GOING THE DISTANCE SO OUR FOOD DOESN\u27T HAVE TO : CASE STUDIES OF CREATIVE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AT CANADIAN AND UK UNIVERSITIES

This dissertation explores three efforts to develop sustainable local food systems at public universities in Canada and the UK. One is a partnership between the Canadian non-profit, Local Food Plus (LFP), and the University of Toronto (U of T). The other two are partnerships between the UK non-profit, the Soil Association (SA), and two British universities – Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and the University of the Arts London (UAL). In all three cases studies, a formal certification program to support the transition to more sustainable local food systems was a central feature. The author of this dissertation was the founder and president of Local Food Plus for almost a decade, and brings a perspective informed by both theory and practice. The theoretical framework is a prominent tool of Sustainability Transition Theory, known as the multi-level perspective (MLP). The MLP is a model for conceptualizing the process of sustainability transitions, using the notions of niche, regime and landscape. By applying the MLP to sustainability transition in the food system, this dissertation suggests a number of ways in which the MLP can be strengthened, modified and refined. The dissertation also makes an empirical contribution to documenting and understanding sustainability transition in institutional food practices through analysis of 67 detailed semi-structured interviews conducted with food sector practitioners. These interviews focus on the operationalization of sustainability transitions. The dissertation argues that sustainability transition in foodservice is inherently disruptive to the existing regime, and requires on-going mobilization. As well, the research indicates that human agency is essential. This dissertation argues that operationalization deserves to be both problematized and theorized

The Food For Life Catering Mark: Implementing the Sustainability Transition in University Food Procurement

This article presents a case study of the application of the Soil Association’s Food For Life Catering Mark at two universities in England: Nottingham Trent University and University of the Arts London. This procurement initiative has had noteworthy success in the U.K., with more than 1.6 million Catering Mark meals served each weekday. This article, based on 31 in-depth interviews conducted in 2015, is the first to examine its impact and significance at the university level. In particular, this article tests the concepts of the niche, regime and landscape in the multi-level perspective (MLP), a prominent theoretical approach to sustainability transition, against the experience of the Food For Life Catering Mark. The article confirms the importance of the landscape level of the MLP in the food sustainability transition, while adding additional considerations that need to be specified when applying the MLP to the food sector. By highlighting the essential role of civil society organizations (CSOs), public institutions and many champions, this article proposes that more room must be made within the MLP for the explicit role of agency, champions and the implementation process itself. Indeed, this article argues that implementation, the daily practice, is deserving of both increased recognition and theory

Future Food System Research Priorities: A Sustainable Food Systems Perspective from Ontario, Canada

Given the range and complexity of pressures on food systems across the globe, we suggest that future research on sustainable food systems can be clustered under three broad topics: the need for integration across multiple jurisdictions, sectors, and disciplines that includes different models of food systems and community visions of an integrated food system; the need for focus on tensions and compromises related to increased numbers and reach of sustainable food systems by scaling out and up; and the need for appropriate governance structures and institutions. Comparative research that works directly with community-based organizations to co-create and apply shared research tools and then engage in common assessment projects offers ways to develop more connected scholarship. More extensive work using concept maps, participatory action research, life-cycle analysis, and urban/rural metabolic flows may help to develop, animate, and answer future research questions in more integrated ways, and will build on opportunities emerging from more inclusive, connected, and multidisciplinary approaches. Work in Ontario helps to illustrate research exploring the three themes through embedded connections to communities of food in the ongoing research project Nourishing Communities.1   1 http://nourishingcommunities.c