Food from somewhere

Summary

This report from IPES Food deals with global hunger and food security. It explores data from the past three years which highlights the declining resilience of the corporate controlled global food system exemplified by stalled grain shipments, fertiliser shortages, export bans, volatile food prices, lost harvest and empty shelves. The authors argue these conditions have become normalised in part due to the War in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

The report emphasises the increasing peril of relying on corporate controlled global food supply chains. The report details a host of issues related to this system, including the exposure of industrial production to climate shocks, the diversion of resources into ultra processed foods, livestock feed, and fuel, the standardisation of diets towards wheat, rice, and maize, the growing reliance on a small number of crops for global calorie intake, the vast energy requirements built into high-tech digitised supply chains, and the dangers of making global food security contingent on ‘just-in-time’ supply chains.

The authors of this report seek to explore the growing level of interest in a plethora of vibrant food provisioning systems that exist beyond these global food supply chains and corporate control. Broadly, these approaches call for food sovereignty and aim to strengthen food self-sufficiency, enhance resilience to shocks and rebuild food security around a new paradigm. 

The report provides a comprehensive review of these diverse food webs, or supply chains and markets which are based on small-scale producers, processors and vendors rooted in territories and communities. The authors find that these territorial markets are crucial to the foundation of food systems in many countries and regions around the world. They contribute to the food security, equity and sustainability of these local territories and communities. Figure 1 visualises territorial markets. 

Figure 1: Visual depiction of territorial markets components including urban agriculture bulk commodity spaces, mass marketing spaces and direct to consumer food provision. 

The report has several key findings. First, most of the world's population is fed by food chains that remain close to where they live, despite corporate-controlled global comorbidity chains maintaining control of the majority of land and resources. Territorial markets can also play a key role in making food accessible and affordable to populations with lower incomes, especially in the Global South. Territorial markets in the Global North can often be inaccessible due to higher prices but the authors showcase examples of efforts to change this, like in France where farmers and low-income communities are partnering to create mobile “social grocery” shop to increase access to local food without increasing household food budgets. Second, the COVID-9 pandemic highlighted how robust and adaptable close-to-home supply chains and markets are. Third, generally, territorial markets provide decent prices and steady incomes for millions of food producers. They also have strong participation from women and youth and play a key role in sustaining culturally important food practices. Finally, climate-resilience and environmental sustainability can be enhanced by close-to-home markets and supply chains through the use of low-input, biodiverse and small-scale food production. 

The authors note close-to-home territorial markets are delivering on these benefits despite not being supported by policies or economic conditions. They argue that investment and government support have been historically skewed towards large scale corporate actors in the food system. These actors have disproportionate power to spread and displace other systems of food provisioning which further contributes to the growth of corporate power. The authors argue that this advances the erosion of traditional practices and food cultures, the co-option of local and territorial chains and the reshaping of diets around staple commodities and ultra processed foods.

The report calls for urgent investment and government support for territorial markets. It details several examples of cities and regions which have prioritised public investment in urban markets and sustainable local supply chains which have had positive results on the accessibility of healthy food and the sustainability of environmental conditions. These include Barcelona’s 39 public food markets and Brazil’s anti-hunger policies which support small-scale producers and processors through school feeding schemes and other initiatives. 

The report concludes by detailing several actions to disrupt the power of corporate food chains and support localised supply chains and markets. First, it calls for the use of state purchasing schemes to support small-scale producers and bring supply chains closer to home. It also calls for the shifting of government subsidies towards investment in infrastructure, networks and people which are fundamental to the function of territorial markets. This may include protecting public marketplaces, support for collectives and cooperatives, subsidies for small-scale food actors and investment in city-rural transit links and social services. The report advocates for the protection of farmers’ markets from corporate co-optation and further development of territorial market governance structures which prioritise widespread benefits for the local actors involved. It also supports foregrounding the inefficiencies, fragilities and true costs of the global corporate food chain to combat greenwashing and corporate capture of food systems. 

The authors emphasise the importance of joining up their recommended actions and not focusing on isolated components of the food system. These efforts could also benefit from growing public awareness of issues associated with ultra processed foods to bring more scrutiny towards problematic technology advancements. Lastly, the report calls for better data and knowledge sharing and improved narratives which highlight the positive features of territorial markets. The authors suggest linking up movements such as agroecology and food sovereignty with civil society to create a coherent driving vision which can be easily communicated. This could facilitate better understanding of the benefits of territorial markets and close-to-home supply chains. 

Reference

IPES-Food, 2024. Food from somewhere: building food security and resilience through territorial markets.

Read more here. See also the TABLE explainer What is food security?