Opportunities and challenges of food policy councils in pursuit of food system sustainability and food democracy–a comparative case study from the Upper-Rhine region

Sophie Michel (sophie.michel@em-strasbourg.eu), Arnim Wiek, Lena Bloemertz, Basil Bornemann, Laurence Granchamp (laugran@unistra.fr), Cyril Villet (cvillet@irtess.fr), Lucía Gascón, David Sipple, Nadine Blanke, Jörg Lindenmeier and Magali Gay-Para
Additional contact information
Sophie Michel: Humanis - Hommes et management en société / Humans and management in society - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg
Arnim Wiek: ASU - Arizona State University [Tempe], Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg = University of Freiburg
Lena Bloemertz: Department of Environmental Sciences [Basel] - Unibas - Université de Bâle = University of Basel = Basel Universität
Basil Bornemann: Unibas - Université de Bâle = University of Basel = Basel Universität
Laurence Granchamp: LINCS - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire en études culturelles - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UR ETTIS - Environnement, territoires en transition, infrastructures, sociétés - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Cyril Villet: CREGO - Centre de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UB - Université de Bourgogne - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] - UFC - Université de Franche-Comté - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE]
Lucía Gascón: Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg = University of Freiburg
David Sipple: Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg = University of Freiburg
Jörg Lindenmeier: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg = University of Freiburg
Magali Gay-Para: Eurométropole de Strasbourg

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Abstract: Conventional food systems continue to jeopardize the health and well-being of people and the environment, with a number of related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) still far from being reached. Food Policy Councils (FPCs)—since several decades in North America, and more recently in Europe—have begun to facilitate sustainable food system governance activities among various stakeholders as an explicit alternative to the shaping of food systems by multinational food corporations and their governmental allies. In contrast to the former, FPCs pursue the goals of food system sustainability through broad democratic processes. Yet, at least in Europe, the agenda of FPCs is more an open promise than a firm reality (yet); and thus, it is widely unknown to what extent FPCs actually contribute to food system sustainability and do so with democratic processes. At this early stage, we offer a comparative case study across four FPCs from the Upper-Rhine Region (Freiburg, Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg)—all formed and founded within the past 5 years—to explore how successful different types of FPCs are in terms of contributing to food system sustainability and adhering to democratic and good governance principles. Our findings indicate mixed results, with the FPCs mostly preparing the ground for more significant efforts at later stages and struggling with a number of challenges in adhering to principles of democracy and good governance. Our study contributes to the theory of sustainable food systems and food democracy with the focus on the role of FPCs, and offers procedural insights on how to evaluate them regarding sustainable outcomes and democratic processes. The study also offers practical insights relevant to these four and other FPCs in Europe, supporting their efforts to achieve food system sustainability with democratic processes.

Keywords: Food policy council; Sustainable food system; Food democracy; Good governance; Evaluation; food policy council; sustainable food system; food democracy; good governance; evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://ube.hal.science/hal-03846609v1
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Published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2022, 6, pp.916178. ⟨10.3389/fsufs.2022.916178⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03846609

DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.916178

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