Community food security
Community food security is a relatively new concept that captures emerging ideas about the central place of food in communities. At times it refers to the measure of food access and availability at the community level, and at other times to a goal or framework for place-based food systems. It builds upon the more commonly understood concept of food security, which refers to food access and availability at an individual or household level and at a national or global level. Hamm and Bellows define CFS as “a situation in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice”. CFS involves social, economic, and institutional factors, and their interrelationships within a community that impact availability and access to resources to produce food locally. It takes into account environmental sustainability and social fairness through measures of the availability and affordability of food in that community relative to the financial resources available to purchase or produce it.
CFS' Global Scale
In industrialized countries, income-related food security is measured at both the individual and household levels whereas in non-industrialized countries it is most often measured in terms of under-nutrition and malnutrition through anthropometric measurements. Indicators of individual food insecurity include limited food selection, suboptimal nutrient intakes and severe nutrient inadequacies. Household food insecurity measures food intake of adults and children as a group within the home in relation to household income and food cost expenditure. Markers of vulnerability to food insecurity in Canada and U.S. include low income, reliance on welfare, lone motherhood, lack of home ownership, and Aboriginal status.In Canada, food security is recognized as one of the most important social determinants of health and has been linked with increased prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Those who are food insecure most often live in poverty and have great difficulty obtaining the food needed to manage chronic diseases like the ones mentioned previously. Achieving individual and household food security is key to achieving CFS. Whereas individual and household food security can be achieved through use of social policies to improve income distribution, CFS can be attained through food policy. By directly addressing the causes of individual and household food insecurity through social policies, improved access to food for all can exist and in turn improve the health of that community. Moreover, citizens' direct involvement in the production of food, even at a small scale, has been shown to generate health benefits. In addition, achieving CFS can benefit social capital, justice, economic vitality, and sustainability of physical and social environments in that community, all of which contribute to population health.
Efforts to achieve CFS differ from other food security initiatives in that they view the issue at a local level by concentrating on community infrastructure and local food systems, and vary according to different community needs. Hamm and Bellows purport that “food security is experienced most poignantly and addressed most innovatively at the community level”. Some of the existing CFS initiatives, such as identifying food costs and quality in low-income neighbourhoods, also seek to provide the evidence needed to make changes in policy. This further improves the health of citizens by providing sufficient access to nutritious foods for all and improving access to resources needed to produce and process the food locally.
History
The term food security was first used in the 1960-1970s to refer to food supply and consistent access to food in international development work. In 1966 the treaty titled the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was created to ensure economic, social and cultural rights including the “inalienable right to adequate nutritious food”. In 1974 the World Food Conference focused on producing enough food for the world, ensuring the supply was reliable, and reducing dramatic price fluctuations. Even early on it was clear that there was a great discrepancy between the world's food supply and people's access to food. Advances in agricultural technology in non-industrialized countries resulting in production of more food did not necessarily result in improved food access as evidenced by the Green Revolution. Rather, many environmental problems such as insecticide-resistant pests, soil erosion, and pesticide poisoning of both people and wildlife resulted.During the 1980s and 1990s food security became recognized as a major public health concern in industrialized countries. The concept of food entitlement was introduced in 1981 along with a shift in focus to ensured food access with adequate supply at the individual or household level in industrialized nations. Food security was measured directly by anthropometric means or by food intake assessment, and indirectly by indicators of poverty, comparison of wages to food costs, employment rates and the use of emergency food programs. At the 1996 World Food Summit, the Rome Declaration on World Food Security reaffirmed, “the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger”. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s most responses to food insecurity tended to occur at the community level. Community-level initiatives allowed for more long-lasting solutions to food issues as they were designed to empower individuals and increase knowledge and skills as opposed to providing only a temporary solution to food access. These efforts contributed largely to the evolution of the concept of CFS in the 1990s when environmental concerns were gaining recognition. The emerging concept of CFS captured the central idea that addressing food security at the community level would allow more interested parties to become involved in the decision-making and planning process as well as enable a larger range of issues to be addressed such as environmentally sustainable food production, fair wages for local producers, and more sustainable food assistance programs.
CFS dimensions
Measuring CFS is difficult due to its multifaceted nature and the complexity of the issue, a lack of standardized tools, and because of the diversity of needs across different communities. In order to better understand what influences CFS, the concept can be considered to comprise four key dimensions— personal and household food security, food environments, sustainability, and strength of local food system. It is important, however, to think of these four dimensions as interrelated and not discrete.Personal and household food security
The Canadian Home Economics Association and the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University have identified five preconditions for food security: availability, accessibility, adequacy, acceptability and agency. Availability refers to sufficient access to food; accessibility refers to physical and economic access to food; adequacy refers to safe and nutritious access to food in an environmentally sustainable manner; acceptability refers to culturally appropriate food that does not harm one's dignity, self-respect or human rights; and finally agency refers to the democratic processes involved in changing policies to enable food security. Originally the list created by the Canadian Home Economics Association only contained the first four. More recently several organizations around the world added the fifth A, agency. Agency is extremely important in CFS as it reflects community members’ ability to influence policy directly related to food security as both individuals and as a collective.Food environments
CFS is largely determined by the overall well-being of a community including multiple economic and social factors within the food environment. The food environment refers to the many conditions that affect food choice and access. The following are examples of food environments that affect CFS.- At the individual and household level one's personal values, income, and time available to prepare food, and overall capacity and resources to access and use food can greatly affect food consumption.
- One's social support networks such as friends and family can influence food choices and behaviours.
- The type of community one lives in, for example, whether it is a fishing community or an agriculturally rich community can greatly impact food selection.
- The setting at home, work or school can also influence food options. For example, food deserts are socially-distressed neighbourhoods that contain an abundance of fast food and junk food choices and limited access to nutritious foods, making it difficult for residents in this area to purchase healthy foods.
- In addition sectors such as the agricultural sector, food industry, government policies and programs, and both the local and global economy can influence food consumption within a community.
Sustainability
The Community Food Security Coalition recognizes six major principles to increase the sustainability of the food system.
- Similar to the anti-hunger movement, CFS centers low-income food needs.
- Addressing a broad range of problems affecting the food system, such as community development, environmental racism, etc., encourages an interdisciplinary approach.
- Rather than only meeting the needs of individuals, CFS strives to improve the conditions of entire communities.
- CFS seeks to utilize individual and community assets to build power from within.
- An agricultural base provides a local food source for the community, while the community provides new markets for farmers.
- Maintaining a systems-oriented approach encourages solutions that address the root of the problem.