Economic and environmental performance of controlled-environment supply chains for leaf lettuce
We assess landed costs and selected environmental metrics for field-based andcontrolled-environment agriculture greenhouse (GH) supply chains for leaf lettucedelivered to New York City. Landed costs for a GH are 46 to 174 per cent higher thanfield production, with the lower value for an automated GH located in the peri-urbanarea. Energy use and global warming potential per kg lettuce delivered were larger forthe GH, particularly if located in a peri-urban area. Water use was much higher for thefield-based supply chain. Controlled-environment GH technologies will require further development to meet goals for lower costs and environmental impact.
Public Food Procurement for Sustainable Food System and Healthy Diets
Sustainable Public Food Procurement (PFP) represents a key game changer for food systems transformation. It can influence both food consumption and food production patterns. It can deliver multiple social, economic, and environmental benefits towards sustainable food systems for healthy diets.
School Meals Programmes and the Education Crisis
The immediate context for this financial landscape analysis is the learning crisis triggered by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and the shrinking fiscal space available to governments. We look at the potential for school feeding programmes to play an expanded role in addressing the learning crisis – and at the public financing options available. The analysis draws on seven rapid assessment country studies commissioned by the SFI.
Release: The EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act Seeks to Increase Equity in USDA’s Food Purchases
The EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act outlines a new, values-based approach for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to purchase commodities that supply child, senior, and community nutrition programs across the nation. The Act also directs USDA to target technical assistance and food safety investments for small and socially disadvantaged producers and businesses to ensure they have fair access to USDA contracts.
Public food procurement as a game changer for food system transformation
The last decade has seen various countries, regions, and cities from low-income to high-income economies develop public food procurement (PFP) initiatives designed to use government purchasing power and regular demand for food as a policy instrument to promote sustainable development.1 These initiatives—often also referred to as institutional food procurement, including school meals programmes and purchase of food for public hospitals, prisons, universities, public building cafeterias, and other social programmes— have been increasingly recognised as an important entry point to trigger more sustainable food systems and healthy diets. They are also an important instrument for the achievement of target 12.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): “to promote public procurement practices that are sustainable in accordance with national policies and priorities”.
Food Action Cities: Case Study Archive
Discover how other cities improved their food system and learn from their experience
From Plate to Planet: How local governments are driving action on climate change through food
The small window of opportunity the world has to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global
warming to 1.5°C is rapidly closing. The latest
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
report, published in March 2023, sounded a stark
warning and final call to action. The report
underlined that global warming is already killing
people, destroying nature, and making the world
poorer. Damages are accelerating as temperatures
rise, causing unprecedented costs to people,
economies, the environment, and food security.
Women, youth, marginalized urban populations,
smallholder farmers, and Indigenous communities
bear the brunt of these damages. Deeper and faster 1
cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are the only
way to limit these impacts.
Centering Values in Food Procurement
In September, SFC changed the name of our newest program from the “Supply Chain” Program to the “Value Chain” Program. Read on to learn why we made that change and how the program is transforming our food system.
Public food procurement for sustainable food systems and healthy diets
Sustainable Public Food Procurement (PFP) represents a key game changer for food systems transformation. It can influence both food consumption and food production patterns. It can deliver multiple social, economic, and environmental benefits towards sustainable food systems for healthy diets.
This publication aims to contribute to the improved understanding, dissemination, and use of PFP as a development tool in particular in the case of school meals programmes. In this Volume 2, researchers, policymakers, and development partners can find extensive evidence of the instruments, enablers, and barriers for PFP implementation. It also provides case studies with local, regional, and national experiences from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America.