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The Food Systems Approach: Sustainable Solutions for a Sufficient Supply of Healthy Food

1 Introduction

The European Agriculture and Fisheries Policies and Food Security Department (ELVV) of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has identified a need to explore the usefulness of the food systems approach (FSA) in shaping the Ministry's contribution to Dutch policy on food security, aid, trade, and investment policy. That need is fuelled by the following: 

  • The food system is increasingly being used internationally as a useful analytical framework for the integrated consideration of interests relating to food and for introducing a policy focus on public health and the ecological sustainability and robustness of food production and consumption. See for example UNEP (2016), Global Panel (2016), and HLPE (2017). 
  • Dutch policy on food security centers on three themes: 1. eliminating hunger and malnutrition, 2. inclusive and sustainable growth, and 3. environmentally sustainable food systems. The concept of 'food systems' can be useful for showing the relationship between these themes. 
  • The Directorate Inclusive Green Growth (IGG) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs employs what is called 'nexus thinking'. This involves linking (adopting an integrated approach to) food security, climate, energy, water, and biodiversity challenges. The food system plays a major role in all these challenges and the systems approach immediately highlights who the relevant players are. 
  • The top sectors Agri & Food and Made in Holland Horticulture and Starting Materials have announced in their strategy that they are wanting to work on systems solutions in emerging and developing countries. 
  • The international agri-business cluster of ELVV-DG Agriculture and Nature (DGA&N) at the Ministry of Economic Affairs is working with the Sustainable Economic Development (DDE) and the Inclusive Green Growth (IGG) departments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) on guidelines for sector development and wishes to incorporate these into an FSA. 
  • Food systems are subject to rapid change (especially in emerging countries, but in developing countries too) in response to growing prosperity and urbanization, in combination with increases in scale, globalization, and the consolidation of players in food systems. 
  • The balanced inclusion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in policy and implementation also calls for an integrated framework. 
  • The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PLB) has argued in regular interdepartmental DG meetings that policy should be based more on system levels (food, transport/logistics, energy, and urban systems) and the interactions between them. The suggestion was very well received. 

The aim of this paper is twofold: to explain the term 'food systems approach' in greater detail, and to show how a food systems conceptual framework (one that is firmly imbedded in the international literature in this field) can be useful in developing an integrated international policy on food security, nutritional security and international agri-business. 

Food systems thinking gained increasing traction following the sharp price rises for agricultural and other commodities in 2008/09, which once again put food security (or rather, food insecurity) high on the policy agenda. In addition to expanding food production, improved access to food became an important component in thinking about food security. At the same time, the limitations of natural conditions for a growth in agricultural production became increasingly clear, especially in relation to anticipated climate changes. It was also clear that an increase in food production alone would not improve food security but that nutritional value is important when it comes to combating malnutrition (and obesity). The research community and policymakers were encouraged to look more broadly than at agricultural production alone in order to enhance food security for a growing world population. Since then, many reports and scientific articles have appeared that use the food systems approach as a framework for understanding changes in food systems in relation to food security and climate change. This also makes it a useful approach for designing transformative action at the interface between science and policy.