The Political Economy of Food System Transformation: Pathways to Progress in a Polarized World

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The current structure of the global food system is increasingly recognized as unsustainable. In addition to the environmental impacts of agricultural production, unequal patterns of food access and availability are contributing to non-communicable diseases in middle- and high-income countries and inadequate caloric intake and dietary diversity among the world's poorest. To this end, there have been a growing number of academic and policy initiatives aimed at advancing food system transformation, including the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and several UN Climate conferences. Yet, the policy pathways for achieving a transformed food system are highly contested, and the enabling conditions for implementation are frequently absent. Furthermore, a broad range of polarizing factors affect decisions over the food system at domestic and international levels - from debates over values and (mis)information, to concerns over food self-sufficiency, corporate influence, and human rights.

This volume explicitly analyses the political economy dynamics of food system transformation with contributors who span several disciplines, including economics, ecology, geography, nutrition, political science, and public policy. The chapters collectively address the range of interests, institutions, and power in the food system, the diversity of coalitions that form around food policy issues and the tactics they employ, the ways in which policies can be designed and sequenced to overcome opposition to reform, and processes of policy adaptation and learning. Drawing on original surveys, interviews, empirical modelling, and case studies from China, the European Union, Germany, Mexico, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States, the book touches on issues as wide ranging as repurposing agricultural subsidies, agricultural trade, biotechnology innovations, red meat consumption, sugar-sweetened beverage taxes, and much more.

Danielle Resnick, David M. Rubenstein Research Fellow, Brookings Institution, and Non-Resident Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),Johan Swinnen, Managing Director of Systems Transformation, CGIAR, and Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Danielle Resnick is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution and a Non-Resident Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). She was formerly a Senior Research Fellow and Governance Theme Leader at IFPRI (2013-2021), and a Research Fellow at the United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER, 2010-2013). Key research areas include the political economy of agriculture and food policy, decentralization, urban governance, informality, and democratization, with a regional specialization in sub-Saharan Africa where she has conducted fieldwork in more than a dozen countries.

Johan Swinnen is Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute and Managing Director of Systems Transformation, CGIAR. From 2005 to 2019, he was a Professor of Economics and Director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions & Economic Performance at KU Leuven and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. He previously was also a Lead Economist at the World Bank (2003-2004) and economic adviser to the European Commission (1998-2001). He is a Fellow of Agricultural & Applied Economics Association and previously served as President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (2012-2015).