Food4Sustainability: Collective action for sustainable food systems in a changing climate: assessing social experimentations and policy innovations

Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Olivier De Schutter, Erik Mathijs, Marek Hudon, Sibylle Bui, Ionara Costa (), A. Alicia Dipierri (), Paula Fernández-Wulff, Hélène Joachain and Tijtske Anna Zwart

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Abstract: ContextThe provision of food from agricultural inputs to distribution, contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and exert an important pressure on natural resources. Reforming food systems towards greater sustainability is therefore essential for a transition towards a low-carbon and resource efficient society.ObjectivesThis project aimed to explore the role of the transformation of motivations, values and visions in the transition of the agri-food system and specifically of the instrumentality of hybrid governance arrangements—arrangements in which both actors of the mainstream agri-food system and actors fromniche/grassroots innovations participate. We identified three transition pathways for which we formulate recommendations: (1) change led by grassroots innovations, (2) change led by mainstream actors and (3) hybrid arrangements.Conclusions Our research has demonstrated that 1) successful in-depth transformation depends on the embeddedness of initiatives in the broader social network of organisations experimenting and learning on in-depth lifestyle changes for sustainable agri-food systems. 2) the observed mismatches between the practices of local producers and those of large-scale retailers and fast food chains could be dealt with by moving back the sourcing and marketing of local goods, decision-making power to the level of the store, fostering so a higher degree of individual initiative and institutional entrepreneurship by store managers and employees in reconfiguring new practices .3) Overall, our analysis confirms that in order to increase the transformative potential of agri-food system initiatives, hybrid governance arrangements between different types of actors need to be established. They should aim at allowing more voice for marginalized interests upholding ethical values currently missing in the conventional supply chains, soas to foster the dissemination of a more systemic ethics of food system reform.

Keywords: Sustainability transitions; agri-food systems; grassroots innovations; corporate social responsibility; niche-regime interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 86 p.
Date: 2018
Note: Sponsorship: BELSPO ; BR/121/A5
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