to transportation of imported food and a micro scale picture which focuses on specific commodities consumed in various parts of the country. It then discusses policy implications for food sustainability. Overall the research highlights that about 30% of the agricultural and food commodities consumed in Canada are imported, resulting in 'food miles' of over 61 billion tonnes km, leading to annual emissions of 3.3 million metric tonnes of CO 2. Of the various agriculture and food commodities studied, fruits and vegetables had the highest food miles related emissions.

Many EU citizens are concerned about animal welfare. The policy literature has responded to these concerns by suggesting a variety of policy instruments to policy makers. However, a gap in knowledge exists regarding which instrument should be applied under which conditions in the policy environment. This article presents the results of multiple inductive case studies of eight European countries to better understand the contingencies to animal welfare policy instruments and to further complement the framework of policy instruments available to policy makers. The qualitative evidence from this study is presented in the form of a policy decision tree indicating instruments likely to be effective under given conditions. The findings suggest that a ''one size fits all'' solution for animal welfare in the EU is unlikely to be effective and that although a market-based policy within the current EU context is in many cases inevitable, the barriers are numerous and require policy instruments tailored to the specific context.

Article CITATIONS 0 READS 43 6 authors, including: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: organic entitities, handicraft and resources in dryland Chile View project The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.

China opened its pork import market to Spain in 2007. With this background, we introduce the concept of the Spanish-Chinese Export-Import pork chain. An explorative study based on the interview of 22 Spanish meat companies and two experts from meat exporting promotion institutions is conducted. The study gives an example and evidence to international chain management studies. It identifies the main problems of the chain and generates conclusions accordingly, as a first step for the Spanish pork industries to develop market strategies.

Nutrition labels can potentially benefit consumers by increasing product knowledge and reducing search costs. However, the global increase in obesity rates leads one to question the effectiveness of current nutrition information formats. Alternative formats for providing nutrition information may be more effective. Shoppers at a major grocery chain participated in choice experiments designed to identify preferences for nutrition information provided on grocery store shelf labels. Shoppers demonstrate a strong affinity for shelf label nutrition information and the presentation of the nutrition information significantly affects their preferences as well. Several demographic variables help to explain differences in preferences.

Cardinia Shire is experiencing a range of social and health challenges, many of which could be addressed by a healthier food system. This research documents the conception, design and implementation of a participatory food policy making process used by Cardinia Shire Council in the development of its first food strategy. Ethnographic research involving participant observation in Kitchen Table Conversations, as well as interviews with key informants, documents the development of this policy from a variety of perspectives. Using a case study approach, this paper explores how a participatory food policy making process can contribute to a healthier food system.

Development of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a key engine to promote development of rural economy in developing countries. A common industrial organization among manufacturing SMEs, especially in rural areas, in Indonesia as in many other developing countries is clustering, where firms producing similar products concentrate in a certain area. This has led the Indonesian government to adopt