LIST OF PANELS

Food systems around the world are experiencing many crises. A transformation has taken place in our food systems that concentrates power and marginalizes local knowledge. This shift from community to corporate control has distanced everyday eaters and growers from critical decision-making processes in food systems (Winson 1993). A recent report by the National Farmers Union of Canada (Qualman and NFU) notes that an overwhelming majority of profits in food are directed to input suppliers, processors, or corporate actors (2019). In addition to narrowing margins, we have also seen the concentration of farms, industrial control in both technology and processing, as well as shifts toward a more technology-driven production approach. Our food system has also created an incredible strain on our environment. Eroding soil health, increasing presence of algae blooms, declining biodiversity and struggling pollinator populations all sound warning bells. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates a global 1.5-degree Celsius temperature rise between 2030 and 2052 with the industrial food system contributing up to 37 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (IPPC 2019). Further, food systems connect the grower and the eater in an intimate relationship of sustenance and community. Yet, according to the most recent State of the Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO 2020), a healthy diet is out of reach for an estimated 3 billion individuals worldwide. Exacerbating this challenge, the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE 2020) for the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) noted that COVID-19 is expected to have a negative impact on communities around the world through decreases in food security and nutrition. The magnitude of this impact will depend on how all levels of government, from the local to the global, are prepared to respond. Recent literature has found that through the regionalization of food infrastructure and an adjustment towards the production and access of nutritious food closer to home, coordinated policy can build resilient systems (Blay-Palmer et al. 2020). As such, this panel will explore multi-scalar policy frameworks that support resilient regional food systems, including topics such as farmer-centred knowledge mobilization (e.g. extension), infrastructure, public procurement, nutritional guidelines, trade, and eaters’ access to nutritionally sufficient foods.

Food systems have been tested throughout the pandemic and they have shone a light on what many have called for – radical change and the need for transformation toward a more sustainable, inclusive approach. Now is the time to discuss the role of public policy in creating the current food systems landscape but also how it can play a role in transforming it. This call for papers is centred on policy solutions to create more just food systems. Reforming policy frameworks could help ensure the most affected by the current food system are at the heart of repairing it. Many institutions have centred the public discourse on reforming agricultural subsidy programs – a core function of farm-related public policy and worth billions annually - but the policy debate should also include democratization and building legitimacy in governance. This necessitates that communities around the world have a larger decision-making role in food systems policy. This can happen through many scales: the continued work of the Committee on World Food Security and the upcoming United Nations Food System Summit in 2021, national food policy strategies, and local food policy councils. This panel will explore multi-scalar policy frameworks that support resilient regional food systems, farmer-centred knowledge mobilization (e.g. extension), infrastructure, public procurement, nutritional guidelines, trade, and eaters’ access to nutritionally sufficient foods. We hope that the ideas presented will also help with the task of dissecting and reassembling the political economy of food. All levels of government and collaborative governance are required to make this change.