The drivers of change for the contribution of small farms to regional food security in Europe

[EN] The capacity of the food system to respond to the economic, demographic and environmental challenges ahead has become a topic of increasing interest, with particular attention to the roles and responsibilities of the different actors to ensure more sustainable food systems that can guarantee food and nutrition security for all. In this paper we approach the need to better understand the factors that can condition the potential contribution of small farms to regional food and nutrition security in Europe, acknowledging the role that small farms play in Europe at present. The analysis is based on a survey to 94 experts from 17 regions (NUTS3 level) in 11 different European countries, which identified the drivers of change according to the regional experts. These drivers were then categorized and their relative relevance assessed. The results indicate that some relevant drivers in the European context are linked to the capacity to adopt technologies and practices allowing adaptation to climate change, and the capacity to connect to food markets, with emphasis in the need for cooperation and collective action. The weight of other more European-specific drivers such as 'consumer values and habits' reveal that the future role of small farms will be very dependent on a societal change, with equity becoming a relevant component of consumers' choice.This research was supported by the `Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Sustainable Food Security' (SALSA) project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 677363Arnalte-Mur, L.; Ortiz Miranda, D.; Cerrada-Serra, P.; Martinez Gomez, VD.; Moreno-Pérez, OM.; Barbu, R.; Bjorkhaug, H.... (2020). The drivers of change for the contribution of small farms to regional food security in Europe. Global Food Security. 26:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100395S1826Béné, C., Prager, S. D., Achicanoy, H. A. E., Toro, P. A., Lamotte, L., Cedrez, C. B., & Mapes, B. R. (2019). Understanding food systems drivers: A critical review of the literature. Global Food Security, 23, 149-159. doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2019.04.009Bourgeois, R., & Sette, C. (2017). The state of foresight in food and agriculture: Challenges for impact and participation. Futures, 93, 115-131. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2017.05.004Ericksen, P. J. (2008). Conceptualizing food systems for global environmental change research. Global Environmental Change, 18(1), 234-245. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.09.002Guiomar, N., Godinho, S., Pinto-Correia, T., Almeida, M., Bartolini, F., Bezák, P., … Wästfelt, A. (2018). Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: Towards a better picture. Land Use Policy, 75, 784-798. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.012Inayatullah, S. (1998). Causal layered analysis. Futures, 30(8), 815-829. doi:10.1016/s0016-3287(98)00086-xMiller, R. (2015). Learning, the Future, and Complexity. An Essay on the Emergence of Futures Literacy. European Journal of Education, 50(4), 513-523. doi:10.1111/ejed.12157Šūmane, S., Kunda, I., Knickel, K., Strauss, A., Tisenkopfs, T., Rios, I. des I., … Ashkenazy, A. (2018). Local and farmers’ knowledge matters! How integrating informal and formal knowledge enhances sustainable and resilient agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies, 59, 232-241. doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.01.02

Conceptualising COVID-19’s impacts on household food security

COVID-19 undermines food security both directly, by disrupting food systems, and indirectly, through the impacts of lockdowns on household incomes and physical access to food. COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic could undermine food production, processing and marketing, but the most concerning impacts are on the demand-side – economic and physical access to food. This paper identifies three complementary frameworks that can contribute to understanding these effects, which are expected to persist into the post-pandemic phase, after lockdowns are lifted. FAO’s ‘four pillars’– availability, access, stability and utilisation – and the ‘food systems’ approach both provide holistic frameworks for analysing food security. Sen’s ‘entitlement’ approach is useful for disaggregating demand-side effects on household production-, labour-, trade- and transfer-based entitlements to food. Drawing on the strengths of each of these frameworks can enhance the understanding of the pandemic’s impacts on food security, while also pinpointing areas for governments and other actors to intervene in the food system, to protect the food security of households left vulnerable by COVID-19 and public responses

Anomaly or Augury? Global Food Prices Since 2007

This article reviews the dynamics of global food prices since the food crisis of2007–08, the extent to which international prices have influenced national prices and poverty and wellbeing outcomes, and considers whether this exceptional period represents an anomaly or likely signals future episodes of food price volatility. It finds that although some factors that contributed to recent events have eased considerably, some significant drivers remain structural threats to future food security. There is little reason to be confident that recent reductions in food prices and volatilities augur well for the food security or wellbeing of those living on low and precarious incomes in the future

Supporting the role of small farms in the European regional food systems: What role for the science-policy interface?

[EN] Small farms dominate the European agricultural landscape, but they are much less represented in agricultural decision-making structures than larger farms. The weak political representation of small farms diminishes the degree to which their needs are addressed in public agricultural policies and support measures. This under representation has been constraining small farms? contribution to food and nutrition security and sustainability. This paper explores the science ? policy interface as boundary networks between researchers and policy-makers, to generate policies that are better-informed and better tailored to small farms? situations. It gathers researchers? experiences, from the Horizon 2020 project SALSA, through a range of project-generated activities and knowledge, of their engagement in the policy process. From the case studies analyzed, three types of SPI emerge: expert advice, networking platform and collaborative governance. Cooperation between researchers and policy-makers, that is often embedded in broader stakeholders? networks, generate three kinds of contributions: better-informed policy process; increased social capital and empowerment of participants; and improved participant knowledge and skills.This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 677363.Sumane, S.; Ortiz Miranda, D.; Pinto-Correia, T.; Czekaj, M.; Duckett, D.; Galli, F.; Grivins, M.... (2021). Supporting the role of small farms in the European regional food systems: What role for the science-policy interface?. Global Food Security. 28:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100433S1102

Governing precarious lives: Land grabs, geopolitics, and 'food security'

This paper has a two-part structure. The first part of the paper explores contemporary land grabs and shows how they both reflect and constitute a new neo-liberal governance structure over land and land-based resources. In this sense what is noteworthy about land grabs is their world-making capacity: the deals structure and make possible new relations of power in the global food economy. For this very reason it is crucial to understand how land grabs affect both the pace and direction of agrarian change. The second part of the paper examines the discursive strategies that align ‘food security’ concerns with land grabbing practices. Here I suggest that ‘food security’ supplies a moral sanction for land grabs. By mustering public empathy around a desire to ‘feed the future’, food security discourse – to borrow an idea from Fassin (2012) – converts a relationship of dominance (the governance of precarious lives) into a relationship of assistance (the provision of a remedy).This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geoj.1206

Politicizing food security governance through participation: opportunities and opposition

Since the 2007/08 food price crisis there has been a proliferation of multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) devoted to bringing diverse perspectives together to inform and improve food security policy. While much of the literature highlights the positive contributions to be gained from an opening-up of traditionally state-led processes, there is a strong critique emerging to show that, in many instances, MSPs have de-politicizing effects. In this paper, we scrutinize MSPs in relation to de-politicization. We argue that re-building sustainable and just food systems requires alternative visions that can best be made visible through politicized policy processes. Focusing on three key conditions of politicization, we examine the UN Committee on World Food Security as a MSP where we see a process of politicization playing out through the endorsement of the ‘most-affected’ principle, which is in turn being actively contested by traditionally powerful actors. We conclude that there is a need to implement and reinforce mechanisms that deliberately politicize participation in MSPs, notably by clearly distinguishing between states and other stakeholders, as well as between categories of non-state actors.</p

How do small farms contribute to food and nutrition security? Linking European small farms, strategies and outcomes in territorial food systems

Despite a longstanding literature on small farm-households, there is limited consideration of small farms’ role in food and nutrition security (FNS) at territorial level. The purpose of this study is to provide insights about how small farms contribute to FNS at different territorial scales, by focusing on farmers' strategies and consequential FNS outcomes. Analysis is based on two years (2017–2019) of field work done with farmers and food system actors in SALSA reference regions culminating in a workshop done with research partners. We find that small farms deliver food and nutrition security and other socio-economic and environmental outcomes for the farm-household, at local, regional and global levels. The regional level is shown to be critical for small farms, as it provides the scale at which their diversity is realised. Understanding this diversity is a goal for both research and for effective support mechanisms for small farm integration, and the multiple public and private functions small farms can deliver should be higher on the policy agenda

Governing the Global Land Grab: Multipolarity, Ideas and Complexity in Transnational Governance

Since 2008, a series of new regulatory initiatives have emerged to address large-scale land grabs. These initiatives are occurring simultaneously at multiple levels of social organization instead of a single, overarching institutional site. A significant portion of this activity is taking place at the transnational level. We suggest that transnational land governance is indicative of emerging shifts in the practice of governance of global affairs. We analyze such shifts by asking two related questions: what does land grabbing tell us about developments in transnational governance, particularly with regard to North-South relations, and what do these developments in transnational governance mean for regulating land grabbing?Desde 2008, ha surgido una serie de nuevas iniciativas regulatorias para tratar acaparamientos de tierra a gran escala. Estas iniciativas est&aacute;n sucediendo simult&aacute;neamente a niveles m&uacute;ltiples de la organizaci&oacute;n social en vez de un lugar institucional predominante. Una porci&oacute;n importante de esta actividad est&aacute; tomando lugar al nivel transnacional. Sugerimos que la gobernanza de tierras trasnacionales es indicativa de los cambios que est&aacute;n surgiendo en la pr&aacute;ctica de gobernanza de los asuntos globales. Analizamos tales cambios haciendo dos preguntas relacionadas: &iquest;qu&eacute; nos dice el acaparamiento de tierras sobre los desarrollos en la gobernanza trasnacional, particularmente con las relaciones norte-sur?, y &iquest;qu&eacute; significan estos desarrollos en gobernanza trasnacional para regular el acaparamiento de tierras

Using a global food environment framework to understand relationships with food choice in diverse low- and middle-income countries

This study aimed to determine if the Turner et al. (2018) framework allows researchers to identify and study relationships between food environments and individual food choice in diverse contexts and if updates to the framework are warranted. We mapped evidence from 15 drivers of food choice projects to the framework, using thematic analysis to identify common drivers within the food environment across countries and emergent characteristics not listed in the framework. The framework contained breadth and depth of content necessary to identify common drivers – prices and affordability, availability, and vendor and product properties. Insights regarding common drivers and emergent characteristics may inform iterative development of conceptual and empirical research and reinforce current strategies seeking to improve nutrition and health outcomes in LMICs through targeted policies and interventions