Connecting local and global food systems and reducing footprint in food
provisioning and use
The growing influence of global food value chains has raised concerns about the sustainability of food
systems. Food production and consumption have large impacts on various sustainability issues such as
climate change, water use, soil quality, biodiversity, etc. To take just one example, in an urbanizing
society more and more food needs to be transported to urban centres. At the same time, urban areas
are producing larger amounts of organic and sewage waste that need to be processed and transported
away from cities. Until now the cycle of organic material and its constituent compounds like phosphorus
and nitrogen is far from closed. The current urban food cycle is causing accumulation, environmental
pollution, and depletion of resources such as phosphorus.
Growing out of such concerns, vibrant food movements have developed a radical critique of global food
operations. These have influenced both consumers and policy makers, who then exert pressure on actors
in the food chain to address this issue. One of the strategies to challenge Global Value Chains has been
the relocalisation of food systems, opposing ‘short’ with ‘long’, ‘local’ to ‘global’, and ‘different’ to
‘standard’. It is claimed, in fact, that local food systems reduce food miles, foster direct communication
channels between consumers and producers, increase biological and cultural diversity, enlarge
consumers freedom of choice, and re-balance the power of big players.
In response, many larger food businesses have started to address the sustainability issue seriously,
investing in technologies, measurement tools, certification schemes, social reporting, and so forth, to
improve their sustainability performance, and to conquer ‘minds and hearts’ of consumers.
At the same time, research has addressed the conceptual limits of relocalisation, raising the concern that
localizing food markets may not yield greater efficiency in economic or energy terms. For example, is it
more defensible to produce tomatoes in a nearby greenhouse heated with fossil fuels, or to import them
from open fields in a warm climate? Is preserving and storing local products for off-season use more
desirable than importing fresh products? Should “local” be defined in kilometres, or in terms of the social
and commercial networks that are inherent to community-based food trade?
The working group will accept papers addressing these questions:
• How is the sustainability performance of food systems evolving? What theories, measurements, and
assessment tools are being developed to quantify their performance? Case studies quantifying the effects
of sustainability performance are welcomed.
• To what extent are local or global food networks able to keep a high social innovation profile and
contribute to sustainable consumption and production? What are the more promising experiences? What
are the limits of their action? Are hybrid structures feasible that combine elements of local and global?
• Are there avenues for collaboration between food movements and global players in the pursuit of
sustainable production and consumption? What are the barriers? What are the risks of collaboration?
• What role might community food networks play in the building of new food-system organizational
patterns? Will the agriculture of the future be defined by corporate and institutional structures, or can it
remain rooted in communities?
• What kind of instruments or information could help decision makers to make the best choices?
• How can policies accompany the efforts of actors in the food chains to improve their sustainability performance?
Connecting local and global food systems and reducing footprint in foodprovisioning and useThe growing influence of global food value chains has raised concerns about the sustainability of foodsystems. Food production and consumption have large impacts on various sustainability issues such asclimate change, water use, soil quality, biodiversity, etc. To take just one example, in an urbanizingsociety more and more food needs to be transported to urban centres. At the same time, urban areasare producing larger amounts of organic and sewage waste that need to be processed and transportedaway from cities. Until now the cycle of organic material and its constituent compounds like phosphorusand nitrogen is far from closed. The current urban food cycle is causing accumulation, environmentalpollution, and depletion of resources such as phosphorus.Growing out of such concerns, vibrant food movements have developed a radical critique of global foodoperations. These have influenced both consumers and policy makers, who then exert pressure on actorsin the food chain to address this issue. One of the strategies to challenge Global Value Chains has beenthe relocalisation of food systems, opposing ‘short’ with ‘long’, ‘local’ to ‘global’, and ‘different’ to‘standard’. It is claimed, in fact, that local food systems reduce food miles, foster direct communicationchannels between consumers and producers, increase biological and cultural diversity, enlargeconsumers freedom of choice, and re-balance the power of big players.In response, many larger food businesses have started to address the sustainability issue seriously,investing in technologies, measurement tools, certification schemes, social reporting, and so forth, toimprove their sustainability performance, and to conquer ‘minds and hearts’ of consumers.At the same time, research has addressed the conceptual limits of relocalisation, raising the concern thatlocalizing food markets may not yield greater efficiency in economic or energy terms. For example, is itmore defensible to produce tomatoes in a nearby greenhouse heated with fossil fuels, or to import themfrom open fields in a warm climate? Is preserving and storing local products for off-season use moredesirable than importing fresh products? Should “local” be defined in kilometres, or in terms of the socialand commercial networks that are inherent to community-based food trade?The working group will accept papers addressing these questions:• How is the sustainability performance of food systems evolving? What theories, measurements, andassessment tools are being developed to quantify their performance? Case studies quantifying the effectsof sustainability performance are welcomed.• To what extent are local or global food networks able to keep a high social innovation profile andcontribute to sustainable consumption and production? What are the more promising experiences? Whatare the limits of their action? Are hybrid structures feasible that combine elements of local and global?• Are there avenues for collaboration between food movements and global players in the pursuit ofsustainable production and consumption? What are the barriers? What are the risks of collaboration?• What role might community food networks play in the building of new food-system organizationalpatterns? Will the agriculture of the future be defined by corporate and institutional structures, or can itremain rooted in communities?• What kind of instruments or information could help decision makers to make the best choices?• How can policies accompany the efforts of actors in the food chains to improve their sustainability performance?
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