Functional foods and urban agriculture: two responses to climate change-related food insecurity

Abstract

There is growing awareness that diets in affluent countries, rich in meat protein, dairy and preprepared foods, have a negative impact on biophysical environments as well as on public health. [1][2][3][4] Consensus is also emerging that healthier diets are more environmentally sustainable. [4][5][6] By challenging the ongoing supply of affluent country diets, climate change provides a population and environmental health opportunity. However, it also poses a significant risk to food-insecure populations. Already, data show that Functional foods and urban agriculture: two responses to climate change-related food insecurity Abstract: Affluent diets have negative effects on the health of the population and the environment. Moreover, the ability of industrialised agricultural ecosystems to continue to supply these diets is threatened by the anticipated consequences of climate change. By challenging the ongoing supply of the diets of affluent countries, climate change provides a population and environmental health opportunity. This paper contrasts two strategies for dealing with climate change-related food insecurity. Functional foods are being positioned as one response because they are considered a hyper-efficient mechanism for supplying essential micronutrients. An alternative response is civic and urban agriculture. Rather than emphasising increased economic or nutritional efficiencies, civic agriculture presents a holistic approach to food security that is more directly connected to the economic, environmental and social factors that affect diet and health.

The Organic Food Philosophy: A Qualitative Exploration of the Practices, Values, and Beliefs of Dutch Organic Consumers Within a Cultural–Historical Frame

“…In the context of making more sustainable food choices, connectedness with nature is a value that needs strengthening, for example, in the context of urban development. Examples of how this can be done are the development of urban agriculture to enable cities to feed themselves from within or from its neighboring communities (Dixon et al 2009;Morgan and Sonnino 2010). Various big cities, such as New York and London, are already working on food strategies for the future.…”

Who Cares? The Importance of Emotional Connections with Nature to Ensure Food Security and Wellbeing in Cities

“…Most literature, however, does not distinguish clearly between gardening activities and food production, which results in an apparent divide between urban agriculture and biophilia research. The multitude of benefits of urban agriculture within communities have been well established, and include fostering social interactions, educational opportunities, health and ecosystems services as well as community and economic development [40,42,[44][45][46][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]. All of these apply to green spaces as well.…”

“…The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines being food secure as when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life [102]. Urban "agriculture presents a holistic approach to food security that is more directly connected to the economic, environmental and social factors that affect diet and health" [64] (p. 14).…”

An Agrarian Imaginary in Urban Life: Cultivating Virtues and Vices Through a Conflicted History

“…Both motivating and responding to government initiatives have been numerous popular books, television programs and documentaries encouraging urban residents to transform the built environment and embrace agricultural practices. University researchers in human geography, built environment, environmental sciences and urban studies have also argued that agrarian practices of small-scale agriculture has the potential to beautify post-industrial sites and positively impact community health and the environment (Dixon and Capon 2008;Dixon et al 2009;Duany and DPZ 2011;Franck 2005).…”