LIST OF PANELS

The nature of agri-food policy making has changed over the last three decades. An increasing variety of links and spillovers between agricultural and food policies with other policy domains poses new issues on the agri-food policy agenda. A defining characteristic of current food and agricultural policies are cross-sectoral arrangements that constitute new policy inter-linkages between agri-food issues and other policy domains like environment, climate change, energy, water, health, bio-technology, development, trade, security, international politics, and migration. Policy inter-linkages have created various challenges for policy integration. They are situated either within an already existing landscape of sectoral institutions in which the policy agenda expands, or certain policy aspects become internationalized. New domestic and global policy actors have been mobilized and now become more important players. This has led to new policy alliances being formed and new ideas being brought into cross-sectoral governance. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis reinforces these trends, facilitating issue politicization and de-politicization dynamics and different types and degrees of agri-food policy change. In the process, the agricultural sector has lost its privileged position as an exceptional sector. In the past, agriculture was considered a special economic domain in need of special care. Public policies were aimed to provide affordable food for all while farmers could obtain a steady and sufficient income. Since the mid-1980s the exceptional position has increasingly come under scrutiny. The externality effects of the farm policies, such as environmental damage, carbon emissions from farm production and trade distortions, led some to suggest that agriculture should instead be considered an industry operating in a fashion similar to those of other industries. Over the recent two or three decades the nature of policy making in the agricultural and food sector has gradually changed and challenged the compartmentalized style of policy making and its sector-specific, exceptionalist legitimation, ushering in new, post-exceptionalist policy constellations (Daugbjerg/Feindt 2017).

The puzzle we explore in this panel is how post-exceptionalism, or new types of exceptionalism in agriculture and food policy and politics take shape and how such phenomena can be approached theoretically, analytically and methodologically. The ways in which cross-sectoral food and agricultural governance unfolds are not well understood. Decompartmentalization, inter-linkages with other policy domains, politicization, internationalization and reframing of policy issues associated with post-exceptionalism challenge established analytical and theoretical approaches to studying food and agricultural policy and politics. There is an increasing demand for (comparative) policy research on the relationships among the components of cross-sectoral governance arrangements and their potential for policy integration resulting in coordinated and coherent sets of policies. This panel invites papers that study the nature, extent and effects of recent trends in food and agricultural policies and politics. It especially welcomes papers that develop innovative analytical approaches that reflect the more complex and fluid nature of the policy field and contribute to explaining how and why the new food and agricultural policies are shaped and interlinked with other policy domains.

KEY WORDS: Agri-Food Policy, Environmental Policy, Globalization, Nexus Governance, Policy Analysis, Policy Inter-linkages

The nature of agri-food policy making has changed over the last three decades. An increasing variety of links and spillovers between agricultural and food policies with other policy domains can be observed. New issues have emerged on the agri-food policy agenda, e.g. environment/climate change, energy, trade, and migration. This increasing interconnectedness has led to new ideas and policy coalitions, and emphasizes the challenge of policy integration.

In this process, agriculture has lost its privileged position as an exceptional sector. In the past, agriculture was considered a special economic domain in need of special treatment, but since the mid-1980s its exceptional position has increasingly come under scrutiny. As a result, policy making in the agricultural and food sector has gradually changed, challenging the compartmentalized style of policy making and its sector-specific, exceptionalist legitimation, while ushering in new post-exceptionalist policy constellations (Daugbjerg/Feindt 2017).

This panel explores the puzzle how post-exceptionalism, or, new types of exceptionalism in agriculture and food policy and politics can be approached theoretically, analytically and methodologically. The ways in which cross-sectoral food and agricultural governance unfolds are not well understood. Decompartmentalization, policy inter-linkages, politicization, internationalization and reframing of policy issues associated with post-exceptionalism challenge classical analytical and theoretical approaches to studying food and agricultural policy and politics. There is an increasing demand for (comparative) policy research on the relationships among the components of cross-sectoral governance arrangements and their potential for policy integration resulting in coordinated and coherent sets of policies. This panel invites papers that study the nature, extent and effects of recent trends in food and agricultural policies and politics. It especially welcomes papers that develop innovative analytical approaches reflecting the complex and fluid nature of the policy field, explaining how and why the new food and agricultural policies are shaped and interlinked with other policy domains.