Public Food Policies in Difficult Times: Consumers and the State

Abstract

Data on the food system's impact on environment, society and health point to a policy mismatch between current food consumption trends and long term viability. The role of public policy in this state of affairs requires critical attention. Public policy is generally weak and still dominated by a fixation on productionism and failing to integrate equally pressing concerns. Instead the facilitating power and responsibilities of the state are too often side-stepped. A new public policy approach is required that addresses the multi-criteria nature of how we assess contemporary food systems and their challenges. The role of the state is key to any transformation but states have been weak to support the creation of better infrastructure that would normalise what society and ecosystems really need namely sustainable diets from sustainable food systems. A genuinely systemic policy approach is required for urban populations, one which gives equal emphasis to all sector of food supply chains, not just primary production. The chapter explores ideological and practical logjams which hinder the pursuit of twenty-first-century progress. These include a reluctance to confront limitations in mainstream economics and uncritical acceptance of consumer power. Only the state has the potential legitimacy to facilitate a food system transformation and to provide the foundational economy which would normalise low impact living and eating.

Citation

Lang, T. (2022), "Public Food Policies in Difficult Times: Consumers and the State", Schneider, S., Preiss, P.V. and Marsden, T. (Ed.) Food and Agriculture in Urbanized Societies (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 26), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 7-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-192220220000026004