Strengthening Local Food Systems Governance

Healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems: Growing the role of local government?

Beginning in 2019, this ARC Discovery project aims to investigate the role of law, policy, and regulation in enabling local governments and communities to contribute to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, it will analyse policies and initiatives developed by local governments and communities in New South Wales and Victoria ​that aim to contribute to a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system. The knowledge created by this project will inform recommendations for policy and legislative reforms that will empower local governments and communities to respond to food system challenges at the local level.

Aims

• Ascertain the enablers and barriers to local governments contributing to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems, including law and regulation;
• Ascertain the barriers and enablers to community-based initiatives that contribute to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems, including law and regulation; and
• Identify pathways to strengthen the role of local governments and communities in creating healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems, via an integrated set of recommendations for policy and legislative change at state and local level, as appropriate.

Methods

This project is based on a food systems approach, which reflects a growing awareness of the interconnections between food production and consumption, environmental sustainability, and health outcomes, and the need for governance approaches that addresses these interactions. By adopting a food systems lens, the project moves out of a “siloed” approach. This multi-methods project incorporates:

• critical legal analysis of the legal and regulatory framework that establishes and empowers local governments;
• in-depth case study analysis of local government food polices and community-based initiatives, and the barriers to and enablers of implementation, using qualitative research methods; and
• the identification of options for policy and legislative reform to enable local-level governance of food systems

Part one of the project will involve creating a database of local government policies on food system governance in all local government areas in NSW and Victoria. Part two will involve working closely with approximately three to four local governments in each state to understand practical implementation of these policies, and the barriers and enablers to action by local councils “on the ground” to effect food system change. Part three of the project will identify civil society organisations engaged in food system governance in Australia through a survey that was open March-June 2021. Part four will involve a case study of approximately five to eight of these initiatives, focusing on the barriers to and enablers of their success, including partnerships, law, regulation and policy.

Investigators

Dr Belinda Reeve

Professor Karen Charlton 

Professor Roger Magnusson

Dr Nick Rose 

Research Assistants

Dr Amy Carrad

Dr Ikerne Aguirre-Bielschowsky

Lizzy Turner

Rebecca Smits (Honours Research Student 2021 – University of Wollongong)

Advisory Committee

• Berbel Franse, Health Promotion Officer (Food Security / Food Sustainability), Healthy Cities Illawarra 
• Callum Champagne, Farm manager, Green Connect 
• Deanne Condon-Paoloni, Member of Public Health Association of Australia and Food Fairness Illawarra. Honorary Fellow, School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong 
• Greg Jacobs, Team Leader Health Department, City of Melbourne 
• Heather Yeatman, Professor of Public Health, School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong 
• Helen Trevena, Senior Policy Analyst (Food Policy), NSW Ministry of Health (Centre for Population Health)
• Jen Alden, Councilor, City of Greater Bendigo. Chair, Bendigo Regional Food Alliance  
• Linda Martin-Chew, Consultant/Director Plan-it Rural PL and Senior Strategic Policy Planner at City of Whittlesea 
• Mahlah Grey, Co-owner, The Pines Kiama 
• Michael Buxton, Emeritus Professor Environment and Planning,School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University
• Phil Baker, Alfred Deakin Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Health, Deakin University

Events

Achievements

Publications Associated with the Project

Journal articles

Carrad, A. Smits, R., Charlton, K., Rose, N. & Reeve, B. 2023. The role of Australian civil society organisations in food system governance: Opportunities for collaboration in dietetics practice. Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics. Publication

This paper reports the results of a survey of Australian civil society organisations that self-identified as being involved in food system governance. Forty-three organisations responded, including non-government organisations, social enterprises, businesses, and a collaborative research initiative. The paper describes the objectives and activities of these organisations, their policy priorities, networks, and their perceptions of the benefits of, enablers of, and barriers to civil society organisations’ involvement in food system governance.

Carrad, A. Turner, L., Rose, N., Charlton, K. & Reeve, B. 2022. Local innovation in food system policies: A case study of six Australian local governments. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Publication

This paper reports the results of the case studies we conducted of six local governments; three in NSW (Canada Bay, Penrith, Gwydir) and three in Victoria (Melbourne, Cardinia, Bendigo. The paper describes the main motivators for the development of food system policies and programs, steps undertaken in developing the policy/programs, and the on-the-ground activities implemented. It also identifies key enablers of and barriers to policy/program development and implementation, and presents recommendations for strengthening the role of Australian local governments in creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system.

Carrad, A. Aguirre-Bielschowsky, I., Rose, N., Charlton, K. & Reeve, B. 2022. Food system policy making and innovation at the local level: Exploring the response of Australian local governments to critical food system issues. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. Publication

This paper reports the results of the survey sent to all local governments in NSW and Victoria. N = 64 responses were received. The findings demonstrate local government involvement in a variety of food system issues, particularly food waste, food-related social/cultural activities, and providing potable water. Local governments were enabled by internal local government support, human resources, external funding, and partnerships. Barriers included a lack of community interest, short-term and/or project-based funding, internal governance, and state government planning frameworks.

Carrad, A. Aguirre-Bielschowsky, I., Reeve, B., Rose, N. & Charlton, K. 2022. Australian local government policies on creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system: analysis in New South Wales and Victoria. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. Publication

This paper reports the results of the policy mapping study (Part 1 of this project). We examined policies from all local governments in NSW (n = 128) and Victoria (n = 79) relevant to creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system. With a final sample of 2,266 policies and strategic documents included, the research demonstrates the wide variety of actions local governments are taking in relation to food system issues. It reports the areas for action that are most common, least common, and draws comparisons between the two states, and between metropolitan and non-metropolitan local governments.

Rose, N., Reeve, B. & Charlton, K. 2022. Barriers and enablers for healthy food systems and environments: The role of local governments. Current Nutrition Reports. Publication

This paper provides a review of some of the principal barriers for the design and support of healthy food systems and environments, as well as some key reforms that can be adopted to address these barriers, with a focus on the role of local governments.

Lourival, I. & Rose, N. 2020. From Nar Nar Goon to Koo Wee Rup: Can participatory food policy making processes contribute to healthier and fairer food systems in the Australian municipal context? A case study from Cardinia Shire, Melbourne’, Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition. Publication

This paper is a reflective analysis of the process that led to the creation of Cardinia Shire’s Community Food Strategy in 2018, one of the first food system strategies of its kind in Victoria and nationally. The participatory creation of the Strategy was a core focus of the first phase of the multi-year Cardinia Food Circles project, which Council have integrated as central to the achievement of their statutory obligations under the 2008 Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Act. Given that the Strategy’s vision is the establishment of a ‘fair, sustainable, resilient and delicious food system for all residents of Cardinia Shire’, the paper and the associated qualitative research provide an important contribution to the goals of the ARC project in terms of supporting governance and policy mechanisms that contribute, at the local government level, to a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system.

Reeve, B., Thow, A. M., Baker, P., Hresc, J. & May, S. 2020. The role of Australian local governments in creating a healthy food environment: An analysis of policy documents from six Sydney local governments. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 44(2): 137-144. Publication

This paper reports the results of a pilot study informing the design of the ARC project. The researchers (including Belinda Reeve, lead investigator on the ARC project) examined policies from six local governments in NSW relevant to promoting a healthy food supply and consumer food environment. While a small-scale project, the research indicates that NSW local governments are already taking action to support improved nutrition in local communities, although there are further opportunities for action.

Conferences

In the media