Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

To effectively address the complex environmental challenges facing food production, distribution, and consumption, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity, it is essential to adopt a systemic approach by considering the entire food chain as a cohesive system. Institutions and countries are now compelled to take action and transition food systems toward a new and sustainable food regime. The Farm to Fork strategy of the European Union has emerged as one such strategy for transitioning food systems. However, for this transnational framework to be implemented at regional levels throughout the union, there is a growing expectation that civil society organizations, particularly food policy councils, have a crucial function in translating the strategy and thereby govern local food system transitions. The country of Sweden with limited experience in such structures, presents an important regional context to study the potential of existing cases. This research explores the contribution of two civil society organizations, Reformaten in Stockholm, and the Malmö Food Council in Malmö, through a case study approach using organizational ethnography and a mixed-method approach. By employing the sociological concepts of field and power, the study investigates how these organizations can facilitate the environmental sustainability of food production, distribution, and sale by bridging EU-level policy directives with local food system governance. The findings highlight the significant role of Reformaten and Malmö Food Council as intermediaries in Sweden, emphasizing the importance of their narratives on food system transition to establish connections between local and EU levels. To counteract the neoliberal structure that this study reveals to be a hindrance to these organizations, it is recommended that they strengthen their narratives on what a sustainable food system is, and how to get there. The organizations are also recommended to aligning their objectives with other European organizations. By doing so, Reformaten and the Malmö Food Council can contribute to change in their local food systems by means of the Farm to Fork strategy, furthering their aims of transitioning to a new and sustainable food regime.