What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives
Two key questions addressed in the current study are why urban agriculture and food initiatives in Portugal take so long to materialize, and why existing initiatives don’t scale up from projects to policies. We argue that existing initiatives are mainly carried out as linear processes and have quit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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| Online Access: | https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/708 |
| _version_ | 1797759109275058176 |
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| author | Cecília Delgado |
| author_facet | Cecília Delgado |
| author_sort | Cecília Delgado |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Two key questions addressed in the current study are why urban agriculture and food initiatives in Portugal take so long to materialize, and why existing initiatives don’t scale up from projects to policies. We argue that existing initiatives are mainly carried out as linear processes and have quite limited long-term political commitment. We carried out in-depth interviews with key informants involved in formulating the four initiatives examined. Findings suggest that political commitment and funding are critical points explaining why urban agriculture and food initiatives take so long to materialize in Portugal. These findings align with the conclusions of the recent reports from IPES-Food (Hawkes & Halliday, 2017) and ICLEI-RUAF (Dubbeling, 2013) on what makes food policy happen. In-depth interviews with key informants highlight additional constraints, notably the lack of several important facilitating tools such as monitoring and assessment of initiatives; strong vertical multilevel governance and horizontal city-based governance; and significant participatory processes for project implementation and policy formulation. Based on the results obtained so far, we conclude that the constraints found in Portugal come mostly from governance-related issues. Therefore, changes can only happen under a supportive policy at the national level and a facilitating legal system based on vertical and horizontal multilevel governance, strong political commitment, and a national awareness campaign among all the food systems actors. A national platform able to gather relevant data and assess and monitor ongoing initiatives may be the key step to assembling different stakeholders who can advocate and then lead to higher political commitment in Portugal. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:39:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-46cc2cce35514cff954e73d35fbcf3fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2152-0801 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:39:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-46cc2cce35514cff954e73d35fbcf3fc2023-08-02T07:51:31ZengLyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food SystemsJournal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development2152-08012019-07-019110.5304/jafscd.2019.091.021What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese InitiativesCecília Delgado0NOVA University LisbonTwo key questions addressed in the current study are why urban agriculture and food initiatives in Portugal take so long to materialize, and why existing initiatives don’t scale up from projects to policies. We argue that existing initiatives are mainly carried out as linear processes and have quite limited long-term political commitment. We carried out in-depth interviews with key informants involved in formulating the four initiatives examined. Findings suggest that political commitment and funding are critical points explaining why urban agriculture and food initiatives take so long to materialize in Portugal. These findings align with the conclusions of the recent reports from IPES-Food (Hawkes & Halliday, 2017) and ICLEI-RUAF (Dubbeling, 2013) on what makes food policy happen. In-depth interviews with key informants highlight additional constraints, notably the lack of several important facilitating tools such as monitoring and assessment of initiatives; strong vertical multilevel governance and horizontal city-based governance; and significant participatory processes for project implementation and policy formulation. Based on the results obtained so far, we conclude that the constraints found in Portugal come mostly from governance-related issues. Therefore, changes can only happen under a supportive policy at the national level and a facilitating legal system based on vertical and horizontal multilevel governance, strong political commitment, and a national awareness campaign among all the food systems actors. A national platform able to gather relevant data and assess and monitor ongoing initiatives may be the key step to assembling different stakeholders who can advocate and then lead to higher political commitment in Portugal.https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/708Urban AgricultureDriversConstraintsFood PolicyPortugal |
| spellingShingle | Cecília Delgado What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development Urban Agriculture Drivers Constraints Food Policy Portugal |
| title | What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives |
| title_full | What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives |
| title_fullStr | What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives |
| title_full_unstemmed | What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives |
| title_short | What Makes Food Policies Happen? Insights from Portuguese Initiatives |
| title_sort | what makes food policies happen insights from portuguese initiatives |
| topic | Urban Agriculture Drivers Constraints Food Policy Portugal |
| url | https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/708 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ceciliadelgado whatmakesfoodpolicieshappeninsightsfromportugueseinitiatives |