Suomen luonnonmukainen ruokaketju : mallintaen kohti 2020 tavoitteita muutoksen ja innovaation avulla

Jaakko Nuutila The Finnish organic food chain - Modelling towards 2020 goals with change and innovation The current Finnish food chain generates negative externalities for the environment, human beings and animals. Organic food and its production represent an alternative that aims at reducing those externalities. Such an approach is supported by international authorities, and features in Finnish government goals that are intended to diminish these externalities, among others, by increasing the share of organic production. None of the goals previously set by the Finnish authorities for the organic sector have been reached, and this also applies to the target for 2020 according to trends in organic production and expanding market share in Finland. Several other European Union countries are making more significant progress in this regard in comparison with Finland. This thesis proposes a Finnish food chain model tackling the challenging aim to enable the government goals for organic food and its production to be reached. Simultaneously, it may enhance greater sustainability, with benefits to society and enhanced profitability for those enterprises acting for the common good. The model combines three theories: Activity Theory for the model with its elements, Economy of Common Good for the values and Co-creation for the collaboration of the food chain actors that pertain to the model. A change from the current to the suggested model, generating the desired outcomes, can be possible if a path of certain actions based on the principles of the Finnish national innovation system is followed. Organic food and its production need to be recognized (legitimacy) and integrated into strategic development and research topics, in Finland, for development in this area to be sufficient to reach the goals set. The findings in this thesis and its four component articles link to the associated theories that gain support from the literature on the food system. The suggested food chain model is, therefore, based on official reports, theories and empirical studies. The suggested model encourages food-chain-level cooperation that would lead to a fairer division of power and easier interference in legislation and taxation, making it easier to set the common good values and to use them to influence affect to the tools of food chain activities. The resulting production methods, and the food itself, will enable the goals set for organic production to be reached. The path of actions suggests tax incentives, better education and research on organic food and its production, more effective information policy and a tailored SHOK-type organic consortium to spearhead the project as an integral component of the Finnish strategic research agenda. The resilience of planet Earth is rapidly decreasing, and small actions remain largely without effect. The entire food chain has to be redeveloped in a comprehensive and radical way. The model suggested is theoretical: a combination of several theoretical approaches proven to have been successful in existing business environments. It is difficult to imagine that, under the currently prevailing conditions of materialism and egocentricity, the proposed system could be comprehensively adopted right away at the national level, but a gradual change towards the greater common good and organic goals can be expected to be possible by following the action plan presented.Jaakko Nuutila Suomen luonnonmukainen ruokaketju - Mallintaen kohti 2020 tavoitteita muutoksen ja innovaation avulla Suomen tämänhetkinen ruokaketju aiheuttaa haittavaikutuksia ympäristölle, ihmisille ja eläimille. Luonnonmukainen tuotanto ja ruoka edustavat vaihtoehtoista toimintatapaa, jonka tavoitteena on voida vähentää näitä negatiivisiksi ulkoisvaikutuksiksi nimettyjä haittavaikutuksia. Tätä ajattelutapaa puoltavat useat kansainväliset toimijat sekä myös Suomen hallituksen asettamat tavoitteet, joiden tehtävänä on vähentää näitä haittavaikutuksia mm. lisäämällä luonnonmukaisen tuotannon osuutta. Aiempia luonnonmukaiselle tuotannolle asetettuja tavoitteita ei ole saavutettu ja tämänhetkisten tuotantoala- ja markkinaosuustrendien perusteella ei vuodelle 2020 asetetut tavoitteet näytä realistisilta. Useat Euroopan yhteisön jäsenmaat kehittyvät näissä asioissa Suomea huomattavasti paremmin. Tämä väitöskirja esittelee suomalaisen ruokaketjun mallia, joka voisi auttaa saavuttamaan hallituksen luonnonmukaiselle tuotannolle ja ruoalle asettamat haastavat tavoitteet. Samanaikaisesti se lisäisi kestävyyttä, mikä hyödyttäisi koko yhteiskuntaa sekä parantaisi ruokaketjussa yhteishyvän talouden mukaan toimivien yritysten kannattavuutta. Malli yhdistää kolme teoriaa: toiminnan teoria tuo siihen mallin elementteineen, yhteishyvän talouden kautta toiminta saa arvot ja yhteiskehittely lisää ruokaketjun toimijoiden välistä yhteistyötä johtaen mallin syntymiseen. Muutos nykyisestä ruokaketjun mallista uuteen, tässä työssä ehdotettuun malliin, joka johtaa haluttujen tulosten saavuttamiseen, on mahdollista, mikäli noudatetaan toimenpiteitä, jotka perustuvat Suomen innovaatiojärjestelmään. Luonnonmukainen tuotantotapa tulee tunnustaa (legitimiteetti) suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa ja se tulee saattaa osaksi tutkimus- ja kehitysstrategioita, jotta niille asetetut tavoitteet voidaan saavuttaa. Ehdotettu suomalaisen ruokaketjun malli perustuu raportteihin, teorioihin ja empiirisiin tutkimuksiin. Malli rohkaisee toimijoita ruokaketjutason yhteistyöhön, mikä osaltaan johtaa reilumpaan ruokaketjun toimijoiden väliseen vallan jakoon sekä mahdollistaa paremmin lainsäädäntöön ja verotukseen vaikuttamisen. Tämä osaltaan mahdollistaa tälle toiminnalle yhteishyvän arvojen asettamisen ja niiden avulla vaikuttamisen toiminnan välineisiin. Tuotantotavan muutos yhdistettynä kuluttajat mukaan ottavaan yhteiskehittämiseen mahdollistaa asetettujen tavoitteiden saavuttamisen. Esitetyt toimenpiteet liittyvät verotukseen, parempaan koulutuksen tasoon, luonnonmukaisen tuotannon ja ruoan tutkimukseen, tehokkaampiin informaatiokäytäntöihin, sekä räätälöityyn SHOK:in tapaiseen luonnonmukaiseen konsortioon, joka asettaisi tämän mallin sekä luonnonmukaisen tuotannon kehittämisen kiinteäksi osaksi Suomen kansallista tutkimusstrategiaa. Pienet toimenpiteet eivät enää kykene estämään maapallon resilienssin heikkenemistä. Koko ruokaketjun toimintaa tulee muuttaa perusteellisella ja radikaalilla tavalla. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitelty suomalaisen ruokaketjun malli on teoreettinen: yhdistelmä eri teoreettisia lähestymistapoja, joiden on osoitettu toimivat menestyksekkäästi liiketoiminnan eri aloilla. On tosin vaikea kuvitella, että nykyisessä materialistisuuteen ja itsekkyyteen rakentuvassa yhteiskunnassa, esitetty malli voitaisiin hyväksyä kokonaisuudessaan, ja kansallisella tasolla, mutta asteittainen siirtyminen kohti suurempaa yhteistä hyvää ja luonnonmukaisen tuotannon ja ruoan tavoitteita on mahdollista noudattamalla tämän työssä esitettyjä toimenpiteitä

Finnish Organic Food Chain - An Activity Theory Approach

This article tries to find a reason why the Finnish organic food chain has not developed to reach the goals the authorities has set for the production volume and consumption. The reason is not that the organic products would not meet the needs of the consumers, but that the consumers have been left outside the food chain development and the decisions for to the food selection. The criteria to evaluate the stakeholders’ objects and results are only quantitative and financial instead of qualitative and built facing the values of the consumers. According to many research on consumers opinion about organic production and food, people value safety, ecology, health, ethicality and taste. Adding those factors to the evaluation criteria, the food chain would take consumers as co-creators and enable the development to better face the challenges and meet the goals set for the organic food chain

Suomen ruokaketjun toimijoiden näkemyksiä luonnonmukaisen tuotannon ja ruoan laatuatribuuteista

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Ruokaketjun toimijoiden näkemyksiä luomusta

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A Path of Actions to Develop Organics in the Finnish Food Chain

The Finnish Government has set development goals for organic food chain. Following the actions presented in this paper, it is possible to develop the organics in the Finnish food chain holistically and comprehensively to reach the goals. The increase in production and consumption will have proven positive impact to the wellbeing of people, nature and animals. Arctic and safety features of Finnish food will enhance the export possibilities of organic food to partly correct the current negative trade balance. The development is possible when organic values are incorporated to the Finnish food chain supported by the Nordic welfare model

Improving the food sovereignty in Africa – an Activity Theory approach

This article presents a new approach to the problem of food sovereignty in Africa using an Activity Theory approach. Undernourishment in Africa is big reaching 232.5 million citizens in 2015. Sufficient food sovereignty can’t be reached because of the weak food-producing abilities in Africa. Smallholder sector can’t compete with highly subsidized Northern farmers. Present intensive agriculture is causing environmental pollution and occupational hazards for the workers. Organic agriculture brings benefits - more nutritious diet, job creation and reduced health risk caused by pesticides. Small holder family farmers could double their harvest in a decade if converting to more agro-ecological production like in organic agriculture. There is an urgent need for the governmental interventions impeding selling or renting of land and natural resources to foreign countries and companies. The change of legislation is necessary to increase the private land owning of smallholders. More sustainable trade policy should be introduced to diminish the excessive export of food. Education of the African citizens is necessary to reduce the food wastes and to boost the fairness and sustainability in the food chains including holistic organic system which is actively contributing to all the 17 the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)

Policy goals, research needs and research regarding organic sector in Finland

The status of organic farming was established in Finland already in 1995 with the entry to EU, but in the Finnish food markets the share of the organic sector has remained modest. As a possible explanation the presentation examines the correspondence of the research needs and actual research dealing with the organic supply-value chain in Finland. The approach is that of policy impact research. The research needs are inferred from the direct and latent articulations present in the policy discourse It is captured by examining the goals and their justification in about 20 national policy documents from the past decennium; these deal either specifically with organic sector, with food and nutrition or with sustainable development, or they are more comprehensive and address several topics. The review on the concluded and still on-going research dealing with the organic sector over the past 15 years is based on a meta-study. The main information sources were the research data bases of the two main actors, University of Helsinki and MTT Agrifood Research Finland. This information is complemented with the relevant doctoral theses from all Finnish universities. Several bottle necks regarding the development of the organic supply chain are identified in the policy documents. These deal both with legislative and informative aspects as well as with various practical hinders. Preliminary results suggest that either the research design or communication of the research results to the relevant actors so as to open the bottle necks has not been very successful. Today the research is still very much biased towards primary production, and little attention is paid to the societal and policy aspects. The few studies focusing on the consumer attitudes and on the R&D aiming at promoting organic food within the public catering sector are also identified in the policy documents. Other important topics are formation, development and characteristics of the organic value chains and networks, and the prerequisites for their functioning, but research on these topics is modest. From 2013 on, the research has been coordinated by newly founded Finnish Institute for Organic Food, and the situation is likely to change. The institute stresses the need of science communication, adult education and co-operation with entrepreneurs in research. The transdisciplinary approach involving both the researchers and the practical actors enables designing the research so as to better respond to the needs of the organic sector and to the expectations of the society

Development of Organic Food Production in some European Countries

The aim of the study was to compare the development of organic food production in eight European countries: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The comparison was done between years 1998 and 2014. Many countries have set similar targets for organic agriculture: the most general for the production is 20 % of the field area before year 2020. Austria as the first European country has already reached it, but it had an earlier start for the organic development. Best practices to increase production are better targeted subsidies, national development programs with precise goals and proper actions to reach them and co-operation between farmers and research. Best countries in consumption of organics are Denmark, Sweden and Austria. The best methods to increase the consumption in Denmark were providing information to the consumers (pesticides, when found) and efficient marketing campaigns. The municipality level programs to enhance the welfare of the nature and humans by including organic food into public catering were effective especially in Denmark and Sweden. The diversification of production has been made possible with policy actions and national level decisions to better target subsides e.g. for plants and products that need an increase in production (Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden). The reasons for the differences pointed out, are basically cultural. In some countries organic food production is more generally accepted and promoted (Austria, Denmark, Sweden) than in others. In some countries consumers are actively demanding organic food (France, Denmark, Sweden). If the conventional production is considered good enough by the citizens, national food policy is targeted to that more than to organic production (Norway, Finland)