chapter 3 inventory of local food systems

Project CP/59 - “Instruments and institutions to develop local food systems”
5.2.4. Conclusions
levers. Moreover, government should create the legal framework that does
not hinder development. Some see a more far-reaching role for government,
by giving local products priority in getting subsdies in the framework of the
Common Agricultural Policy.
Most participants found the innovative workshop method interesting and stimulating.
Participants formulated the following suggestions:
• More input as starting point for the café, in the form of more detailed
presentations at the beginning;
• More guidance throughout the dialogues. This refers both to the central theme of
the dialogues and to the ‘enforcement’ of basic cafe priniciples, such as to listen
rather than to convince.
From own observation, but also from some of the evaluations, we learned that an
invitation to dialogue does not automatically lead to innovative insights and
recommendations. Essential elements for a good dialogue include:
• A good balance between advocacy (convincing) and informing (listening). High
stakes of participants often lead to a domination of advocacy;
• A diversity of perspectives. However, the further away people are from the
problems discussed, the less their involvement. Nevertheless, diversity is
necessary to really arrive at innovative insights and recommendations.
We believe that we reached the aim of bringing people around the table to maximise
their participation and voice, stimulating at the same time interaction between people
that do not know each other. For future dialogues, important challenges are to increase
the diversity of the participants and better facilitate the dialogue.
5.3. Synthesis, conclusions and recommendations
This research project had as central question how to further develop local food systems.
The first part of the project looked into the identification, measurement and
communication of indicators of sustainability that would appeal to the consumer and
that is hence directed at the demand side of LFS. The second part of the project
investigated the interior and exterior conditions for LFS to develop from the supply side.
In our quest for a set of scientifically sound and practically usable indicators comparing
the sustainability of local food systems with to mainstream food systems, we had to
abandon our original plan to develop rich economic and ecological indicators. We did
develop an ecological indicator depicting the energy use of different food systems taking
a life cycle assessment approach. However, the calculation of economic indicators
assessing the impact on employment and the multiplier effect of different systems has
proven to be too difficult, primarily because of the heavy data requirements of these
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