An infographic synopsis of Luxembourg’s Food System
Local or regional food systems are complex networks of food production, distribution and consumption, embedded in interwoven relations between levels, spheres, sectors and actors, as well as the resulting interdependencies of the global food system — often referred to as “foodscapes”.
Describing a foodscape whose actors and actions form a non-unified whole is problematic, but a visual depiction may unravel its complexity. This research has been undertaken by the Sustainable Food Practices team at the University of Luxembourg. As a snapshot in time, such a depiction seems static and limited to a specific space, while food systems are in constant flux and transition through intended and unintended actions by their actors. Additional interactive and dynamic infographics of Luxembourg’s food system are forthcoming on https://food.uni.lu, using pop-up windows to show contextual information and links to actors’ relevant websites etc.
While many approaches address food from a systemic point of view, they rarely qualify or empirically document the food system. The challenge of creating such an empirically qualified, descriptive infographic is how to represent actors and their multiple activities. Through empirical research we have mapped all the broad actor groups and documented specific examples of their activities, showing the diversity of the actor groups within Luxembourg’s food system. An analytical version of the infographic representing relations between actors, drivers, gaps, lock-ins, leverage-effects, as well as externalities of the food system, is in the making.
Not just a food supply chain
We detach ourselves from the common vision of a food supply chain, as it suggests linearity instead of complexity through feedback loops. The too often cited ‘farm-to-fork’ supply chain can instead be seen as a circular economy ensemble, including the reuse of waste and featuring pre-farm actors and interventions, actively taking part in a broader food system within which constant interactions and negotiations occur. This holistic approach is necessary because a linear approach fails to explain how food comes to our plates: it includes only the actors connected within direct food supply through actions of input-supply, farming, processing, manufacturing, trade, gastronomy, consumption and waste treatment. This popular approach overlooks influential actors in the broader food system: ‘governance & regulation’; ‘education & awareness-raising’; ‘media’; ‘research’; ‘business interests & professional corporations’; ‘marketing & advertising’; ‘finance’; ‘investing & insurance’; ‘non-profit, voluntary & community groups’; ‘operational services’; ‘individual citizens’. Yet these actors are crucial in transforming structures and processes that shape the larger ecological, economic, sociocultural and political context in which food systems exist and evolve, including the food supply circuit as an integral part of the food system.
A food supply circuit at the centre of the food system (light green)
At the centre of the food system, the food supply circuit consists of the natural, social and cultural resources at our disposal to ultimately nourish people. Luxembourg’s farms specialise predominantly in livestock grazing, while other production types are underdeveloped (see box). Fed by agricultural inputs, knowledge and equipment, different farm types produce raw agricultural products, either ready-to-be-consumed, and packed and distributed (e.g. via wholesalers or direct sale to consumers), or entering the processing stage. ‘Primary food processing’ operations convert agricultural raw materials into food commodities (e.g. milling or slaughtering). ‘Manufacturing’ operations combine and change the properties of different ingredients (both primary processed and raw products) to obtain more complex food products (e.g. baked goods). Processed foods tend to be distributed via wholesalers, who redistribute smaller quantities to retail and gastronomy. Smaller manufacturers may choose to avoid wholesalers and use direct marketing (e.g. via online-shops or farmers’ markets). ‘Retail’ can range from general to specialist retailers, from small specialist shops to large hypermarkets, from personal on-farm sales to vending machines, or from profit-orientated supermarket chains to sustainability-driven shops. However, a considerable proportion of food is consumed via ‘gastronomy’, in eateries (e.g. restaurants, take-aways, cafés etc.) or in food services (e.g. canteens in residential homes, hospitals and educational facilities, event catering etc.).
The different operational steps within the food circuit are supported by logistical services, transport, storage and packaging etc. – represented as warehouses and lorries transporting various packaged goods at all stages of the food supply circuit. Waste is generated at every stage of the food supply circuit and within the broader food system, represented here in a simplified overview by the parked lorries in front of recycling centres. From the perspective of circular economy, efforts have to be made to increase the amount of waste that re-enters the circle through, among other things, recycling, upcycling and composting.
Actors of the broader food system (beige background)
As part of a larger food system, the food supply circuit is fed, shaped and transformed by structures and processes from various levels and domains. By structures we mean the public and private sector institutions, organisations, corporations etc. that set and implement policy and legislation, deliver financial, technological and other services, provide education and media programs, pursue social, political or environmental goals and represent various societal or professional interests. Processes embrace the laws, regulations, policies, agreements, societal and cultural norms, as well as all formal and informal practices that, in turn, determine the way in which structures operate.
Actors within ‘non-profit, voluntary & community groups’ or ‘governance & regulations’ are particularly difficult to define because of their multiple activities. For example, an NGO can provide education, perform lobbying activities, offer grant funding and undertake research. ‘Private and public consumer programmes’ (e.g. campaigns around nutrition or food waste) may be undertaken by any of the actors with the intention of increasing food literacy.
‘Operational services’ include actors providing technological, human resources or health services for other food system actors. ‘Media’ refers to both professional and lay actors creating and disseminating opinions, art, analyses etc. in mass and new media. As the biggest (albeit most diversified) actor group, ‘citizens’ have a key sociocultural role in the system by transmitting values of conviviality, waste avoidance, sustainability, pleasure, taste, social bonds; talking to each other about trends, worries, experiences, preferences; enacting cultural identity and distinction; socialising children into their reference group etc.
The vulnerability context of food systems
Food systems are embedded in a larger context of vulnerability made up of shocks, critical trends and aspects of seasonality from various domains (ecological, economic, sociocultural, political, sanitary etc.) and originating on more global levels, yet impacting microlevels. Actors in the food system often lack resilience against these external influences, due to a limited ability to directly influence and act upon them, and a reduced ability to cope with them – especially in the short-term. Examples are changes in microclimate, weather hazards, pandemics, pest migration; political and economic trends, especially trade agreements (shaped by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations and its various food-relevant sub-organisations etc.); and powerful private multinational actors in agro-industry – all augmenting the dependencies between local and global food systems.
While these actors are of paramount importance to global food systems, we do not depict them here, as the focus is on actors directly shaping Luxembourg’s food system. We have only mentioned the broader international food-related policies that have a direct national impact, specifically the main EU polices on food (Common Agricultural Policy – CAP; Common Fisheries Policy, EU Food Safety; General Food Law).
In a nutshell
Our unbiased approach identifies the diversity of actors in Luxembourg’s food system, depicts the complexity of the system and describes what forms the foodscape – without judging what makes a ‘good’ food system. Future updates will include analysing the actors and the scope of their power, their relationships, pressure points and barriers, but also the opportunities and innovations that thrive in the food system.
- Stephen R. Gliessman, Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems, Boca Raton, CRC Press/Taylor and Francis Group, 20153.
- Bent Egberg Mikkelsen, “Images of foodscapes: Introduction to foodscape studies and their application in the study of healthy eating out-of-home environments”, in: Perspectives in Public Health, vol. 131, nr. 5, 2011, p. 209-216.
- Ian Scoones, Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development, Fernwood Publishing/Practical Action Publishing, Rugby, 2015.
- Ibid.
- Service d’économie rurale, 2019.
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