unit 4

Question 1

food justice

Answer 1

• broader than food security
• encompasses the concepts of production and distribution of food to ensure food security

Food justice proponents:

• ensure food security by taking action to ensure that production and distribution of food is fair for everyone around the world
• support food systems different than the regime of corporate food giants that currently dominate the sourcing, processing and distribution in our grocery stores, including off-season fruits and vegetables in developing countries.

Question 2

food democracy

Answer 2

the concept used to defend the rights of citizens to make informed choices about their food and have the ability to genuinely influence the production, processing and distribution of their food,

(including what is to be done with excess food and waste resulting from food production, processing and distribution)

currently only possible at local level

Question 3

food sovereignty

Answer 3

paradigm that includes those of food justice and food democracy

defined as people’s

1) right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods
2) to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Question 4

example of a food sovereignty movement

Answer 4

La Via Campesina: an international non-profit organization that promotes individual farmers’ rights and sustainable agriculture

Question 5

what is the dominant distribution paradigm

Answer 5

corporate power and free trade

• Few large companies dominating large sub-sectors of the food system
  The dominant Industrial food system paradigm is fuelled by free trade agreements

Question 6

describe the free trade paradigm

Answer 6

• people promoting free trade argue that we should remove all types of barriers and work towards limited state
  intervention in the economy (unregulated = most efficient)
• each country should produce what it is most efficient at doing, resulting in vast networks of imports and exports around the world for the benefit of all
• Government intervention is inefficient + inaccurate bc officials don’t understand issues perfectly and are subject to the interest of lobbyists and unions
• NEOLIBERAL thinking (Milton Friedman). Typical of newtonian-mechanical paradigm

Question 7

downsides of the free trade paradigm

Answer 7

Narrow flashlight: miss harsh realities since the social and environmental costs are not factored in
Factors are seen as separate from the distribution of goods

free trade has always involved regulations in the interest of powerful economies: free trade rules were always determined by rich and powerful nations unfairly demanding relatively easy access to raw materials, food and markets in developing countries while protecting their own agricultural industries from competition (think of European Union and U.S. subsidies to agriculture).

Question 8

alternative distribution models

Answer 8

A: Give access to local food
1. farmers markets

2. direct sales from farmer to consumer via Community-supported agriculture (CSA)= ppl buy in advance a share of the harvest and receive weekly/regularly delivered directly from the farm
3. specialized wholesalers
   EX: spud

B. fair trade
- agricultural producers and buyers follow specific social, environmental and price standards verified by an independent auditor which grants labelling with the well-known logo = FAIRTRADE certification

• fair trade proponents argue that market regulation is needed to create equitable trading between developed and less developed nations

C. Lobby groups for changes to the dominant system
- proponents use the paradigm of food justice

• promotes food self-sufficiency (against large dependence on imports)
• more transparent food system
  reduction in corporate power
• radical: argue that we need to look at the food system from perspectives of race, decolonization, environmental concerns, anti-poverty activism, social justice and human rights

Question 9

social benefits of Local food distribution model

Answer 9

1. strengthen links between urban and rural communities

2. divert more of the food $ spent by consumers to producers + keeping the $$ in BC economy

Question 10

what is the main cause of food insecurity in North America

Answer 10

low income

in Northern Canada, food prices are much higher (and often have lower incomes than ppl in the south) so there is more food insecurity

Question 11

Food insecurity due to poor quality food choices

Answer 11

many overweight individuals in NA deficient in vitamins and minerals

women’s return to work in the late 1970s-now => no cook at home to prepare meals at end of the day so ppl. (particularly families) started relying on frozen/pre-made meals/fast food
- AS a result: cooking skills and knowledge have diminished over time

increase lifestyle pace. meals aren’t scheduled around and cooking and shopping are not high priorities = opt for convenience

Question 12

what’s a negative consequence of encouraging healthy eating/cooking from scratch?

Answer 12

working parents, mostly women, suffer from stress because they feel responsible for cooking from scratch perfect and totally healthy meals for their family every night.

Question 13

explain the influence of marketing and ‘food noise’

Answer 13

consumers in developed countries are exposed to continuous and intense presence of food-related messages

• drown out the science-based nutrition information
• some of the messages are scientifically invalid

influence ppl to buy their products through social media and celebrity ‘influencers’

ie: fad diets and even well-intended nutrition advice can be skewed by the media (turning relatively small studies into new eating paradigms => superfood crases for goji berries, gluten-free, raw food, etc)

Question 14

some consequences of ‘food noise’

Answer 14

loss of our traditional markers such as food made by our parents or grandparents with local and seasonal ingredients
- leads for some to unhealthy relationships with food: orthorexia; dependence on miracle diets or pills; reliance on detox programs which lack scientific support

nutritional science information/research has been ‘re-engineered by the food industry or media
ex: warning about overconsumption of red meat=> phobia of all kinds of fats

Question 15

barriers to nutritional science

Answer 15

1. is not in the business of distributing information and does not have budgets for communication as the food industry does.
   - therefore its messages have taken a long time to be adopted by the general public
2. even though the gov’t use NS for nutritional guidelines, the process is SLOW
   - new discoveries take years to become recommendations and budgets are limited
3. The molecular complexity of whole foods is not well understood and neither is the science of understanding the details of how whole foods are digested. There have been mistakes in the past
4. based o experiments or surveys involving hums (lousy research budgets!!! so variable based on genetic, lifestyle and gut microbiome factors)
   - NO unique/best diet for everyone!

Question 16

what is the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR)?

Answer 16

• created in 1973
• protects BC’s limited farmland from development to ensure its food security
• protected from development
• There are 4.6 million British Columbians and about 1 hectare of land preserved in the ALR for each citizen

**note! 45% of the protected farmland is not in production and that some of it is needed for non-food products such as Christmas tree production, horse farms, flowers or recreation.

Question 17

the recent change to ALR in BC and its potential consequences?

Answer 17

gov’t created two zones within the ALR to allow non-agricultural activities on less productive land. The government argues that the changes will give landowners more than one option to derive revenue from their land.

• worries that it will allow land speculation and make farmland more expensive for young farmers

Question 18

Why is the ALR important?

Answer 18

A healthy regional and local food system is a buffer against wild variations in prices due to weather extremes or world events? self-sufficiency

ex: The 2014-2015 California drought which resulted in increases in the price of fruits and vegetables

if prices rise in the international markets, domestic production provides an alternative to local consumers

Question 19

what’s an indicator?

Answer 19

an easy quantitative measurement providing information about the health of a system

EX: that body temperature and blood pressure are indicators of human health: easy, quantitative measurements that provide information about the health of a person.

EX2: water quality downstream from the farm is an indicator of environmental sustainability.
(they’re handling their manure properly)

Question 20

what are the indicators for food security

Answer 20

1. availability: being able to FIND food that is important for one’s health and cooking practices.
2. accessibility: being able to GET food. a problem for disabled, or elderly individuals.
3. affordability: being able to BUY food within one’s budgets after housing, medical + other essential costs
4. acceptability: access to culturally acceptable food (obtained in ways that don’t compromise one’s dignity, self-respect + human rights).
   ex: kosher, halal, and ethical concerns (humanely raised animals, etc)
5. safety: food won’t lead to illness or injury
6. sustainability: refers o the system involved in bringing the food to the consumer + its ability to maintain production long-term such that it won’t harm humans or the environment. (economically and environmentally sustainable).
7. nutrition: buying food that leads to a healthy life and doesn’t compromise one’s future health

**importance of some indicators and the specificities will change between communities

Question 21

the importance of social sustainability in reliving food insecurity.

Answer 21

Science-backed nutrition and agriculture programs deployed with the best intentions will fail if the people targeted by the program do not want, accept and adopt the program (Cultural, social and religious barriers can derail interventions by donor groups or institutions)

EX:
1) the failure of increased crop production via donation of free seeds and extra land to relieve hunger in Africa because fieldwork and harvesting are the sole responsibility of the woman who is too tired to cook for her family at the end of the day if the area being farmed is too large;

2) the failure of nutrition education over popular beliefs in developing countries where there is no formal education such as. Donor organizations and countries must work on education and at the same time, respect some of these deeply entrenched non-scientific beliefs.

Question 22

What is the Market Basket Measure?

Answer 22

used by Human Resources and Development Canada

the ability to purchase the market basket that will allow a family of two adults and two children to achieve a creditable standard of living

• this cost varies between countries, family sizes, etc

Question 23

why are emergency food outlets inappropriate solutions to food insecurity?

Answer 23

the supply of food is variable in quantity and quality, choice is limited, the process is demeaning (lose dignity)

relives hunger but does not build food security****

Question 24

solutions to food insecurity?

Answer 24

better policies at local, national and global levels that address root issues of low income/poverty.

create grassroots food projects to help people build food security. ( don’t change high unemployment and inadequate social assistance rates but improve ppls lives immediately and get ppl working together to fight for a more just society where hunger is nonexistent)

Question 25

in our dominant paradigm is food security a right or a commodity?

Answer 25

In reality, our food is made of items that are all commodities.

Question 26

what is a commodity?

Answer 26

A commodity is a product which is bought at a price lower than the price it is sold for.
The larger corporations can be in charge of several steps in the supply chain. They can be buyers, distributors and processors for example. While the current food system is very efficient at filling our shelves with a myriad of products, it remains that the main objective of the various players of the food supply chain is to maximize returns to investors. It is not to ensure the food security of Canadian citizens.

Question 27

whose responsibility is it to ensure food security

Answer 27

Since most of the food we encounter every day in our lives is sold to us through the normal channels of a complex supply chain subject to influences of the world economy, insuring that food is a right for everyone, is the responsibility of governments.