Sustainable Public Food Systems a Global Agenda

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Healthy and Sustainable Public Food Networks in
Norden ?restad, Copenhagen 25 April 2006

• Sustainable Public Food Systems - a Global
  Agenda?
• Clive Peckham, Director AlimenTerra

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The Food for Health, Learning Livelihoods (F4H)
project focuses on the health and education
sectors of the public food system in Europe and
North America. It is part of the Sustainable
Food Laboratory, a process involving major
private, public and third sector organisations in
Europe, the Americas and China designed to make
sustainable food mainstream.The F4H
partnership, supporters of the project and
participants in the Sustainable Food Laboratory
cover all the elements of the public or
institutional food systems across the USA and the
EU. This includes food businesses and NGOs,
food producers, public institutions, chefs,
hospitals and health promotion agencies, schools
and education authorities and farming
co-operatives. These operate from local to
international levels.
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Aims

• To mainstream sustainable agriculture
• To create collaborative actions through
  partnerships of government, business, and civil
  society organizations
• How
• Using a systemic, creative, participative
  methodology for solving highly complex problems
• Where
• Starting in the United States, Western Europe,
  and Latin America (primarily Brazil and Central
  America)

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Food systems are crucial to people and the planet

• Agriculture is the largest industry on the planet
  it employs an estimated 1.3 billion people and
  produces 1.3 trillion in farm income.
• More than 50 of all habitable land is used for
  agriculture and livestock operations.
• 70 of all freshwater withdrawal is for
  agriculture.
• Food consumption is part of the everyday life of
  all people

Small improvements in food systems can impact
millions of people and acres of land
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Current food systems are highly productive

• While the global population has doubled from 3 to
  6 billion,
• Food production has more than kept pace.
• On average food supplies are 24 higher per
  person than in 1961 and prices are 40 lower
• However there continues to be famine and
  malnourishment with a parallel increase in
  non-communicable disease related to over
  consumption and imbalanced diets

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Acting together to change the system Six
interacting project areas

• Framing
• Business Coalition
• Market Access for Family Farmers in Latin America
• Responsible Commodities
• Sustainable Fisheries
• Food for Health, Living and Livelihoods

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Sustainable Food Lab participants include

• King Baudouin Foundation
• Sociedade Rural Brasileira, Brazil
• The Nature Conservancy, Brazil
• Oxfam GB, the Dominican Republic
• World Wildlife Fund, United States
• Sadia, Brazil
• Lauras Lean Beef, United States
• Carrefour, France
• Farm worker movement, United States
• W. K. Kellogg Foundation, United States
• General Mills, United States
• DG Agriculture of the European Commission
• Southern Sustainable Agriculture WorkingGroup,
  United States
• Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation, France
• SYSCO, United States
• Brazil Specialty Coffee Association and Sociedade
  Rural Brasileira, Brazil
• Rabobank International, (USA/NL)
• Ministry of Agriculture, the Netherlands

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• www.glifood.org
• hhamilton_at_sustainer.org
• kahane_at_generonconsulting.com

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AlimenTerra is a European not for profit
organisation with members and participants in
France Italy the Netherlands Ireland Spain
and the UK  AlimenTerra supports and promotes
sustainable food systems, through the development
of practical projects and changes in food and
agricultural policy at all geographical
levels AlimenTerra has four axes of work Food
standards and production systems Food Policy and
Education Sustainable public food systems
Sustainable food supply chains
cpeckham_at_alimenterra.org www.alimenterra.org
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Food for Health, Learning Livelihoods (F4H)
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Background to F4H
Public or institutional food systems are
flagships of food policy and an expression of the
value and role society puts on food. Whilst there
have been significant projects and actions that
have advanced the cause of sustainable public
food and services they remain isolated and
incomplete islands of good practice in the USA
and Europe. The issue is how to connect and link
the islands to facilitate and foster wholesale
changes and create a momentum at
inter-continental level necessary to produce an
irreversible shift towards sustainability and
improved health.
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• Why Global - 1?
• A. Need for common instruments and strategies to
  target resources on implementation e.g.
• Policy
• Contracts and tendering systems
• Research and documentation
• Monitoring and surveillance systems

• B. Need for common actions
• to create the momentum for wholesale change
• enable learning and the effective adaptation and
  creation of best practice

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• Why Global - 2?
• No supply chain is an island
• In order to create a reversal of the move to
  indiscriminate globalised supply chains we must
  create a real alternative of localised systems
  that that operate in a global context
• Trade should be a means of increasing
  understanding and eliminating prejudice and want
• The uniqueness of the food culture of each
  village, town, region and city is not based on
  food isolation, but on a blend of local
  tradition, local products and local skills with
  products and traditions from across the world.
• The worst impact of our food purchasing practices
  is not felt in Europe but in the South or
  Developing World, not least in health

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Actions and events1. Creation of European US
Teams2. F4H Learning, action and information
platform(systematic survey of current
initiatives underway)3. Benchmark Sustainable
Contract(s) and tendering systems(Rome
publishing an Italian guide)4. A metric to
measure provide benchmarks for the
sustainability of public food systems (workshop
in Cardiff May 19)5. Legislation and policy
for sustainable public food services (workshops
in London and Venice planned late 2006/early
2007, discussions underway with EC on workshop re
public food and reform of Fruit and Vegetable
regime)
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Actions and events6. Create a European or
Transatlantic Alliance7. Communication and
promote change to stakeholder groups and decision
makers (link to SFL Framing)8. Supply base
support supply chain relationships and the
development of sustainable distribution systems
(European co-operative projects US pilots
London SFL meeting Jan. 2007)9. Large scale
demonstration and linking projects in the health
and education sectors (Health sector planning
meeting London in July)10. Research and
exchange visits (NY March 06, Italy late 06)
11. Global conference on sustainable public food
systems in Rome September 26-28 2007 Mensa
Civica, Mensa Mundi
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ECCE-BIO - a co-operative offering a fair and
co-operative local to global production and
distribution system
European partners
Producer/subsidiary collection point with farm
shop or market stand
Buying groups co-operative stands
Partner production distribution systems
Public private catering
Local/ village shops
Local producer/ supplier
Metropolitan distribution points
Fair Trade/ Southern partners
Regional/National collection distribution point
s
Local producer/ supplier
Metropolitan shops, buying groups box
schemes
Partner production distribution systems
Box schemes
Processor partners or internal
Producer/ subsidiary collection distribution
point
Regional urban outlets
National partners
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The work of F4H has been supported by the
Charles Leopold Mayer (Fr) and King Baudouin (Be)
Foundations
F4H