Identifying attributes of food system sustainability: emerging themes and consensus

Agriculture and Human Values 34 (3):757-773 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Achieving food system sustainability is one of the more pressing challenges of this century. Over the last decades, experts from diverse disciplines and intellectual traditions have worked to document the critical threats to food system sustainability and to define an appropriate agenda for action. Nevertheless, these efforts have tended to focus selectively on only a few components of the food system or have tended to be framed in particular discourses. Depending on the point of departure, what aspects of the food system are considered threatened, and what must be sustained, can differ greatly between perspectives. In this article, we draw from systems-thinking and social-ecological systems concepts to focus on the underlying process-related attributes that could support a more sustainable food system. We then examine the support for specific system attributes in six different knowledge domains addressing sustainable agriculture and food. From this review, we identify five system attributes—diversity, modularity, transparency, innovation and congruence—that are repeatedly featured in the different knowledge domains as critical aspects of food system sustainability. We argue that in the face of considerable complexity and high uncertainty, these attributes can serve as a guide to conceptualizing food system choices adaptively and iteratively.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

What to Buy? On the Complexity of Being a Critical Consumer.Mickey Gjerris, Christian Gamborg & Henrik Saxe - 2016 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29 (1):81-102.
Rights-based food systems and the goals of food systems reform.Molly D. Anderson - 2008 - Agriculture and Human Values 25 (4):593-608.
Just Food: Philosophy, Justice and Food.Jill Marie Dieterle (ed.) - 2015 - Rowman & Littlefield International.
From Food Justice to a Tool of the Status Quo: Three Sub-movements Within Local Food.Ian Werkheiser & Samantha Noll - 2014 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 27 (2):201-210.
An analysis of a community food waste stream.Mary Griffin, Jeffery Sobal & Thomas A. Lyson - 2009 - Agriculture and Human Values 26 (1-2):67-81.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-01-25

Downloads
27 (#506,960)

6 months
5 (#247,092)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?