scholarly journals A typology of “infrastructure of the middle” in university food procurement in England and Canada:

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-46
Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Food System ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Transition Theory ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sustainability Transition ◽  
Food Procurement

This article introduces a new term – “infrastructure of the middle”  – and explains how it helps understand how sustainability transition will happen in the food system. The evidence comes from 67 interviews with leaders of university food procurement initiatives in England and Canada. As founder and former president of the civil society organization which played a central role in the Canadian example, I bring a perspective informed by praxis, both as a practitioner and as a scholar applying Sustainability Transition Theory. I adapted the term infrastructure of the middle from Kirschenmann et al.’s concept of “agriculture of the middle”, which describes the midsize farms and ranches most at risk in a globalized food system. Infrastructure of the middle refers to the resources and networks that create a critical mass, enabling mid-size sustainable food producers to meet the needs of foodservice clients, especially public sector institutions.

scholarly journals Guidance for Healthy and More Climate-Friendly Diets in Nursing Homes—Scenario Analysis Based on a Municipality’s Food Procurement

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4525
Author(s):  
Anne Dahl Lassen ◽  
Matilda Nordman ◽  
Lene Møller Christensen ◽  
Anne Marie Beck ◽  
Ellen Trolle
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Protein Content ◽  
Food Item ◽  
Food System ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Menu Planning ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Increase Protein Content

Reducing the climate impact of food provided for residents in nursing homes is challenging, as the diets for older, frail adults must be high in protein content and energy density while at the same time ensuring that the meals are palatable and recognizable. This study aimed at providing guidance on healthy and more climate-friendly diets for nursing homes in the City of Copenhagen. The goal was to decrease greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) by at least 25% while at the same time providing nutritionally adequate and recognizable menus. First, food purchase data were compiled with datasets matching each food item to a proxy food item and then to databases containing GHGE and nutrient information. Secondly, two diet scenarios were modelled based on current procurement practices, i.e., an energy- and protein-dense diet and a standard protein-dense diet, and converted into guidelines for menu planning. The diets contained less total meat, especially beef, and significantly more pulses, nuts and seeds in order to increase protein content according to recommendations for older adults. Finally, a combined scenario was calculated to reflect the joint climate impact reduction. This kind of innovation in food procurement is required in order to achieve the necessary transition to a sustainable food system.

Self-operated vs. corporate contract: A study of food procurement at two universities in Manitoba

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-74
Author(s):  
Michaela Bohunicky ◽  
Annette Aurélie Desmarais ◽  
Meghan Entz
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
System Transformation ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Service Contracts ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
The University

Public institutions are increasingly being pressured to demonstrate how they are meeting their responsibilities and obligations to sustainability. Yet there is little academic research on food procurement at universities in Canada. This article examines issues related to procurement of local and sustainable food at two academic institutions in Manitoba: the University of Winnipeg (UW) and the University of Manitoba (UM). Following Brown et al.’s (2012) call for transformational change, we argue that the experiences at each university demonstrate that a food system transformation can best occur by moving away from corporate food service contracts. The ability to do so is dependent on a number of other factors including, but not limited to: political will of the administration, student activism and support from non-university sectors.

From contracts to culture: Exploring how to leverage local, sustainable food purchasing by institutions for food systems change

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-21
Author(s):  
Jennifer Reynolds ◽  
Beth Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
Service Operations ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Food Procurement

In recent years, certain hospitals, schools, and campuses across Canada have shown that they can transform their practices to serve more local and sustainable food. These changes have often been led by visionary champions, and in some cases aided by supportive public policies or programs. Yet the presence of these isolated success stories has so far not proven sufficient to tip a critical mass of institutions towards sustainability. There is great potential in leveraging institutional foodservices, with an estimated $8.5 billion market sales in Canada in 2016 (fsStrategy, 2016), to shift systems towards greater sustainability. In 2014, Food Secure Canada and the McConnell Foundation launched an action-research project and embarked on a learning journey to explore two key questions: how can food service operations and procurement practices be changed to increase local, sustainable institutional procurement; and how can this work be scaled. In 2014–2016, eight institutional food projects across Canada came together as a national Learning Group. Drawing from their experiences working in different contexts and scales, our action research project identified program and policy innovations to leverage systems change. This article explores how institutions currently buy food, and reveals the systemic barriers to increasing local, sustainable food procurement. We share lessons learned about the interplay of menus, food service operations, contracts, institutional demand, and food culture that helped to overcome these barriers. We identify enabling, peer-based learning and support as particularly relevant in a national context for the scaling out, up, and deep of local, sustainable food procurement.

Disruptive innovation and operationalization in local and sustainable food systems: Examining the University of Toronto-Local Food Plus partnership

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-139
Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
The University

This paper traces the partnership between the University of Toronto and the non-profit Local Food Plus (LFP) to bring local sustainable food to its St. George campus. At its launch, the partnership represented the largest purchase of local sustainable food at a Canadian university, as well as LFP’s first foray into supporting institutional procurement of local sustainable food. LFP was founded in 2005 with a vision to foster sustainable local food economies. To this end, LFP developed a certification system and a marketing program that matched certified farmers and processors to buyers. LFP emphasized large-scale purchases by public institutions. Using information from in-depth semi-structured key informant interviews, this paper argues that the LFP project was a disruptive innovation that posed a challenge to many dimensions of the established food system. The LFP case study reveals structural obstacles to operationalizing a local and sustainable food system. These include a lack of mid-sized infrastructure serving local farmers, the domination of a rebate system of purchasing controlled by an oligopolistic foodservice sector, and embedded government support of export agriculture. This case study is an example of praxis, as the author was the founder of LFP, as well as an academic researcher and analyst.

Sustainable Food Logistics Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaohui Wu ◽  
Madeleine Elinor Pullman
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Chain Management

Food supply chain management is becoming a critical management and public policy agenda. Climate change, growing demand, and shifting patterns of food production, delivery, and consumption have elicited a series of new challenges, such as food security, safety, and system resiliency. This chapter first introduces the typical players in a food supply chain and examines the global food system characterized by consolidation and industrialization. It then discusses some critical topics of the sustainable food supply chain that aim to address these challenges. These topics include traceability, transparency, certification and standards, and alternatives to industrialized food systems, including cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, and roles of small and medium-sized growers in regenerative agriculture. The chapter ends with a discussion of several important emerging logistics management topics, including last-mile delivery, new technology, and cold chain management.

scholarly journals The Construction of Peace in the Chiapas Highlands: Indigenous Resistance to Structural Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 0094582X2097501
Author(s):  
Efrén Orozco López ◽  
Leonardo Nicolás González Torres
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Volunteer Work ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Solidarity Economy ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Indigenous Resistance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociedad Civil

The indigenous community of Acteal in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, has been subject to both direct and structural violence in the form of the massacre that took place there in 1997 and the impunity that has persisted ever since. In response to the violence, the community has constructed political, social, and cultural alternatives through the movement known as the Las Abejas of Acteal Civil Society Organization. Its reconstruction of the social fabric has included participation in assembies, volunteer work for the collective, exchange of experiences, food production for subsistence, a solidarity economy, and the systematization and sharing of experiences. La comunidad indígena de Acteal en las tierras altas de Chiapas, México, ha sido objeto de violencia tanto directa y estructural a partir de la masacre que tuvo lugar allí en 1997, así como la impunidad que ha persistido desde entonces. En respuesta a la violencia, la comunidad ha construido alternativas políticas, sociales y culturales a través del movimiento conocido como Organización Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal. Su reconstrucción del tejido social ha incluido la participación en asambleas, el voluntariado para el colectivo, el intercambio de experiencias, la producción de alimentos para subsistencia, una economía solidaria, y la sistematización e intercambio de experiencias.

scholarly journals Agro-Food Innovation and Sustainability Transition: A Conceptual Synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6897
Author(s):  
Xiangping Jia
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
System Innovation ◽  
Agricultural Innovation ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Sustainability Transition ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
Agricultural Innovation System

The global community faces the challenge of feeding a growing population with declining resources, making transformation to sustainable agriculture and food systems all the more imperative and ‘innovation’ all the more crucial. In this study, agro-food system innovation (re)defines sustainability transition with a complexity construct of cross-scale interaction and an adaptive cycle of system change. By taking a panarchical view, top-down and bottom-up pathways to innovation can be reconciled and are not contradictory, enabling and constraining innovation at every level. This study breaks down the structure of the agricultural innovation system into four components based on multi-level perspectives of sustainability transition, namely: actors and communities, interaction and intermediaries, coherence and connectedness and regimes rules and landscape. Meanwhile, this research frames the functional construct of system innovation for food and agriculture with five perspectives drawing on broad inputs from different schools of thought, namely: knowledge management, user sophistication, entrepreneurial activities’ directionality and reflexive evaluation. This research advocates for an ecosystem approach to agricultural innovation that gives full play to niche-regime interactions using social-technical perspectives.

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