Figure 2 - available from: Organic Agriculture
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The fourfold table of the development of organic food chain in Finland. Gray boxes indicate local and white boxes national focus group responders’ visions. The table is divided into four areas according to the axis of the production volume and the environment of the activity of the food chain
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This study presents two hypothetical challenges 1) The actors in the Finnish food chain do not have a common community that would cover the entire food chain from primary producers to the consumers of organic food and that would, by communal effort, enhance the development of the organic food chain, and 2) A fairer share of power among the food cha...
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deg...
Citations
... Barriers to cooperation between organic farmers and large organic food retailers include farmers' reluctance to cooperate and the lack of professionalism among logistics and sales organisations. As a result, the possibilities of creating a joint offer are reduced, especially for small organic farms (Górska-Warsewicz et al., 2018;Nuutila & Kurppa, 2017;Kociszewski et al., 2020). ...
Organic farming is one of the main directions of the EU’s farm-to-fork strategy in connection with the European Green Deal. In Poland, organic farming developed dynamically from the accession to the European Union until 2013 and then slowed down. This is a good reason to investigate the conditions affecting the supply side of organic food, especially that the distribution system hardly absorbs the production potential of Polish organic farming. There are few studies with in-depth analysis of relationships between farms and distributors. The research objectives adopted in this paper are the assessment of the intensity of the relations between farmers and organic food distributors. The analysis is based on desk research and the results of a survey of 120 owners of certified organic farms and 120 representatives of shops offering organic products. The results of the analysis show that there are many shops that are supplied by farmers (with a high intensity of relations with farmers) and, at the same time, few farmers selling their products to shops (with a low intensity of relations). Along with the low intensity of farmers’ relations with food processors, this is one of the main barriers to supply development.
... Although the environmental benefits of extensive livestock production in pastoral systems need to be recognized (Morales-Jerrett et al. 2020;Rivera-Ferré et al. 2016), the reduction of animal protein and the incorporation of vegetarian/vegan diets are among the main proposals for improving the sustainability of diets, especially from a climatic point of view (Nuutila and Kurppa, 2017;Aleksandrowicz et al. 2016;Takacs et al. 2022). Again, in our study, vegan and vegetarian recipes are also those with the lowest CF and EF in all scenarios, and therefore those that should gain weight in diets as part of a strategy to reduce those impacts, which are associated with cultural eating patterns. ...
Scaling up agroecology through the implementation of local (Scenario 1, S1), seasonal (S2), organic (S3), and efficiently cooked (S4) diets based on local gastronomy can play an important role in reducing the climate and energy impacts of food. The carbon and energy footprints (CF and EF) of 10 conventionally cooked traditional recipes representative of the Mediterranean diet (S0 = food from industrial and globalized agriculture, non-seasonally consumed) were estimated. The CF of the recipes was estimated to be between 0.56 and 13.4 kg CO2 eq/kg. Our results show that, depending on the drivers or scenarios (S1, S2, S3, S4) and the recipes, significant reductions in CF and EF are indeed achieved, which can be of up to 57% in CF when considering the reduction potential of these four drivers in an agroecological transition process (S5).
... The main tenet of the Green Deal is the need to move to a more sustainable agricultural production system that minimizes the environmental footprint of agriculture, and organic farming is one of the of 10% recorded in 2016 [33]. An obstacle that hinders the entry of organic products into mainstream retailers is farmers' reluctance to cooperate, as well as a lack of professional organizations dealing with organic logistics and sales, which reduces the potential for creating a common offer, especially in the case of small-sized organic farms having a significant share in the Polish organic sector [34][35][36]. A similar situation is observed in other countries struggling to develop their domestic organic markets [19]. ...
... Several studies have attempted to explain the motivations of farmers to adopt organic agriculture, but research works focusing on other actors of food chain are too scarce to understand the factors that drive the development of organic farming and organic food markets in different regions [23,25,26,35,45]. To attract farmers to organic production and persuade them that it is an economically viable option, it is crucial to gain a thorough understanding of the numerous factors influencing the development of organic processing and sales. ...
Our study aimed to explore the factors limiting the development of the organic food sector in Poland from the perspective of processing, distributing, and retailing companies. We used a qualitative approach with in-depth semi-structured interviews with the management board representatives of 17 large- and medium-sized enterprises and the owners of 10 small and medium companies. The potential limiting factors, including legal, economic, technological, and environmental factors, were identified by reviewing the corporate and market reports of processing and retailing companies operating in the Polish organic sector. We used a thematic analysis recommended in the literature to analyze qualitative data. The main factors indicated by the managers were the legal concerns, limitations resulting from a lack of constant supply of organic raw materials, and increased competition on domestic and international markets. In addition, business activities in the Polish organic sector were affected by the instability of the financial situation in terms of financial liquidity, adequate cost, capital structure, and credits. The results of the study may be of value for policymakers to ensure sustainable development of the organic food sector in Poland.
... To reduce the impact of increasing costs, the CAM even advise municipalities to start the process by including organic production which is available locally and has a lower price gap compared with conventional products; making collective purchases; purchasing organic products directly from producers, thus saving on distribution costs. In literature, other cost mitigation actions include the menu reformulation, for example by reducing the more expensive meat dishes in favour of the cheaper vegetables ones, or by preferring seasonal products (Mikkelsen et al., 2012;Caputo et al., 2017;Nuutila and Kurppa, 2017). Nevertheless, PSFPs are only gradually including local and organic products in their schools' canteens (Galli and Brunori, 2012;Bocchi et al., 2009). ...
Public School Food Procurements (PSFPs) are recognized as drivers of food and nutrition security. In the last decade, researchers and institutions have focused on designing sustainable school food procurements that include organic food. This study examines the public food procurement system in 524 of the 1554 municipalities of Lombardy in Northern Italy. A Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial model is used to explore the factors affecting the initial adoption and the increase of organic food in PSFP at the regional level. Four sets of factors are investigated, including territorial indicators, market constraints, PSFP's management and governance and concern for local and certified origin products. The results show that the initial introduction of organic food correlates with higher population density and bigger farms in the area and strongly depends on pressure from municipal administrations and canteen committee for environmental sustainability and youth health. However, the introduction of organic food often must be driven by the initiative of catering service management and must take into account municipal policies to support the local production and certified origin products. Conversely, the adoption intensity increases when PSFP is managed by private companies and stakeholder pressure is strong, although the adoption intensity can be adversely affected by higher perceived costs of organic products when compared to conventional products. This analysis thus confirms the importance of the participation of local stakeholders in designing more sustainable PSFP. The analysis also provides local stakeholders with a systematic dataset at the regional scale regarding the factors that drive sustainable choices in PSFP. The analysis thus supports institutions and policy-makers in coordinating the alignment between food demand and supply in order to better address the sustainability.
The paper addresses political issues related to policy interventions for food system sustainability. It presents the results of a literature review, which explores how the concept of power has been used so far by scholars of food system dynamics. Articles numbering 116 were subjected to an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allowed the identification of three main strands of the literature with respect to food and power issues: (1) marketing and industrial organisation literature, dealing with the economic power exercised by economic actors in contexts of noncompetitive market structures; (2) articles addressing the power issue from a political economy perspective and by using an interdisciplinary approach; (3) heterogenous studies. The results of the review witness a growing interest for the analysis of food systems, political issues, and the need of a wider use of analytical tools and concepts offered by social sciences for the study of power in sustainability policy design.
The role of policies and public school canteens as drivers of sustainable and healthy diets is increasingly becoming the center of attention of academics and policy-makers alike. This work therefore aims to assess the environmental, economic and nutritional quality dimensions of the menus consumed across the Local Network of School Canteens in the municipality of Ames (Galicia, Spain). It additionally performs different scenarios to evaluate the effects on the environment-cost-nutritional quality trilemma of implementing two major dietary changes in these menus: introducing more organic products, and shifting toward a more plant-based consumption pattern. To this end, this study considers the following indicators: a) those obtained from an energy and carbon life cycle assessment of the school menus (cradle-to-grave approach), mainly the cumulative energy demand (CED) and the carbon footprint (CF), complemented by some energy efficiency indicators; b) the total cost (TC) of the menus, obtained from their life cycle cost assessment (cradle-to-fork approach); and c) the nutritional quality of the menus, calculated and assessed based on the nutrient rich diet index (NRD 9.3). The CED, CF, TC, and NRD 9.3 index of a daily meal at school canteens are, respectively, estimated at 18.87 MJ, 1.30 kg CO2-eq, EUR 4.65, and 278 per meal. The consumption of animal products and labor (for food preparation) are identified, respectively, as the main environmental impact and economic cost of the menus. The results of our research show how implementing changes in consumption habits toward a more vegetarian diet in school menus makes it possible to include organic products to generate the most positive effects in terms of the environment and nutrition without incurring in cost overruns. Our work discusses the main barriers to be overcome and the political actions that must be enforced to advance the procurement of more sustainable and healthy public food.
Graphical abstract
The Finnish organic food system has had the same development phases as many other countries producing or consuming organic food, but the current volume of production and the market share is lagging severely behind the best-performing European Union countries. Finnish authorities set several development programmes with quantitative goals for the growth of the organic sector. The current "2020" goals aspire to reach, e.g., a 20% share of organic from total agricultural land and to triple the share of organic markets (compared to 2014). Despite scholars predicting these current goals unreachable, the food chain stakeholders trust in the positive organic developments in all areas and food sectors. The major share of the organic land is under grass production for milking cows, other bovines and sheep. Oats are the most commonly organically cultivated grain. Organic food processing, as well as its retail, is very biased: large-scale companies represent the largest shares, while SMEs (small and medium size enterprise) offer an alternative marketing channel for producers and consumers. Public procurement provides an important channel for the organic food chain in Finland, since its education system offers a warm school meal for all students up to the vocational school level. The foreign organic trade balance is negative and that challenges the food industry in product innovations and branding the general attributes of Finnish food, purity and its Arctic origin together with organic food production. Organic development needs research that currently focuses mainly on agricultural and environmental issues. More cross-disciplinary and holistic research is needed to understand the slow development of organic sector in Finland.
Organic agriculture is a worthy alternative to conventional methods, driving food systems toward more sustainable food with proven health benefits. Many authorities recommend and governments set targets for organic production and consumption. Public food procurement plays an important role in this development process. This is especially true in Finland where, following the principles of the Nordic welfare model, society offers free school meals to all students. The Finnish government has set a goal for year 2020 to triple organic consumption in public kitchens. So far, the use of organic ingredients in professional kitchens has been low, partly because of unstandardized quality and high prices. Because municipalities are not predicted to allocate a larger share from their budget to school meals, another way must be found to increase the organic share and sustainability of the school meals. The research question is, whether it is possible to increase the share of organic ingredients and, at the same time, reduce or maintain the same ingredient costs. This study modified an existing school menu into three versions, where some of the meat dishes were replaced by lacto-vegetarian dishes. The share of organic ingredients was increased in all three versions, first to 10% and then to 20%. There was an increase of cost in all menu versions when the organic share increased, but the increase in cost, when replacing meat with lacto-vegetarian dishes, started only when half of the meat dishes were replaced. A fourth menu version was created using the largest share of lacto-vegetarian dishes and a 20% share of organic ingredients, and its recipes were engineered for a smaller share of the most expensive ingredients. After that, the cost of the fourth menu did not differ significantly from the cost of the original menu. Menu changes to more lacto-vegetarian dishes should happen gradually, to prevent disturbing students. School meals are an important part of a welfare state and with food education, the ideas of sustainable eating can reach the whole society.
Jaakko Nuutila
THE FINNISH ORGANIC FOOD CHAIN
Modelling towards 2020 goals with change and innovation
The current Finnish food chain generates negative externalities for the environment, human beings and animals. Organic food and its production represent an alternative that aims at reducing those externalities. Such an approach is supported by international authorities, and features in Finnish government goals that are intended to diminish these externalities, among others, by increasing the share of organic production. None of the goals previously set by the Finnish authorities for the organic sector have been reached, and this also applies to the target for 2020 according to trends in organic production and expanding market share in Finland. Several other European Union countries are making more significant progress in this regard in comparison with Finland.
This thesis proposes a Finnish food chain model tackling the challenging aim to enable the government goals for organic food and its production to be reached. Simultaneously, it may enhance greater sustainability, with benefits to society and enhanced profitability for those enterprises acting for the common good. The model combines three theories: Activity Theory for the model with its elements, Economy of Common Good for the values and Co-creation for the collaboration of the food chain actors that pertain to the model. A change from the current to the suggested model, generating the desired outcomes, can be possible if a path of certain actions based on the principles of the Finnish national innovation system is followed. Organic food and its production need to be recognized (legitimacy) and integrated into strategic development and research topics, in Finland, for development in this area to be sufficient to reach the goals set.
The findings in this thesis and its four component articles link to the associated theories that gain support from the literature on the food system. The suggested food chain model is, therefore, based on official reports, theories and empirical studies. The suggested model encourages food-chain-level cooperation that would lead to a fairer division of power and easier interference in legislation and taxation, making it easier to set the common good values and to use them to influence affect to the tools of food chain activities. The resulting production methods, and the food itself, will enable the goals set for organic production to be reached. The path of actions suggests tax incentives, better education and research on organic food and its production, more effective information policy and a tailored SHOK-type organic consortium to spearhead the project as an integral component of the Finnish strategic research agenda.
The resilience of planet Earth is rapidly decreasing, and small actions remain largely without effect. The entire food chain has to be redeveloped in a comprehensive and radical way. The model suggested is theoretical: a combination of several theoretical approaches proven to have been successful in existing business environments. It is difficult to imagine that, under the currently prevailing conditions of materialism and egocentricity, the proposed system could be comprehensively adopted right away at the national level, but a gradual change towards the greater common good and organic goals can be expected to be possible by following the action plan presented.
