The group discussion we had in class has given me a few ideas on how we can move closer to a more sustainable food system. And when I say “we” I suppose I mean planners, food and health advocates, farmers, politicians, sociologists, economists, as Campbell as well as Born and Purcell did in their respective articles assigned for this week. It was great to read on how food system planning has gained significance in various disciplines, I myself never thought that I would learn so much about how food relates to planning, as I want to specialize in community or economic development planning. But everything I learned in this class will better assist me in my specialization studies, because it will make me a more conscious student. But back to my idea, I am thinking that that creating a food council that is an acting component of corporate food businesses would help incorporate the food movement into the corporate world. Because to me, it seems that they are the ones who have the most control over our food system.
These corporations are businesses like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Publix, all large supermarket chains who supply the American public with the majority of their food supply. A food council, similar to the Toronto Food Policy Counsel we talked about last week, could help to create and implement policy change that could help these corporations move toward more sustainable practices by serving multiple functions such as supporting alternative food systems, providing educational programs, and organizing community groups and advocacy groups. I like Campbell’s idea of “building a common table” for food stakeholders, but I think that our corporate food suppliers as well as the national government will be the last two stakeholders to sit at this metaphorical table. Food planning needs to be inserted into the playing field of these two players in order to change the game. This idea is a little ambiguous I know, but there are multiple scales of power at work in our food system, and those at the top of the scale need to want a sustainable food system in order for it to become sustainable. A question to the class: what other means of negotiation can food planners make to insert food planning into the agendas of food corporations?
Daphne, I think you have inverted a lot of commonly held assumptions about local power in your thoughtful discussion. Local food movements typically argue that power should be redistributed back into the local population and away from corporations. Your argument, however, deals more with reality as it stands today and acknowledges that "there are multiple scales of power at work in our food system, and those at the top of the scale need to want a sustainable food system in order for it to become sustainable." I think this is certainly true -- top-down power shifts have stronger impacts, and if corporations and the government suddenly cared deeply about food systems, we would see quicker change. However, does it worry you to keep hands in the power of these corporations and the government, instead of local populations? I say this because from my perspective, the self-serving actions of corporations and the government are what got us into this food systems mess in the first place! I do worry that any "solutions" they would conjure up would continue to be self-serving.
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