Back in June, I was invited to give a talk as part of the Centre for Food Policy’s Food Thinkers Series. It was an honor to be back at the Centre where I did my PhD. I was asked to talk about power and participation in food systems governance. I broke the talk up into 6 chapters: Chapter 1: Uncertain times. We are living in uncertain times and compounding crises. We must not forget that these crises are not just opportunities for change, but also for entrenching power. I made a case for the importance of food governance and the need to reflect more on legitimacy and authority in the emerging a ..read more

One of the key concerns being raised about the UN Food Systems Summit relates to ‘multistakeholderism’. However, multistakeholderism is a complicated concept that is, in many ways, counterintuitive. Supported by CAWR and AgroecologyNow, we have developed a short video to help explain what it means and why it’s a problem ..read more

A few months ago I was interviewed for the Table Podcast “Feed”. It’s a great series and I really recommend subscribing. In my episode, we talked about the importance of bringing diverse actors into policy conversations and discussed the report Priscilla Claeys and I wrote last year on Covid19, Gender and Food systems. You can find the podcast and show notes here: https://tabledebates.org/podcast-episode9 ..read more

Actors in the food sovereignty movement distinguish between social movements and NGOs. But what does this mean and why does this matter? What is the difference? Differences between social movements and NGOs are not always clear cut. Yet, various criteria can help differentiate social movements from NGOs: Social movements, overall, consist of people working to improve their own social, political, and economic conditions. In contrast, NGOs are made of individuals defending or promoting certain ideals. Many social movements seek to reaffirm their own/specific group identity (such as that of peas ..read more

Everyone is affected by the decisions that shape our food systems. However, in global food security governance spaces, there is the idea of a “most-affected principle.” This is meant to prioritize those most marginalized in society, and most affected by hunger and food insecurity in debates and decision-making. In this way, the term “affected” is used here in more restrictive way than it is often conceptualized by scholars such as Habermas (Brem-Wilson 2018).  Over the last 20 years, social movements representing various constituencies of food producers have organized at the transnational ..read more

Open letter of European scholars to: Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Norbert Lins, President of COMAGRI of the European Parliament. Re: ‘Farmers for the Future’ Wageningen, 10th of March 2021 Dear Sirs, In 2020 the European Commission released ‘Farmers for the Future’ (EUR 30464 EN), a Science for Policy Report, prepared by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. This policy report is intended to contribute to the further elucidation of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy wh ..read more

25/2/21, 14h-15h30 (CET, UTC+1 – Brussels)  In this virtual seminar, participants will have a chance to exchange with European policymakers on the challenges and opportunities for an agroecological transition in Europe. The seminar will focus on the central role that land plays in this transition. It will discuss how an agroecological transition can accelerate with the support of public policies at different levels and how they interact with ongoing European policy frameworks around agriculture and food.  The seminar is timed with the launch of a new report, Roots of Resilience ..read more

This year I had the distinct pleasure of teaching in the Coastal Communities and Regional Development Masters at the University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður, Iceland. I can honestly say that if I was a student now I would consider this programme for sure! If you have an interest in Coastal Studies, remote coastal communities or coast and marine management, check out these Cutting-edge interdisciplinary master’s programs in English! Dealine to apply is Feb 15 for non-EU students and April 15 for EU students. The University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður, Iceland offers two pr ..read more

The report of the 5th SCAR Foresight Exercise Expert Group Natural resources and food systems was released 15 December at the German EU Presidency conference. I had the pleasure of participating as one of the experts. In the report we argue that Europe needs more comprehensive policies on diet, diversity and circularity if it is to recover speedily from the pandemic and help realise a “safe and just” world. For that, the soon-to-start Horizon Europe programme and related research and innovation activities will be essential. Read the short Fact Sheet on the report Read the full report Key ..read more

In this bi-monthly post, we highlight key resources, insights, and contributions that span the field of food governance. Far from comprehensive, it reflects the resources that we have come across and found valuable. If you have something for us to highlight, please get in touch (jessica(dot)duncan (at) wur.nl). Reports FAO. 2020. Enabling sustainable food systems. Innovators’ handbook Sustainable food systems are fundamental to ensuring that future generations are food secure and eat healthy diets. To transition towards sustainability, many food system activities must be reconstructed, and my ..read more