Local urban food policy in relation to the global food sovereignty debate

International seminar, Ghent, June 11-12, 2015Summary report

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With the support of

Local urban food policy in relation to the global food sovereignty debate

International seminar, Ghent, June 11-12, 2015

Opening remarks by Tine Heyse, Deputy Mayor City of Ghent

“On behalf of the city council of Ghent I would like to welcome you all in our beloved city.

I am very happy to be opening this seminar and grateful to the organizers of the event who succeeded in bringing all of you together. Today, you are here with more than 40 international experts in sustainable urban food policies.The seminar is organized as part of the Food Smart Cities for Development project. This is a project initiated by the city of Milan and financed by the European Union. It is an exceptional project for different reasons. First because it brings together two food issues that are sometimes seen to be conflictive: the local and the global. Second because this project wants to bring a complementary, some-times contrary argument to the dominant European agenda of the food-industry and the agro-policies. That it was initiated as a counterbalance to the World Expo 2015 in Milan is a remarkable thing. I am deputy mayor of Ghent with competencies on environment, climate, energy, agriculture and international solidarity. The policies in these competencies all have a strong global relevance. In the policies of interna-tional solidarity we invest quite a lot in awareness raising but also make efforts for behavioral changes with citizens, local companies and our own organization. Fair trade has an important role in these activities because it relates to the daily lives of consumers and producers – it links the world. Our policies on envi-ronment, climate, energy and agriculture are mostly focused on Ghent, but obviously have an international relevance by nature.

As part of these policies Ghent launched a local food policy in october 2013, called ‘Gent en Garde’. This food policy has five objectives. (1) Create a more visible, shorter supply chain (2) Support sustainable food production and consumption (3) Increase social added value of food projects (4) Avoid or limit food waste (5) Reuse food waste. Food makes the interdependencies at global level evident: we cannot build a sus-tainable city if it feeds itself in an unsustainable way. This could create health problems with our citizens, societal problems or a wasteland beyond our borders. From the start we have made efforts to combine the importance of a local strategy with global aspects of sustainability. Such as ethical sourcing, sustainable production and fair trade relations. In this regard we consider Fair Trade products to be an example of shorter supply chains: even if there are many kilometers between them it brings consumer and producer closer together.

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However good our ambitions, until now, we struggled a bit with bringing the local and global perspectives together as it is conceptually not so easy and sometimes contrary to most peoples intuitions. Short supply chains should be our priority, but how do we relate ourselves with the rest of the world? As a local authority we have seen that our core responsibility to defend the safety and wellbeing of our citizens is a global issue that also relates to food. All local authorities have this responsibility. In this regard food policies should have similar objectives and particularities, regardless of the country they are developed in: to be sustainable, local food systems should be fair local food systems. Looking at it in this way makes the perceived contradiction between the local and global approaches less problematic. It also makes clear that we should not cultivate the illusion that when we relate with cities in other countries we can only share or teach. Much to the con-trary: we can learn a lot from existing practices in cities on other continents. With the organization of this seminar, we are doing exactly that this week. This seminar takes the policy option to build urban local food systems as the starting point for analysis and debate.”

Nowadays, cities everywhere in the world invest in food strategies. The city of Ghent is united with 12 European cities in The Food Smart Cities for Development Project, financed by the European Union. Central question of the project is which role city administrations can and must play in the transition towards sustainable production and consumption models in a (peri-)urban context, and this in function of inclusive, resilient and fair local food systems.

The debate on sustainable food provision for cities is extremely topical. It is one of the central issues of the world exposition in Milan. The cities, united in Food Smart Cities for Development, will sign an Urban Food Policy Pact on October 15 in Milan, committing them to elaborate sustainable local food strategies in the context of their city.

Everywhere in the world we see innovating systems and (business) models that attempt to formulate answers to the challenges. Moreover, we see that cities in different parts of the world take the lead in discourse and practice. As an active member of The Food Smart Cities for Development project, the city of Ghent organised an international seminar on June 11 and 12, 2015, around Local Urban Food Policies in the Global Food Sovereignty Debate. The practices of cities like Cape Town, Montreal, Lisbon, Havana, Chennai and Tegucigalpa were extensively discussed. The cases, developed in various urban contexts, provided insights in how urban food systems contribute to global sustainability.

The exchange of practices and knowledge is an inspiration for the international network and for deepening the food strategies of the city of Ghent. Indeed, Ghent wants to find in-spiration in innovative practices abroad. In October 2013, Ghent launched a broad policy plan ‘Gent en Garde’. After having put ‘Thursday Veggie Day” on the map, the city wants to be a pioneer again with a strategy that should help to make the food system more sus-tainable and help turn Ghent into a climate neutral city by 2050.

Food Smart Cities for Development

The question of 9 billion

The world in 2050: 70 to 80% of people live in cities, the climate is warming, the pressure on land, water and biodiversity increases, raw materials become scarce, and farmers massively leave the craft. How do we pro-vide, in 2050, the city dwell-ers with food without further affecting the biophysical boundaries of our planet?

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Over 40 participants from 18 countries offered input or participated to the debates that concentrated around three central questions:

• To what extent can local food systems be linked to the objectives of global agendas like international solidarity and cooperation, and the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’?

• How are food strategies related to other dimensions of urban policy, like the governance model and the degree of participation by citizens?

• Which impact do food safety strategies have on food sovereignty, and to what extent can local food systems contribute to food security at the local urban level?

Gent en Garde

Ghent is the first city in Flanders to elaborate a holistic food policy. The objective is to reduce the CO2 impact of the food chain and to make the food system more sustainable. In its food policy plan, the city wants to combine and support various initiatives. The plan sets out five objectives, which include various initiatives:

1. A more visible, shorter food chain. Consumers and producers are brought closer together. That way, the consumer has a better idea where the food comes from.

2. A more sustainable food production and consumption. Sustainable urban farming and the consumption of organic, local and seasonal products, vegetarian dishes and fair trade, among others, are promoted. A point of information on vegetable gardening and guidance for vegetable gardens at schools was set up. Also, tips are given for soil and air quality.

3. Stronger social plus-value for food initiatives. Initiatives on food that increase social cohesion and employment are encouraged.

4. Food waste reduction. Markets are sought for food surpluses, and residents receive tips to help reducing the waste mountain.

5. Maximal reuse of food waste as raw materials. Making compost out of kitchen waste or selective recollection of food waste ensure that food waste can still be used in a clever way.

Following the example of cities like Bristol and Toronto, the city of Ghent has its own ‘Food Council’. The policy group ‘Gent en Garde’ consists of about 25 members from sectors like agriculture, associations, knowledge institutions and commerce. It is a sound-ing board for the city’s policy on food, advises on existing or new projects, discusses the strategic vision and is an important ambassador for disseminating the vision on sustain-able food production and consumption.

The Rabot site, the binding force of urban agriculture

Rabot was once one of the most industrious neighbourhoods in Ghent. With the decline of the dominant textile industry, the entry of new population groups and the exit of original inhabitants, the neighbourhood changed its face forever. In the coming year a new residential area will be built on the Rabot site. Today there are two urban allotments, totalling 3000 m2 fertile land. Experimentation is done on the fields, applying the short chain principle in the immediate neighbourhood. Through Community Development and with the support of the City of Ghent, 250 local residents cultivate miniature popular gardens.

Vegetables are cultivated organically and sold in the neighbourhood, among others through the social grocer and in the snack room Toreke. “Rabot on your plate” is a cooperation between the urban agriculture project ‘De Site’ and the social grocer ‘Pannestraat’. With the harvest and the surpluses of fresh products they make artisanal, delicious delicacies “granny’s way”. They do so together with the social grocer’s clients, volunteers of ‘De Site’ and local residents. All products are grown and sold in the neighbourhood.

The revenues go to the operations of the social grocer, to be able to purchase a wider offer of healthy food. Food and urban agriculture are an important ‘binding’ power and allow vulnerable groups to participate fully to community life.

Gent Fair Trade

Ghent has always been a port and a trading city. Regional and international trade has given shape and form to the city bringing both wealth and misery, which is visible in the built environment of Ghent. When liv-ing or visiting Ghent, one can not claim not to understand the impact trade can have. Because of this history the city government and a lot of citizens are committed to avoid negative impacts of international trade on cities, citizens and social systems. Consumptions of products from other continents is evidently the key target. The City of Ghent includes Fair Trade principles in its procurement where possible and demands proof of ethi-cal standards where certifiaction systems are not in place. Ghent Fair Trade encourages citizens to consume ethical products and help local businesses and organizations to change their operational behavior to include high ethical standards. Focus is on textile/fashion and food because these are products that are intensively consumed, often sourced from other continents and high risk when considering trade justice or respect for labor and human rights for producers. www.gentfairtrade.be

Starting points

Local urban food policy related to the global food sovereignty debate

Everywhere in the world, there are experiments with local food systems in urban con-texts. The question is how local initiatives contribute to global food sovereignty and / or how these local strategies (can) impact one another. The international seminar of June 11 and 12 2015 took these local food systems as starting points to feed the analysis and the debate with the following objectives:

1. Gain insight in how local food systems contribute to sustainable cities all over the world, and the role these systems play in achieving food sovereignty.

2. Develop concepts that explain how local food systems strengthen the global objec-tive.

3. Provide inspiration for local, European and international policy with regard to food sovereignty and sustainability globally.

1 - ‘Governance’ of local urban food systems

Local governments face the challenge of how food systems can be organised from a ‘multi-actor’ and ‘multi-level’ perspective. Which processes are needed to support local food systems, to involve citizens? How can a government build legitimacy from this ap-proach and at the same time be effective?

Case 1‘Governance’ of urban food systems in Southern Africa, with a focus on Cape Town.

By Dr. Jane Battersby, African Centre for cities, University of Cape Town.

Most African cities have informal markets that more or less exist in symbiosis with the more formal markets. Local authorities in Cape Town investigated the options for con-tributing to improving the food security situation in the country through local food sys-tems. Although the local government does not have a mandate to work on food security, it does play an important part in developing the food system. For lack of interest for the urban food challenges on regional or national level, city government should act and claim these competences. This happens concretely by contributing to production, processing, distribution, sale and waste management. If this broader approach of the food system

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is accepted by the stakeholders, a policy can be developed in function of food systems that are designed to improve food security. From a more extensive support base, the city can develop a ‘food charter’ with a mesmerizing vision, supported by data and built in dialogue with stakeholders.

Case 2Food banks and urban food policy in Montreal, Canada.

By Aaron Vansintjan, Ecological Economics Research Group, McGill University

In Canada Food Banks regularly cater 800.000 people. The impact of this initiative has changed the existing welfare system. At the same time it became clear that the welfare system is not sufficient to guarantee food sovereignty.

Food Banks redistribute food surpluses from supermarkets. Government support led to institutionalisation of Food Banks at the expense of local food systems. Supermar-kets therefore had the opportunity to transfer the costs of processing surpluses to the government. Other initiatives were denied access to these food surpluses. Also, no link was made with local food systems to contribute to food security and welfare. Yet, local food systems can contribute to food sovereignty if they are less dependent on the food industry and retail. Consequently, there is a need for stable support and proper alignment of local and national policy. It is also necessary to investigate how companies and institu-tions can connect to the local and global level. Local food systems can be built and scaled step by step if all stakeholders participate.

Sustainable Development GoalsCities as dynamic pioneersIn September 2000 the Heads of State and Government under the auspices of the United Nations, signed the Millennium Declaration which recorded the ambitions of the world community at the start of the third millennium. The statement served as a basis for the selection of eight development goals which during the past 15 years were the point of reference for the national and international efforts in favour of development: the fight against extreme poverty and hunger; basic education for everyone; equal opportunities for women; reducing child mortality; improving health of mothers; the fight against HIV/Aids, malaria and other deadly diseases; ensuring a sustainable environment, and creating a global partnership for development.

At the end of 2015 the ambitions of the Millennium goals are evaluated based on the results. At the same time, the debate around a post-2015 framework is in full swing, following up on the Río+20 Summit in the United Nations. The post-2015 agenda unites global and collective challenges of the global community in 17 Sustainable Develop-ment Goals, to be realized by 2030. One of these 17 goals focuses on the important role of cities in favour of sustainable development. Other objectives focus on sustain-able production and consumption patterns and the development of global partner-ships.

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Debate

Food is generally not high up on the local governments’ agenda. The budgets foreseen for it by the cities are not in proportion to the importance of the issue. Yet, local governments do have the important task to provide welfare, health and safety for its citizens. Food takes an important place in this. It concerns the way food systems function, what con-sumption patterns look like, how it is produced etc. Urban agriculture does not only con-cern the production of food, but also increasing the quality of life of a neighbourhood, living, urban planning, entrepreneurship, social cohesion, health, and social employment. Food systems are in essence multidisciplinary, and therefore several government de-partments should be involved. The complex interaction between the local, national and international level remains a challenge. The global – local continuum must in any case be more than a mere exchange of information and knowledge.

Cities have the possibility to appeal to all stakeholders involved, stimulate new partner-ships and set out pathways together with citizens / consumers to work on building local food systems. Involving citizens can be encouraged e.g. through ‘participatory budgeting’. Also companies such as processors and supermarkets can play an important part. On the other hand, companies do not have a tradition in interacting with and participation of citizens / consumers (for drafting local food strategies) in function of the public inter-est. Many urban initiatives around food are situated in the niche. Niches are laboratories for testing ideas, exploring and creating new partnerships (‘managing new spaces’). At the same time we also need the conventional farmers and companies to realize a greater impact and scale. In other words: a combination of innovation, activism and entrepre-neurship is a factor for success. Cities can provide a fertile testing environment. City governments should be pro-active in stimulating such initiatives and feeding them with space, information and inspiration. Global connection between cities can i.e. make inter-connectedness evident and avoid over-localised niche-projects.

2 - Food security and sovereignty

An important part of food safety in a certain town or region depends on both the supply of sufficient quality food and the (informed and strong) demand. Traditionally, most attention is given to the supply (sufficient production capacity in the near surround-ings), especially if one also strives not only towards food security but also towards food sovereignty. Generally, less attention is paid to the question whether the city population also really can afford the supply. Are production and distribution costs tailored to the purchasing power of the local population? This question is essential in the search on how local food systems can contribute to food sovereignty and how these local food systems can be complementary for and promote fair trade chains that extend across regional and even continental boundaries and can be binding between cities, as well as between cities and rural areas worldwide.

Case 1Ensuring quality and safety of street food in Indian cities.

By Krishnadasan Paliniswamy, Tamilnadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University

In the Indian city of Chennai, over 50.000 usually very mobile street vendors offer food for immediate consumption (street food). In official statistics and figures these street vendors are often invisible, just like other players within the informal economy. In low and medium income countries, street sales of ready-to-eat food is not only a source of employment, income and food security for an important part of the local population; it is also an effective response to the ever growing demand for street food in the context of fast urbanisation, population growth and the corresponding economic and social changes. Street food is usually rather cheap, immediately available, natural, tasty and varied.The other side of the coin shows that because of the informal nature of street food sales, street vendors also often escape formal controls aimed at food security and the preven-tion of diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid. This appears to be more common as sellers are less educated regarding food safety measures. It is therefore important that local policy in Chennai supports these initiatives, e.g. by improving the non-motorized transport, legal protection of street vendors, elaborating quality and food safety standards, acquiring microcredits and stimulating associations of street vendors. The local Smart City Project already causes an improved spatial infra-structure for street vendors.

Case 2People, agriculture and food in an urban and rural context – insights from Havana

By Mariëlle Dubbeling RUAF i.o.v. Maria Caridad CruzFundación Antonio Nuñez Jiménez, Havana

Throughout history, the connection between human beings and natural resources was often neglected in urban development. Food supply is still absent in most urban

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development plans. Because of the economic blockade on Cuba of the last decennia, which caused a deficient food supply to the population, urban agriculture became a ne-cessity in Havana. After citizens occupied unused land in the city to produce mostly veg-etables, the government included urban agriculture in its planning. Emphasis was placed on diversity: vegetables and fruit, but also grains, meat, dairy products and rice. Havana has 27 different cropping programmes. The government provides crop protection services especially for urban agriculture. This model was partially exported to Quito, although the emphasis there is mainly on organic agriculture, decentralisation of markets and develop-ing consumer associations (canastas comunitarias).

Debate

It is clear that from the perspective of the food security issue, one must not only look at where, what and how is produced, but also how food is accessed, which food is used and what for. In order to provide an answer for a strong urbanisation, strengthening the infor-mal food sector and the itinerant sale of street food is an important strategy for cities. Supporting the informal food economy must be directed towards strengthening vendors as well as guaranteeing the required quality and food safety. A healthy balance between freedom and regulation is necessary.

Local food systems like urban agriculture, ‘Community Supported Agriculture’, subscrip-tion systems and farmers markets are important building blocks for cities’ food policy. Even if these systems lead to a certain degree of food sovereignty, they are often insuf-ficient to guarantee food security in the city. It is therefore also important to take the regions, which supply a significant part of the food consumed in cities and to a large extent also live of food production, into account in their policy plans. Local food systems can also be a step to make food trade flows from other countries more sustainable and fair by paying attention to the real cost of sustainable food and a fair compensation for the producer that is linked to it. Goals of CSA supporters and Fairtrade groups are in that way not so very different. A coalition between local food systems and international trade systems like Fair Trade must therefore be supported.

Food security concerns both the production and consumption of food. We must not only look at production and consumption systems from the perspective of assertive and eman-cipated citizens. It is just as important to know what the more anonymous consumers eat, why they eat it, where they get the food and why. In that sense it may be desirable to include not only local alternative food systems in the food policy but also involve players from the wholesale distribution and food industry in the region.

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3 - Urban and rural areas– a continuum?

To successfully build local urban food systems, the relationship between the urban mar-ket and the surrounding countryside is crucial. Which interventions are needed to align markets and production systems?

Case 1The development of a vegetable chain in function of food supply of Teguci-galpa By Fausto Rodriguez Ecobar

Veco Meso America, Nicaragua-Honduras.

An estimated 1.3 million of the 8 million Hondurans live in the capital Tegucigalpa. Over the past 50 years the city has known an uncontrolled growth and a total lack of urban planning. Farming on the nearby mountain slopes used to be sufficient to supply the city dwellers with fresh vegetables. Now, traditional markets no longer succeed in supply-ing for the explosively growing population. Lower and middle class consumers mainly purchase on 2 permanently organized farmers markets. Through these markets, farmers from a relatively large radius around the city sell their products directly to their custom-ers. The richer middle and higher class increasingly shop at supermarkets like Walmart and La Colonia. Modern supermarkets are responsible for 30 to 40% of local urban vegetable demand.

This is an excellent opportunity for farmers and vegetable growers. Only, producing for and delivering to this kind of ‘modern markets’ requires a different way of working, especially for small family farms. The challenges in terms of logistics and transport, plan-ning, quality, delivery guarantees and pricing are impressive. Hence the initiative to bring together 8 cooperative farms in one umbrella that represents them: Consorcio Agrocom-ercial de Honduras. The 1450 members together are good for an offer of 32 various types of fresh vegetables with which they supply mainly supermarkets. The Consorcio Agro-comercial is responsible for collective management, financial management, price negotia-tions, market information, logistics, marketing, legal advice,… The volume supplied to supermarkets has doubled in three years; the quality significantly improved and farmers got better prices for their production. At the same time, the challenges remain important: production must increase to meet the growing demand; a clear long-term strategy is lack-ing; production planning and logistics must improve; cost analysis from production to sales is weak and more attention will have to be given to sustainability considerations of the production model and the care for the environment in particular.

Case 2Successful links between peri-urban production and markets in the urban area of Lisbon.

By Cecilia DelgadoLaboratorio Nacional de Ingenharia Civil, Lissabon.

In 2012 the government formulated a strategy to encourage and develop food production. Land Use Planning is a methodology focused on the most important challenge for urban and semi-urban agriculture and food systems: the availability of space and the access to

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land. Notwithstanding the scarcity (land, space), small entrepreneurs start up short chain initiatives in an urban context. The economic crisis is a context factor that favours these initiatives. The question is how these niche initiatives can be scaled up.

Pilots and cases can feed the general policy. “Ugly Fruit” creates an alternative market place for fruit and vegetables that do not meet the standards of modern markets. Through a network of volunteers, a team of three young women collects unsold products from sustainable family farmers in a radius of 70 km and brings them together at 2 distribution points in Lisbon. 250 consumers are connected to the system. This way, 2 tons of food per week are recovered, in response to the problem of food losses.

“Basket at your door” is an initiative in which a producer located 10 km from Lisbon grows fruits and vegetables, among others, and delivers 80 food baskets of fresh products per week to 160 consumers. Support facilities and services such as storage space, manure and seeds are available in a radius of 8 km.

Debate

In order to develop production and consumption systems in an urban context and at a larger scale, space for agricultural production is needed. Support services like logistics, storage and transportation have to be available and aligned to the needs. Urban agricul-ture should be a comprehensive part of the spatial planning policy of the government. Possible approaches are: ‘Land Bank Approach / Community Land Trust’; the use of vacant buildings for storage and distribution... The government can implement a flanking policy such as tax incentives or the creation of ‘land banks’.

Food systems in urban areas (in which often also the relationship with the surrounding countryside is pivotal) require a multifunctional approach, therefore also new forms of integral organisation and management. Food councils, in which the various stakeholders contribute to policy in a participative way, can be a tool to deal with this complexity.In order to be able to develop a food security policy for the broad city population, the supply chain must be organised in relation to the wider surrounding countryside. Chal-lenges are located in the area of sustainability in relation to distance, transportation, growing and production methods, volume and quality of production, organisation of the trade model, the distribution system and the business model (costs and benefits). This indicates the need for a long term strategic plan developed by all stakeholders like the government, the financial sector and the chain players concerned, such as producer organisations, processors and retailers.

Today we see an exponential growth of inspiring short chain niche initiatives in the field of urban agriculture, which mainly cater a hip population category. How can these niches be upscaled to create more impact? How do urban producers relate to the more tradition-al and conventional rural producers? Indeed, the city will remain dependent on longer supply chains organised in a wider radius (cf. Copenhagen, 60 to 80 km). The challenges with respect to sustainability become more complex as the chain becomes longer. Urban consumers are now connected with farmlands that may be on other continents. Short supply chain initiatives can limit this for indigenous crops, the connection will remain for food that is considered standard diet but not grown locally. Dealing with the urban-rural

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continuum can therefore not ignore sustainability issues in international trade of food-products.

The scope within which the city can realize an immediate impact with regards to more sustainable food systems is rather limited, especially if international trade flows (includ-ing the relationship with the Global South) are taken into account. It is here that local policy connects with the vision on and position of the city concerning global challenges like fair trade and the concept of food sovereignty. The local policy can convey that vision and position on relevant national and international forums.

Everywhere in the world there are experiments with local food systems in urban contexts. The question is how local initiatives contribute to global food sovereignty and / or how these local strategies (can) influence one another.

Although the question is layered and complex, most people find themselves in a shared collective agenda: how can urban food systems contribute to a socially fair transition to-wards a more sustainable world that includes all social groups of the population? We note that the questions and challenges are similar and recognisable for many cities; however the approach is often different because it is contextually determined. There is no general blueprint – tailoring is necessary.

When drafting local food strategies, rational as well as motivational / emotional ap-proaches are important to achieve success. A thoughtful policy is supported by figures and analyses. Thus, for instance, more knowledge and insight is needed in the relation-ship between informal and formal production, trade and consumption, especially in the context of the South, but probably also in the North. A thoughtful policy is also founded on a broad support base that feels co-ownership through participation in which all rel-evant stakeholders are involved: urban citizens and consumers, associations, merchants and businesses, city services, producers,...

To be able to grasp the complexity of a sustainable food system we will have to obtain insight in relations and will need to make cross connections. Developing local food sys-tems requires a transversal policy that extends over various areas: spatial planning, social affairs, agriculture, environment, mobility,... and that does not stop at the city border but includes also the global interconnection of food. Cooking costs money: there has to be sufficient budget to implement policy.

How does local policy relate to the global food system? In which way can cities make their voices heard with respect to issues that are located at global governance level?

In other words: the complexity of the challenge and the diversity of possible answers call for an open, transparent and creative approach and action mode.

Finally

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Participants

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Report:Vredeseilandenwww.veco.org

Photos: © Stad Gent, Karen Simal

Contact: Stad Gent, International Relations and Networks -Team International Solidarity, Wouter Boesmanwouter.boesman@stad.gentwww.stad.gent/international