Do small food businesses enable small farms to connect to regional food systems? Evidence from 9 European regions

International audienceFor small farms across Europe, connecting to small food businesses offers a significant route to market. We analyse survey data from 85 small food businesses in nine European regions and explore the enabling and limiting conditions around this connectivity. We show how connectivity depends on context-based interrelationships among food system actors and consider the effects of these relations on small farm integration. Results show stronger connections when small food businesses are themselves farm-based. Weaker linkages are also apparent in the absence of public and social support. We argue that regional food systems can be enhanced by increasing small food businesses’ capacity to source from small farms, with the added benefit of increasing the viability of these small businesses

Assessing the role of CAP for more sustainable and healthier food systems in Europe:A literature review

Today, the European food system is characterized by unhealthy dietary trends, environmentally unsustainable production, and a dependency on an ageing farming population. The ongoing reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represents an opportunity to redress these issues. This literature review highlights trends in how academic and grey literature have received CAP attempts in addressing the (i) environmental issues, (ii) nutritional outcomes, and (iii) rural livelihoods. Additionally, future policy and research directions relating to the CAP have been identified from the selected literature. The reviewed literature varies in approach and perspective. In particular, since the environment and rural development are already part of the CAP, the reviewed studies analyze and propose improvements to existing mechanisms. While for nutrition, the reviewed studies assessed possible policy strategies for integrating this sphere within the CAP, highlighting both the complexity of this task as well as its potential benefits. Despite these differences, a clear commonality emerged from the policy recommendations: the CAP should promote the European Union (EU) policy integration and multi-disciplinary and participatory research as key strategies to meet food system sustainability targets.</p

Ethical and Sociocultural Considerations of Biofortified Crops: Ensuring Value and Sustainability for Public Health

This chapter highlights ethical considerations related to biofortified crops and provides insights on how planned and implemented biofortification interventions can take into account sociocultural aspects to improve public health. A literature review of ethical and sociocultural issues was performed, as well as an analysis of biofortification using a public health ethics framework. The research suggests that biofortification has clear public health goals and has promise toward meeting those goals. Where there is a need for more research is to better understand the impacts of biofortification programs on issues of self-determination, liberties, and food justice, the burdens and nonmaleficence to society can be minimized. This can be done through early involvement of the community in research and programmatic strategies. Distributive justice issues, such as ensuring fair access to seeds and foods for farmers and consumers, ought to be considered