Food Policy: Priorities for Action Food Alliance Report of Priority Setting Forum
Food Alliance for a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system
Food Alliance Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Forum Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Presentation 1: Victorian Government Food Interdepartmental Committee ............................................... 3 Justin Hanney .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Questions from group ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Presentation 2: VicHealth ................................................................................................................................... 4 John Fitzgerald ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Presentation 3: Planning for food ...................................................................................................................... 4 Trevor Budge ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Priority A: Government Strategy ........................................................................................................................ 5 Vision ................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Victorian Government’s role within the food system .................................................................................. 6 Content of strategy .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Needed to get there ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Summary .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Priority B: Public Sector Food ............................................................................................................................ 7 Who are the public sector? ............................................................................................................................ 8 What we want in five years time ................................................................................................................... 8 Standards should cover ................................................................................................................................. 9 Barriers ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 Needed to get there ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 Priority C: Land Use Planning .......................................................................................................................... 13 The problem ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Supply ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 Access ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 Where do we want to be in 5 years and how? .......................................................................................... 14 Supply ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 Access ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 16 Forum conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 16 Public sector food .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Government wide strategy ........................................................................................................................... 17 Land use planning ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Further involvement in the Food Alliance ....................................................................................................... 17 Working groups ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Appendix one: relevant documents ................................................................................................................. 19 Appendix two: forum participants .................................................................................................................... 21
Food Policy: Priorities for Action Food Alliance Report on Priority Setting Workshop, May 2010 Food Alliance Food Policy Unit WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention Deakin University 221 Burwood Highway Burwood VIC 3125 Phone: +61 3 9244 3802
Email: kathy.mcconell@deakin.edu.au kena.duignan@deakin.edu.au
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Introduction The creation of a sustainable and healthy food system in Victoria is gaining momentum in both government and community sectors. There is a groundswell of people and organisations working to achieve this aim but until recently there have been very few resources dedicated to coordinating this work and collectively pushing forward this agenda. The Food Alliance is a new organisation with the aim of being a leader in identifying, analysing, advising, and advocating for evidence-informed food policies and regulatory reform to enable sustainable food security and healthy eating in the Victorian population. The Alliance is funded by VicHealth and auspiced by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University. The Food Alliance ran a forum on 31st of March 2010 to work with key stakeholders to set priorities for our work. The participants of the forum were asked to discuss the three policy issues that had been identified as key areas for work: Public sector food Government wide food strategy Land use planning This report sets out the findings from the day. Summaries of the key presentations are given and the aims and strategies suggested for each of the three work areas are discussed. Finally, the processes for future involvement with the Food Alliance are explained including how organisations and individuals can participate including through joining working parties. The concepts presented in this report are the ideas reflected on the day. The Food Alliance will now work to hone these into clearer policy positions and action plans.
Forum Overview The priority setting forum was held at the offices of our funder VicHealth. The morning was devoted to three speakers on the topics of a Victorian food strategy, VicHealth’s food policy work and land use planning. These speakers were followed by facilitated small group discussions on three policy issues to provide the opportunity to explore and identify the best policy options and advocacy action to advance food system improvement. The invitees were a selected number of experts with broad representation from diverse sectors (see appendix two). Collectively, participants of the workshop discussed the issues of public sector food, a Government wide food strategy, and land use planning to set some strategies for the Food Alliance’s work. The forum aims were to: Introduce the Food Alliance, its aims, roles and structure; Discuss the food policy context in Victoria; Identify the priority problem areas within the food system specified under the dimensions of equity, health, environment and economic sustainability; Identify policy solutions to address the food system problems; and Present proposed vehicles to communicate the Alliance’s progress and for participation.
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Presentation 1: Victorian Government Food Interdepartmental Committee Justin Hanney Justin Hanney is the Chief Executive of Regional Development Victoria (RDV) and the Chair of the Victorian Government’s Food Interdepartmental Committee (IDC). Victoria is a major food producing state, contributing 12% of the world’s dairy products and using 88% of its water on agriculture. Because of this, the state is in a strong position to be the Australian leader in food policy and needs a food strategy to drive this leadership. Recognition of the need for improved coordination within government on food policy has lead to the formation of the IDC. The Committee has high-level support from the Premier and ensures continued support by requiring attendance from the Deputy Secretaries of all departments except for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Regional Development Victoria provides the secretariat for the Committee. From the Committees view, some of the key food policy related problems faced by Victoria are: International competition; Less than favourable terms of trade Rising input costs, for example energy and water; Difficulty attracting and retaining skilled workers; Adverse consumer perceptions about the health and environmental safety of some technologies used in food; Obesity and diet related ill health; Climate change and prolonged limitations on water; and Environmental sustainability The objectives of the committee are to achieve: Competitive food business in domestic and international markets; Healthier Victoria with obesity decreasing; Vibrant food culture and connected community (including tourism); and Safe, secure, sustainable and resilient food systems. The Committee have developed a paper that is overseen by Jacinta Allan. An announcement is likely to be made about that in the next few months. This will be followed by a series of roundtables from midyear.
Questions from group Why is the Committee sitting in DIIRD? Justin Hanney replied that there was a significant amount of interest from several departments on this issue. DIIRD see themselves as the moderators between industry, health and sustainability concerns. How can the Alliance engage with the process? The Committee would like to have a presentation from the Alliance that shares the outcomes of this forum and gives two or three key areas of priority.
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Presentation 2: VicHealth John Fitzgerald VicHealth has a long history of promoting healthy eating as a basis for health. Over the past eight years VicHealth’s focus has been on research and community-level food security projects. The community-level work highlighted that to address the most significant structural factors responsible for the insecure food system in Victoria and Australia a more upstream, systems focus was required. VicHealth and its stakeholders recognised the need for high level advocacy and co-ordination between existing policy and programs, research, evaluation and monitoring. They believed that a high level advocacy organisation would be well placed to effect systems level change in the food system and therefore have potential to improve population nutrition for those at risk in the community. To investigate how this could best be done, VicHealth commissioned the Food Policy Coalition Scoping project in 2008 which informed the tender for a Food Policy Coalition. Deakin University’s WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention was awarded the tender in mid-2009.
Presentation 3: Planning for food Trevor Budge Urban sprawl in Victoria is accelerating. The current paradigm of continual expansion can be described as one of the “enduring legacies of a pioneering nation”. Without any intervention it is a surety that urban areas will move onto current food growing land. In Australia, arable land is scarce and will only be found where water is available, which is usually around cities as they are sited where food has been historically available. Cities are designed to consume more than they can produce themselves, modern transportation and post harvest storage technologies mean that food can be purchased from the cheapest source, wherever that may be. Because of this the food system is not seen to be linked with the built environment and food has gone off the agenda of town planners. Australia is currently growing more than enough food to feed itself but exporting that food is a significant part of the economy as well as a significant part of contributing to worldwide food security. There is no national policy in Australia for planning for food. Vancouver and Sri Lanka both provide examples of how to plan for food. Sri Lanka has a national plan to protect their fragile areas and partially due to its focus on food, Vancouver was named the world’s most liveable city. The Southeast Queensland plan is the best example of integrating food and planning in Australia. Australia should also look to the United States system to learn because of their similarities including a three-tiered system (local, state and federal). An Australian national plan could secure food and land as a resource. Current Australian policies are generally ‘aspirational’ and developers have the ability to put pressure on local government to overcome them. The peri-urban area is highly fragmented through subdivision. Developers can pay prices well above the value of the agricultural land, which means that farmers have an incentive to sell to the highest bidder and take that land out of food production. The current system means that land can be taken out of production with no consideration to food, social or economic requirements. 4 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
Food Alliance People want to live in cities with 85% of the Australian population living in 31 cities so how then, do we allocate land and develop metropolitan agricultural areas? There is an untapped capacity of the community to produce food. Most action on food planning, either protecting and utilising agricultural land or creating barriers to its use, happens at the local level while the issues themselves are decided on at the state level. The planning structure needs to acknowledge local food systems in order to create healthy and sustainable food systems. This is not a new issue for planners. Since the 1950s, metropolitan strategies have been trying to address this issue. All of Victoria’s metropolitan strategies already include supply of food or protection of agricultural land but this hasn’t become action. A whole host of disciplines have become interested in the issue of urban sprawl and protection of agricultural land: land planners, health practitioners, conservationists, and growers.
Three prioritised issues were discussed in facilitated small groups. Summaries of the discussions are provided below. The priorities are not listed in order of importance.
Priority A: Government Strategy Food activity and policy in Victorian Government is fragmented both horizontally and vertically. There are conflicts with different paradigms, objectives and agendas within government. The agendas of health, sustainability and public planning often clash with those of economic rationalism and a dominance of the market paradigm. There is a lack of accountability when it comes to food policy. No department has a leadership role and so the visibility of the importance of food remains low. The strength of food sector lobbying does not work in the interests of the wider public. There is a strong need for coordination across many tiers, local, state, national and global. Business as usual will likely increase the problem so a new approach is required. A state-wide integrated food strategy should be focused on the health and wellbeing of the Victorian population and environment. Government’s current disjointed approach to food policy creates inefficiencies and barriers to achieving a healthy and sustainable food system. The Alliance can work to campaign for a strong, government wide food strategy that will provide leadership to the range of government departments, industry and community sector groups. There is already movement in the Victorian Government to develop a food strategy. The Alliance could provide the perfect vehicle to join together the voices of our stakeholders to lobby for a strong, achievable and well-supported Victoria food strategy. The forum subgroup examining a government strategy discussed their vision for the future, what the Victorian government’s role in the food system should be what a state wide food strategy should include and gave some priorities for the Food Alliance’s work on this issue.
Vision The vision is for a healthy Victoria that safeguards the wellbeing of the Victorian population and the environment. This will be reached through a food system that, across generations, enhances: Health including food safety, decrease in chronic diseases, increase in wellbeing and abides by human rights; Culture increasing enjoyment, variety, inclusion, and connection to food; Economy creating viable employment, resilient and sustainable; Environment reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting resources such as water, soil, and biodiversity; and 5 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
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Equity ensuring that everyone has health, economic wellbeing, access to healthy and affordable foods.
Victorian Government’s role within the food system Representing an agricultural state, the Victorian Government has the ability to be able to influence and show leadership across the whole food system in Australia. The following are ways in which the government could increase the profile of food. Integrated food strategy This is the key tool that the Food Alliance is calling for. This strategy could lead to the other tools described above. The strategy should set out the Victorian Government’s plan to improve the food system and should include overarching principles of health and environmental protection, social inclusion and economic resilience. It should be well resourced to allow for implementation and have indicators built in determining success. The strategy should develop a regulatory framework to implement policies. There should be genuine consultation carried out during the development and implementation of the strategy. To help this strategy be developed we need coordination across government. In addition to this we could consider the forming of a Department of Food and a Food Commissioner. Vertical coordination The Victorian government could use its position to develop strong links between federal and local government. This would allow issues of implementation (often controlled by local government) to be linked to the higher level policy developed by the federal government. Government Bodies for food. There is currently no government department that covers the mandate of food. A distinct, visible, permanent department with ‘food’ in its name would ensure that the issue did not get lost in the disjointedness of government. With a strong political mandate for action from the Premier level, the Minister in charge of this department would be able to raise the profile of food. The Department of Food could provide a clear coordinated approach and horizontal coordination across government. This department could carry out food impact assessments on other related policies, conduct research, monitoring and have an evaluation capacity. An Independent arbitrator or investigator could also be established to examine conflicts related to food. This Food Commissioner could also oversee the implementation of policy recommendations. The Commissioner would have to remain impartial and push the vision of the Food Strategy.
Content of strategy The strategy should deal with the following issues: Land use planning; Public sector food purchasing; Targets/standards for food industry; 6 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
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Transport; Workforce; Monitoring (including audits and mapping) and research; National advocacy; and Other issues identified in the multiple examples of other food strategies.
Needed to get there Like public sector food standards, there are numerous examples from which Victoria can learn. These other national and regional food policies and strategies should influence the development and focus of a Victorian strategy (see appendix). The forum participants identified key work streams for the Food Alliance on this issue. Audit of Government The Food Alliance should audit the activities of the Victorian government in the area of food. This audit will describe their current activities and provide some critical analysis of how well they are carrying out those activities and what else they should be doing. Inclusive consultation It is crucial that the process of developing a strategy is inclusive of: local government; industry (especially farmers); politicians; professional bodies and academics; and the community sector. The Food Alliance should work with these partners to ensure that we are all putting appropriate and coordinated pressure on the Victorian government to develop the right strategy. Engage The Food Alliance has been invited to present to the Interdepartmental Committee on a Victorian Food Strategy. This is a perfect opportunity for us to build relationships with the committee and contribute to the development of a Victorian Food Strategy.
Summary The Food Alliance should work with the Victorian Government to influence the development of a Victorian Food Strategy. The first area of activity should be an audit of current and potential government activity, working with key stakeholders to develop recommendations, followed by presentations to the Interdepartmental Committee.
Priority B: Public Sector Food The Victorian government is responsible for overseeing the food purchasing of a wide range of sectors including schools, childcare, prisons, aged care facilities, health care services, and the catering that occurs within local and state government itself. The sheer volume of food services under the mandate of the Victorian government provides a significant opportunity for the 7 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
Food Alliance government to alter its approach to the sourcing, serving and promotion of food, leading to improvements in the health of customers and staff, while reducing environmental impacts. This role modelling would inspire and provide leadership for other sectors, demonstrate to the public that healthy and sustainable food is the norm and provide the demand that industry needs in order to change supply. Work has begun within Victoria and other state governments to improve nutrition and sustainability in some settings within the public sector. This demonstrates the potential for positive change to make Victoria’s public sector food healthier and more sustainable. The forum participants analysing public sector food discussed what are public sector organisations, what they would like to see in five years time, the barriers to achieving it and what is needed to reach this goal. This discussion is presented below and describes what should be the future work of the Alliance on public sector food.
Who are the public sector? Public sector food is food that is purchased using tax dollars. All government departments buy some food but there are some departments that spend the bulk of the money or are influential departments (see table below) Victorian Government Bodies Responsible for Department of Education and Early Childhood Schools Development Child care services Universities and other tertiary institutions Department of Justice Prisons Department of Health (state and federal) Hospitals Aged care services Department of Human Services Aged care services Department of Planning and Community Development Aged care services Department of Premier and Cabinet Their internal catering Municipality Association of Victoria Local government’s own catering Police Their internal catering Department of Sustainability and Environment Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board Country Fire Authority Fire service catering Ambulance Victoria Their internal catering Department of Defence (federal) Defence forces Also included in public sector food purchasing are community services which are funded specifically to feed people, for example emergency accommodation. The purchasing of food for these services is the responsibility of the government body that funds them.
What we want in five years time In five years time the Food Alliance wants Victoria to have mandatory and monitored standards to ensure that public money is being spent on food that provides health, environmental, economic and social benefits to society.
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Standards should cover There are a huge range of issues and categories that these standards should cover. The main ones identified by the forum participants were: Category Salt Fruit and vegetable
Saturated and trans fats Bottled water Fish
Certification
Seasonality
Meat and animal products Fair trade Portion size Processed foods Food waste Cultural appropriateness
Suggested type of standard Maximum levels included in food to meet targets for reduction in consumption Minimum levels of servings of fruit and vegetables to meet targets for minimum consumption levels Maximum levels included in food to meet targets for reduced consumption No bottled water bought or served by the public sector Only use fish that can be demonstrably proved as from sustainable sources. That is, products that meet the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and no fish from on internationally recognised ‘red lists’ Minimum percentages of products that produced in accordance with health, food safety and sustainability certifications Minimum percentages of products used that are produced and consumed within their natural growing cycles Minimum quality criteria for animal products. Specified number of meat free meals provided Minimum percentages of fairly traded products used Defined portion sizes Specified percentages of food cooked from fresh ingredients on site Monitored and reduced food waste. Use of composting facilities Specified ranges of foods available (including halal, vegan, kosher etc.)
There are many national and international examples of standards already available (see appendix). The expertise and knowledge used to develop these should be drawn upon in the process of developing standards for Victoria rather than attempting to duplicate work.
Barriers There are a number of barriers to achieving sustainable and healthy public sector food. The simple fact that the food is not already of a high enough standard demonstrates this. The forum participants highlighted the key barriers.
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Food Alliance Policy The complexity of policy making in Victoria will need to be overcome. The interest of healthy and sustainable food will have to be weighed against other interests. The Food Alliance will need to work within the current policy framework to achieve our goals. Lack of Definitions There are no universally accepted definitions of sustainable and healthy food. Instead we have a complex body of knowledge that is constantly changing as new findings are made. The working definition that the Food Alliance uses to describe what we mean, is food that is produced, processed, distributed, marketed and traded in ways that: Provide social benefits, such as a secure and resilient supply and access to good quality food, safe and healthy products, and educational opportunities; Contribute to thriving local economies and sustainable livelihoods – both in Australia and, in the case of imported products, in producer countries; Protect natural resources and the diversity of both plants and animals (and the welfare of farmed and wild species) and avoid contributing to climate change; and Contribute to the achievement and enjoyment of healthy eating. This working definition allows us to make decisions between different types of food but cannot give a clear ‘ideal diet’ to follow. Education The level of understanding about food issues in Australia will be a barrier to the public, media, caterers and decision makers supporting a change in public sector food. This barrier be overcome by communicating strong narratives about healthy and sustainable food that people can relate to. Cost of food Healthier and sustainable food often costs more in terms of price paid upfront. This is because the external costs and benefits of different types of food are not taken into account. Cost of monitoring Another additional cost will be that of monitoring and auditing. To ensure that public sector food is improving, production and catering will need to be monitored. This will be an additional cost which must be factored in to ensure the success of any changes. Training Current food production and preparation workforces are not supported to increase skills. This can result in a food sector with high turnover and low job satisfaction. It is also a barrier to achieving change in the food system. With training in how to grow and prepare healthy and sustainable food we will realise other benefits. This will, however, require additional resources to carry out.
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Food Alliance Value added products stimulate growth in the economy through increased processing and the associated labour and infrastructure required. Often there is a tension between highly processed foods and health and sustainability aspirations. Standards for public sector food will need to take this into account. Domination by big business With high standards will come increased compliance costs. There is potential for small and medium sized businesses to be excluded from supplying the public sector due to lack of resources. Intimidation These standards will require change from food business and caterers which they may find intimidating. There is potential for backlash from these sectors. Possible solutions are to include these sectors in the development of standards and to develop clear timeframes to allow for adaption.
Needed to get there The group identified the steps required to make this policy aim achievable and successful. Understanding of the current procurement systems The Food Alliance will research the current state of food procurement in Victoria. This will include what standards currently exist, how food is purchased in Victoria and avenues for influencing this. Case studies from outside of Victoria should also be examined to learn from their experience. There are also organisations within Victoria who are working to improve the food they serve. These champions should be identified and supported to become case studies and provide inspiration to other public sector organisations. Stakeholder/gatekeeper support There are a range of stakeholders and gatekeepers whose support will be required in order to make positive changes to public sector food. The Food Alliance will have to work with these individuals and organisations to gain this support. Included in this group are caterers – both those that are employed by the public sector and the external catering companies who often provide services to the public sector. Media support Achieving political change will be made possible by enlisting support from the media. The Food Alliance will work with key journalists to develop media worthy stories demonstrating the need for standards. Public support The media support will help to drive the public to also call for changes to public sector food. This will be necessary in order to gain political acceptance.
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A staged approach There are valid concerns about the ability of both suppliers and purchasers to make rapid changes to public sector food. A staged approach will allow for adaptation by suppliers and caterers. This could, for example start with a sector (e.g. schools) or a category of food (e.g. fish). Economic analysis The Food Alliance will have to prove that sustainable and healthy procurement is both achievable and economically viable. The best starting point for this proof will be an economic analysis which takes into account the current external costs of public sector food and the opportunities for multiple benefits to be gained from each dollar spent. Synergy with other activity There is a large amount of activity in the area of sustainable and healthy food. Both government and the community sector are working on these issues. The Food Alliance must identify opportunities for synergy with these other areas of activity and take advantage of these as they arise. Supply A common concern with the issues of mandating for a certain type of food is whether there is enough supply available. The Food Alliance should work with producer partners to identify what is needed to make it possible to supply the public sector with the required products. Robust nutrient and sustainability criteria for suppliers The criteria used will have to be robust to achieve the aims of sustainable and healthy public sector food. There is further work to be done to answer the question of whether these criteria need to be established at the start of the process or after political support for the concept is secured. The traffic light criteria in use in other situations may be a good model to follow. Critical analysis The Food Alliance must carry out some critical analysis of the barriers to healthy, sustainable procurement in order to find ways to overcome these. Evaluation Part of running a successful campaign will be to evaluate its success. Range of suppliers With mandatory standards will come administration costs. The Food Alliance will need to propose policy solutions to ensure that small and medium size food producers are supported in the process of supplying the public sector through ways such as non-prohibitive tendering processes. Progressive The standard of public sector food can be improved in a progressive manner. Different departments will already be working on these issues and should be given higher targets than those who are just starting to look at improving their food. 12 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
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Education Making this a successful policy will require that the service users are happy with the food provided. To achieve this satisfaction will require education, from primary school age to adults, and creative ways to include people such as patients and public servants in the delivering of food services.
Summary The current approach to public sector food is fragmented with no central management of food purchasing. By not having a clearly communicated vision of what public sector food should be like there are no barriers stopping vested interest from influencing decision makers. Having mandatory standards would introduce a driver into the market, signalling demand and stimulating supply. There are a range of potential barriers encompassing increased cost, lack of support and complexity of the issues. These can be overcome with focused project planning. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Existing standards are prevalent and can be drawn on to develop Victoria’s own standards.
Priority C: Land Use Planning Land use planning deals with the use and development of land in order to achieve community benefit. In this way, ineffective planning can lead to limited supply and access to food. The supply side of planning affects protection of arable land in rural and urban areas as well as the promotion of urban agriculture through public, community, and private gardens. The food access elements of planning deal with the power to influence retail mix within communities and secondly transport of people and distribution of food. The current food production and distribution system is based on having cheap land and oil. Current practice is unsustainable and harmful and there is inertia for change to more sustainable ways of growing and distributing food. The forum participants examining land use planning were divided into two subgroups; one looking at supply and one looking at access issues. Both groups first established the problems with planning that hinder the support of healthy and sustainable food. They then established what they wanted to see in five years time and how to achieve that.
The problem Supply Cities are intrinsically situated on land with food production capacity. But as the cities in Victoria, particularly Melbourne, have grown there has been little to no consideration of the best way to utilise our resources to feed the population. This lack of integration between the urban population and the supply of food to them and others has been identified as a problem with huge potential implications in the near future. As energy costs continue to increase, the need for sustainable food production in close proximity to the city will become more and more important. 13 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
Food Alliance The distance and disconnection between producers and consumers has left this issue out of the consciousness of the general population. There is no current public conversation around sustainable food supply and no state wide view to solve the problem. Although food supply is an issue of state level importance the decisions about protecting agricultural land happen disjointedly at the local council level. The supply issues of land use planning arise from the need for protection of rich agricultural land. The urban sprawl of Melbourne means that the food growing areas on the margins of the city are under competition from housing developers and are being fragmented as the city expands. The price that farm land owners can receive from housing developers far outstrips the food production value of the land so there is a strong incentive for farmers to sell. As residential areas move closer and closer to food production areas there are increased incentives to sell as farmers are pressured from residences concerning practices such as applying pesticides and using machinery. There is a lack of political will to guarantee the long term protection of this land as there is a strong demand for affordable housing and the solutions to this conflict are not clear. If they are not leaving farming all together, often farmers are finding it attractive to sell their periurban land and move their production further away from cities. This will increase the cost and complexity of supplying Melbourne with food as well as increase the difficulties of production as less fertile and water rich areas are used. There is not sufficient protecting or encouragement of the growing of food within the city boundaries either. The urban state of play, possibilities, and skills for food production are not well understood. Access Access to healthy and affordable food is a problem especially for marginalised groups of the population. There exist barriers that impact on councils’ ability to influence the availability of healthy and well priced food in Melbourne and other urban areas in Victoria. Food access should be considered when planning for traffic congestion and public transport but is not to a satisfactory degree. There is a lack of access by foot or public transport to healthy food in many communities. Councils can influence the availability of healthy and well priced food in Melbourne and other urban areas in Victoria through identifying and encouraging the preferred retail mix and use in activity centre strategies and actively ensuring sufficient public open space for events such as markets. They cannot, however, regulate shop size and type. Food access also encompasses the problem of how to get food from farms to the city centres. Current planning systems do not focus on this issue to a sufficient degree. As with the issue of food supply, urban agriculture should play a part in ensuring access to good food. The growing of food within the city boundaries is not being supported or encouraged by the current planning system.
Where do we want to be in 5 years and how? Supply Rich agricultural land around cities should be guaranteed and protected. If two successive Premiers publically guaranteed that the high value agricultural land around cities will be protected we could 14 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
Food Alliance be confident that the issue has been taken seriously. This protection could, where appropriate, take the form of government ownership of food growing land. Affordable housing is the main competing issue to peri-urban food supply. The protection of rich agricultural land needs to be developed hand in hand with a sustainable housing plan for the growing population. This should include higher density living. Farmers also need to be supported in their roles. Protecting the land itself will not necessarily mean that the skills and labour are available to farm that land. Training and recruitment strategies need to be in place allowing farmers to develop succession plans for their land and funds for their retirement. There is a lack of sufficient recognition of planning processes in the public and political consciousness. Protecting agricultural land has had coverage in the media which provides us with a great opportunity to increase understanding of why strong planning is crucial. The Alliance needs to balance campaigning (behind closed doors) and gaining public support. Oregon is a model of urban growth boundaries that could be followed. Their legislation preserves agricultural land for extended periods of time. This means that the taxes charged reflect the utilisation of the land and make farming more viable. This model, and others, should be reviewed for lessons to follow. Access Land planning classification for urban agricultural activities should be legislated. Councils and communities should be able to plan for healthy food outlets, food hubs, and urban farms and stop the building of undesirable food outlets where appropriate. Alongside this planning ability should be the use of fiscal powers to promote small, healthy food retailers. This could take the form of breaks on local taxes for desirable businesses. In this way the local government could support the local economy via local food system support. There are other types of support that councils could provide such as developing social retail models (like social housing) or social enterprise support. Greater population density and diversity of housing would allow greater diversity of food outlets and easier access so this should be supported and encouraged. The links between access and planning are not well understood by the general public and policy makers. There is, however, a groundswell in the community interested in food access that is not acknowledged by the state. The Food Alliance should work with this groundswell and with the media to build the link between land use planning and food access. Councils should be putting resources into celebrating locality and seasonality in their communities. This would be done with the aim of building the demand for healthy and sustainable food.
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Food Alliance To move and distribute food from production areas to the city centres should include the use of rail and other more sustainable forms of transport. Smarter food chains should be developed through logistics planning.
Summary There is a lack of understanding of the link between healthy and sustainable food and planning. The Food Alliance can play a key role in developing clear narratives to explain this link to the public and policy makers. The Food Alliance should focus on the following policy asks: Reclassifying food system sustainability at the core of local government; Trust for nature like system where the government buys agricultural land; Zone for urban agriculture, existing agriculture, special use (e.g. food education, distribution); Premier commitment to protecting agricultural land; Higher urban density; and Strengthen the urban growth boundary. Other successful models of planning should be studied to identify key lessons. All key stakeholders voices should be included in the solutions. Councils, community groups, property developers, farmers, and state policy makers all play a crucial role in planning for healthy and sustainable food systems.
Forum conclusions The priority setting forum resulted in great discussion of Victoria’s food system. The presentations from Justin Hanney, John Fizgerald, and Trevor Budge illustrated the scope of the issues and the emerging focus from Government on healthy and sustainable food. The forum participants identified a wide range of key policy and advocacy actions that could be carried out to improve the health and sustainability of the food system in Victoria. There is a huge amount of possible work for the Food Alliance to do. The priorities established at the forum and set out in this report will now be honed into clear policy positions and action plans for the Food Alliance.
Public sector food The Food Alliance will advocate for Victoria to have mandatory and monitored standards to ensure that public money is being spent on food that provides health, environmental, economic and social benefits to society. These standards will be drawn from international examples and will cover the array of issues that come under health and sustainability. The key areas of activity will be to: Develop an understanding of the current procurement systems and champions; Gain support from stakeholders, gatekeepers, the media, and the public; Carry out an economic analysis; Develop a plan for a staged approach; 16 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
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Research and network to ensure synergy with other activity; Engage with suppliers of different scales; Research robust nutrient and sustainability criteria; Carry out critical analysis of barriers to sustainable procurement; Evaluate the project; and Lobby for education of public sector caterers, purchasers, suppliers, and consumers.
Government wide strategy A disjointed approach to food will not achieve a food system that enhances health, culture, economy, environment and equity. The Victorian Government should develop an integrated food strategy to which will allow us to influence the whole food system in Australia. The key activities for the Food Alliance to influence this strategy will be to: Carry out an audit of current and potential Government food activity; Ensure that the recommendations are developed in an inclusive manner; and Engage with the Interdepartmental Committee.
Land use planning Land use planning deals with the use and development of land in order to achieve community benefit. In this way, ineffective planning can lead to limited supply and access to food and highquality planning can lead to sustainable supply and access to healthy food. The Food Alliance’s key activities for this work stream should be: Engage with those organisations working to provide affordable housing; Lobby for a sustainable housing plan for the growing population including higher density living; Engage with farmers to identify how they need to be supported in their roles; Increase the recognition of the link between planning processes in the public and political consciousness; Study other models of planning for food; Lobby for more power for local government to classify for urban agricultural and use fiscal powers to promote small, healthy food retailers; Lobby for sustainability focused logistics planning; Establish Premier commitment to protecting agricultural land; and Lobby for the strengthening of the urban growth boundary.
Further involvement in the Food Alliance The participants at the forum were key stakeholders in the area of sustainable and healthy food. It is crucial to the success of the Food Alliance that these groups continue to be involved in our work. There are several ways in which this involvement can take place and these are described below. A website is in development and will be on line in the next few months. This will be a key source of information about the Food Alliance. There will also be a newsletter which interested individuals can sign up to if they would like to receive regular updates about our work.
Working groups Each of the three issues discussed at the priority setting forum will be developed further through working groups and developed into Food Alliance position papers. Interested individuals and key stakeholders are encouraged to join a relevant working group to help guide the work of the Food 17 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
Food Alliance Alliance. These working groups will be organised by Food Alliance staff, chaired by a member of the Food Alliance Steering Committee and will meet several times a year.
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Appendix one: relevant documents Public sector food Netherlands - Sustainable food criteria http://www.senternovem.nl/sustainableprocurement/what_is_it_about/index.asp United Kingdom - Deloitte, 2009, Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative: An Evaluation,http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/publicsectorfood/documents/090311-PSFPI%20evaluation.pdf - Food Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century, 2008 Cabinet Office, http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/strategy/assets/food/food_matters1.pdf7/4/ 10 - Healthier Food Mark http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Healthyliving/HealthierFoodMark/inde x.htm - Food For Life Mark catering mark http://www.foodforlife.org.uk/ Queensland - Hospital food nutrition http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/Documents/abetterchoice/32511.pdf - School food nutrition http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/healthy/docs/smart-choicesstrategy.pdf South Australia - Hospital food nutrition http://www.dh.sa.gov.au/pehs/branches/healthpromotion/stafffoodchoicespolicy-sss-sahealth-091126.pdf Victoria - Patient food nutrition http://www.health.vic.gov.au/patientfood/nutrition_standards.pdf - School food nutrition http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/schadmin/schops/healthycanteen/gfyl_policy.pdf
Government wide strategy United Kingdom - Food Matters http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/strategy/assets/food/food_matters_es.pdf - Food 2030 http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/pdf/food2030strategy.pdf - London’s food strategy http://www.londonfoodstrategy.org.uk/upload/pdf/LDA_Food_strategy.pdf - London’s implementation plan http://www.lda.gov.uk/upload/pdf/London_Food_Strategy_Implementation_Plan.pdf - Scotland’s national food and drink policy http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/277346/0083283.pdf Australia - South Australia’s food strategy http://www.safoodcentre.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/126091/safood_strategy_final_web 1.pdf - Tasmania’s food and nutrition policy http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/34601/TFNP_final.pdf 19 Food Alliance Priority Setting Forum Report May 2010
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Land Use Planning Integrating Land Use Planning and Community Food Security http://www.vlga.org.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Land%20Use%20Planning/INT%202 009%20Oct%208%20VLGA%20Report%20on%20Food%20Security_Final.pdf
Other related publications UK’s Food: a recipe for a healthy, sustainable and successful future http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/policy/council/pdf/cfpa-rpt-100315.pdf National Preventative Health Taskforce Strategy http://www.preventativehealth.org.au/internet/preventativehealth/publishing.nsf/Content/AEC223 A781D64FF0CA2575FD00075DD0/$File/nphs-overview.pdf VEIL’s Sustainable and Secure Food Systems for Victoria http://www.ecoinnovationlab.com/research/completed-work/58-policy-challenges-sustainable-andsecure-food-systems-for-victoria Paddock to Plate: Policy propositions for sustaining food and farming systems http://www.triplehelix.com.au/documents/PaddocktoPlatePropositions_000.pdf Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Waste in Australia http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/~/media/ResourceCentre/PublicationsandResources/healthy%20ea ting/FruitVegConsumptionWaste.ashx Cancer Council NSW Food Security Discussion Paper http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/html/healthprofessionals/nutrition_physical/downloads/Food_S ecurity_paper.pdf Closing the Nutrition & Physical Activity Gap in Victoria; Victorian Aboriginal Nutrition & Physical Activity Strategy http://www.vaccho.org.au/documents/VANPHS.pdf Food Security: The What, who, why and where to of food security in NSW http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/html/healthprofessionals/nutrition_physical/downloads/Food_S ecurity_paper.pdf
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Appendix two: forum participants Name Anna Peters Beth Scholes Bev Wood Boyd Swinburn Cate Burns Chris Ennis Corey Watts Craig Pearson Danuta Mendleson Aileen Traynor Fanny Krumholz Jen Alden John Fitzgerald Julie-Anne McWhinnie Justin Hanney Kate Cini Kathy McConell Kena Duignan Lainie Berka Lauren Corruthers Liam Hodgetts Marj Moodie Mark Lawrence Mary Stewart Meg Montague Pam Morgan Rachel Carlisle Rasyedah Ahmad Raqi Russell Shields Sandra Fordyce-Voorham Jennifer Browne Trevor Budge Dave McNamara
Organisation Monash Univeristy/Steering Committee Vichealth Victorian Local Governance Association/Steering Committee Deakin Univeristy/Steering Committee Deakin University/Steering Committee CERES Climate Institute Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute /Steering Committee Deakin Univeristy/Steering Committee Red Cross Food Alliance Cultivating Communities VicHealth Heart Foundation Regional Development Victoria Regional Development Victoria Food Alliance Food Alliance City of Melbourne Student City of Casey Deakin University Deakin University/Steering Committee Greengrocers Victoria Evaluator of VicHealth Food for All projects City of Maribymong Heart Foundation Deakin University Second Bite Home Economics Victoria Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Planning Institute of Australia VicRelief Foodbank
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