Markets | TableDebates

Photo of wheat stalks in the foreground with agricultural landscape in the background. Photo by Veronica White via UnSplash.

Tomorrow on the table: The politics and economics of food system transformation

In October 2024, TABLE brought together a diverse range of stakeholders across the food system with the aim of exploring how they envisaged a better food future, and what system transformations would be needed to get there. The participants included non-governmental and civil society organisations, policymakers, philanthropists, community leaders, and academics from diverse disciplines. Over the course of the workshop, they together discussed, developed and refined different visions for the future of the food system based on three initially conceived visions: market-led, state-led, and bottom-up. This report synthesises the workshop methods and dialogue process, the discussions participants had and the areas of agreement that emerged. https://www.doi.org/10.56661/421fa6df

Podcast episode

Valuing nature in our economies

Are markets the best tool we have to protect nature?

Report cover from HLPE on urban and peri-urban food systems

Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems

This report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) calls for the strengthening of urban and peri-urban food systems amidst rapidly expanding urbanisation and rural transformation. It provides detailed and context specific policy recommendations to improve food security and nutrition and is guided by the principles of the right to food and the right to the city.

Food from somewhere report cover from IPES-Food

Food from somewhere

This report by IPES-Food looks at the importance of supply chains and markets which are based on small-scale producers, processors and vendors rooted in territories and communities as components of building a resilient food system which delivers food security. It highlights the damage of the dominant corporate controlled global food supply chain and offers recommendations to support more localised territorial markets.

Photo of a protest sign which reads “Stand with Farmers”. Image by Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

News and resources

France pledges to ensure food retailers pay farmers fairly

Continued unrest of the farming population of France has lead the French government to promise to ensure food retailers agree to share revenues fairly with producers. This Bloomberg article details the statements made by French officials and connects the political activity of farmers in France with other movements in Europe.

Mini bean burgers on blue platter. Image by Marta Cuesta via Pixabay.

News and resources

Plant-based meat may be struggling but it will come back stronger - Fast Company

Alt-protein or plant-based meat has recently seen a decline in its market shares with flagship companies like Beyond Meat struggling to stay afloat. However, this article argues that this is simply a symptom of hype cycles - as the initial hype following an innovation wanes novel products and technologies commonly experience a “trough of disillusionment”. Those products and technologies that survive this “trough” tend to achieve mainstream acceptance, which this article suggests will be the case for the alt-protein industry.

Cover of the Small Farmer Atlas, First Edition, by Solidaridad.

The Small Farmer Atlas - Solidaridad

Ninety percent of the 570 million farms globally are small-scale operations (defined in terms of low economic output rather than land holding size (which would describe a smallholder instead)) which together are responsible for a significant proportion of total agricultural production. Thus, understanding and incorporating the perspectives and knowledge of small-scale farmers in policies and practices is crucial for achieving sustainable agriculture development.

Cover of the Linking middle-chain actors to the environmental impacts of food producers and consumers report by Stephanie Walton of the Centre for Food Policy at City University of London.

Linking middle-chain actors to the environmental impacts of food producers and consumers: Underlying drivers and policy implications - Centre for Food Policy

This report from the Centre for Food Policy at City University of London discusses the role middle-chain actors, particularly food manufacturers and retailers, play in influencing farmer and consumer behaviours and how this leads to negative environmental impacts. The findings presented in this report highlight the importance of policy approaches that promote mutual responsibility across the entire supply chain to achieve sustainable production and consumption.

The cover of the “Feeding Us Greenwash” report by the Changing Markets Foundation.

Feeding Us Greenwash: An analysis of misleading claims in the food sector

This report from the Changing Markets Foundation exposes greenwashing within the food industry and explores how consumers respond to environmental and sustainability claims made by companies.