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Food Security in Australia pp 63–77Cite as

Institutional Capacity of Local Government to Embed Food Security into Policy

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Abstract

Food security policy making is on the agenda of a number of councils and manifests itself in various forms. This chapter primarily examines influential factors in the local government policy-making process when seeking to embed accessible and affordable culturally appropriate, fresh, healthy food, particularly for socially vulnerable groups. It also explores the diverse responses from councils in order to incorporate food security into policy. Although local government plays important roles in food insecurity solutions, legislative, resource and organizational mechanisms and practices limit local government activity. State and federal governments need to acknowledge the food security agenda as an important sustainability issue and provide inter-governmental support to local government initiatives through legislative provisions and increased funding.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A minimalist agenda that consists of road, rates and rubbish services that limits the gap between available local government resources and community expectations (Allender et al. 2009:20; Dollery et al. 2003:4).

  2. 2.

    A common definition states that ‘food security exists when all people at all times have both physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life’ (Food & Agriculture Organization 2011).

  3. 3.

    Criteria for sustainability in this chapter judges food system impacts based on environmental, health, quality and social values (see Lang 2010:279).

  4. 4.

    It should be noted here that council ‘policies’ are embedded in strategic ‘plans’ so often the two terms are functionally interchangeable (Blau and Mahoney 2005:13).

  5. 5.

    The author recognizes that other factors outside of these two projects can also contribute to food security themes included in policy documents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia

    Christine Slade

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  1. Christine Slade
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Correspondence to Christine Slade .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. 17 The Grange, East Malvern, 3145, Victoria, Australia

    Quentin Farmar-Bowers

  2. , School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, 2678, New South Wales, Australia

    Vaughan Higgins

  3. , School of Environmental Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Albury, 2640, New South Wales, Australia

    Joanne Millar

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Slade, C. (2013). Institutional Capacity of Local Government to Embed Food Security into Policy. In: Farmar-Bowers, Q., Higgins, V., Millar, J. (eds) Food Security in Australia. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4484-8_5

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