Does Food Public Procurement boost Food Democracy? Theories and evidences from some case studies

Abstract

The paper analyses some Italian virtuous experiences of Food Public Procurement, connecting them with the issue of food democracy. In particular, the first paragraphs provide an outline of the main challenges and distortions afflicting today’s food systems, pointing out how and to what extent they are strictly tied to the problems of access to food and participation to food governance. In diets and food consumption behaviours, being them the main driver of the trajectories of food systems, rely the most part of the future of sustainability of agricultural productions and distribution. Food Public Procurement, defining features and quality of an impressive number of meals (18.5 billion per year in 15-member Europe), has the chance to drive and orient a large amount of the food productions towards more sustainable patterns. The results deriving from the critical examination of the four practices of Food Public Procurement in Italy, put into evidence the impacts in terms of parents participation, healthy of meals, agricultural sustainability, local development, distribution of food value chain and workers’ rights. Finally, it is stressed the importance of local food policies and urban Food councils in boosting and favouring the spreading of sustainable Food Public Procurement practices.