It is impossible to address any of these issues in isolation and working in partnership with multiple organisations and individuals provides opportunities to share resources, ideas and action.
However, these networks can only do so much. They are often informal community networks run by volunteers. While they can be a source expertise, innovative ideas and an important voice and advocate for addressing local food issues, they frequently have few resources and little access to the levers of power that set the rules and policies that have created our existing food system, that is neither just nor sustainable.
In other places, efforts for food system change have been strengthened through the development of food policy councils. Food policy councils provide a way of formally integrating community-based action for food system change with the policy and rule-making process of local and regional government and related resources and capacity.
Often, there is lots of community expertise on food system change, but community groups have little understanding of the policy process. From a government perspective, there is often lots of policy expertise, but little understanding of food systems.
Food policy councils provide one way of maximising the potential for change. While local food policy councils are still new in New Zealand, we can draw on a wealth of experience from elsewhere. We do not need to start from scratch.
The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems has recently completed a report on what makes urban food policy happen, drawing on the experience of cities in Africa, North and South America and Europe.
Despite diverse contexts, the lessons from these places suggest that the most important factor in driving food system change is an inclusive process that engages stakeholders from across the food system in expressing their desired outcomes, involves them in monitoring alignment of policies with need and creates a broad support base to assist with implementation.
In the US, the John Hopkins Centre for a Liveable Future maintains a Food Policy Networks project that supports local and state governments to implement food policies to change the food system and maintains a database of resources, expertise and examples (www.foodpolicynetworks.org). In addition, they have created a toolkit for any food system group to assess their capacity to do food policy work.
The toolkit helps to outline strengths and limitations and to identify particular areas where more expertise or a greater diversity of voices and resources might be needed.
Similarly, in British Columbia, Canada, the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has created a searchable online database of all existing municipal food system policies in the province, providing easy access to everything from backyard chicken by-laws to agricultural land preservation regulations.
These resources, and many more like them, provide valuable examples of tried and true lessons of food policies and food policy councils that work (and those that do not).
Food policy councils in New Zealand would provide a welcome addition to efforts to transform the policy environment towards one that supports food system sustainability.
However, we should avoid the temptation to assume that they are the answer. They can support the creation of new policies that can enable food system change and highlight existing policies that act as barriers.
They can support the transfer of expertise among those with on-the-ground experience and policy makers. However, while they can be supportive, they cannot take the place of continued action and discussion for food system transformation.
- Sean Connelly is a senior lecturer in the University of Otago Department of Geography. Each week in this column, one of a panel of writers addresses issues of sustainability.
