tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/food-insecurity-5704/articlesFood insecurity – The Conversation2024-03-20T19:04:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253502024-03-20T19:04:14Z2024-03-20T19:04:14ZFeeding young kids on a budget? Parents say the mental load is crushing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581546/original/file-20240313-24-4oq51f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C998%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/funny-playful-girl-eating-awkwardly-exasperating-2254525865">Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Feeding babies and toddlers can be challenging at the best of times. But when families can’t afford enough food, let alone the <a href="https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/nutrition-fitness/daily-food-guides/babies-toddlers-food-groups">recommended</a> range of different coloured <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-your-child-to-eat-more-veggies-talk-to-them-about-eating-the-rainbow-195563">vegetables</a>, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-my-child-have-low-iron-and-what-are-my-options-if-they-do-210899">iron-rich</a> meats, it’s tougher still.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38428454/">recently published</a> research, parents told us how much effort they put in to feeding children when there is little money. </p>
<p>They also told us how the ever-present juggle of budgets and the realities of family life strained relationships and increased their mental load.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-scared-we-wont-have-money-for-food-how-children-cope-with-food-insecurity-in-australia-161671">'I'm scared we won't have money for food': how children cope with food insecurity in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Living in poverty</h2>
<p>In the cost of living crisis, <a href="https://povertyandinequality.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Poverty-in-Australia-2023_Who-is-affected.pdf">one in six</a> Australian children live in poverty. More families than ever are <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=c1c0ba46-9dee-4128-b5bd-642d64416711&subId=732384__;!!NVzLfOphnbDXSw!FaAwkb1CMQGRU78jYbQ7klcS518qR07p-sL7r0IdFjFR0oIvQW_Y5TtV6owVwShkoUFAswDX4TwfUZLVyA84nGGR-YM$">seeking help</a> from food banks.</p>
<p>So we asked parents what it was like to feed young children when money was tight. We interviewed 29 Australian parents with at least one child between six months and three years old. Most had an income around or below the poverty line. </p>
<p>The average age of parents was 32 years, including 28 mothers and one father. This is what they told us.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/successful-failures-the-problem-with-food-banks-86546">'Successful failures' – the problem with food banks</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Family tensions rise</h2>
<p>Families’ financial position was precarious, with little buffer to cope with more financial strain. One parent told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’re still on the one income […] We try and get a lot of free vegetables from the food banks and whatnot. We’ve borrowed money in the past, but the main thing we do is make sure [our child’s] food is fine.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This uncertainty about money flowed into relationship tension, and stress about food waste and the food bill. Another parent, who said they had lost weight due to not eating proper meals, told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Things have been tense, and [my partner’s] pretty upset about outgoing money for [food …].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There was also strain when young children created a mess with food or threw it on the floor:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>But then my partner’s like ‘why are you buying that bunch of bananas? Most of it’s, like, in his hair.’ As trivial as it might sound to some households, [it] caused a lot of stress in ours.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mum with toddler on lap offering banana" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581548/original/file-20240313-22-42xeqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More banana can end up in a child’s hair than in the mouth. And that can cause stress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/adorable-baby-funny-face-while-trying-1587936844">Joaquin Corbalan P/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-australians-are-going-hungry-we-dont-know-for-sure-and-thats-a-big-part-of-the-problem-195360">How many Australians are going hungry? We don't know for sure, and that's a big part of the problem</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Making trade-offs and sacrifices</h2>
<p>Parents described feeding the family as a difficult balance. They put the needs of children and partners first. They often hid their sacrifices from their partners. One parent told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My partner doesn’t miss out anywhere near as much as what I do. He doesn’t know that either. […] But there is many, many, many days where I will go without a meal.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-home-brand-foods-healthy-if-you-read-the-label-you-may-be-pleasantly-surprised-189445">Are home-brand foods healthy? If you read the label, you may be pleasantly surprised</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The unseen mental load</h2>
<p>Not having enough money increased the load caused by the thinking, planning and emotional strain of getting enough food to feed everyone. One participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s always there in the back of my mind […], what would I do if I really didn’t have anything left to feed all of us.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-same-gender-couples-how-they-share-the-mental-load-at-home-the-results-might-surprise-you-208667">We asked same-gender couples how they share the 'mental load' at home. The results might surprise you</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resilience and creativity</h2>
<p>Parents described multiple strategies to make the most of the food they had. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will now go to the fruit and vegetable shop that’s quite far away from our house because it’s cheaper to buy it in bulk [… We] pre-plan, absolutely, and meal plan.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite hardships, parents adapted to challenges by being creative with food and cooking. One parent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the last food parcel I got there was this big bag of polenta, […] you don’t want to be wasteful […]. I’ll look at […] simple recipes that have that ingredient […] and go from there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Parents valued mealtimes as family time, to connect and share. Parents tried to make the most of their situation and remember that when it comes to meals, “basic doesn’t mean bad”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-we-overthinking-family-meals-5-realistic-tips-to-ease-the-pressure-200731">Are we overthinking family meals? 5 realistic tips to ease the pressure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does this mean for supporting families?</h2>
<p>Health professionals working with parents need to know many struggle to feed their family. It’s not just a matter of budgeting or cooking; parents already do that. The high mental load parents experience needs to be recognised. Programs and support should be accessible, brief and realistic.</p>
<p><a href="https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/nutrition-fitness/common-concerns/toddler-not-eating">Common advice</a>, such as offering food many times and providing variety to children, may need to be adapted. Variety could be sourced from foods on special, and food waste reduced by offering small amounts of new foods at first.</p>
<p>We also need to ensure the food offered in childcare centres is <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/968">adequate and healthy</a>. Providing good-quality <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-starting-to-provide-food-but-we-need-to-think-carefully-before-we-ditch-the-lunchbox-193536">school meals</a> would relieve the pressure on parents to supply a healthy lunchbox, or give money for the canteen. This would give all Australian children the chance to enjoy a variety of nutritious foods, regardless of their situation at home.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>We would like to thank the families who so generously shared their time and stories with us. We also acknowledge our research team: Smita Nambiar-Mann, Robyn Penny and Danielle Gallegos.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225350/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kimberley Baxter receives funding from a grant from the Children's Hospital Foundation (Reference number WCCNR03). She is a
member of Dietitians Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Byrne receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council and the Children's Hospital Foundation. </span></em></p>Parents told us how the ever-present juggle of budgets and the realities of family life strained relationships and increased their mental load.Kimberley Baxter, Research Fellow, Centre for Childhood Nutrition Research, Queensland University of TechnologyRebecca Byrne, Dietitian and Lecturer, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242862024-03-17T08:42:31Z2024-03-17T08:42:31ZAlmost 50% of adult South Africans are overweight or obese. Poverty and poor nutrition are largely to blame<p><a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/malnutrition#tab=tab_1">Malnutrition</a>, in all its forms, includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight and obesity. </p>
<p>South Africa has undergone a nutritional transition over the past 30 years characterised by the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378313186_National_Food_and_Nutrition_South_Africa">triple burden</a> of malnutrition: households are simultaneously experiencing undernutrition, hidden hunger, and overweight or obesity due to nutrient-poor diets.</p>
<p>Results of the first in-depth, nationwide <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378313186_National_Food_and_Nutrition_South_Africa">study</a> into food and nutrition since 1994, the National Food and Nutrition Security Survey, found almost half the adult population of South Africa were overweight or obese. </p>
<p>While there was sufficient food to feed everyone through domestic production and imports, many families and individuals went to bed on empty stomachs.</p>
<p>Due to <a href="https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/statistics-south-africa-quarterly-labour-force-survey-quarter-three-2023-14#:%7E:text=The%20official%20unemployment%20rate%20was,the%20second%20quarter%20of%202023.">high unemployment figures</a>, families relied on social grants to buy basic food items. Many tended to buy food with little nutritional value to avoid hunger. </p>
<p>The survey, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council, was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to map hunger and malnutrition hotspots in the country. </p>
<p>Data was collected from more than 34,500 households between 2021 and 2023. Close to 100 indicators were used to compile the report. </p>
<h2>Overweight or obese: what’s the difference?</h2>
<p>Carrying excess weight poses a number of health risks. It increases the dangers of high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, sleep apnoea, and respiratory problems.</p>
<p>People are <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight#:%7E:text=For%20adults%2C%20WHO%20defines%20overweight,than%20or%20equal%20to%2030">overweight</a> if their body mass index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, is greater than 25. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight#:%7E:text=For%20adults%2C%20WHO%20defines%20overweight,than%20or%20equal%20to%2030">Obese</a> adults have a body mass index greater than 30.</p>
<h2>Key facts</h2>
<p>Some of the significant findings were:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>69% of obese adults lived in food insecure households where families had little dietary choices and were forced to eat food with little nutritional value. </p></li>
<li><p>More than two-thirds (67.9%) of females were either overweight or obese. There were higher incidences of obesity among women than men.</p></li>
<li><p>Adults aged 35 to 64 years had a significantly greater prevalence of obesity than younger age groups. This could be explained by differences in <a href="https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1096/fj.202101930R">metabolism</a> and the fact that youngsters are more active than adults. </p></li>
<li><p>KwaZulu-Natal reported a higher prevalence of obesity (39.4%) compared to the other provinces. More research is needed to explore this finding and whether cultural factors are behind this.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The survey period overlapped with the tail-end of COVID-19. Focus group discussions took place in all districts where data was collected to assess the effects of the pandemic. </p>
<p>The survey found that the swift responses by government through various relief programmes significantly reduced the exposure of families to extreme poverty and food insecurity during this period.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>Obesity is a global problem. A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02750-2/fulltext">new study</a> released by the Lancet showed that, in 2022, more than 1 billion people in the world were living with obesity. </p>
<p>Worldwide, obesity among adults had more than doubled since 1990, and had quadrupled among children and adolescents (5 to 19 years of age). </p>
<p>The Human Sciences Research Council made the following recommendations to help address malnutrition in South Africa: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>focus on areas with high levels of malnutrition</p></li>
<li><p>encourage families to produce their own food to supplement social grants</p></li>
<li><p>invest in food banks at fruit and vegetable markets strategically located close to vulnerable households</p></li>
<li><p>help extremely poor households survive seasonal hunger</p></li>
<li><p>launch campaigns to educate the public on the benefits of consuming nutrient-rich foods and dietary diversity.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/research-shows-shocking-rise-in-obesity-levels-in-urban-africa-over-past-25-years-90485">Research shows shocking rise in obesity levels in urban Africa over past 25 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thokozani Simelane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s national survey of food and nutrition security identifies the areas most in need.Thokozani Simelane, Professor of Practice, Human Sciences Research CouncilLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222982024-03-14T13:28:33Z2024-03-14T13:28:33ZHow the Tudors dealt with food waste<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579929/original/file-20240305-24-2ojthy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1690%2C1295&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Baron Cobham and family around the dinner table, 1567.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Brooke_10th_Baron_Cobham_and_Family_1567.jpg">Master of the Countess of Warwick </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://wrap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-11/WRAP-Food-Surplus-and-Waste-in-the-UK-Key-Facts-Nov-2023.pdf">ten million tonnes</a> of food is wasted in the UK each year. Leftovers perish in their plastic Tupperware tombs, supermarket bins heave with damaged but perfectly edible produce and fields are littered with spoiled harvests. Preventing good food from ending up in the bin is an important part of the global fight against climate change. </p>
<p>But what about the past? How did our ancestors deal with food waste? Surprisingly, given the pertinence of the issue in modern discourse, very little has been written about the history of food waste. My <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/leftovers-9781803281575/">new book</a>, Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation, addresses the topic across the last half a millennium, from the Tudor kitchen right up until the present day. </p>
<p>Tudor society was intrinsically religious. Henry VIII’s well-known <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Henry-VIII/#:%7E:text=Henry%20took%20matters%20into%20his,was%20forced%20to%20leave%20court.">divorce issues</a> ignited the English Reformation, the tumultuous transformation from Catholicism to Protestantantism, heightening religious fervour and shaping attitudes towards food across the country. </p>
<p>In Tudor eyes, food was the ultimate gift from God that literally sustained life on earth. And in the form of the bread and wine, it was food that Christ had chosen to represent his body and blood at the Last Supper. No wonder that wasting food was seen as sinful and immoral. “The least crum, which can be saved, be not lost,” commanded the puritan writer <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A15695.0001.001?view=toc">Ezekias Woodward</a>, “no, not a crum”. </p>
<p>Familiar to many of us today, clergymen taught their parishioners about the feeding of the 5,000. In the Biblical tale, when Jesus went to mourn the passing of John the Baptist, the large crowd that followed him were miraculously fed on just five loaves and two fish. According to the <a href="https://biblehub.com/john/6-12.htm">Gospel of John</a>, at the end of the meal, Christ told his disciples to “gather the pieces that are left over,” so “nothing be wasted,” and they collected 12 full baskets of leftovers.</p>
<p>In another Biblical parable, the rich man Dives went to hell when he denied the scraps of his feast to the poor man <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2016%3A19-31&version=NIV">Lazarus</a>, who instead ascended to heaven. Like Lazarus, the Tudor poor waited at the gates of grand estates to receive the remains of lavish feasts. An almoner (a church official who was responsible for distributing money or food to the poor) collected leftovers but also the first slices of meat to be given in charity. </p>
<h2>Leftovers</h2>
<p>Even those from humbler backgrounds could donate surplus food. Instead of throwing it to the pigs, the whey left over from cheese making, for example, could become a nourishing summer drink for the labourers who toiled in the hot fields. </p>
<p>Charitable housewives who expressed their piety by distributing such leftovers to their poor neighbours would “find profit therefore in a divine place,” according to Gervase Markham in his popular <a href="http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/book%201615%20huswife.htm">1615 cookery book</a>. </p>
<p>As well as being distributed to the poor, the leftovers from large Tudor households went to employees rather than going to waste. In Queen Elizabeth I’s <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Collection_of_Ordinances_and_Regulatio/yGxBAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1">royal household</a>, workers who cooked meats in the “boiling house” received the “dripping of the roste” and even “the grease… in the kittles (kettles) and pannes” as a benefit for their labour. A waste product to those with plenty, these meat juices could be reimagined to add flavour and nutrition to sauces and gravies. </p>
<p>Still, those at the top of the social scale had access to far more than they could possibly eat. Elizabeth’s table overflowed with elaborate pies, roasted meats, sugar sculptures, imported wines and exotic fruits. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An old painting of a table filled with ornate looking food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580382/original/file-20240307-20-o5bbbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still life with turkey pie by Pieter Claesz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Claesz._-_Stilleven_met_kalkoenpastei_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">Rijksmuseum/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Waste and hunger</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, widespread hunger led to rioting across the country in the 1590s after years of devastating harvests. As wealthy landlords closed off their land to common pasture, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Worlds_Within_Worlds/A_odA1alLoYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">flour prices tripled</a> over the span of just a few years. </p>
<p>In the Bible, Ruth gleaned from the field of a wealthy man named Boaz, in accordance with the <a href="https://biblehub.com/leviticus/23-22.htm">Old Testament law</a>: “when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field…thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger”. With this example, the poorest in Tudor England collected the scraps from the harvest to feed themselves and their families. </p>
<p>Squaring these disparate images of plenty and want is not too hard when we consider that in the UK <a href="https://foodfoundation.org.uk/initiatives/food-insecurity-tracking">9.7 million adults</a> experience food insecurity according to data from September 2022. Meanwhile the richest <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7484/">5% take home 37%</a> of the nation’s total disposable income. On a global scale, <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/5-facts-about-food-waste-and-hunger">a third of the food</a> we produce goes to waste while <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Waste_Free_Kitchen_Handbook/Y0IACgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1">842 million people</a> are afflicted with chronic hunger. </p>
<p>Food waste today is a pressing environmental issue. But this foray into Tudor food waste reminds us that it is also a deeply moral issue that reflects the growing inequalities between the rich and the poor. In telling the so far untold history of food waste, my research reflects on our changing moral values, and our relationship with food, people and planet. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 30,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Barnett is the author of Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation (Head of Zeus, 2024). She receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Cardiff University. </span></em></p>During the Tudor period, religious beliefs shaped people’s attitudes towards food and food waste.Eleanor Barnett, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251972024-03-06T17:14:58Z2024-03-06T17:14:58ZGaza conflict: rising death toll from hunger a stark reminder of starvation as a weapon of war<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68434443">deaths of more than 100 Palestinians</a> who had been waiting for an aid convoy on February 29 were a grim reminder of the catastrophe unfolding daily in Gaza. While an independent investigation has yet to establish clear responsibilities for the tragedy, the toll from Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip grows ever higher.</p>
<p>Five months into the conflict, deaths from hunger and thirst are <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/04/middleeast/gaza-children-dying-malnutrition-israel-ceasefire-talks-intl-hnk/index.html">beginning to mount</a>. A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs quoted claims by the Ministry of Health in Gaza on March 3 that 15 children had <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/6/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-food-convoy-blocked-from-north-gaza-by-israel">died of malnutrition and dehydration</a> at Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, with another six considered to be at grave risk of dying. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO),
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1764652624492515832">reported on March 4</a> that WHO visits to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals found “severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1764652624492515832"}"></div></p>
<p>Addressing the UN security council on February 27, the deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, Carl Skau, warned of a <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-deputy-chief-warns-security-council-imminent-famine-northern-gaza-unless-conditions-change">“real prospect of famine by May”</a>, saying there were more than 500,000 people in Gaza at risk.</p>
<p>He said: “Even before October, two-thirds of the people in Gaza were supported with food assistance. Today, food aid is required by almost the entire population of 2.2 million people. One child in every six under the age of two is acutely malnourished.”</p>
<h2>Weaponising starvation</h2>
<p>Starvation has always been used as <a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-weaponisation-of-food-has-been-used-in-conflicts-for-centuries-but-it-hasnt-always-resulted-in-victory-221476">weapon of war</a>. And there is now a considerable body of international law which prohibits it and provides for the prosecution of those responsible for deliberate starvation in conflict.</p>
<p>Article 54 of the Geneva conventions <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-54">clearly spells this out</a>. In May 2018, the UN security council unanimously adopted <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2018/sc13354.doc.htm">resolution 2417</a> after identifying 74 million people facing starvation as a result of armed conflict. </p>
<p>Resolution 2417 “strongly condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in a number of conflict situations and prohibited by international humanitarian law” and “strongly condemns the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival”. </p>
<p>Intentional starvation is punishable as a war crime by the International Criminal Court (ICC) under article 8 of the <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/icc-statute-1998/article-8">Rome statute</a>. In December 2019, the 122 state parties to the ICC parties voted unanimously to <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-10-g&chapter=18&clang=_en">extend the court’s jurisdiction</a> to the use of starvation as a weapon of war. </p>
<h2>Food insecurity</h2>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5240-conflict-and-right-food-report-special-rapporteur-right-food">2022 report</a> to the Human Rights Council, the UN rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, said that “conflict and violence were the primary causes of hunger, malnutrition, and famine”, rather than “because there was not enough food to go around”.</p>
<p>A report from the UN security council on February 13 2024 identified more than 330 million people at risk from food insecurity, most because of climate change – or, increasingly, armed conflict. The security council highlighted conflict or post-conflict famines in Syria, Myanmar, Haiti, and Yemen. </p>
<p>In Africa, the report said, 149 million people were living in food insecurity, notably in Sudan, where the World Food Program has said more than 25 million people scattered across Sudan, South Sudan and Chad are “trapped in a spiral” of food insecurity.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1765260588370854169"}"></div></p>
<h2>The right to food</h2>
<p>The right to food <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights">is enshrined</a> in the UN’s international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights. This recognises the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living, which includes access to “adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions”. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, there is more than enough food produced in the world to feed everyone on the planet. But, despite being nine years into the UN’s <a href="https://www.un.org/nutrition/">“decade of action on nutrition”</a>, and despite eradicating hunger being the second of the UN’s sustainable development goals, world hunger is once again on the rise.</p>
<p>The UN’s <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2023.pdf">2023 report on its sustainable goals</a> says that 735 million people, more than 9% of the world’s population, suffer from hunger – 122 million more than in 2019. </p>
<p>The report also found that nearly 1.3 billion people rely entirely on imported food. This is where <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1477-0024/vol/22/iss/3">trade agreements</a> and international trade law can play a significant role in supporting access to food. </p>
<p>In June 2022, a ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization produced a <a href="https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/WT/MIN22/W17R1.pdf&Open=True">declaration on the emergency response to food insecurity</a>, reinforcing the WTO’s commitment to improve the functioning and long-term resilience of global markets for food and agriculture. The conference also declared that members “shall not impose export prohibitions or restrictions on foodstuffs purchased for non-commercial humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme”.</p>
<p>But the realisation of the right to food as a human right, and the success of the UN’s pledge to eradicate hunger by 2030, will rely on international cooperation and a balance between liberalising trade and protecting states’ agricultural industries. </p>
<p>In February 2007, 500 experts gathered in Mali for the World Forum for Food Sovereignty. They produced <a href="https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf">the Nyéléni declaration</a>, which seeks to establish the “right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems”.</p>
<p>The starving people of Gaza – and millions like them around the world – have been denied this basic right for decades. Their plight can be ignored for no longer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leïla Choukroune does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children are particularly at risk from malnutrition as food supplies in Gaza run out.Leïla Choukroune, Professor of International Law, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242062024-02-22T18:01:32Z2024-02-22T18:01:32ZGaza update: Biden ups the pressure on Israel as deadline for Rafah assault approaches<p>Joe Biden’s most senior Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, has arrived in Israel to push for a deal to halt the war in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. McGurk has served each successive president since joining George W. Bush’s national security team in 2005, and his presence in the region at this increasingly crucial time, as Israel prepares for a ground assault on the overcrowded southern Gaza city of Rafah, is an indication of the urgency with which the Biden administration views the situation.</p>
<p>Thus far, intransigence on both sides has scuppered various initiatives aimed at securing a ceasefire. Last week, after Benjamin Netanyahu pulled Israeli negotiators out of talks in Egypt, blaming Hamas for refusing to budge on what he called its “ludicrous” demands, Israel’s prime minister pledged to press ahead with the Rafah offensive. However, his war cabinet member Benny Gantz said this week that a deal might still be possible.</p>
<p>Failing that, the prospect of an all-out assault on Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians from across the Gaza Strip have taken refuge, on March 10 – the start of Ramadan – is very real. Casualties are likely to be enormous, unless people are given somewhere to escape to.</p>
<p>Biden has repeatedly urged Netanyahu to rethink the assault on Rafah, calling for a “credible and executable plan” for protecting and supporting the Palestinians sheltering there. And as Paul Rogers, an internationally respected expert in Middle East security issues at the University of Bradford, notes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-war-will-israel-respond-to-us-pressure-to-tread-carefully-in-rafah-there-is-a-precedent-224171">there is a precedent</a>.</p>
<p>In 1982, during the war between Israel and Lebanon, the then-US president Ronald Reagan telephoned Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin to demand he call off the 11-hour bombardment of West Beirut, where thousands of fighters from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation were sheltering. “Menachem, this is a holocaust,” Reagan is reported to have said. Begin duly called off his bombers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ronald and Nancy Reagan with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and his daughter Matt Milo in the White House, Setpember 1981." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577334/original/file-20240222-30-681hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Friends in high places: Ronald and Nancy Reagan hosting a state dinner for Menachem Begin and his daughter, Matti Milo, in September 1981.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">White House Photographic Collection</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rogers highlights the long and close association between the Pentagon and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In a country where pretty much anyone who is anyone has served in Israel’s military, this counts for a lot. Perhaps, he writes, the IDF could put extra pressure on Netanyahu to reconsider. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-war-will-israel-respond-to-us-pressure-to-tread-carefully-in-rafah-there-is-a-precedent-224171">Gaza war: will Israel respond to US pressure to tread carefully in Rafah? There is a precedent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meanwhile, satellite images and video footage have revealed that Egypt is building what appears to be a large concrete enclosure on its side of the Rafah crossing. Analysts believe this is being prepared as a contingency for dealing with what could be hundreds of thousands of displaced persons pushed out of Gaza into the Sinai peninsula.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Gaza Update is available as a fortnightly email newsletter. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/gaza-update-159?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Gaza">Click here to get our updates directly in your inbox</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Gillian Kennedy, an Egypt specialist at the University of Southampton, has been considering what <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-israels-assault-on-rafah-approaches-egypt-prepares-for-a-flood-of-palestinian-refugees-224020">such an exodus would mean</a> for Egypt’s strongman president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. </p>
<p>Sisi is not popular at home. He may have won an election last year with 89% of the vote, but given the lack of opposition candidates, this was hardly surprising. Egypt’s economy is in a parlous state, with rampant inflation and stubbornly high unemployment, so having to host a huge influx of refugees is not something Sisi will be anticipating with much relish.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B0IzqiMirWo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Egypt building a large concrete structure on its side of the Rafah crossing.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And the close relations between supporters of Hamas and Egypt’s Muslim
Brotherhood – Sisi’s implacable foes – make this prospect all the more unpalatable, Kennedy concludes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-israels-assault-on-rafah-approaches-egypt-prepares-for-a-flood-of-palestinian-refugees-224020">As Israel's assault on Rafah approaches, Egypt prepares for a flood of Palestinian refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Grim in Gaza</h2>
<p>For Palestinians trapped in Gaza, meanwhile, there is the spectre of starvation. The world’s major authority on food insecurity, the IPC Famine Review Committee, estimates that 90% of Gazans are facing acute food insecurity. </p>
<p>Yara M. Asi, a food security expert at the University of Central Florida, writes that people are <a href="https://theconversation.com/israeli-siege-has-placed-gazans-at-risk-of-starvation-prewar-policies-made-them-vulnerable-in-the-first-place-222657">resorting to eating cattle feed and grass</a>. They are hunting cats for food. And things are likely to get worse, Asi observes. The UN agency responsible for coordinating aid in Gaza, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), says it will have to cease operations in March after many of its funders withdrew over Israeli allegations that UNRWA staff had taken part in the October 7 Hamas attacks. </p>
<p>And, making matters worse, Israeli bombing has destroyed bakeries, food production facilities and grocery stores. It is now estimated that, of the people facing imminent starvation in the world today, 95% are in Gaza.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israeli-siege-has-placed-gazans-at-risk-of-starvation-prewar-policies-made-them-vulnerable-in-the-first-place-222657">Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation − prewar policies made them vulnerable in the first place</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Of course, food production facilities and shops aren’t the only things that have been reduced to rubble by the IDF during its relentless four-month assault. For decades, the people of Gaza had become used to a cycle of destruction and rebuilding writes Yousif Al-Daffaie, a researcher in the field of cultural heritage and post-war countries at Nottingham Trent University. But this time around, the devastation has been so complete that there is almost nothing left to rebuild.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1738543040560570514"}"></div></p>
<p>Most importantly for the soul of Gaza, nearly 200 sites of cultural importance have been wrecked, including an ancient harbour dating back to 800BC, a mosque that was home to rare manuscripts, and one of the world’s oldest Christian monasteries. This act of what Al-Daffaie calls <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-destruction-of-gaza-s-historic-buildings-is-an-act-of-urbicide-223672">“urbicide”</a> includes Palestine Square in Gaza City, a popular meeting place, and Gaza’s only public library on Omar Al-Mukhtar Street, one of Gaza City’s two main streets, which has been totally destroyed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-destruction-of-gaza-s-historic-buildings-is-an-act-of-urbicide-223672">The destruction of Gazaʼs historic buildings is an act of 'urbicide'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Israel: hurt, angry and isolated</h2>
<p>All the while, the world is watching. What has become clear since the vicious Hamas attack on October 7 sparked Israel’s brutal military response is the massive disconnect between how most Israelis and much of the rest of the world see this current episode. </p>
<p>Eyal Mayroz, a senior lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, says that while the outside world sees daily reports of death and suffering in Gaza, in Israel much of the media <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-israelis-and-the-rest-of-the-world-view-the-gaza-conflict-so-differently-and-can-this-disconnect-be-overcome-223188">remains focused</a> on the pain of the attack by Hamas and the plight of the 130 remaining hostages and their families.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-israelis-and-the-rest-of-the-world-view-the-gaza-conflict-so-differently-and-can-this-disconnect-be-overcome-223188">Why do Israelis and the rest of the world view the Gaza conflict so differently? And can this disconnect be overcome?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Ilan Zvi Baron of Durham University and Ilai Z. Saltzman of the University of Maryland highlight the pain and anger of most Israelis since October 7. They write that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-war-blaming-israel-for-october-7-hamas-attack-makes-peace-less-not-more-likely-223934">reaction of some on the progressive left</a>, some of whom celebrated the Hamas attack as an act of anti-colonial resistance, is not understood in Israel. This, they say, is a problem for Israel’s peace movement, which now feels more isolated than ever and unable to pressure their government to work harder for a peaceful solution.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-war-blaming-israel-for-october-7-hamas-attack-makes-peace-less-not-more-likely-223934">Gaza war: blaming Israel for October 7 Hamas attack makes peace less – not more – likely</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Listen up: peace polling</h2>
<p>Finally, regular readers may recall <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-israel-failed-to-learn-from-the-northern-ireland-peace-process-220170">an article we published</a> by Colin Irwin, a researcher at the University of Liverpool whose work with “peace polling” played a key role in the negotiations which led to the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland. Irwin noted that he was set to reprise his role when Barack Obama won the US presidency in 2008, but a lack of political will and Netanyahu’s refusal to include Hamas put paid to any chance of peace talks succeeding at that stage.</p>
<p>In this week’s episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-gaza-how-opinion-polls-used-in-northern-ireland-could-pave-a-way-to-peace-224085">The Conversation Weekly podcast</a>, Irwin explains how peace polling emerged from his work among Canada’s Inuit minority, and has been used from Sri Lanka to Cyprus.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-gaza-how-opinion-polls-used-in-northern-ireland-could-pave-a-way-to-peace-224085">Israel-Gaza: how opinion polls used in Northern Ireland could pave a way to peace</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Gaza Update is available as a fortnightly email newsletter. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/gaza-update-159?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Gaza">Click here to get our updates directly in your inbox</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224206/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A selection of our coverage of the conflict in Gaza from the past fortnight.Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157422024-01-15T13:55:39Z2024-01-15T13:55:39ZHealthy food is hard to come by in Cape Town’s poorer areas: how community gardens can fix that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563626/original/file-20231205-29-mmm1zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community gardens can be a boon for residents.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nattrass/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1950, as part of the Group Areas Act, South Africa’s apartheid government banished people of colour to outlying areas, away from central business districts. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cape-Flats">The Cape Flats</a> are one such area, sprawling to the east of central Cape Town.</p>
<p>Today the legacy of apartheid spatial planning endures. The area is home to several densely populated townships (low-income public housing estates) such as Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Langa. In these communities, there’s limited infrastructure and few transport links to the city’s economic hubs.</p>
<p>One way in which these factors affect residents is that it’s difficult to access nutritious food. Studies reveal that there’s significant <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-014-9217-5">inequality in the distribution</a> of supermarkets. Considerable distances hinder access by the urban poor to high-income areas. Additionally, supermarkets in low-income regions tend to offer less <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-014-9217-5">healthy food options</a> than those in wealthier neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>This lack of access is reflected in levels of food insecurity across the Cape Flats. A <a href="https://www.foodfortransformation.org/full-article/the-state-of-food-security-in-cape-town-and-st-helena-bay.html">recent study</a> highlighted that 45% of households in the township of Gugulethu were food insecure; the figure for Khayelitsha stood at 36%. This was considerably higher than food insecurity levels in wealthier areas of Cape Town.</p>
<p>Urban community gardens present an opportunity to challenge the status quo. Community-centred approaches to urban agriculture have been successful in various parts of the world, including <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-013-0155-8#Sec8">Cuba</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912420300328#sec2">Brazil</a>. Communities in both countries that prioritise local distribution, school feeding schemes and hosting neighbourhood markets have experienced increased food security and improved access to nutritious foods that people not only need but prefer to eat. </p>
<p>Part of my <a href="https://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/11394/9180">PhD</a> explored how urban community gardens could be used to improve access to nutritious food on the Cape Flats. Based <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2427.13224">on my findings</a>, I propose a set of recommendations to encourage the selling of agro-ecologically harvested vegetables and fruits within poorer communities. The aim is to shift from the current system, where produce is primarily sold to commercial outlets, towards a more inclusive and community-centred model that directly benefits the neighbourhoods where the food is grown.</p>
<h2>Gardeners’ stories</h2>
<p>The City of Cape Town, the provincial department of agriculture and civil society groups have supported and promoted urban community gardens in low-income areas as a means to enhance food nutrition and security. Supporting actors help gardeners to develop their skills, as well as providing some of the required equipment. For instance, the <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication/urban-farming">provincial department of agriculture</a> supports community gardens through the provision of borehole drilling, water tanks and irrigation systems. </p>
<p>For my research I visited 34 urban community gardens on the Cape Flats. One, in Khayelitsha, was established in February 2014 and has 11 members who tend to the day to day functioning of the garden. It stood out to me because it fostered such a strong sense of community and because the gardeners adapted to challenges as they arose.</p>
<p>The soil was initially poor, so the original team of 12 worked to improve its quality, using compost and manure. As the garden evolved, they decided to divide the space, allowing each individual to have their own set of plots. This structural change enhanced their harvest, enabling members to work at their own pace with a higher output. Typically the produce is sold by intermediaries who liaise with hotels and restaurants on the gardeners’ behalf. This was the case for most of the community gardens I studied: most of their harvests were sold to commercial outlets.</p>
<p>This current model is fundamentally flawed. It means that nutritious food produced in and by a community isn’t used to feed that community. Instead it is siphoned out to wealthier neighbourhoods and more commercial outlets. </p>
<p>One reason for this seems to be people’s perceptions of the quality of produce from community gardens. One garden’s co-founder told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The frustration that we had in the past is that people who understand that the food must be safe and nutritious is people from outside, the white or suburban people, you know, so to them there is a demand for this kind of produce. Which is a different story in our communities – here where they look down on the produce coming from the backyard and gardens and that is where we want to do a lot of education and mobilising to make sure that the produce stays locally.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Collaboration is central</h2>
<p>I agree that such education and mobilisation is key. It dovetails with the major recommendation that emerged from my study: harvested produce from urban community gardens should be distributed through various channels – not just sold to commercial outlets. The food should be directed into local markets, community food kitchens, school feeding programmes, and directly to residents.</p>
<p>This ensures that urban community gardens directly contribute to the well-being and food security of the communities in which they exist.</p>
<p>Implementing this approach requires a collaborative effort from various stakeholders, including local governments, community organisations, and residents. It involves reshaping existing marketing strategies and policies to align with the historical and socio-economic conditions of Cape Town’s low-income areas. It also requires research to understand local consumer perspectives, dietary habits, and challenges in accessing healthy, sustainable food.</p>
<p>This can all be done. In Brazil, one approach to ensuring that agricultural produce from small-scale farmers reaches those who need food is to <a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/publications/school-feeding-in-south-africa-what-we-know-what-we-dont-know-what-we-need-to-know-what-we-need-to-do/">link poorer farmers with the school feeding market</a>. The <a href="https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2023/03/24/government-recreates-the-food-acquisition-program-prioritizing-women-and-indigenous-producers">Food Acquisition Programme</a> was initiated in 2003; it involved the government purchasing agricultural produce from impoverished farmers at set prices, storing these commodities, and subsequently distributing them to schools, crèches and NGOs. The programme is still running today. </p>
<h2>Food justice for all</h2>
<p>Through sustainable practices and community engagement it is possible to nurture a future in which food justice becomes a reality on the Cape Flats. <a href="https://foodprint.org/issues/food-justice/">Food justice</a> is the belief that everyone should have equal access to nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food. It emphasises addressing social, economic and environmental factors that contribute to disparities in food access and promoting fairness in the food system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Community-centred approaches to urban agriculture have been successful in various parts of the world.Tinashe P. Kanosvamhira, Researcher, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2190862023-12-07T16:52:53Z2023-12-07T16:52:53ZDear politicians: To solve our food bank crisis, curb corporate greed and implement a basic income<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/1df3b504-4e58-4b06-9db1-8fb2b4e73432?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Have you noticed the line ups for the food banks in your city? (Or have you had to join one?) They are getting longer in a way we’ve never seen before. </p>
<p>According to the stats, the number of people using food banks has doubled since last year and <a href="https://northyorkharvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FINAL-WEB-REPORT-SPREADS-DB_3714-18_WhosHungry_Report_E-Clean_NYH.pdf">one in 10 people now rely on food banks in Toronto</a>. Nationwide, the numbers using food banks have <a href="https://fbcblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wordpress/2023/10/hungercount23-en.pdf">jumped by 32 percent from last year and 78 per cent since 2019</a>. And there is no one type of person who relies on food banks: for example, many in line have full-time jobs.</p>
<p>In other words, we are in the middle of a major food insecurity crisis. </p>
<p>And as we head into this holiday season, traditionally a time for giving and sharing and gathering around food, many of us are asking what we as individuals can do to help.</p>
<p>According to the latest Statistics Canada data, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/231114/dq231114a-eng.htm">almost one in five households experiences food insecurity</a>. Single-mother households are especially affected, as are some racialized homes. Black and Indigenous people face the highest rates of food insecurity, with <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/who-are-most-at-risk-of-household-food-insecurity/">over 46 per cent of Black children and 40 per cent of Indigenous children</a> living in households that don’t have a reliable source of food. </p>
<p>For years, advocates have been saying that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/its-time-to-close-canadas-food-banks/article587889/">more food banks is not the answer</a>. So what is?</p>
<p>Our guest on this episode of <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/to-solve-our-food-bank-crisis-curb-corporate-greed-and-implement-guaranteed-basic-income"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> podcast is Elaine Power, professor of health studies at Queen’s University and co-author of <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/the-case-for-basic-income"><em>The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice</em></a>. She has spent years working on this issue and says reducing food insecurity requires our political and business leaders to address the root causes — including the ability of household incomes to meet basic needs. She gets into what is needed, long-term, to solve this major societal problem — but also shares tips for individuals who want to make a difference in the meantime.</p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-insecurity-in-canada-is-the-worst-its-ever-been-heres-how-we-can-solve-it-216399">Food insecurity in Canada is the worst it's ever been — here's how we can solve it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/implementing-a-basic-income-means-overcoming-myths-about-the-undeserving-poor-218577">Implementing a basic income means overcoming myths about the 'undeserving poor'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-babies-going-hungry-in-a-food-rich-nation-like-canada-165789">Why are babies going hungry in a food-rich nation like Canada?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.foodnetwork.ca/article/what-is-food-insecurity/">“What is Food Insecurity? FoodShare’s Paul Taylor Explains (Plus What Canadians Can Do About It)”</a> (The Food Network) </p>
<p><a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/2021/anti-black-racism/">“When it comes to tackling food insecurity, tackling anti-Black racism is an important part of the puzzle”</a> (by Tim Li)</p>
<p><a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/the-case-for-basic-income"><em>The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice</em></a> by Jamie Swift and Elaine Power</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v10i1.567">“Dismantling the structures and sites that create unequal access to food”</a> (Paul Taylor and Elaine Power in <em>Canadian Food Studies</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-age-of-insecurity"><em>The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart</em></a> (Astra Taylor)</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ulxb-XOd064?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A summary of a PROOF report on household food insecurity.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Full but unedited transcripts are available within seven days of publication. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. </p>
<p><strong>Please fill out our <a href="https://www.dontcallmeresilient.com">listener survey</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
With food insecurity at an all-time high and food banks buckling under high demand as we head into this holiday season, experts say we need to focus on long-term solutions to tackle the issue at its root.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientJennifer Moroz, Consulting Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2189132023-12-04T04:07:28Z2023-12-04T04:07:28ZCOP28: health is finally on the agenda – but there’s more to do as we face continued climate extremes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563181/original/file-20231204-15-fxgmtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C2423%2C1641&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pakistan experienced severe floods in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/karachi-pakistan-aug-22-residents-facing-1800744619">Asianet-Pakistan/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As global leaders gather in Dubai for COP28, health has finally landed firmly on the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1144277">climate change agenda</a>, with the first “<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2023/12/03/default-calendar/cop28-health-day">health day</a>” at the annual UN climate summit taking place yesterday (December 3).</p>
<p>Including health in discussions on climate change has never been more important. Extreme weather <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01859-7/fulltext">threatens human health</a> in a variety of ways, and this intersection is only getting worse as extreme weather events become more likely with climate change.</p>
<p>Two of us (Kathryn and Arthur) attended the health day. It represents a pivotal moment for climate and health on the global stage – but there’s still much work to do.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1731379802286776449"}"></div></p>
<h2>How climate change affects our health</h2>
<p>The Lancet recently <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01859-7/fulltext">published its latest report</a> on the health effects of climate change, and the news isn’t good. </p>
<p>The report reaffirms that substantial deaths and injuries due to climate change are already happening around the world. For example, heat-related deaths in people aged over 65 increased by 85% in 2013-2022 compared to 1991-2000. </p>
<p>The effects of climate change on health are wide-ranging. As well as harm from extreme heat, disasters such as droughts, floods and bushfires can lead to the <a href="https://www.caha.org.au/mr_031223?utm_campaign=231203_mr_nhcs_launch&utm_medium=email&utm_source=caha">spread of infectious diseases</a>, exposure to bushfire smoke, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-after-pakistans-floods-44-of-children-have-stunted-growth-what-can-be-done-about-it-218123">food insecurity</a> and more. </p>
<p>Events like these are also increasing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540261.2022.2128725">mental health problems</a> such as anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>Minority and at-risk groups experience <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-7/">the worst health impacts</a>, which <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/217/9/climate-change-society-and-health-inequities">widen existing social and health inequities</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-climate-summit-just-approved-a-loss-and-damage-fund-what-does-this-mean-218999">COP28 climate summit just approved a 'loss and damage' fund. What does this mean?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A pivotal moment</h2>
<p>This year has seen promising progress towards addressing the impact of climate change on health. In May, the World Health Assembly for the first time had a <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/24-05-2023-seventy-sixth-world-health-assembly---daily-update--24-may-2023">strong focus on health and climate change</a>, including a roundtable on the role of the health community in climate action and the need for dedicated financing mechanisms. </p>
<p>In August, the G20 health ministers <a href="https://noharm.medium.com/g20-prioritizes-climate-and-health-action-41bf2458ea60">made climate and health a priority issue</a> and agreed to the first ever high-level principles for health and climate action. These included building sustainable and low-carbon health systems that deliver high-quality health care, and decarbonising health-care supply chains.</p>
<p>Now, this inaugural health day at COP has sought to raise the profile of the health impacts of climate change, and to <a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/guiding-principles">mobilise finances for effective action</a> so countries can prepare and respond. </p>
<p>The day was focused around key topics including the avenues through which climate affects health, the health benefits of emissions reductions, as well as the needs, barriers and best practices for strengthening climate-resilient health systems.</p>
<p>A ministerial roundtable closed out the day, with many of the 50 health ministers who attended allocated two minutes to talk about why and how they are taking action on health and climate change. </p>
<p>For example, the representative for Vanuatu noted the country faces an uncertain future due to climate change, and highlighted their hope this health day would allow for continued support to countries at highest risk.</p>
<p>Japan noted the importance of strengthening universal health coverage as a key way to respond to the health impacts of climate change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-the-climate-summits-first-health-day-points-to-what-needs-to-change-in-nz-218809">COP28: the climate summit’s first Health Day points to what needs to change in NZ</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A declaration</h2>
<p>Notably, this COP has seen more than 120 countries, including Australia, sign the <a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/news/2023/12/Health-Declaration-delivering-breakthrough-moment-for-health-in-climate-talks">COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health</a>. The declaration focuses on gathering support, galvanising action and mobilising finances to improve the resilience of health systems.</p>
<p>Along with this, the United Arab Emirates announced an “aggregated” funding commitment of <a href="https://healthpolicy-watch.news/cop28-health-and-climate-declaration/">US$1 billion</a> for strengthened implementation of health-focused climate activities. This is facilitated by agencies including the Green Climate Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation.</p>
<p>However, scarce detail is available on whether this money will be additional to current commitments, will be considered a loan or a grant, or will be shifted from other health priorities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-why-climate-change-may-see-more-of-us-turn-to-alcohol-and-other-drugs-217894">5 reasons why climate change may see more of us turn to alcohol and other drugs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In terms of Australian action, COP28 hosted the launch of the first <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-health-and-climate-strategy">National Health and Climate Strategy</a>, which sets out a plan to decarbonise the country’s health system, as well as build resilience in the health system and communities to protect against the effects of climate change on health.</p>
<p>Australia has also finally signed up to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/alliance-for-transformative-action-on-climate-and-health">Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health</a>, which began at COP26.</p>
<h2>Protecting our planet, people and future</h2>
<p>As WHO Director General <a href="https://healthpolicy-watch.news/first-ever-cop28-health-day-unfolds-amidst-uproar-over-cop-presidents-fossil-fuel-remarks/">Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus</a> said yesterday, after 27 COPs without a serious discussion of health, the focus on health at COP28 is well overdue. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Undoubtedly, health stands as the most compelling reason for taking climate action […] For too long, health has been a footnote in climate discussions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But while the health day and other recent developments are encouraging, there’s much more to be done to meaningfully protect the health of communities around the world.</p>
<p>Notably, the rapid phasing out of <a href="https://nceph.anu.edu.au/phxchange/communicating-science/our-health-mercy-fossil-fuels-mja-lancet-countdown-2022-reports">fossil fuels</a> is vital if climate-related health impacts are to ease. And the global declaration mentioned above doesn’t set out any plan for this or address the urgency of fossil fuel phase-out. </p>
<p>The health sector can and must <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-care-is-responsible-for-7-of-our-carbon-emissions-and-there-are-safe-and-easy-ways-this-can-be-reduced-184170">contribute to this endeavour</a> given it’s responsible for 4.4% of global carbon emissions. </p>
<p>We know the health benefits of climate action <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/05-12-2018-health-benefits-far-outweigh-the-costs-of-meeting-climate-change-goals">far outweigh the costs</a>. Without ambitious cross-sectoral action that considers health outcomes, human health and wellbeing will continue to suffer. This is the first health day at COP, but it must not be the last.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Bowen has received funding for climate and health research, policy advice and technical assistance from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, World Health Organization, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Program, United Nations Environment Program, USAID, German Development Ministry, European Union, Future Earth, City of Melbourne, Victorian Department of Health. She is affiliated with the Australian Climate and Health Alliance as a member of the Advisory Board and sits on the Science Committee of the World Adaptation Science Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annabelle Workman received a Strategic Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship from the Australian Government to complete her PhD. She is affiliated with the Climate and Health Alliance.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arthur Wyns is a climate change advisor to the World Health Organization, and is a climate and health advisor to COP28.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Patrick has previously received funding from state government and not-for-profit organisations. She is a former Board member and Past President of the Australian Climate and Health Alliance.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The effects of climate change on health are getting more political traction. But there’s still more to do, particularly as the health harms of climate change are only getting more serious.Kathryn Bowen, Professor - Environment, Climate and Global Health at Melbourne Climate Futures and Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, The University of MelbourneAnnabelle Workman, Research Fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures and Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneArthur Wyns, Honorary fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneRebecca Patrick, Academic Convener, Climate CATCH Lab, The University of Melbourne, Deakin UniversitySophie Robinson, Research Assistant and PhD student. Member of Melbourne Climate Futures Academy., The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168722023-11-29T13:39:23Z2023-11-29T13:39:23ZUS food insecurity surveys aren’t getting accurate data regarding Latino families<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560038/original/file-20231116-28-l00ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C38%2C5052%2C2997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's hard to divulge an inability to put food on the table.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hispanic-woman-cooking-for-granddaughter-in-kitchen-royalty-free-image/579979911?adppopup=true">Shestock/Tetra images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government has conducted the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/history-background/">U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module</a> for more than 25 years. <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/measurement/">The data collected annually</a> from <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-security-in-the-united-states/documentation/">about 50,000 U.S. households</a> helps form estimates of the scale of food insecurity – not having <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/definitions-of-food-security/">access to enough food</a> for a healthy life – at the national and state levels. </p>
<p>But the way Latino parents respond to some of the questions in the annual <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/survey-tools/">U.S. Department of Agriculture survey used to measure food insecurity</a> doesn’t always reflect their true experiences. We published this finding in a special October 2023 issue of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2023.07.007">Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics</a>.</p>
<p>Our team, which included development sociologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=PXjyYOAAAAAJ">Christian DiRado-Owens</a>, conducted a study in California, New York and Texas, using surveys and interviews to <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-assistance-data-collaborative-research-programs/twenty-five-years-of-food-security-measurement-extramural-research-grants/">help the USDA assess the accuracy and acceptability</a> of these questions among Latino families.</p>
<p>Many of the responses to the survey questions didn’t align with more detailed descriptions of the personal situations of the people we interviewed. When asked to explain their answers, many of them found it easier to talk about how they managed or coped with food insecurity than to respond to questions about how often they worried about or were not able to feed their families as they wished. </p>
<h2>Room for improvement</h2>
<p>Student researchers asked 62 Latino parents and caregivers the questions from the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/survey-tools/">U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module</a>, letting them select either the English or Spanish version. For half of the 18 questions, people need to answer “often,” “sometimes” or “never.”</p>
<p>For example, the first statement is:</p>
<p><em>(I/We) worried whether (my/our) food would run out before (I/we) got money to buy more. Was that often true, sometimes true, or never true for (you/your household) in the last 12 months?</em></p>
<p>The rest are “yes” or “no” questions, such as:</p>
<p><em>In the last 12 months, since last (name of current month), did (you/you or other adults in your household) ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?</em></p>
<p>After people completed the survey, interviewers prompted them with open-ended questions to elaborate further. This approach allowed participants to give feedback about the survey and share their thought processes about their responses. </p>
<p>We found that comprehension of the English words or the Spanish translation of these questions wasn’t the main issue. Rather, the way the questions were written could be improved.</p>
<p>For instance, when asked how often they skipped meals or reduced the size of meals, some of the people we interviewed answered “never.” But they went on to describe how they often prepared significantly smaller meals. In some cases, they recounted having eaten a small snack instead of a meal.</p>
<p>In addition, some of the people who responded that they could always afford enough food for their families later shared how they regularly relied on food pantries and similar programs designed for intermittent or emergency use. While their answers showed a commitment to feeding their families, they did not align with the intention of the questions – indicating that the survey may be underestimating true levels of food insecurity.</p>
<p>Overall, the sensitive nature of the questions and the limited number of possible response options made it hard for some people to answer them accurately – especially on the subject of their children not having enough food. Many people also said they felt that the phrasing of the questions about being able to afford food didn’t reflect their personal situations or experiences. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People bundled up for cold weather receive donated food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559453/original/file-20231114-21-5davd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food is distributed at a food and toy holiday pantry run by La Colaborativa and the Salvation Army in Chelsea, Mass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/food-is-given-to-those-in-line-at-a-food-and-toy-holiday-news-photo/1245786431?adppopup=true">Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Higher levels of food insecurity</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=107702">U.S. food insecurity</a> increased from 10.2% in 2021 to 12.8% in 2022, according to official estimates.</p>
<p>Government agencies, nonprofits and researchers like us <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2023.01.007">use the survey’s findings</a> to address food insecurity and make decisions about food assistance and nutrition policies and programs, including the <a href="https://theconversation.com/extra-snap-benefits-are-ending-as-us-lawmakers-resume-battle-over-program-that-helps-low-income-americans-buy-food-199929">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>.</p>
<p>The Latino population is <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/06/14/a-brief-statistical-portrait-of-u-s-hispanics/">growing quickly</a> and has become the nation’s largest racial or ethnic group. About <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI725222">19% of the U.S. population, as of 2022</a>, identified as Hispanic or Latino. Without accurate data regarding this large community, the picture of food insecurity is incomplete. And until now, there has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2023.01.007">too little research done to assess</a> whether the survey questions are eliciting valid data for Latinos.</p>
<p>Food insecurity among Latino families with children is already high, according to the most recent official data, which was collected in 2022: <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/107703/err-325.pdf?v=4909">13.2% compared with 5.5% for white households</a> with children. But based on our findings, it’s likely that the real picture is even worse.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>Our team is now analyzing data from the interviews we conducted to take a closer look at the strategies these Latino families used to cope with food insecurity at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>We’re also seeing whether Latino parents and caregivers living in very large urban communities answered questions differently compared with those residing in smaller cities and towns.</p>
<p>In addition, we want to assess any differences among Latinos of different heritages – such as Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans – to find ways to get more accurate data regarding food security for Latino families with children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216872/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cassandra M. Johnson received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the research in this article. In addition, she receives external funding through research grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a contract with the Sustainable Food Center. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda C. McClain received funding for this, and other community-based, research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also receives research support from the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Dickin received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the research in this article. She has also received previous funding from the USDA, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and UK-AID.</span></em></p>Questions about food insecurity can be less straightforward than they appear.Cassandra M. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Nutrition, Texas State UniversityAmanda C. McClain, Assistant Professor of Nutrition, San Diego State UniversityKatherine Dickin, Associate Professor of Public & Ecosystem Health, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170462023-11-28T23:49:49Z2023-11-28T23:49:49ZPolicing is not the answer to shoplifting, feeding people is<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561622/original/file-20231124-19-hilwzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=150%2C66%2C3875%2C2752&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The social and financial costs of policing food theft are higher than the costs of addressing poverty and income inequality.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/policing-is-not-the-answer-to-shoplifting-feeding-people-is" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Big businesses like to tell us that, as consumers, <a href="https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/business/sylvain-charlebois-we-all-pay-for-grocery-theft-100812369/">we all pay for food theft</a>. We’ve been sold a narrative that as consumers who don’t steal, we pay for the theft of food by others on our grocery receipts. </p>
<p>Reported increases in food theft in Canada are <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/grocery-shoplifting-on-the-rise-in-canada-amid-inflation-industry-insiders-say">linked to pressures from rising inflation</a> along with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/staffing-cuts-recreation-libraries-winnipeg-budget-1.6742002#:%7E:text=%22We%20see%20cuts%20in%20community,staff%2C%20while%20libraries%20lost%2011.">diminished investment in social supports</a> such as housing, mental health, transit and crisis and community supports. </p>
<p><a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/police-budgets-praire-cities.pdf">Research has shown that in Prairie cities municipalities disproportionately fund police</a> over essential services like housing and mental health support. But instead of increasing social supports, the response to food theft has been surveillance, security and policing in our grocery stores.</p>
<p>Retailers would have us believe that the cost of food theft is limited to retailers passing on their losses to consumers. However, retailer investment in surveillance, security and special duty police officers are costs that are also passed on to consumers: we pay for the surveillance systems that surround us.</p>
<p>The social cost of policing food is much higher, and deeply concerning because it produces unequal community impacts. </p>
<h2>Food theft</h2>
<p>Food theft is framed as a threat to paying customers. That furthers the divide between those who can still afford groceries, and those who cannot. Media coverage of food theft often focuses on exceptional examples of theft to emphasize that the crisis is an issue of worsening crime. But that framing ignores the broader economic conditions that perpetuate the problem. </p>
<p>In response to media coverage of grocery theft, some have tried to highlight the connection between rising theft and unaffordable food prices. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9425322/toronto-legal-firm-pro-bono-defence-shoplifting/">A Toronto-area law firm has even offered pro bono support for those charged for stealing groceries</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a supermarket surreptitiously placing a product in a backpack." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561623/original/file-20231125-20-qxiiqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reported increases in food theft in Canada have been linked to pressures from rising inflation and diminished investment in social supports.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When food theft is disconnected from social conditions, it also collectively distracts us from the underlying issue of rising food costs.</p>
<p>Following calls from the Canadian government to stabilize prices as food inflation outpaces general inflation, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-major-canadian-grocers-yet-to-confirm-discounts-price-freezes-federal/">grocers have submitted preliminary plans to lower food prices but have yet to implement them</a>. </p>
<h2>Policing food theft</h2>
<p>Buying into the food theft moral panic, divorced from its broader social conditions, has resulted in increased surveillance, security and policing. Retailers and police rely on these <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8604171/canada-grocery-store-shoplifting-rise/">extraordinary accounts of food theft</a> to create moral panic to be managed through securitization and policing. </p>
<p>We are emerging from a global pandemic that severely impacted unemployment rates, as cities grapple with underfunded social services and inflated police budgets. In these contexts, thinking about food theft through a lens of criminality limits interventions and responses.</p>
<p>In 2020, the Manitoba government established a <a href="https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?item=49281">Retail Crime Task Force with the goal of “reducing the number of thefts.”</a> The press release announcing the partnership was held in front of a Winnipeg grocer — sending a strong message that food theft will not be tolerated. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/retail-crime-task-force-manitoba-government-1.5733988">Project Stop Lifting</a> is another initiative between the Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba Justice, and in a two-month period in 2020 it led to 74 arrests and 592 total charges were laid. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/crime/vancouver-police-arrest-258-people-in-shoplifting-crackdown">Vancouver Police have been cracking down on theft</a> and between Sept. 11-26, 258 shoplifting arrests were made. </p>
<p>These arrests and charges raise important concerns about how increased policing is being used as a purported solution to food theft.</p>
<h2>Impacts on racialized people</h2>
<p>Increased policing will disproportionately impact racialized and other marginalized people who are most vulnerable to over-policing and criminalization.</p>
<p>A charge for theft under $5,000 may not result in incarceration for some, but we know Indigenous and other racialized people are more likely to be arrested for minor offences. In Manitoba, Indigenous people are subject to overpolicing, racial profiling and over incarceration. <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/gladue/p2.html">Indigenous people represent 77 per cent of the provincially incarcerated population</a>. </p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/178-the-end-of-policing">increased policing</a> of grocery stores and pilot programs to increase arrests will <a href="http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/toc.html">disproportionately impact</a> Indigenous and racialized shoppers. This is disconcerting given the <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action No. 30</a> which calls upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to eliminate the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in custody. The cost of food theft does not justify the impacts of increased incarceration for Indigenous Peoples, as well as other racialized and marginalized people.</p>
<p>Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has argued the province’s approach to cracking down on theft <a href="https://winnipegsun.com/news/crime/province-announces-new-retail-crime-task-force">fails to address the root causes of crime</a>, and that the underlying problems that lead to theft need to be addressed. Theft cannot be divorced from the social conditions that leave individuals with no other alternatives, especially for needs as basic as food. </p>
<h2>The cost of policing food</h2>
<p>The cost consumers pay for food theft when grocers offload costs to their customers may be significant. However, the cost of policing and incarceration is far more substantial. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510001301">In 2021-2022 the average cost to incarcerate someone in Canada was $119,355</a>. Beyond the cost of incarceration, <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/ccc2014/system-systeme.html">we have to consider the cost of responding to food theft within the criminal justice system</a> that results in police costs, court costs, prosecution costs, legal aid costs, correctional services costs, probation costs as well as the cost of incarceration.</p>
<p>The social cost of such measures is important to consider. Going through the justice system will compound financial distress, subject individuals to police violence, and if incarcerated, will disrupt lives.</p>
<p>The costs associated with policing food, and incarcerating those who find themselves in a position of needing to steal food, should be redirected to feed people. Calls <a href="https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/yes-city-councils-can-cut-the-police-budget">to defund</a> and <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2571-a-world-without-police">abolish the police</a> have argued for the reallocation of police budgets towards life-sustaining social services and non-carceral alternatives to address crime. </p>
<p>The redistribution of public spending would address people’s struggles to afford food and reduce the high social and fiscal cost of criminalization and policing. By contrast, directing funding to surveillance, security and policing in response to food theft <a href="https://theconversation.com/defunding-the-police-is-a-move-towards-community-safety-181376">will compound harms</a>. </p>
<p>We have a serious problem if we would rather see people in prison than fed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Merissa Daborn receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>The food theft crisis is framed as a threat to paying customers. This furthers the divide between those who can still afford groceries and those who cannot.Merissa Daborn, Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137112023-11-23T17:52:03Z2023-11-23T17:52:03ZHow digital twins will enable the next generation of precision agriculture<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-digital-twins-will-enable-the-next-generation-of-precision-agriculture" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Drastic climate change and overpopulation have rendered traditional agricultural practices unsustainable. Even more economically affluent countries suffer from constantly increasing household food insecurity. </p>
<p>In Canada, for example, <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/2023/new-data-on-household-food-insecurity-in-2022/">one-in-six families</a> find it difficult to provide food to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, and the situation is getting worst year by year.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-insecurity-in-canada-is-the-worst-its-ever-been-heres-how-we-can-solve-it-216399">Food insecurity in Canada is the worst it's ever been — here's how we can solve it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Food insecurity is a rapidly escalating <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-update">global problem</a> that challenges agriculture companies to find radically new ways to produce crops efficiently: with less waste, fewer pesticides and shorter time to market, while also reducing their energy footprint. </p>
<p>As traditional outdoor farming is unable to address these challenges, indoor farming techniques, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1848-0_2">controlled environment agriculture (CEA)</a> are becoming of particular interest. However, they require proper computer-aided support. Such computer-aided methods and tools are developed in our lab on <a href="https://istvandavid.com/lab">Sustainable Systems and Methods (SSM)</a> at McMaster University.</p>
<h2>Digital twins</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/louisbiscotti/2022/04/19/controlled-environmental-agriculture-cea-the-great-outdoors-gives-way-to-the-great-indoors">CEA</a> is the technique of growing crops in an isolated environment artificially controlled by complex machinery HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), irrigation and lighting systems, alongside an array of sensors to measure environmental conditions. </p>
<p>Thanks to automation, controlled environments achieve better yield and quality than traditional farming settings, while also reducing waste.</p>
<p>As these improvements come with increased complexity, finding the optimal growth strategy — that is, the sequence of environmental conditions that stimulate growth at the most appropriate pace and reduce energy consumption — is particularly challenging. </p>
<p>This is another complex challenge that requires continuous monitoring of the environment, real-time decision-making and high-precision control of the environment — tasks that are beyond the limits of human capabilities. </p>
<p>Computer-aided support, such as <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/what-is-a-digital-twin">digital twins</a>, can play an important role.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-digital-twins-a-pair-of-computer-modeling-experts-explain-181829">What are digital twins? A pair of computer modeling experts explain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Digital twins are digital representations of physical objects, people or processes. They aid decision-making through high-fidelity simulations of the twinned physical system in real time and are often equipped with autonomous control capabilities. </p>
<p>In precision agriculture, digital twins are typically used for <a href="https://istvandavid.com/files/models-2023-dt4cbps-preprint.pdf">monitoring and controlling environmental conditions</a> to stimulate crop growth at an optimal and sustainable rate.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gW-21CHDkIU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An overview of indoor ‘vertical’ farming produced by Eater.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Digital twins provide a live dashboard to observe the environmental conditions in the growing area, and with varying autonomy, digital twins can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103046">control the environment directly</a>. </p>
<p>Reducing energy consumption — or rather, improving the crop-to-energy ratio — is one of the obvious goals at precision agriculture facilities as heating and cooling the facility <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2022.01.074">consumes a lot of energy</a>. </p>
<p>Digital twins can also be used for <a href="https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/digital-twin/architecture-engineering-construction">designing new greenhouses</a>. For example, a digital twin that collected data over a long period in a greenhouse can be used for experimentation purposes when a new greenhouse is designed.</p>
<h2>Is this economically feasible?</h2>
<p>Developing digital twins and improving the digital maturity of farming companies are the main cost drivers in the adoption of digitally enhanced CEA.</p>
<p>The costs associated with the development of the digital twin are mostly related to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/04/19/what-businesses-should-know-about-digital-twins">hardware elements and software development</a>. Home-brew solutions, experimentation with cheap devices and gradual expansion of functionality are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105942">good first steps</a> and help adopt the right digitalization mindset. </p>
<p>However, professional grower settings require industry-grade sub-systems, which are in a completely different league in terms of costs, and employing them requires a carefully prepared <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/10/23/4-digital-twin-challenges-to-overcome-for-better-business-decision-making">organizational digital strategy</a>.</p>
<p>Agriculture is among the <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/04/a-chart-that-shows-which-industries-are-the-most-digital-and-why">lowest-digitalized</a> sectors, and digital maturity is an absolute prerequisite to adopting digital twins. As a consequence, costs related to digital maturity often overshadow technical costs in smart agriculture.</p>
<p>A company undergoing the early stages of digitalization will have to think about choosing a cloud provider, establishing a data strategy and acquiring an array of software licences, to name just <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/04/20/18-smart-early-steps-in-digital-transformation-that-can-yield-long-term-wins">a few critical challenges</a>. </p>
<p>Organizational costs are hard to assess, but they might render the economic outlook of a company bleak. This is a particularly painful growing stage that requires proper consulting. </p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2022/03/16/ai-on-the-farm-a-new-path-to-food-self-sufficiency/">recent success stories</a> of industrial-academic collaborations that helped scope ongoing digitalization efforts at agricultural companies.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>The need for food security and sustainable production is as urgent as it’s ever been. </p>
<p>Amid dramatic climate change, forest fires all across Canada, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/20/revealed-almost-everyone-in-europe-breathing-toxic-air">extreme air pollution in Europe</a>, an ongoing energy crisis and the continuous growth of population, food self-sufficiency is among the top goals of humankind. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-technologies-that-will-help-make-the-food-system-carbon-neutral-182846">5 technologies that will help make the food system carbon neutral</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meeting <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/">the second sustainability development goal</a> of the United Nations General Assembly — that is, to eradicate global hunger by 2030 — will require a complete paradigm shift in agriculture. </p>
<p>One way to meet this ambitious goal is by advanced digitalization and digital twins. There are still obstacles to tackle before we get there, but with the constantly decreasing price of hardware and computing power, digitally driven smart agriculture is becoming a reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Istvan David received funding from the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO).</span></em></p>Digital twin technology is a huge boon for indoor farming and may hold the key to addressing rising global food scarcity.Istvan David, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157722023-11-22T21:11:55Z2023-11-22T21:11:55ZWasting and edema — severe forms of malnutrition — affect millions of children worldwide as food insecurity grows<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/wasting-and-edema-severe-forms-of-malnutrition-affect-millions-of-children-worldwide-as-food-insecurity-grows" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Each year around the globe, <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073791">45 million children</a> under the age of five experience wasting, which is very low body weight relative to height as a result of muscle and fat loss. Of these, 13.6 million have severe wasting, which puts them at an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrdp.2017.67">11-fold risk of dying</a> from infectious diseases compared to children who are not wasted.</p>
<p>Nutritional edema (also known as kwashiorkor) is another manifestation of malnutrition that often goes unmeasured in surveys. But it is likely that worldwide, <a href="https://www.ennonline.net/childkwashiorkor">hundreds of thousands of children</a> per year have edema.</p>
<p>Children with edema have swelling in their feet at minimum, but their legs, hands, arms and faces can also become swollen. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104070">Researchers are still questioning</a> why some children develop edema versus wasting — or a combination of the two.</p>
<p>Severe wasting and edema were previously called severe acute malnutrition, but this didn’t reflect the fact that children can have wasting for months at a time and can have repeated bouts of it after recovering.</p>
<h2>Zero Hunger goals</h2>
<p>The world is halfway to the end of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> timeline, which includes ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030 as part of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2">Zero Hunger</a> goal. This means dropping the rate of wasting to below five per cent by 2025 as an intermediate target and below three per cent by 2030 — <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073791">which we are not on track to achieve</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fsinplatform.org/global-report-food-crises-2023">2023 Global Report on Food Crises</a> stated that 258 million people in 58 countries needed urgent food assistance in 2022. This is the highest number since the first report seven years prior. The report highlights that acute food insecurity can be attributed mainly to conflict, economic shocks and extreme weather from climate change.</p>
<p>As an expert in malnutrition, when I see these figures, I expect a rise in severe wasting and edema as a significant consequence. But the international nutrition community is active in trying to reach more children who need treatment and deliver care based on available evidence.</p>
<h2>Treating severe wasting and edema</h2>
<p>Malnutrition in the form of severe wasting and edema is a complex child health issue that requires specialized nutritional and medical treatment.</p>
<p>A majority of children with wasting or edema can be treated in outpatient settings, under a model called Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition that was <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789280641479">backed by several United Nations agencies in 2007</a>. Before this model, all children with severe wasting and edema were admitted to hospital.</p>
<p>Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) is a key part of this treatment of children in their communities. RUTF is designated as a “<a href="https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%253A%252F%252Fworkspace.fao.org%252Fsites%252Fcodex%252FStandards%252FCXG%2B95-2022%252FCXG_095e.pdf">food for special medical purposes</a>” for children with severe wasting and edema. It was added to the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MHP-HPS-EML-2023.03">WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children</a> in July 2023. This is seen as a huge achievement for many in the nutrition community because RUTF should be stocked like other important medicines, such as antibiotics, in places where wasting and edema occur. This could also help improve integration of nutrition into health systems.</p>
<p>RUTF is usually made of peanuts, oil, sugar and milk powder, with vitamins and minerals mixed in. These ingredients are squeezed into 500-calorie sachets that are shelf-stable for up to two years.</p>
<p>However, one in five children with severe wasting and edema needs to be admitted for hospital treatment at specialized centres called nutritional rehabilitation units (NRUs). These are extremely vulnerable children, suffering from this serious form of malnutrition in combination with co-morbidities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrdp.2017.67">like HIV or tuberculosis</a>. Mortality rates in NRUs vary <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5034633/">from 10 to 40 per cent</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand holding packets of Plumpy'Nut ready-to-use therapeutic food" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560577/original/file-20231121-15-d1cauc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ready-to-use therapeutic food was added to the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children in July 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/33140342933/in/photolist-SuuVmZ-Turv6S-fQ7sWG-dCeA5e-dCezHk-atBkZt-cMCRCd-dCk2Db-ieaX7q-dYfe8h-TJnhQg-ieaFqY-dCk1os-7pYKg8-fQ7teG-d8Wv5f-ifyvyb-qe1yqF-ie9mnE-ie7aFc-ie8YUi-TwT8dZ-iea6S4-ieaaKT-iea5Qc-ie3T4i-ieatqW-ieaxSG-SuuWnM-ie6r8B-TEKyAW-ie2dog-neNZrD-ie4SUE-fQ7vK7-77Ghsz-ie9PDo-ie2wAE-ie4nNy-ie1bPp-idZRjz-ieadpG-SrQxQm-fTremr-fPPWzM-ie1f7X-fPPWCx-fQ7sj5-e37dje-ie7Qm6">(Russell Watkins/DFID/flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When children are admitted to NRUs, health-care workers prioritize identifying and managing life-threatening conditions. The first phase of treatment, the stabilization phase, involves giving children a specific type of therapeutic milk known as F-75 — because it has 75 calories per 100 millilitres — every few hours along with breast milk for younger children. </p>
<p>F-75 is relatively low in calories and protein to lower the chance of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2016.05.016">refeeding syndrome</a>. Refeeding syndrome occurs when food is consumed too quickly after starvation, causing serious shifts in electrolytes and fluids that can be fatal.</p>
<p>Once stabilized, children can transition to F-100 and/or RUTF while being treated in NRUs, at which point they start to regain weight. When children meet criteria that deems them healthy enough to leave the hospital, they continue with their treatment at home until they recover.</p>
<h2>Global action and commitments</h2>
<p>The current model of care has enabled treatment of most children with severe wasting and edema in their communities, apart from the sickest children who need NRU care. But still, two-thirds of children with severe wasting do not receive treatment, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/reports/no-time-waste">according to UNICEF</a>.</p>
<p>UN partners announced the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/global-action-plan-on-child-wasting-a-framework-for-action">Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting</a> in 2019, calling for a concerted global effort to tackle wasting and edema. In January 2023, they posted a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/documents/UN-GAP-Call-to-Action">call to action</a> to protect children in 15 countries hit hard by the global food and nutrition crisis.</p>
<p>As part of the GAP, <a href="https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/noPQkE">the WHO has released a new evidence-based guideline this year</a> that covers the <em>prevention</em> of wasting and edema as well as <em>management</em> of: </p>
<ul>
<li>severe wasting and edema; </li>
<li>moderate wasting (a less serious form of wasting than severe wasting that afflicts about 31 million children); and </li>
<li>infants under six months old at risk of poor growth and development. </li>
</ul>
<p>The <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241506328">previous WHO guideline</a> was published a decade ago and only addressed treatment of severe wasting and edema.</p>
<p>There is also substantial financial support to reach more children with severe wasting and edema, such as a combined <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/over-half-billion-dollars-pledged-tackle-severe-wasting-july-unprecedented">half a billion U.S. dollars commitment last year</a> from donors and governments to address wasting, including <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/unprecedented-280m-raised-for-child-malnutrition-treatment-104018">$56 million from Canada</a>.</p>
<p>And many countries affected by wasting and edema have <a href="https://www.childwasting.org/the-gap-framework">made major commitments</a> to update policies and accelerate wasting and edema management and prevention, with funds from national budgets earmarked for these actions.</p>
<p>The combination of political and financial actions that strengthen nutrition programs within health systems and reach more children with wasting and edema who need treatment will mean more children survive. New global guidance on how best to prevent and manage wasting will help to improve the care of these children.</p>
<p>But it needs to be all hands on deck — within and beyond the global nutrition community — to curtail the surge in wasting and edema in the highest risk children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allison Daniel is involved in the WHO guideline on prevention and management of wasting and nutritional edema, but the views in this article do not necessarily reflect those of WHO.</span></em></p>As global acute food insecurity increases, severe wasting — which already affects 13.6 million children — is expected to rise with it. Treating wasting requires specialized nutrition and medical care.Allison Daniel, Adjunct Professor, Food, Nutrition and Health, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2095752023-11-20T22:30:42Z2023-11-20T22:30:42ZHow culturally appropriate diets can be a pathway to food security in the Canadian Arctic<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-culturally-appropriate-diets-can-be-a-pathway-to-food-security-in-the-canadian-arctic" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/sites/agri-food/Canada%27s%20Food%20Price%20Report%202023_Digital.pdf">As food prices soar</a> it is clear that food security is becoming an ever-growing concern for Canadians. However, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75-006-x/2023001/article/00013-eng.pdf?st=P1pILBO8">not everyone faces these rising costs equally</a>.</p>
<p>In Inuit Nunangat — the homeland of Inuit across Northern Canada — the situation is alarming. In one of the world’s wealthiest nations, a stark <a href="https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ITK_Food-Security-Strategy-Report_English_PDF-Version.pdf">76 per cent of the Inuit population faced food insecurity</a> in 2017, a statistic that has likely grown even worse in the current food price landscape.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-insecurity-in-canada-is-the-worst-its-ever-been-heres-how-we-can-solve-it-216399">Food insecurity in Canada is the worst it's ever been — here's how we can solve it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The pervasive issue of food insecurity among Inuit, which is closely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980020000117">linked to detrimental nutritional and mental health outcomes</a>, stands out as one of the most enduring and critical public health crises confronting a population within Canada. </p>
<p>But solutions exist that include culturally appropriate food systems to ensure access to affordable, nutritious, safe and preferred foods. Additionally, new research avenues tailored to unique health determinants in the North can inform Inuit-specific actions to prevent disease development linked to diet and food insecurity. </p>
<p>The interdisciplinary program <a href="https://sentinellenord.ulaval.ca/en/home">Sentinel North</a> at Université Laval has recently integrated the collective knowledge of its research teams to offer a novel perspective on the links between food security, diet and metabolic health. Integrating the knowledge of different disciplines is crucial to address the multifaceted issue of food insecurity in the North.</p>
<h2>Challenges of food security in the Arctic</h2>
<p>Food security in the Arctic is multifaceted and is associated with the access, availability, safety and quality of both country food — food that is harvested, hunted, fished, and gathered from the land, rivers, lakes and the sea — and store-bought foods.</p>
<p>At the heart of this complexity are economic dynamics that place strain on Arctic communities. Monetary poverty, amplified by the high cost of living in the Arctic, is <a href="https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ITK_Inuit-Nunangat-Food-Security-Strategy_English.pdf">one of the main drivers of food insecurity among Inuit</a>. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.08.006">median individual income for Inuit (15 years and older) in northern Canada</a> is two-thirds that of Canadians as a whole. Meanwhile, the prices for store-bought foods, and other goods and services, can range from double to several times higher than in other parts of the country because of transportation costs. </p>
<p>Compounding these economic constraints are the <a href="https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ITK_Food-Security-Strategy-Report_English_PDF-Version.pdf">relentless forces of climate change, which are fundamentally transforming subsistence food systems across the North</a>. </p>
<p>As sea ice recedes, permafrost thaws and extreme weather events increase, accessing traditional hunting and fishing grounds becomes increasingly challenging. Additionally, the abundance and distribution of species, which communities have relied on for generations, are shifting. </p>
<p>But it’s not just climate change that’s a concern.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-red-alert-for-the-future-arctic-89122">A red alert for the future Arctic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Arctic, despite its remote location, is not isolated from global pollutants. Contaminants from distant regions make their way to the Arctic, carried by atmospheric and oceanic currents. Among these are the <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-takes-first-step-to-regulate-toxic-forever-chemicals-but-is-it-enough-207288">“forever chemicals,”</a> a group of persistent compounds that resist environmental degradation and accumulate in the wildlife that communities rely on for sustenance. </p>
<p>While the nutritional and cultural benefits of country foods remain significant, the exposure to these environmental contaminants presents a profound concern for the health and well-being of the Inuit.</p>
<p>These environmental transformations jeopardize both the integrity of the food supply chain and the very traditions that are foundational to the cultural identity of Arctic Indigenous peoples.</p>
<h2>The importance of country food</h2>
<p>Country foods significantly contribute to the nutrition, health and food security of Inuit communities. </p>
<p>The traditional Inuit diet is notable for its richness in omega-3 fatty acids, largely due to the high consumption of fish and marine-source foods. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2022.2120344">Recent research</a> has linked fish oil consumption with the proliferation of <em>Akkermansia muciniphila</em> — a gut bacterium heralded for its potential in combating metabolic ailments including obesity, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular conditions.</p>
<p>In addition to marine resources, the Arctic offers a bounty of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2019.04.002">berries, rich in health-promoting polyphenols</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119545958">Polyphenols act as antioxidants</a>, crucial for neutralizing molecules that can damage cells, promote aging and contribute to various diseases. </p>
<p>Recent research on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-017-4520-z">polyphenolic extracts</a> from cloudberries, alpine bearberries and lingonberries has shown promising outcomes in managing insulin resistance and regulating insulin levels in animal studies. Such findings suggest that regular consumption of these Arctic berries might serve as a culturally appropriate strategy to combat inflammation and associated metabolic disorders.</p>
<p>Beyond being rich sources of essential nutrients, <a href="https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ITK_Food-Security-Strategy-Report_English_PDF-Version.pdf">country foods are deeply woven into the fabric of Inuit life, enhancing mental and emotional well-being, fostering community bonds and fortifying cultural heritage</a>. The process of gathering, preparing and sharing country foods is also intertwined with physical activity, mental health and well-being. </p>
<p>Yet, in spite of country food’s integral role, multiple factors — from the enduring impacts of colonization and climate change to socioeconomic challenges, and concerns over environmental contaminants — <a href="https://nrbhss.ca/sites/default/files/health_surveys/Food_Security_report_en.pdf">have accelerated a shift towards a reliance on market foods</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00724-7">western dietary patterns gain ground</a> in the Canadian Arctic, <a href="https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4395401">health issues such as obesity, diabetes and cardiometabolic disease are on the rise</a>. Developing tailored approaches which consider Inuit lifestyles, genetics and unique dietary traditions are essential to building specialized strategies for mitigating and preventing these rising health concerns. </p>
<h2>Culturally adapted food systems</h2>
<p>In response to the pressing challenge of food insecurity, northern Indigenous communities across Canada have implemented various food programs. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12872">Community food programs that address acute food insecurity are common</a>. But to ensure resilience, the entire food system needs to be revisited — government policies, programs and monetary investments. </p>
<p>Programs that foster youth knowledge and skills in harvest, that improve community food storage and infrastructure and that allows country food to be provided in an institutional setting are only some examples. For example, a stipend from the city will give nearly 50 daycare children in Iqaluit two meals a day for a year, meals that include country food.</p>
<p>These initiatives not only bolster food security but also champion food sovereignty through community-led and community-driven efforts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arctic-ocean-climate-change-is-flooding-the-remote-north-with-light-and-new-species-150157">Arctic Ocean: climate change is flooding the remote north with light – and new species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The journey to resolve food insecurity is complex, with no one-size-fits-all solution. Initiatives that integrate local knowledge and skills with evidence-based research have the potential to forge a sustainable path forward. Mobilizing such research to inform and shape policy is critical, ensuring that the strides made are not just temporary fixes but part of a comprehensive strategy for lasting food security.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiff-Annie Kenny receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the New Frontiers in Research Fund (CIHR), the Northern Contaminants Program, ArcticNet, Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS), Génome Canada, and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pascale Ropars does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Food insecurity is an issue felt particularly acutely by Inuit across Northern Canada. Culturally appropriate food systems may be the solution.Pascale Ropars, Researcher, Sentinel North, Université LavalTiff-Annie Kenny, Assistant professor, Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163992023-11-19T13:00:25Z2023-11-19T13:00:25ZFood insecurity in Canada is the worst it’s ever been — here’s how we can solve it<p>According to the latest Statistics Canada data, household food insecurity in the 10 provinces has reached a record high. Drawing on data from StatCan’s Canadian Income Survey, our <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/resource/household-food-insecurity-in-canada-2022/">new report</a> has found that the percentage of households with inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints rose to 17.8 per cent in 2022 from 15.9 per cent in 2021.</p>
<p>That amounts to 6.9 million Canadians — 1.1 million more than in 2021 — living in households with experiences that range from worrying about running out of food before there’s enough money to buy more to not eating at all for entire days because of a lack of income.</p>
<p>One-quarter of food-insecure households were severely food insecure, meaning 1.5 million Canadians had to cut or skip meals over the past 12 months.</p>
<p>These estimates don’t include people living in First Nations or the territories – the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut – <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/resources/indigenous-food-insecurity/">where rates of food insecurity are typically even higher</a>.</p>
<p>The rate of household food insecurity differs dramatically across the provinces, ranging from 13.8 per cent in Québec to 22.9 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2022. Every province experienced an increase from the previous year.</p>
<h2>Health-care system impact</h2>
<p>These numbers are important because they tell us about more than just household food situations. By the time someone reports being unable to afford the food they need, they’re likely compromising spending on other necessities, like housing and <a href="https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20190075">prescription medications</a>.</p>
<p>Living in these circumstances is <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/what-are-the-implications-of-food-insecurity-for-health-and-health-care/">very harmful to people’s health and well-being</a>. The health implications extend beyond poor nutrition and diet-related diseases to a sweeping array of adverse health outcomes, including physical and mental health conditions and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.190385">premature death</a>.</p>
<p>When we look at the health administration records of Canadians living in food-insecure households, the extraordinary toll food insecurity is taking on individuals and on our health-care system is obvious.</p>
<p>Because their health is worse, people living in these households require more health care. Both <a href="https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-023-00812-2">the children</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.150234">the adults</a> in food-insecure households are more likely to use outpatient services and to be hospitalized. Once admitted, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01637">they stay in acute care for longer and are more likely to require readmission</a>. </p>
<p>The increased use of the health-care system translates to greater health-care costs and an additional burden on our public system that simply isn’t necessary.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ulxb-XOd064?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Evidence-based policy interventions</h2>
<p>Reducing food insecurity requires concerted efforts by federal and provincial governments to address the root cause — the inadequacy of household incomes to meet basic needs. </p>
<p>Providing better income support gives households a fighting chance of managing sudden losses of income or increases in expenses without having to compromise necessities.</p>
<p>Studies have shown food insecurity decreases when low-income households receive more money via <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2023.01.027">child benefits</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2014-080">social assistance programs</a>. That’s also the case when households transition to a more adequate and stable source of income — namely, when low-income adults become <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2015-069">eligible for public pensions programs</a>, Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement. </p>
<p>However, the way these programs are currently designed means our social safety net is anything but.</p>
<h2>Public income supports</h2>
<p>Households with limited or no employment income and reliant on provincial social assistance or Employment Insurance are very likely to be food insecure. Relying on social assistance almost guarantees food insecurity; seven in 10 households on social assistance were food insecure in 2022.</p>
<p>In most jurisdictions, social assistance benefits aren’t indexed to inflation, so the poorest people in our communities become even poorer as prices rise. Provinces should look to raise and index benefit amounts, asset limits and earning exemptions so that recipients have enough for basic needs while in these programs of last resort.</p>
<p>Households reliant on employment income fare better, but simply having a job isn’t enough to prevent food insecurity. In fact, the main source of income for 60 per cent of food-insecure households in the 10 provinces is salaries and wages. The policies meant to support workers in need, like the Canada Worker Benefit and similar provincial benefits, are clearly insufficient.</p>
<p>There’s also a need to expand job opportunities and improve the quality and stability of employment through policies like higher employment standards, support for collective bargaining and increased minimum wage, which several provinces are embracing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/levelling-the-playing-field-the-case-for-a-federal-anti-scab-law-217341">Levelling the playing field: The case for a federal ‘anti-scab’ law</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Children in food-insecure households</h2>
<p>The Canada Child Benefit has been widely credited for reducing child poverty, but this benefit goes to <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/HUMA/meeting-149/evidence#Int-10639051">90 per cent of families in Canada</a>. In stretching itself so thin, the benefit isn’t providing enough support to the families that really need it. </p>
<p>Just having a child in the household means a higher risk of food insecurity in Canada. In 2022, 1.8 million children — or one in four — under the age of 18 lived in a food-insecure household. Households with children also made up the majority of the increase in food insecurity from 2021 to 2022. The Canada Child Benefit needs to be restructured to insulate lower-income families from food insecurity more effectively.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-welfare-system-is-failing-mothers-with-infants-204716">Canada's welfare system is failing mothers with infants</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Governments have failed to implement enduring changes to income policies informed by research on food insecurity. Instead, we’ve almost exclusively seen small, limited-time benefits, like the federal Grocery Rebate, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-national-food-policy-is-at-risk-of-enshrining-a-two-tiered-food-system-205741">continued funding for community food programs</a> as the response to the hardships Canadians are facing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2023-grocery-rebate-is-the-right-direction-on-food-insecurity-but-theres-a-long-road-ahead-201926">Federal budget 2023: Grocery rebate is the right direction on food insecurity, but there's a long road ahead</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The noteworthy exception is the <a href="https://www.gov.nl.ca/releases/2023/exec/1108n01/">newly announced Poverty Reduction Plan in Newfoundland and Labrador</a>. The existing research suggests that it will help reduce food insecurity in that province.</p>
<h2>Food insecurity festers</h2>
<p>The prevalence and severity of food insecurity in Canada has likely already worsened since 2022, given continued high inflation — particularly the <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-housing-costs-have-hit-30-year-high-statcan-data-shows-1.6568256">record-setting increases in the cost of food, rent and mortgage interest</a> — and a lack of major policy action to offset the added burden on households.</p>
<p>The persistence of food insecurity in Canada is a policy choice. By not doing more to improve the adequacy and stability of household resources, our federal and provincial governments are choosing to let food insecurity fester. </p>
<p>In doing so, they are allowing the health of millions of Canadians to be eroded as we unnecessarily tax our already over-burdened health-care system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie Tarasuk receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She has previously received research funds from the Joannah and Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition and a consulting fee from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Li does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The persistence of food insecurity in Canada is a policy choice. By not doing more to improve the adequacy and stability of household income, governments are choosing to let food insecurity fester.Valerie Tarasuk, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, University of TorontoTim Li, Research Program Coordinator, Food Insecurity, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164742023-11-05T13:01:53Z2023-11-05T13:01:53ZGrain as a weapon: Russia-Ukraine war reveals how capitalism fuels global hunger<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/grain-as-a-weapon-russia-ukraine-war-reveals-how-capitalism-fuels-global-hunger" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>International fears about the <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/how-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-has-further-aggravated-the-global-food-crisis/">impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on an existing global food crisis</a> appear to have faded in the seven months since <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-grain-food-security-ba7f9146b745337a1948a964cb30331c">Russia pulled out of a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain to world markets.</a></p>
<p>Such complacency is misplaced and dangerous. The risk of worsening food insecurity through the weaponization of grain continues. It’s troubling that such a risk exists at all, given how blocking access to a basic food staple can devastate innocent people and those with no connection to the conflict.</p>
<p>The idea that access to food and other basic commodities can be cut off to serve the strategic aims of a country at war is among the most concerning contradictions of modern capitalist political economy. Yet it’s barely even questioned in most policy discussions.</p>
<p>Precarity in food supplies has not dissipated despite the relative stabilization of grain exports and prices. As respected Black Sea agriculture expert Andrey Sizov argues: <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/90566">“The calm on the grain exports market is deceptive</a>.” The risk is emanating from many sources. </p>
<h2>Targeting food vessels</h2>
<p>For one, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-hits-ukraines-grain-fourth-day-practises-seizing-ships-black-sea-2023-07-21/">Russia has placed food vessels to and from Ukraine on its list of potential targets</a>, and <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ukraine-warns-ships-heading-to-russia-ports-risk-attack-1.1948329">Ukraine has retaliated by warning about similarly attacking the Crimea bridge</a> connecting Russian shipping straits to key ports. </p>
<p>There is also the continuing risk of Russia deliberately slowing inspections or restricting exports. </p>
<p>Lastly, <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=107264">global grain prices have decreased in recent months</a>, due in no small part to speculation and hedging in financial markets. </p>
<p>The short selling of grain <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/albanian-wheat-farmers-struggle-with-selling-price-bad-weather/">hurts farmers in Albania</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/25/ukraine-grain-poland-election/">Poland</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/world/europe/ukraine-grain-deal-romania.html">Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia</a>, in addition to contributing to price fluctuations that affect countries already struggling with food insecurity.</p>
<p>This illuminates a wider fundamental problem with commodified food systems and with neoliberal capitalism’s logic of financialization more broadly.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-neoliberalism-a-political-scientist-explains-the-use-and-evolution-of-the-term-184711">What is neoliberalism? A political scientist explains the use and evolution of the term</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Most commentators on food security have called for an end to threats of grain disruption, for the revival of the grain deal or for commitments to new agreements. </p>
<p>Others have pushed for a more controlled <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2022.100662">approach of judiciously managing wheat stocks</a>. Along similar lines, a team of food systems and security researchers has collaborated on establishing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.06.008">recommended research priorities for tackling food security during extreme events</a>.</p>
<p>These suggestions, however, are governance approaches that remain embedded in existing systems of political economy.</p>
<h2>Flawed logic</h2>
<p>More durable solutions may lie in addressing what gave rise to our shaky and unjust commodity systems in the first place.</p>
<p>At a basic level, the promise of our supply-and-demand capitalism is that those who want a good or service are willing to pay more for it. But that’s illogical, because those who want or need goods the most may not be able to pay top dollar for them.</p>
<p>The result of this flawed logic has been that even the threat of disruptions to grain supply have driven prices high and placed populations in countries across Africa, the Middle East and Asia at risk of hunger. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.2753/IJP0891-1916420401">financialization</a> of everything, including basic needs, is just one mechanism of neoliberal capitalism, and it reveals the dangers of turning basic needs into commodities.</p>
<p>Since the war in Ukraine, <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/assessing-tight-global-wheat-stocks-and-their-role-price-volatility">implied price volatility for wheat has peaked</a> beyond what we saw during the <a href="https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/high-food-price-crisis">2008 global food price crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Financialization leads to speculation and hedging that triggers price volatility in international grain markets. </p>
<p>Speculation multiplies the risk to food accessibility because the mere perception of risk in financial hubs like New York and London can cascade into very real food shortages for millions. That, in turn, can spawn other crises, from violent social conflict to mass displacement.</p>
<p>Throughout the Russia-Ukraine war, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4518088">wheat has provided hedging benefits</a> to investors. The <a href="https://unctad.org/podcast/prices-and-profits-commodity-speculation-making-global-food-crisis-worse">United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has recognized</a> that this has exacerbated the current global food crisis.</p>
<h2>Speculation underpins food insecurity</h2>
<p>Hopeful discussions and <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/666714">research by the G24 group of nations</a> occurred during the 2008 crisis and focused on the role of financial market speculation in creating food insecurity. </p>
<p>These conversations are urgently needed again to further examine the underlying influences of capitalism on food insecurity. </p>
<p>The newly released <a href="https://unctad.org/publication/trade-and-development-report-2023">UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 2023</a> has again raised concerns over financial speculation and hedging. The report directly links food insecurity to corporate profiteering made possible by financial speculation in commodity markets.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1712528727303655801"}"></div></p>
<p>But it failed to call into question the underlying political-economic organization of neoliberal capitalism, which has encouraged the use of critical and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/14/oil-food-crisis-price-spike-global-russia-putin-ukraine-war/">life-sustaining commodities as geopolitical pawns</a>. </p>
<p>A more forward-looking and sustainable solution would be to decommodify basic needs altogether.</p>
<p>Decommodification is an attainable aim, but to achieve it requires a critical examination of the wider political economy. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00933-5">Research is demonstrating</a> how basic needs, like food, can have both stable and sustainable supply. These discussions on alternatives to neoliberal capitalism are beginning to happen in <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_STU(2023)747108">prominent policy arenas</a>.</p>
<p>The war in Ukraine’s impact on food insecurity is critical, of course, but there is more to the picture. The main problem is that capitalism allows food and other basic needs to become precarious commodities.</p>
<p>The current <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/war-ukraine-drives-global-food-crisis">global food crisis may be triggered by war</a>, but neoliberal capitalism is the fuel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alicja Paulina Krubnik receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>The Ukraine war’s impact on food insecurity is critical, but there is more to the picture. The main problem is that capitalism allows food and other basic needs to become precarious commodities.Alicja Paulina Krubnik, PhD Candidate, Political Science, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2120722023-08-29T12:25:50Z2023-08-29T12:25:50ZPrescriptions for fruits and vegetables can improve the health of people with diabetes and other ailments, new study finds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544806/original/file-20230825-16121-jw13nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C0%2C6430%2C5266&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">"Food is medicine" programs recognize the vital importance of fresh produce in a person's overall health. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/healthy-eating-exercising-weight-and-blood-pressure-royalty-free-image/1280587810?phrase=food+as+medicine&adppopup=true">fcafotodigital/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The health of people with diabetes, hypertension and obesity improved when they could get free fruits and vegetables with a prescription from their doctors and other health professionals. </p>
<p>We found that these patients’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.122.009520">blood sugar levels, blood pressure and weight improved</a> in our new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.</p>
<p>The improvements we saw in clinical outcomes could have a meaningful impact on overall health. For example, systolic blood pressure, or blood pressure during heartbeats, decreased more than 8 millimeters of mercury, or mm Hg, while diastolic blood pressure, or blood pressure between heartbeats, decreased nearly 5 mm Hg. For context, this is about half the drop <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjhyper.2005.01.011">gained through medications that lower blood pressure</a>.</p>
<p>Many U.S. health care providers have been experimenting with “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2482">food is medicine</a>” programs, which provide free, healthy food to patients – sometimes for a year or more. </p>
<p>This is the largest analysis to date of produce prescription programs, which are one variety of these efforts. They let patients with diet-related illnesses get apples, broccoli, berries, cucumbers and other kinds of fruits and vegetables for free. In Los Angeles, Boise, Houston, Minneapolis and other places where the programs we studied were located, participants selected the produce of their choice at grocery stores or farmers markets using electronic cards or vouchers. They typically received about US$65 per month for four to 10 months. </p>
<p>We pooled data from 22 U.S. produce prescription locations operated by <a href="https://www.wholesomewave.org/">Wholesome Wave</a>, a nonprofit that promotes access to affordable, healthy food. None of the pilots had previously been evaluated. All 4,000 participants either had, or were at risk for, poor cardiometabolic health and were recruited from clinics serving low-income neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Participants in these programs ate more fruits and vegetables. They were also one-third less likely to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-food-insecurity-152746">experience food insecurity</a> – not having enough food to meet basic needs and lead a healthy life. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nj_xQer-b7c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Wholesome Wave’s Fruit & Vegetable Prescription Program explained.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>More than 300,000 Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.0947">die annually of cardiovascular disease and diabetes</a> cases tied to what they eat.</p>
<p>The people in the estimated <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/104656/err-309_summary.pdf?v=9300.6">13.5 million U.S. households</a> experiencing food insecurity are more likely than others to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs13668-021-00364-2">cardiometabolic health problems</a>, such as diabetes or heart disease. They also have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.119.014629">shorter life expectancy</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6426124/">higher medical costs</a>. </p>
<p>Most Americans, regardless of their income, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.7491">don’t follow a healthy diet</a>. However, research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001%2Fjama.2019.13771">lower-income Americans tend to eat food</a> that’s slightly worse for their health than those who can afford to spend more.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/white-house-conference-hunger-nutrition-and-health">2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health</a> brought together experts who outlined a national strategy to eradicate food insecurity and reduce diet-related illnesses. It <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/White-House-National-Strategy-on-Hunger-Nutrition-and-Health-FINAL.pdf">ended with a strategy calling for</a>, among other things, more produce prescription programs.</p>
<p>The last White House conference on hunger and nutrition, which occurred over 50 years earlier, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fcdn%2Fnzaa082">led to significant and lasting changes in U.S. food policies</a>. The National School Lunch Program expanded and the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/about-wic-how-wic-helps">Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children</a>, known as WIC, was created. </p>
<p>Within a year of the latest conference, two government agencies – the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/04/26/hhs-announces-25-million-produce-prescription-programs-indian-country.html">Indian Health Service</a> and the <a href="https://www.va.gov/houston-health-care/news-releases/va-and-the-rockefeller-foundation-join-forces-to-increase-healthy-food-access-improve-health-outcomes-for-veterans/">Veterans Health Administration</a> – announced produce prescription pilots. Eight state Medicaid programs have <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/16/medicaid-for-food-next-states">received or applied for federal waivers</a> that would allow Medicaid to pay for produce prescriptions <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2023/06/27/food-as-medicine-cms-guidelines-produce-prescription/">for up to six months</a> for some people. However, these programs remain unavailable to most Americans who might benefit.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vv7GRhcHTTY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Dariush Mozaffarian of Tufts University discusses ‘food is medicine’ initiatives.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We are evaluating “food is medicine” pilots funded by the <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-delivery-system-reform-incentive-payment-program#flexible-services-">Flexible Services Program</a> in Massachusetts’ Medicaid program. We are also running a large, randomized controlled trial, in which one group of patients with cancer will get free home-delivered meals and another will receive standard care.</p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take on interesting academic work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kurt Hager volunteers as a steering committee member for the National Produce Prescription Collaborative.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fang Fang Zhang receives funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and East Bay Community Foundation for this work. </span></em></p>When people taking part in 22 pilot programs across the US got free fruits and vegetables, their health improved.Kurt Hager, Instructor of Epidemiology, UMass Chan Medical SchoolFang Fang Zhang, Professor of Epidemiology, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2080492023-08-02T17:13:58Z2023-08-02T17:13:58ZHow community markets for all could be a sustainable alternative to food banks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539245/original/file-20230725-17-aqqm6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=231%2C99%2C7117%2C4803&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-mesh-bag-full-fresh-vegetables-1399930106">Troyan/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of people using food banks in the UK has increased from 26,000 in <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/382695/uk-foodbank-users/#:%7E:text=In%202022%2F23%20approximately%202.99,compared%20with%20the%20previous%20year">2008-09</a> to more than 100 times that in 2023. Nearly one in five British households experienced moderate to severe food insecurity in September 2022. </p>
<p>In the financial year to April 2023, <a href="https://www.trusselltrust.org/2023/04/26/record-number-of-emergency-food-parcels-provided-to-people-facing-hardship-by-trussell-trust-food-banks-in-past-12-months/">Trussell Trust</a>, the largest (but not the only) network of food banks in the UK, distributed emergency food parcels to nearly three million people.</p>
<p>Food banks provide free, pre-prepared parcels of food to those most in <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6951-6">need</a>. They have provided a great deal of support for low-income families, especially during the cost of living crisis. </p>
<p>However, they are not perfect. Food banks offer people little choice, are dependent on <a href="https://theconversation.com/food-aid-supply-chains-rely-on-a-surplus-heres-what-happens-during-a-shortage-201355">unreliable supply chains</a>. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666316305670?casa_token=hBeZdMw2WXsAAAAA:G4TrJnRMfopSzhbuNlBy3GLvhDY_dvmZCS8nom8Z2_HU9hIhtpQM9gkQPMXHatzREzPLd9m6B_4x">Research</a> has also shown that people who use food banks often experience shame and stigma when doing so. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1187015/full">My research</a>, with colleague Heather Hartwell at Bournemouth University, has found a viable alternative. Community markets selling food and household items at subsidised rates to all could be a sustainable solution to the problems with existing food support programmes. </p>
<p>Food banks rely heavily on donations. But rising food prices means even would-be donors are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64304620">struggling</a> to buy that extra can of beans and other items. Beneficiaries of food banks also told us that parcels were mostly made up of dried, tinned and processed foods. </p>
<p>While it is important that parcels have a long shelf life, people experiencing food poverty want a choice of fresh and frozen food items, including meat. The constraints in the range and quality of food available are also associated with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25792338/">health problems</a> such as diabetes, asthma and obesity.</p>
<p>Food banks also do not empower people who use them to become self-sufficient. Rather, they often result in long-term reliance on food aid. Hence, food banks offer temporary relief from hunger without addressing the bigger issues that lead to food insecurity.</p>
<h2>Community markets</h2>
<p>Community markets operate differently to food banks. They are open to everyone in the local community, regardless of income level, and provide a range of food choices along with other items such as school uniforms and toiletries. </p>
<p>We interviewed 38 people who regularly used or were involved in the operation of these programmes in the UK. Through these discussions, we assessed how well community markets address the challenges of food security, and found that they are a possible solution to the limitations of food banks and parcel distribution.</p>
<p>Community markets do not solely rely on donations from the public or businesses. They pay a subscription to charity networks such as FareShare, which provide the market with items in bulk, which are sold to the community at a subsidised rate. All revenue from sales is reinvested to pay for future bulk purchases. </p>
<p>People with low incomes who shop at community markets told us they enjoyed having food at affordable food prices and felt a stronger sense of autonomy, and being part of the community. They did not feel their reliance on food support was a barrier to being part of society. As one person said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I very much prefer being able to choose my food instead of being given parcels. … It just feels dignified to be able to pay for goods, even if it is at subsidised rates, and then being able to choose what I want based on what I would like to eat.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A middle-aged man wearing a face mask and carrying a shopping basket in front of refrigerator cases in a supermarket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539247/original/file-20230725-29-6avf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People across social classes are struggling with high food prices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/middle-age-man-buying-food-grocery-1697983855">Anna Nahabed/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Food for all</h2>
<p>These markets can be used by people from across the community, including those on a higher income. People who were more well-off told us they wanted to shop at the markets because they felt they were giving back, spending their money to be reinvested in the programme:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought that people who would come to the market … would be very needy, not only financially but mentally as well but it isn’t like that … I like shopping here because the money I pay is invested back into the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Additionally, community markets serve as a hub, offering organised group activities and services for people, such as cooking and gardening classes, yoga and sewing. Through these activities, the community markets are tackling loneliness and other health issues – not just hunger.</p>
<p>Community markets are economically self-sufficient. They use revenue generated from selling products at subsidised rates to subscribe to charitable food surplus redistribution organisations. This financial independence sets them apart from food banks, which often rely on grants. They can also be environmentally sustainable, actively reducing food waste and their carbon footprint by redistributing surplus food to local emergency services and farms.</p>
<p>As more people rely on food aid, it’s important that local councils and national governments support alternatives to food banks. For the family struggling to fill the fridge or the student coping with higher rent, our findings show community markets could be of significant help, while allowing people to maintain their dignity and be part of their community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rounaq Nayak received funding from support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council Food Network+ and the Bournemouth University Charity Impact Fund.</span></em></p>Food banks help millions of people, but have serious limitations.Rounaq Nayak, Lecturer in Sustainable Agri-Food Systems, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2099072023-07-24T14:00:43Z2023-07-24T14:00:43ZNigeria’s food insecurity: declaring a state of emergency isn’t a real solution - here’s what is<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538350/original/file-20230719-15-uwrs4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 2022, government launched one million rice paddies, stacked in 15 pyramids, but the country's food crisis has persisted. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigerians doing their grocery shopping in July 2023 are paying 25% more for staple items than they did a year ago. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s inflation rate stands at about <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/1241350">22.79%</a>, but the prices of staple food items like eggs, bread, evaporated milk, palm oil and plantain have risen by over <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/1241347">25%</a> within the past year. </p>
<p>Using the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics <a href="https://nigerianstat.gov.ng/elibrary/read/1241347">monthly data</a> on food prices, I estimate that a moderate-income family of four, consuming staple foods like egg, milk, bread, rice, beans, garri, beef, catfish, plantains and vegetable oil, spent about 64,000 naira (US$80) on food in May 2022. </p>
<p>By May of 2023, this family would have spent about 80,000 naira ($100), a 25% increase. Data compiled by the World Economic Forum show that the average Nigerian household spends about <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/this-map-shows-how-much-each-country-spends-on-food/">56%</a> of its income on food. That’s the highest in the world. </p>
<p>Three other African countries that spend a high percentage of income on food are Kenya (46.7%), Cameroon (45.6%) and Algeria (42.5%). In contrast, the US, UK, Canada and Australia spend 6.4%, 8.2%, 9.1% and 9.8%, respectively. </p>
<p>This big bite out of household income means that food price increases have a severe impact on Nigerians. An estimated <a href="https://borgenproject.org/hunger-crisis-in-nigeria/">25 million</a> people are facing hunger. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s situation is so dire that President Bola Tinubu has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66199237">declared</a> a state of emergency on food insecurity. </p>
<p>But will it work? My view as <a href="https://sites.allegheny.edu/econ/faculty-staff/stephen-onyeiwu/">an economist</a> is that fixing Nigeria’s food inflation goes beyond declaring a state of emergency. It requires a bold and well articulated strategy to transform agriculture and rural life.</p>
<h2>Why emergency declaration is not enough</h2>
<p>Parts of Tinubu’s <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-news/609678-updated-tinubu-declares-state-of-emergency-on-food-insecurity-as-prices-rise.html">emergency plan</a> have been tried in the past. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>putting the National Security Council in charge of matters relating to food security and water availability </p></li>
<li><p>providing fertiliser and grain to farmers and households</p></li>
<li><p>creating synergies between the ministries of agriculture and water resources</p></li>
<li><p>establishing a National Commodity Board to stabilise food prices through food reserves and land banks. </p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/faqs/programs/neighborhood-stabilization-program-nsp/program-requirements/eligible-activitiesuses/what-is-the-definition-of-a-land-bank/">Land banks</a> are unused properties acquired and managed by the government. The goal is to use them for agricultural production, housing and other socially beneficial projects. Nigeria has an estimated <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/07/14/tinubu-declares-state-of-emergency-on-food-security-2">500,000 hectares</a> of land banks. </p>
<p>But they won’t be useful to increase food production if the country’s young people aren’t interested in making a living through agriculture.</p>
<p>Most of the measures proposed by the president are short- to medium-term plans. They aren’t long-lasting solutions for the country’s food crisis. </p>
<h2>Learnings from India</h2>
<p>Nigeria could learn some lessons from other developing countries. One is <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/guest-column/story/19810715-india-transformed-from-a-begging-bowl-to-a-breadbasket-773041-2013-11-18">India</a>, which in the 1950s and 1960s experienced food shortages so severe that it became known as a “begging-bowl” nation. </p>
<p>By making food self-sufficiency its top economic and foreign policy priority in the 1960s, India <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1897723">jettisoned</a> that image and became a major exporter of food. </p>
<p>India’s self-sufficiency in food production is the result of the <a href="https://ecdpm.org/work/how-feed-africas-growing-population-lessons-indias-green-revolution">Green Revolution</a> initiated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the early 1960s. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.644559/full">Programmes</a> under the Green Revolution included pro-agriculture economic policies, land reform and investment in rural infrastructure and agricultural technology. </p>
<p><strong>Land reform:</strong> <a href="https://unacademy.com/content/railway-exam/study-material/geography/land-reforms-in-india/">Land reform</a> gave rural people access to agricultural land, supported by government-provided irrigation systems, rainwater catchments and extension officers. </p>
<p>A ceiling of <a href="https://upscwithnikhil.com/article/history/land-ceiling">25 acres</a> (10 hectares) was placed on land ownership per household. Absentee landowners with surplus land were forced to give up some land for redistribution. </p>
<p>Commercial agriculture is often suggested as the panacea for Nigeria’s food crisis. But India’s agriculture is dominated by small and medium farmers. These farmers value their farms more than their houses. </p>
<p>The lesson for Nigeria is simple: agricultural development is not just about giving farmers subsidised fertiliser and low-interest credit. It is also about institutional reform. </p>
<p><strong>Transport network:</strong> Perhaps the greatest boost to food production in India was the inexpensive and extensive transport network in the country. Villages are connected to markets by paved roads and rail. State-owned buses are everywhere, even in the most isolated regions of the country. </p>
<p>Transport fares have been kept very low by competition from the ubiquitous “autos” (or three-wheelers) and rickshaws. Farmers can bring their products to the market daily. </p>
<p><strong>Improved productivity:</strong> Rising agricultural productivity has benefited farmers and non-agricultural workers alike. Farmers’ incomes have been on <a href="http://researchjournal.co.in/upload/assignments/5_529-534.pdf">the rise</a>, while food prices have been kept low for workers in other sectors.</p>
<p>Higher rural incomes have spurred demand for manufactured goods. Factories have come to rural communities, generating employment. </p>
<p>The industrial and agricultural sectors complement each other. Indian farmers supply an abundance of inputs such as coffee beans, tea leaves, fruit, vegetables and leather products to the country’s agro-processing firms, including global corporations. </p>
<h2>No quick fixes</h2>
<p>There are no quick and easy fixes for Nigeria’s food crisis. India started its journey to food self-sufficiency in the 1960s, and it took a long time before its agricultural development strategy began to pay off. </p>
<p>The way to solve the food crisis in Nigeria is through sound economic policies that make agriculture attractive (particularly to the youth), as well as institutional reforms that protect land tenure, raise farmers’ productivity, boost supply, and lower prices to consumers, while also ensuring good returns for agricultural investment.</p>
<p>It is doubtful that the mere declaration of a national emergency, with a long wish-list, will succeed in ensuring food security in Nigeria.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Onyeiwu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fixing Nigeria’s food inflation goes beyond declaring a state of emergency.Stephen Onyeiwu, Professor of Economics & Business, Allegheny CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2079822023-06-19T20:00:49Z2023-06-19T20:00:49ZSupermarket shelves were empty for months after the Lismore floods. Here’s how to make supply chains more resilient<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532504/original/file-20230618-24-mqj76o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C14%2C956%2C643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Beirne</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the outside, the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales seems idyllic. Rainforests, mountains, beaches and Byron Bay. But the past few years have made life harder for many who live there, with Black Summer bushfires, the COVID pandemic and intense flooding. </p>
<p>These disasters have exposed a key vulnerability: food. While it’s often assumed Australia’s strong agricultural sector means we are secure, these successive disasters show the danger of this assumption. </p>
<p>Much of this region’s food is trucked in from cities and food grown in the region transported out. The 2022 flood crisis damaged farms, cut off roads and freight lines, and inundated cool storage facilities. This, in turn, led to empty supermarket shelves. And not just for a day. In Lismore, they were empty for weeks or up to four months for <a href="https://www.lismorecitynews.com.au/story/7801762/date-set-for-lismore-supermarket-return/">major supermarkets</a>. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.planc.org.au/foodsecurity">new research</a> found that shortening supply chains will be vital to make regions more resilient to these shocks – as well as drawing on community efforts such as farmers’ markets. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="lismore flood 2022" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532561/original/file-20230619-23-9jwyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lismore and the Northern Rivers region was hard-hit by floods in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shorter supply chains are stronger supply chains</h2>
<p>During the floods, food supply chains bent or broke. Food simply couldn’t get into some towns in the Northern Rivers. You could see the evidence: <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-02/shoppers-strip-shelves-bare-as-floods-strand-truckies-in-nsw/100874048">empty supermarket shelves</a> and <a href="https://nrcf.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/NCRF_Flood_Report_2023-A-Year-On-From-Disaster.pdf">major impacts</a> on food-based livelihoods including grocers, cafes and other local businesses. </p>
<p>As a local food business owner told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are not making any money at the moment, just working to maintain customers. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>What’s the solution? First, we must think of <a href="https://ruaf.org/focus-area/city-region-food-systems/#:%7E:text=A%20City%20Region%20Food%20Systems,by%20strengthening%20rural%2Durban%20linkages.">food as a local system</a> rather than a linear supply chain. </p>
<h2>Communities move fast while government often moves slowly</h2>
<p>In the wake of the floods, <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/floodinquiry">an inquiry</a> found a worrying lack of preparedness or ability to respond by the state government. The community had to respond as best it could. </p>
<p>Local farmers’ markets reopened in a week after the major Lismore flood in February 2022, thanks to the work of managers, farmers and volunteers who worked to clean up muddy sites and supply food. As one helper <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-03-07/flooded-farmers-pull-together-to-feed-lismore-community/100887576">told the ABC</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everywhere is closed – that’s why we wanted to open the farmers’ market, because everyone’s out of supplies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Without trucks, supplies came from local farmer networks, existing stocks and supplies, people’s own pantries and, when the floodwaters receded, from unaffected food outlets south and north of the region. As a farmers’ market manager told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Supermarket shelves were completely empty [but] we had all this produce. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The people running local food exchanges and <a href="https://lismoreapp.com.au/news-sport/news/trees-not-bombs-tent-becomes-lismores-community-cafe?id=62328e9d238f6a002ce2d217">pop-up kitchens</a> served and delivered food to those who couldn’t access food on their own. They could do this thanks to the town’s <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/nitv-radio/en/podcast-episode/koori-kitchen-lismore-from-hot-meals-to-comfort-and-social-support/4f2mf4emq">strong community networks</a>. As a resident put it, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was more a case of community coming together, rather than it come from anywhere else.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During and before the disasters, local food champions have been testing and sharing resilient farming approaches, diversifying food production and ensuring equipment is flood-resilient and easily repairable. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="farmer's market yamba" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532563/original/file-20230619-27-fd1gqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmer’s markets are one way to localise food supply chains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Food insecurity is on the rise – and worsened by disasters</h2>
<p>Food insecurity was already a major problem across Australia before these successive shocks. But it’s surged even higher as the nation weathers the economic fallout from the pandemic and rising living costs. </p>
<p>In 2022, <a href="https://reports.foodbank.org.au/foodbank-hunger-report-2022/">Foodbank reported</a> that one-third of Australian households had problems with finding enough to eat. </p>
<p>Our study found food charities in the Northern Rivers were also disrupted by the floods. A year on, the sector is still require funding and resources to meet ongoing demand. </p>
<p>We also found there was hidden demand for even more food assistance. For instance, one remarkable Lismore resident cooked more than 1,400 meals a week in their home kitchen to donate to people who didn’t feel comfortable or able to go to food charities. They carried on doing so for 10 months afterwards. As the resident said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most days I could have given meals out twice over as there was just so much need.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-australians-are-going-hungry-we-dont-know-for-sure-and-thats-a-big-part-of-the-problem-195360">How many Australians are going hungry? We don't know for sure, and that's a big part of the problem</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We should build up community food networks and regional circular economies</h2>
<p>Even before the floods, Lismore was one of the most disaster-prone areas in Australia. This won’t be the last major shock the region faces. </p>
<p>So what can we do? Our recommendations to boost food resilience include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>creating a regional food plan and food policy council, as recommended in last year’s state government inquiry into <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/inquiries/2841/Report%20-%20food%20production%20and%20supply%20in%20NSW.pdf">food production and supply</a></p></li>
<li><p>finding ways to respond rapidly across the food supply chain during disasters</p></li>
<li><p>strengthening food system connections and collaboration</p></li>
<li><p>supporting local food champions and community food efforts. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>While Lismore’s plight drew huge attention, other parts of Australia have been suffering food shortages too. April’s enormous Cyclone Ilsa cut roads and broke bridges in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-06/flooding-logistics-freight-issues-nt-wa-food-supplies-rail-road/102057556">causing food shortages</a>. And last year’s floods in South Australia cut the vital Trans-Australian railway, which transports 80% of WA’s food. That left <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/western-australia-supermarket-shelves-stripped-bare-after-extreme-weather/a80e8d16-f3b5-4124-94a7-74b02636510e">supermarket shelves empty</a>. </p>
<p>We must make the vital food systems supporting our regions more resilient. What does that look like? Picture better funding and support for food charities, building <a href="https://melbournefoodhub.org.au/">food hubs</a>, and preventing high value arable land from being <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-sprawl-is-threatening-sydneys-foodbowl-55156">turned into suburbs</a>, particularly <a href="https://lismoreapp.com.au/news-sport/news/nrrc-release-draft-resilient-lands-strategy?id=647946beb45beb0028715d41">those slated</a> for relocating flood-affected residential housing out of the floodplain. </p>
<p>Our recommendations are in line with the CSIRO’s <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/News/2023/June/CSIRO-roadmap-charts-Australias-food-and-nutrition-security-by-2050">2050 roadmap</a> for the future of our food supplies, as well as important work being done elsewhere in Australia by the <a href="https://www.agrifood-hub.com/">Canberra Region Food Collaborative</a>, <a href="http://www.sydneyfoodfutures.net/">Sydney Food Futures</a>, <a href="https://regionalinnovationdatalab.shinyapps.io/Logan_Food_Mapping/">Logan Local Food Map</a>, <a href="https://www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/info/20031/liveability_health_and_wellbeing/645/cardinia_food_circles_project">Cardinia Food Circles</a> and <a href="https://begacircularvalley.com.au/projects/local-food-and-logistics-program/">Bega Circular Valley</a>.</p>
<p>Crises brings a chance to think differently. We should seize it to rebuild and strengthen our food systems so we can weather these shocks. </p>
<p>If we harness community networks, innovative solutions and drive policy change, we can build a more resilient and secure food system for the Northern Rivers – and beyond.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-food-insecurity-152746">What is food insecurity?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p><em>This report was produced by researchers from Plan C, the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney and Wild Community. It was funded by the Northern Rivers Community Foundation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Berry receives funding from various government and non-government organisations. In 2023 this includes the Northern Rivers Community Foundation and Plan C. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Renouf receives funding from Plan C and the Northern Rivers Community Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheriden Keegan receives funding from Plan C and Northern Rivers Community Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Somayeh Sadegh Koohestani works for Institute for Sustainable Futures and received funding in 2023 from Northern Rivers Community Foundation and Plan C. </span></em></p>When the roads flooded around Lismore, it left supermarket shelves empty for months. Keeping everyone fed took a huge community effort. Now we need to make food supply secure.Fiona Berry, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyJean S. Renouf, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Southern Cross UniversitySheriden Keegan, PhD Scholar, Griffith UniversitySomayeh Sadegh Koohestani, PhD student, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071002023-06-15T12:38:01Z2023-06-15T12:38:01ZFood insecurity already affects 12 million US homes – and reductions in SNAP benefits won’t help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530255/original/file-20230606-25-5endiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4554%2C3850&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Of the 34 million Americans who suffer from food insecurity, 9 million are children.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/serious-mixed-race-boy-with-curly-hair-royalty-free-image/554372217?phrase=sad+child&adppopup=true">Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Digital Vision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Millions of Americans struggle to afford healthy meals and nutritious food. Known as “food insecurity,” this problem was already rising when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits – previously called food stamps – were <a href="https://theconversation.com/extra-snap-benefits-are-ending-as-us-lawmakers-resume-battle-over-program-that-helps-low-income-americans-buy-food-199929">cut in 35 states this spring</a>.</em>
<em>SciLine interviewed <a href="https://profiles.ucsf.edu/hilary.seligman">Hilary Seligman</a>, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, on rising grocery prices, the misconceptions about hunger in the U.S., and how food insecurity diminishes school and work performance.</em></p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/831913909" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Hilary Seligman discussed food insecurity in the U.S.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Below are some highlights from the discussion. Answers have been edited.</em></p>
<p><strong>What is food insecurity?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> Food insecurity is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/definitions-of-food-security/">limited or uncertain access to enough food</a> for a healthy life.</p>
<p><strong>What are the trends in food insecurity rates?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> The most recent data suggests that about <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-security-and-nutrition-assistance/">1 in 10 households in the U.S. are food insecure</a>. And this rate is even higher among certain groups, like Black and brown households and households with children.</p>
<p><strong>What factors cause food insecurity?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> Food insecurity is an <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-food-insecurity-152746">inability to access enough resources</a> for your basic needs. So it’s not having sufficient money in the household to meet a food budget. And that may be because of <a href="https://moveforhunger.org/how-a-disability-can-increase-the-risk-of-food-insecurity#:%7E:">disability</a>, because of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.28.20163618">unemployment</a>, because of <a href="https://www.laworks.com/food-insecurity-101#:%7E:">inadequate educational opportunities</a>, or all of these root causes. </p>
<p><strong>How does inflation affect food insecurity rates?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> It’s clear that when food prices rise, households have to <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/food-insecurity-trended-upward-midst-high-inflation">stretch a food budget even more</a>. People have to make difficult choices about the kind of food they eat, and the amount of food they eat. </p>
<p>In many cases, when household budgets are stretched thin, people have to shift their purchases toward foods that are cheaper. And in the U.S., cheaper foods are <a href="https://theconversation.com/ultraprocessed-foods-like-cookies-chips-frozen-meals-and-fast-food-may-contribute-to-cognitive-decline-196560">almost always less healthy for you</a>, more caloric and more deficient in vitamins and nutrients.</p>
<p><strong>How does food insecurity affect people’s health?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> Over the last couple of decades, we’ve seen that food insecurity can have a profound impact on physical health and mental health, whether children, adults or older adults.</p>
<p>These cheaper foods tend to be really <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/25/our-unequal-earth-mark-bittman-cheap-food-american-diet">highly processed, nutritionally poor, shelf-stable foods</a>. And we know these foods are bad for people’s health in the long term. They predispose people toward weight gain, diabetes, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076813512297">cardiovascular disease</a> and <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/242892/ultra-processed-foods-linked-increased-risk-cancer/">even cancer</a>. </p>
<p>We also know that when you live in a food-insecure household, it makes it difficult to afford <a href="https://www.westhealth.org/press-release/112-million-americans-struggle-to-afford-healthcare/">other things that are good for your health</a>. For example, it would make it more difficult to afford your copayment to see your primary care doctor, or your medications. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign in a grocery store window says 'We gladly accept EBT food stamps.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531018/original/file-20230608-13385-dubp2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">About 12% of the U.S. population relies on the SNAP program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-alerting-customers-about-snap-food-stamps-benefits-is-news-photo/1186596443">Scott Heins via Getty Images News</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>How does food insecurity affect success at work or school?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> We know that food insecurity is associated with <a href="https://www.nokidhungry.org/blog/how-does-hunger-affect-learning#:%7E:">poor academic performance among children</a>. </p>
<p>Parents are probably really familiar with the way that their children behave when they’re hungry. And those same things happen in school environments when kids show up to school having not had the opportunity to eat a healthy breakfast. </p>
<p>The evidence is clear that food insecurity is associated with <a href="https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/local-news/article/Going-hungry-Student-hunger-affects-behavior-14181940.php#:%7E:">behavioral problems in school</a>, absenteeism from school and poor academic performance. And this can have lifelong consequences for children. </p>
<p>A similar thing <a href="https://www.worklifepartnership.org/food-insecurity/">plays out with adults</a>. Adults who are living in food-insecure households are less likely to be able to hold down a sufficient number of work hours to meet their household budget needs. They’re less likely to be able to devote a lot of hours to finding employment, because finding food takes a lot of time and a lot of energy.</p>
<p><strong>Are there any common misconceptions about hunger?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> One of the misconceptions is that people who are experiencing food insecurity don’t want access to a healthier diet. </p>
<p>In many, many cases, if not most cases, the evidence is clear that people at all income levels <a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/09/27/the_surprising_truth_about_poor_peoples_eating_habits_partner/">often want access to a healthier diet</a>. But in a household experiencing food insecurity, a healthier diet is simply out of reach financially. </p>
<p>Many people living in food-insecure households will tell you they <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2008/november/can-low-income-americans-afford-a-healthy-diet/">perceive fruits and vegetables to be luxury items</a>. They only splurge on fruits and vegetables when they have extra money in their budget. And so one of the things that we have to guard against is an assumption that people with lower incomes don’t want to eat a healthy diet.</p>
<p><strong>What else works to reduce or eliminate food insecurity?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hilary Seligman:</strong> The best solution for food insecurity is <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program">SNAP</a>, which used to be called the food stamps program. </p>
<p>It is very, very clear that SNAP is <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-is-linked-with-improved-nutritional-outcomes-and-lower-health-care">enormously effective at supporting food security</a> in U.S. households. And anything that reduces access to SNAP or makes it more difficult to enroll in SNAP is going to have the effect of increasing food insecurity rates in the United States. </p>
<p>An example of this would be the work requirements that will <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/02/1179633624/snap-food-assistance-work-requirements-congress-debt-ceiling">push people out of the SNAP program</a> and likely increase food insecurity rates. </p>
<p>Things like earned income tax credits protect families against food insecurity. Emergency stimulus checks like we saw during the COVID pandemic <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/robust-covid-relief-achieved-historic-gains-against-poverty-and-0">also protect families</a>. </p>
<p><em>Watch the <a href="https://www.sciline.org/health-medicine/food-insecurity/">full interview</a> to hear more.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.sciline.org/">SciLine</a> is a free service based at the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science that helps journalists include scientific evidence and experts in their news stories.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilary Seligman receives funding from NIH, CDC, USDA, Feeding America, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research. She is the founder of Vouchers for Veggies, which receives funding from the Hellman Foundation, San Francisco Public Health Foundation, Share our Strength, and numerous others.</span></em></p>For many Americans, a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables and whole grains is beyond their reach.Hilary Seligman, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060422023-06-06T16:12:17Z2023-06-06T16:12:17ZA deadly duo: Climate change and conflict are fuelling Nigeria’s food insecurity crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529677/original/file-20230601-20-jqejn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C223%2C3989%2C2794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An internally displaced person prepares a meal for her family inside an IDP camp in Benue State in northcentral Nigeria in January 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/ Chinedu Asadu)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An alarming number of Nigerians — approximately 25.3 million — are in danger of acute food insecurity during the next few months, <a href="https://www.fao.org/giews/reports/crop-prospects/en/">according to a recent report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization</a>. </p>
<p>This represents a rise from the 17 million that are currently estimated to be at risk of food insecurity. The report identifies violent conflict, climate change, inflation and rising food prices as the key drivers exacerbating the country’s food security situation.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/project/food-security-index/">2022 Global Food Security Index</a> — which ranks countries based on food affordability, availability, quality and safety — ranked Nigeria 107 out of 113 countries. This is a notable drop from its <a href="https://nonews.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GFSI2021.pdf">previous rank of 97 in 2021</a>.</p>
<p>Two formidable forces have converged to push Nigeria’s food security to the brink: climate change, with its unpredictable weather patterns, and violent conflict.</p>
<p>Nigerian politicians have attested to this dangerous combination. Muhammad Abubakar, Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and rural development, lamented in 2022 that <a href="https://punchng.com/terrorism-flood-affecting-food-security-agric-minister/">terrorism and floods</a> were hampering the nation’s food security.</p>
<h2>Climate change and food insecurity</h2>
<p>Nigeria relies heavily on agriculture, with approximately <a href="https://nigeriaclimate.crisisgroup.org">two-thirds of its labour force dependent on farming or herding</a> to make a living. Since both activities rely heavily on weather patterns like rainfall, Nigeria’s agriculture industry is very susceptible to the effects of climate change.</p>
<p>In addition, Nigeria is one of the <a href="https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/15918-WB_Nigeria%20Country%20Profile-WEB.pdf">countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and natural hazards</a>. It has experienced a variety of climate disasters, including rising temperatures, gully erosion, drought and increased flooding.</p>
<p>In 2022, Nigeria was hit by devastating floods that <a href="https://twitter.com/FMHDSD/status/1580797410452070400">killed more than 500 people</a>, displaced more than 1.4 million and destroyed about 90,000 homes. <a href="https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-exacerbated-heavy-rainfall-leading-to-large-scale-flooding-in-highly-vulnerable-communities-in-west-africa/">Analysis from the World Weather Attribution group</a> found that climate change was likely responsible for the heavy rains that caused the flooding. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People paddle canoes down a flooded residential street past half-submerged residential houses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529445/original/file-20230531-21610-tjxide.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People paddle their canoes along flooded residential streets after a heavy downpour in Bayelsa, Nigeria in October 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Reed Joshua)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The floods destroyed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/19/nigeria-battling-worst-floods-in-a-decade-with-more-than-300-people-killed-in-2022">thousands of hectares of farmland</a>, worsening the already severe food insecurity in the country. Crops were destroyed and the floods cost the agricultural sector <a href="https://tribuneonlineng.com/flood-destroyed-n700-bn-investment-in-2022-report/">about C$2 billion</a> in damages.</p>
<p>In addition, the arid regions of the northwest and northeastern parts of Nigeria are currently facing substantial challenges from drought and land degradation. Both issues <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Desertification-in-northern-Nigeria%3A-Causes-and-for-Thelma/a2f30949df518fd536c655e97331e904ca8b3628/">have a significant impact on food security</a>, as they result in less water being available for crops. </p>
<h2>Violence fuelling food crisis</h2>
<p>Compounding the climate change crisis is the rise in violence orchestrated by armed groups like <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13809501">the Boko Haram extremist group</a>. </p>
<p>Violence, armed banditry and kidnappings <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/25-million-nigerians-high-risk-food-insecurity-2023">have affected food access across Nigeria</a>. This violence has affected northern Nigeria in particular, where the bulk of food production occurs and <a href="https://www.wfp.org/countries/nigeria">8.4 million are currently food insecure</a>.</p>
<p>Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and armed herders have forced <a href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/as-northern-farmers-abandon-food-production/">at least 78,000 farmers to abandon their farmland</a> in Borno, Katsina, Taraba, Plateau and other northern states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial photograph of temporary shelters set up in the middle of a desert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529675/original/file-20230601-29-grzsvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of Jere Camp where people displaced by Islamist extremists are residing in Maiduguri, Nigeria in May 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://businessday.ng/news/article/benue-kaduna-killings-compound-nigerias-food-crisis/">More than 2,000 Benue farmers have been displaced</a>, according to the chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, disrupting farming activities in the affected regions.</p>
<h2>Farmer-herder conflict</h2>
<p>The Boko Haram insurgency is also a contributing factor in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/11/28/horrors-on-the-plateau-inside-nigerias-farmer-herder-conflict">the farmer-herder conflict in the Middle Belt region</a>, a key crop-producing area of Nigeria.</p>
<p>The insurgency, along with land and water scarcity, has forced nomadic herders from the north to migrate south in search of grazing lands and water for their livestock. As a result, the herders have <a href="https://saharareporters.com/2023/01/24/tension-delta-state-community-fulani-herdsmen-kill-farmer-son-abduct-others">clashed violently with local farmers over resources</a>.</p>
<p>Although ethnicity and religion play a role in the conflict — many of the herders are Fulani Muslims while the farmers are Christian and from other ethnic groups — climate change is exacerbating it. Increasing temperatures and unpredictable rainfall patterns have <a href="https://esoc.princeton.edu/WP22">intensified the resource competition</a> between the two groups, leading to more disputes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People sit outside square white tents in the middle of a dirt-packed field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529673/original/file-20230601-17-16tljl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Makeshift tents for housing are lined-up at the camp for internally displaced persons affected in the prolonged conflict between farmers and nomadic herders in Guma, Benue State in north central Nigeria in January 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/ Chinedu Asadu)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Herders have <a href="https://punchng.com/were-hungry-jobless-after-herders-fed-our-crops-to-cows-ondo-farmers/">allegedly destroyed the crops of farmers</a> and <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/12/farmers-to-fg-herdsmen-ve-chased-us-out-of-our-farms/">chased some of them off their land</a>.</p>
<p>Over the past eight years, <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/04/6000-killed-communities-sacked-2-million-farmers-displace-buhari-days-darkest-for-benue/">an estimated 6,000 Benue people have been killed and two million farmers have been displaced</a>. The violence has largely disrupted the food supply chains between northern and southern Nigeria, as many <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-africa-violence-nigeria-f891709165ecd0d8c2c738a43fd3fbda">roads are too unsafe for farmers to transport their crops</a>.</p>
<h2>Addressing the crisis</h2>
<p>Nigeria is currently at a crossroads. Without taking immediate action, the number of Nigerians who are food insecure will continue to increase. </p>
<p>More than 5.9 million children in northwest and northeast Nigeria <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Nigeria_Acute_Malnutrition_May22_April23_Report.pdf">experienced acute malnutrition</a> between May 2022 and April 2023. More than 1.6 million of these children suffered from severe acute malnutrition.</p>
<p>The government has recently made announcements regarding these issues. In May, Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president, pledged to implement <a href="https://saharareporters.com/2023/05/29/herders-will-be-introduced-modern-practices-stop-continuous-clashes-farmers-nigerian">“best modern practices”</a> to address the conflicts between farmers and herdsmen in the country.</p>
<p>These modern practices include building agricultural hubs to enhance productivity, guaranteeing minimal prices for certain crops and animal products, and creating storage facilities to reduce food waste.</p>
<p>The government should adopt a multi-faceted approach to address the food insecurity crisis. This kind of approach would integrate climate action, modern livestock and farming techniques, and security measures to mitigate the impacts climate change and violent conflict are having on Nigeria’s food insecurity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Ekwe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two formidable forces have converged to push Nigeria’s food security to the brink: climate change, with its unpredictable weather patterns, and terrorism.Michael Ekwe, PhD Student, Department of Geography, Planning & Environment, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057412023-06-05T12:44:19Z2023-06-05T12:44:19ZCanada’s national food policy is at risk of enshrining a two-tiered food system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529659/original/file-20230601-19-fdm2pu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C538%2C4000%2C2119&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minster Justin Trudeau helps prepare a food box at a food bank in Mississauga, Ont., in November 2022. Food charity is not the solution to ending food insecurity in Canada. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just two days after the <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/2023/new-data-on-household-food-insecurity-in-2022/">release of the latest statistics on household food insecurity in Canada</a>, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/minister-bibeau-launches-a-new-phase-of-the-local-food-infrastructure-fund-879707293.html">announced the start of a new phase of the Local Food Infrastructure Fund</a>. </p>
<p>Launched in 2019 as part of <a href="https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/department/initiatives/food-policy/investing">Canada’s Food Policy</a>, this program funds infrastructure and equipment for local food charity programs and is the only federal program naming <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/-everyone-at-the-table-minister-bibeau-highlights-investments-to-improve-access-to-local-food-as-part-of-the-food-policy-for-canada-801950971.html">food insecurity reduction</a> as part of its goal. However, this approach to addressing food insecurity is deeply misguided.</p>
<p>At a time when <a href="https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/05/03/canadians-food-insecurity-statistics-canada/">food insecurity affects almost one in five Canadians</a>, the latest funding presumes that food-insecure households are accessing food charity and that doing so resolves their food insecurity. </p>
<p><a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/resource/relationship-between-food-banks-and-food-insecurity-in-canada/">Both assumptions are simply untrue</a>. The problem is far too big and despite their best efforts, food charity can only ever provide limited, emergency support.</p>
<h2>Food charity is no solution</h2>
<p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the program as part of fulfilling the government’s top priority of “<a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/house/sitting-54/hansard#Int-11618104">making life more affordable for Canadians</a>.” Bibeau described it as “<a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/house/sitting-176/hansard#Int-12126755">designed to strengthen our local food systems and support the creation of more food banks, community gardens and collective kitchens</a>.”</p>
<p>The latest funding announcement is even more explicit in asserting that food charity is the solution to food insecurity. In the news release, Bibeau said: “<a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/agriculture-agri-food/news/2023/05/minister-bibeau-launches-a-new-phase-of-the-local-food-infrastructure-fund.html">Now more than ever, we must support the work of organizations and food banks that help those who need it most</a>.”</p>
<p>In a recent House of Commons Question Period, Bibeau’s parliamentary secretary, Francis Drouin, described the funding as an investment for food banks, “<a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/house/sitting-193/hansard#Int-12199099">to help families put food on the table</a>.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1646979932394856449"}"></div></p>
<h2>Millions of Canadians are food insecure</h2>
<p>These remarks suggest that the federal government sees volunteer-driven, community-based food charity programs as the solution for Canadians who are unable to afford food for themselves and their families. </p>
<p>Yet Canada’s <a href="https://secondharvest.ca/resources/research/canada%E2%80%99s-invisible-food-network">massive and ever-expanding network</a> of charitable food assistance programs can’t even keep the problem in check, let alone reduce or prevent it. Food charity operations are burgeoning, but more Canadians are affected by food insecurity than ever before.</p>
<p>The 2022 statistics show that 6.9 million people in the 10 provinces, including almost 1.8 million children, lived in households struggling to afford the food they need. That’s more than four times more than <a href="https://hungercount.foodbankscanada.ca/overall_findings.php">the number of visits food banks receive</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1659220297139245057"}"></div></p>
<p>Seeking food charity is a strategy of desperation for food-insecure Canadians, mostly by those who are severely food insecure. But there’s no evidence to indicate that food charity prevents severe food insecurity or resolves it.</p>
<p>Will buying more refrigerators for community programs, presumably to facilitate their handling of the <a href="https://foodbankscanada.ca/food-recovery-environment/">ever-expanding donations of “food waste”</a> <a href="https://www.walmartcanada.ca/news/2018/04/19/walmart-canada-commits-to-zero-food-waste-by-2025-and-walmart-foundation-grants-19m-to-local-organizations">from major</a> <a href="https://ourpart.ca/articles/sobeys-and-second-harvest-save-surplus-food-from-going-to-waste/">grocery</a> <a href="https://www.loblaw.ca/en/loblaw-commits-to-feed-more-families-by-providing-1-billion-pounds-of-food-to-those-in-need-by-2028/">chains</a> and <a href="https://www.mccain.com/information-centre/news/mccain-foods-and-second-harvest/">food processors</a>, truly change this?</p>
<h2>Enshrining a two-tiered food system</h2>
<p>The latest call for applications to the <a href="https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/local-food-infrastructure-fund">Local Food Infrastructure Fund</a> is even more disturbing when we consider its place as a centrepiece of Canada’s Food Policy. </p>
<p>The Food Policy’s ambitious vision that “<a href="https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/department/initiatives/food-policy/food-policy-canada">all people in Canada are able to access a sufficient amount of safe, nutritious and culturally diverse food</a>” seemed commendable when first announced. </p>
<p>But the vision being implemented through the Local Food Infrastructure Fund now is a two-tiered food system — affluent Canadians purchase premium products at supermarkets, farmers’ markets and designer food outlets, while millions of others line up to receive rations from volunteers working feverishly to distribute the food rejected from that retail system.</p>
<p>The direction of our national Food Policy is a sharp departure from the understanding of food insecurity reflected in <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.857663/publication.html#:%7E:text=%22Opportunity%20for%20All%20%E2%80%93%20Canada's%20First,against%20poverty%20on%20multiple%20fronts.">Opportunity for All</a>, a document produced by the federal government under its poverty reduction strategy.</p>
<p>The first pillar of the vision articulated in that landmark document is <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/poverty-reduction/reports/strategy.html#h2.5:%7E:text=Living%20with%20dignity%20means%20that%20Canadians%20would%20be%20living%20without%20hunger%20and%20would%20have%20enough%20income%20to%20meet%20their%20basic%20needs">“dignity” — and living with dignity means having enough income to meet basic needs</a>.</p>
<p>Food insecurity is identified as a key indicator of poverty, now tracked to measure our progress in <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/topics-start/poverty">poverty reduction</a>. Unfortunately, food insecurity reduction has never been adopted as an explicit objective of policies led by Employment and Social Development Canada, and so the problem has festered.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Wooden shelves lined with canned goods." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529669/original/file-20230601-29-d0j9n6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canned products sit on shelves at a food bank in Ottawa in October 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Income-based policy interventions needed</h2>
<p>Federal income supports are critical policy levers to reduce food insecurity in Canada, but this objective needs to be incorporated into how those income supports are designed. </p>
<p>Despite the <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/house/sitting-186/hansard#Int-12167950">federal government’s repeated</a> <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/12345355#Int-12143923">celebration</a> of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2022/07/families-across-canada-will-see-increase-in-canada-child-benefit.html">success of the Canada Child Benefit</a> in reducing the rate of child poverty from its introduction in 2016 to 2019, almost one in four children in the 10 provinces were living in food-insecure families in 2022 – more than ever before.</p>
<p><a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/2023/a-more-generous-canada-child-benefit-for-low-income-families-would-reduce-their-probability-of-food-insecurity/">Redesigning the Canada Child Benefit</a> to provide more money than it currently does to the lowest-income households would help reduce food insecurity among families with children.</p>
<p>The Canada Workers Benefit and Employment Insurance are the two federal programs that support the incomes of workers in Canada and also have the potential to impact food insecurity rates. </p>
<p><a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/resource/household-food-insecurity-in-canada-2021/">Most food-insecure households rely on employment income</a>. This means that having a job is not enough for many Canadians to meet basic needs. It also tells us that our existing supports for low-wage workers and those experiencing job loss are insufficient to bridge the gap.</p>
<p>The recently announced federal Grocery Rebate, while too small and short-lived to impact the alarming rates of food insecurity in Canada now, is a step in the right direction. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2023-grocery-rebate-is-the-right-direction-on-food-insecurity-but-theres-a-long-road-ahead-201926">Federal budget 2023: Grocery rebate is the right direction on food insecurity, but there's a long road ahead</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By giving much needed-cash directly to low-income Canadians, the rebate reflects the principles of dignity and inclusion so clearly articulated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy. By comparison, the latest call for funding applications for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund is a big step backward.</p>
<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>Although the policy levers needed to address food insecurity lie outside of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Ministry, the Food Policy <a href="https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.278">was an opportunity</a> to establish interdepartmental collaboration with Employment and Social Development Canada to chart an action plan aimed at reducing food insecurity in Canada and to begin making progress towards this goal. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, none of this came to fruition.</p>
<p>The Food Policy is slated for renewal later this year, which could be a chance for a course correction. The starting point must be a shift towards working in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada to design, implement and evaluate income supports that reduce food insecurity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie Tarasuk receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Li does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada’s National Food Policy is slated for renewal later this year. Employment and Social Development Canada must be involved to develop income supports that reduce food insecurity.Valerie Tarasuk, Professor of Nutritional Sciences, University of TorontoTim Li, Research Program Coordinator, Food Insecurity, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048702023-06-01T10:00:02Z2023-06-01T10:00:02ZHow food insecurity affects people’s rights to choose whether or not to have children, and how they parent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528284/original/file-20230525-21-ihkudx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C69%2C2484%2C2484&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-mom-shopping-her-daughter-pushing-2057951918">Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.fao.org/hunger/en/">Food insecurity</a> – difficulties getting enough nutritious food for a healthy life – is a growing problem <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cc0639en/online/sofi-2022/key-messages.html">globally</a>. It has been linked to many health and social problems including malnutrition, difficulties managing <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13668-014-0104-4">diabetes</a>, impaired development <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mcn.12967">in childhood</a>, and reduced <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316623095974">school performance</a> for children. </p>
<p>Our recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19317611.2023.2201841">research</a> shows how food insecurity also matters for reproductive justice: people’s ability to have only the children they want and raise them the way they want. </p>
<p>Led by Black women, the <a href="https://time.com/5735432/reproductive-justice-groups/">reproductive justice movement</a> began in the US in the 1990s.</p>
<p>Awful acts of violence, such as forced sterilisation and child removals, have aimed to prevent the most marginalised people from having and raising children. Reproductive justice highlights how marginalised people’s options are systematically limited by the way our societies are organised.</p>
<p>Reproductive justice activists assert that everyone has the right to have a child or – equally – to not have a child. If people choose to have children, they should be able to parent them with dignity in safe and healthy environments. In our research, we show how food insecurity can restrict each of these rights. </p>
<h2>Why food insecurity matters</h2>
<p>For one thing, food insecurity affects nutrition. Malnutrition is linked with <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/wajm/article/view/27946">infertility</a> and poorer pregnancy and <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/51/5/1775/169405/The-Effects-of-Intrauterine-Malnutrition-on-Birth?casa_token=BMrVDMvi4fIAAAAA:fuvpRlo0K480qx63WCKZXs5iEtv8JFdVJy5qObpbRff1vV79WNDMuq0PEKr8w3gCC7dFJDdm_A">birth outcomes</a>. This affects both the right to have a child and the right to parent in safe and healthy environments. It is impossible to provide a healthy environment for a child without access to sufficient nutritious food. </p>
<p>And food insecurity can make it hard to meet other basic needs. Food insecure people are more likely to live in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/social-policy-and-society/article/housing-situations-of-food-bank-users-in-great-britain/E7F99E23A37ED593292584F324A34069">unfit housing conditions</a>, or even without a home entirely. They can face impossible spending choices, such as whether to spend on food versus heating or cooling their home. Having to make trade-offs between food and other necessities is a barrier to the right to parent in safe and healthy environments.</p>
<p>Impossible spending choices also affect access to reproductive healthcare. Where healthcare systems charge for service, food insecure people face challenging decisions of whether to use their limited funds on food or healthcare. </p>
<p>And even where healthcare is free in principle – such as the NHS in the UK – there can be hidden cost trade-offs. Missing work to attend a healthcare appointment can mean less money for food. For people in precarious work who are more at risk of food insecurity, missing work could mean losing their job, placing future wages at risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman sat looking sad" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528341/original/file-20230525-23265-3hhbom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food insecurity leads to having to make impossible choices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/panic-attacks-alone-young-girl-sad-1459594841">panitanphoto/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such impossible decisions between spending on reproductive healthcare and food affect both the right to have, and to not have, a child. It may limit access to contraception, abortion, prenatal care, infertility treatment, and other reproductive healthcare. Trade-offs between spending to feed one’s child versus to take them to a doctor also impede the right to parent with dignity in a healthy environment.</p>
<p>Food insecure people may resort to criminalised methods to obtain food, which can lead to a prison sentence. For example, in some countries sex work is criminalised, but it can be an important source of income. Broader food security crises, triggered by events such as regional conflict or the COVID-19 pandemic, may make criminalised strategies <a href="https://securelivelihoods.org/publication/the-many-faces-of-transactional-sex-women%C2%92s-agency-livelihoods-and-risk-factors-in-humanitarian-contexts-a-literature-review/">more likely</a>. </p>
<p>In turn, disruption of routine reproductive healthcare in prison can negatively impact the right to have a child, and separating families through parental imprisonment compromises the right to parent. A criminal record may also limit employment opportunities and access to housing, increasing the risk of food insecurity after release from prison. </p>
<p>And these are only a few examples.</p>
<h2>Why is this a timely issue?</h2>
<p>Events such as the pandemic, conflict in places such as Ukraine, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen and Syria, and the cost of living crisis have made matters worse. Such events have disrupted global food supply chains, displaced people, and made basic necessities unaffordable. On top of everything, the climate crisis will compound these problems in the coming years.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, reproductive justice is a pressing – and linked – global issue. Though it’s been over 50 years since the UN <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/events/international-conference-human-rights">acknowledged</a> reproductive rights as a human right, reproductive choice continues to be compromised globally. Just one <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p521">high-profile example</a> is the restriction of women’s right to abortion following a landmark 2022 US Supreme Court Ruling. </p>
<p>Recognising the link between food insecurity and reproductive justice is important. The most marginalised people are at greatest risk of impediments to both food security and reproductive justice.</p>
<p>As an activist movement, grassroots action sits at the core of reproductive justice, with a commitment to elevate voices previously unheard or overlooked. There is much to be gained from collaborating with similar groups working to combat food insecurity to drive mutual learning and action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasmine Fledderjohann receives funding from UKRI in the form of a Future Leaders Fellowship (grant number MR/T021950/1).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maureen Owino is a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) Scholar and receives funding from CIHR. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Patterson receives funding from NIHR in the form of a Clinical Lectureship, in addition to a Clinical Lecturer Starter Grant from the Academy of Medical Sciences.</span></em></p>Everyone should have the right to have, or not have, a child and to parent with dignity in a safe environment – but food insecurity makes this difficult.Jasmine Fledderjohann, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Lancaster UniversityMaureen Owino, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, CanadaSophie Patterson, Clinical Lecturer in Public Health, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044522023-04-30T13:12:17Z2023-04-30T13:12:17ZBasic income could help create a more just and sustainable food system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523025/original/file-20230426-1071-apkuk4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=398%2C0%2C3627%2C2275&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A farmer at the Roots Community Food Centre urban farm in northwestern Ontario harvests Gete-Okosomin squash in summer 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(C. Levkoe)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canada’s food system is <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/62f0014m/62f0014m2022014-eng.htm">experiencing ongoing stresses</a> from supply chain disruptions, price inflation and extreme weather events. Canadians are feeling the effects of these stresses: in 2021, nearly 16 per cent of provincial households <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Household-Food-Insecurity-in-Canada-2021-PROOF.pdf">experienced some degree of food insecurity</a>.</p>
<p>Federal programs such as the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application.html#h2.03">Canada Emergency Response Benefit</a> and the recent <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/04/minister-fraser-highlights-budget-2023-commitments-to-provide-a-new-grocery-rebate-for-canadians.html">grocery store rebate</a> point to the impact direct government income interventions can have on ensuring equity in times of emergency, including access to food. </p>
<p>Some have discussed <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-ottawas-grocery-rebate-signal-a-shift-to-a-broader-guaranteed-basic-income-203132">the new grocery store rebate</a>, which is to be delivered through the GST/HST tax credit system, as closely aligned with proposals for a basic income guarantee. But a basic income guarantee would involve regular payments, not just a one-time rebate.</p>
<p>A basic income guarantee could play a key role in <a href="https://www.northernpolicy.ca/bigandfoodinsecurity">reducing individual and household food insecurity</a> among society’s most vulnerable and ensure everyone can meet their basic needs with dignity. </p>
<h2>What the research says</h2>
<p>There is general support among basic income advocates in Canada for implementing <a href="https://basicincomecoalition.ca/en/what-is-basic-income/basic-income-we-want-for-canada/">income-tested basic income</a>, which would involve delivering cash transfers to individuals whose incomes fall below a certain threshold.</p>
<p>As sustainable food systems experts, we suggest that a basic income guarantee could not only be an important tool for addressing economic access to food, but also in supporting sustainability across the food system. </p>
<p>We draw on our research with <a href="https://basicincomecoalition.ca/en/about-coalition/">Coalition Canada</a>, a network of basic income advocacy groups. Our research brought interdisciplinary teams of scholars and practitioners together to <a href="https://basicincomecoalition.ca/en/actions/case-for-basic-income/">develop a series of case studies</a> examining basic income through the lens of different sectors. These sectors include the arts, finance, health, municipalities and the criminal justice system. </p>
<p>Our work focused on the <a href="https://basicincomecoalition.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1.-Case-for-agriculture-March-3-2023.pdf">agriculture</a> and <a href="https://basicincomecoalition.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Fisheries-basic-income-case-formatted-July-2022.pdf">fisheries</a> sectors and involved members of the National Farmers Union, Union Paysanne, Ecotrust Canada and the Native Fishing Alliance.</p>
<p>Overall, our research suggests that a basic income guarantee could have a significant impact on the <a href="https://www.nfu.ca/policy/towards-a-national-agricultural-labour-strategy-that-works-for-farmers-and-farm-workers/">economic uncertainties faced by farmers</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-005-6333-7">and fishing communities</a> in Canada. It could also contribute to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/local-food-is-not-enough-we-need-a-sustainable-transition-in-the-food-system-201991">more just sustainable transition in the food system</a>.</p>
<h2>Reducing economic uncertainty</h2>
<p>One potential impact of a basic income guarantee would be reducing economic uncertainty for the most vulnerable agriculture and fisheries workers.</p>
<p>People employed in food and fish processing and as farm labourers are especially vulnerable to seasonal unemployment, low wages, uneven employee benefits and unsafe working conditions, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.736680">high rates of occupational injury and illness</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A combine harvesting a wheat crop in a field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523316/original/file-20230427-20-qzpm6j.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A guaranteed basic income could have a significant impact on the economic uncertainties faced by those working in the agriculture and fishing industries in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A basic income guarantee could offer individuals more financial security and control over their employment choices, and thus address the racialized, classed and gendered <a href="https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v9i2.521">disparities prominent in food systems labour</a>. </p>
<h2>Supporting new fishers and farmers</h2>
<p>A second potential impact of a basic income guarantee could be supporting new entrants in agriculture and fisheries. Across Canada, <a href="https://atlanticfisherman.com/the-greying-of-the-fleet/">the commercial fishing</a> and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220511/dq220511a-eng.htm">farming workforces</a> are aging. </p>
<p>Supporting new farmers and fishers, especially those using more socially and ecologically sustainable practices, is an essential part of building a more resilient food system. </p>
<p><a href="https://foodsecurecanada.org/community-networks/new-farmers-fishers">New entrants face substantial barriers</a> related to high entry costs, such as access to land and equipment or purchasing a boat and fishing license, combined with uncertain and fluctuating prices for their goods. </p>
<p>While a basic income guarantee alone can’t address these challenges, it could provide greater <a href="https://www.nfu.ca/policy/an-income-stability-supplement-for-new-farmers/">economic stability for new farmers</a> and fishers when they invest in infrastructure and training.</p>
<h2>Preparing for future stressors</h2>
<p>A basic income guarantee could also be a step towards building resilience against ongoing stressors, like the climate crisis and extreme weather events, along with preparing for future emergencies. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that those with more stable incomes and flexible work arrangements are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.614368">better able to adapt to unexpected shocks</a>. For example, during the pandemic, boat-to-fork seafood businesses better weathered seafood chain disruptions because of their adaptable supply chain configurations and proximity to consumers. </p>
<p>At present, small-scale farmers and fishers tend to receive the least support, because most <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.539214">subsidies go to larger industrial enterprises</a>. However, these small-scale producers play a crucial role in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-food-is-ready-for-harvest-103050">supplying food for regional and local markets</a>, which can serve as important buffers during times of crisis and reduce the stress of long-distance supply chains.</p>
<p>Establishing a basic income guarantee would be a proactive step in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2015.1004220">supporting equitable livelihoods</a> for small-scale farmers and fishers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People stand on the deck of a small fishing boat that is floating in the harbour of a body of water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523094/original/file-20230426-20-ukmpko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous fishermen leave the harbour in Saulnierville, N.S. in October 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Next steps for the food system</h2>
<p>Although a basic income guarantee has the potential to bring about many positive impacts, it shouldn’t be a substitute for existing government-funded agricultural and fisheries programs such as grants, public research, and training and skills development programs.</p>
<p>A basic income guarantee also shouldn’t replace contributory programs, like the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-fishing.html">Employment Insurance fishing benefits</a>. A basic income guarantee would offer support to fishers whose earnings are too low to qualify for employment insurance, or who are unable to go out on the water.</p>
<p>Further research and policy efforts will be crucial for gaining a fuller understanding of how a basic income guarantee might intersect with other financial supports like insurance, loans and climate funding.</p>
<p>Additional research will also be crucial for understanding how a basic income guarantee could support migrant workers brought in through the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/temporary-foreign-worker.html">Temporary Foreign Worker program</a>. Migrant workers are an essential part of fisheries processing and meat and horticulture production.</p>
<p>There is also a need to think systematically and holistically about the role of basic income across the food system. The only way to accomplish this is with further input from farming and fishing communities and Indigenous communities in collaboration with anti-poverty, food sovereignty and food justice organizations.</p>
<p>We believe a basic income guarantee is a promising tool for contributing to sustainability and justice across agriculture and fishing sectors, while encouraging the development of cross-sectoral networks, research and policy agendas.</p>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge the author teams of Coalition Canada’s Case for Basic Income Series for their contributions to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristen Lowitt receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Z. Levkoe receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Government of Ontario.</span></em></p>A guaranteed basic income is a promising tool for contributing to sustainability and justice across agriculture and fishing sectors.Kristen Lowitt, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, Queen's University, OntarioCharles Z. Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042572023-04-28T12:46:52Z2023-04-28T12:46:52ZSNAP work requirements don’t actually get more people working – but they do drastically limit the availability of food aid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523084/original/file-20230426-1034-acwsi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C108%2C6573%2C3935&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These benefits make it easier for millions of Americans to buy groceries.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/unrecognizable-woman-marvels-at-grocery-bread-royalty-free-image/1041147560?phrase=grocery%20shopping&adppopup=true">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would cut spending, in part by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/19/politics/mccarthy-debt-limit-bill/index.html">expanding work requirements</a> for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, through which nearly <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap">43 million low-income Americans get help buying groceries</a>. The House bill calls for this policy to apply to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics/work-requirements-food-stamps-medicaid-debt-ceiling/index.html">adults as old as 55</a>, while today this policy only applies to adults under 50. Some Democrats, in contrast, are <a href="https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/reps-lee-adams-introduce-improving-access-to-nutrition-act">seeking to eliminate work requirements altogether</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/us/politics/debt-limit-vote-republicans.html">bill passed by a 217-215 vote</a>, with <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023199">all but four Republicans in favor</a> and every Democrat opposed, on April 26, 2023. Tied to a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/19/23688022/debt-ceiling-2023-kevin-mccarthy-medicaid-work-requirement">standoff over raising the debt ceiling</a>, the bill would also make Medicaid – the U.S. program that helps low-income and disabled people get health care – contingent on work requirements for some eligible Americans. It’s not clear whether that’s possible, since <a href="https://theconversation.com/medicaid-work-requirements-is-there-a-path-forward-that-could-help-the-poor-not-harm-them-114497">a federal court</a> has <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/an-overview-of-medicaid-work-requirements-what-happened-under-the-trump-and-biden-administrations/">struck down similar measures</a> enacted in some states previously. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/22/clinton-signs-welfare-to-work-bill-aug-22-1996-790321">Since the Clinton administration, the government has required</a> that at least some people getting SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements">do paid work, get job training or volunteer</a> – otherwise they can’t continue receiving benefits. Those <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/who-stands-to-lose-if-the-final-snap-work-requirement-rule-takes-effect/">requirements were paused in 2020</a> because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are set to <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ffcra-impact-time-limit-abawds">return</a> in <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/02/09/fact-sheet-covid-19-public-health-emergency-transition-roadmap.html">July 2023</a> regardless of the fate of the House bill – which is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/speaker-mccarthy-debt-biden-republicans-d4995f10a26d6c8bfa89a2bbfd1de93c">unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate</a>.</p>
<p>I’m a member of a team of economists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20200561">studying the social safety net and work</a>. Because the <a href="https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/Accomplishments/welfare.html">rationale for work requirements</a> is that they encourage adults who are able to work to earn more money and become more economically self-sufficient, we wanted to determine whether this policy boosts employment and earnings. We also looked into whether SNAP work requirements lead low-income adults to lose their benefits.</p>
<p>We found that the policy doesn’t make people more likely to find a job or make more money, but it does make Americans who could use help buying groceries less likely to get it. </p>
<p><iframe id="1yfFb" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1yfFb/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Tracing a similar case study</h2>
<p>Adults with SNAP benefits who are subject to work requirements must document at least 80 hours per month of paid work, job training or volunteering. Otherwise, they can get the benefits for only three months within a three-year period. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic, these rules applied to most so-called “able-bodied” adults without children who were under 50, and that policy will again apply in July. <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements">There are some exceptions</a>, such as if the person with benefits is caring for kids younger than 6, has disabilities incompatible with holding a steady job or is in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.</p>
<p>To determine this policy’s impact, we studied SNAP, employment and earnings data in Virginia from both the period of the state’s previous suspension of work requirements and afterward.</p>
<p>Virginia, like many other states, <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/states-have-requested-waivers-from-snaps-time-limit-in-high-unemployment">suspended work requirements for several years</a> beginning in the Great Recession. During this period, adults could enroll in the program and continue to receive benefits regardless of their employment status.</p>
<p>In October 2013, however, Virginia reinstated work requirements, and they remained in effect in most counties for several years. In those areas, adults under the age of 50 without dependents who were considered able to work needed to either satisfy work requirements or receive an individual exemption to keep their SNAP benefits, while similar adults over the age of 50 did not.</p>
<p>We followed both age groups over time, comparing whether they worked and were getting SNAP benefits both before and after work requirements returned.</p>
<h2>No employment boost</h2>
<p>By comparing older and younger adults previously getting SNAP benefits, we found that work requirements did not increase employment or earnings 18 months after their reinstatement.</p>
<p>We also detected nearly identical patterns of employment before and after work requirements were reinstated for people in both age groups.</p>
<p>Adults without dependents, whether or not they lost their SNAP benefits to the resumption of work requirements, were earning at most an additional US$28 per month.</p>
<h2>Many lost their benefits</h2>
<p>But we did find that work requirements dramatically reduced the number of people enrolled in SNAP. Among the adults subject to work requirements once they were restored in 2013, over half lost their benefits because of the policy. </p>
<p>We also found that work requirements disproportionately led people who had faced great economic hardships, such as those without housing or earned income, to lose benefits. </p>
<p>Only 44% of the currently or formerly homeless people getting benefits remained enrolled in SNAP 18 months after work requirements were reinstated, compared with 64% of everyone else, our estimates suggest. Similarly, only 59% of those with no earned income remained enrolled, relative to 73% of those with prior earnings. </p>
<p>Because they are likely to qualify for an individual exemption to work requirements, adults with a history of a disability were more likely to retain benefits compared with others.</p>
<p>Adults kicked out of SNAP because of work requirements typically stood to lose $189 in benefits per month – the most a single person could obtain at the time. It also amounted to about two-thirds of their gross income.</p>
<p>We studied work requirements in Virginia because of the availability of detailed data on both earnings and SNAP benefits. </p>
<p>Although work requirements enforcement varies across states, we believe that our results are likely to be representative of the impacts of this policy, since SNAP recipients in Virginia <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/characteristics-snap-households-fy-2020-and-early-months-covid-19-pandemic-characteristics">look similar</a> to nationwide averages on most demographic characteristics except race. </p>
<p><iframe id="Gpems" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Gpems/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Our findings do suggest that work requirements restrain federal spending by reducing the number of people getting SNAP benefits.</p>
<p>But our work also indicates that in today’s context, these savings would be at the expense of already vulnerable people facing additional economic hardship at a time when a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/26/how-long-a-recession-could-last-according-to-economists.html">new recession could be around the corner</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelsey Pukelis receives funding from the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE1745303. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
</span></em></p>A team of economists looked at what happened after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program work requirements were reinstated in Virginia in 2013.Kelsey Pukelis, Ph.D. Student in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.