Incentivising resilient and innovative food supply chains and sustainable consumer choices
Project Lead
Challenges
Scotland faces a significant societal challenge in increasing the production and use of fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy and affordable diet accessible to all. It is accompanied by the technical challenge of producing enough fruit and vegetables sustainably, and the economic challenges in creating innovative and profitable value supply chains.
There is growing recognition for increased domestic fruit and vegetable production, including the development of national food strategies for each of the devolved nations. While the need for a national food strategy was recognised before the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a greater focus on re-shaping policy decisions on local food production systems, especially around resilience, and nutrition.
Other key drivers for increasing fruit and vegetable production include:
- Addressing food production’s contribution to climate change through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
- Enhancing food security at different scales and improve diets
- Creating secure and meaningful jobs and incomes for those working in the food supply chain.
The latter driver includes production (tackling value chain, local food systems and food justice); and the need to ensure access to markets for increased domestic production.
Achieving increased fruit and vegetable use and production for secure supply and healthy diets requires the uptake of social and technical innovations and stakeholder engagement across the supply chain, coupled with policy interventions to facilitate and support innovations and behaviour change from farm to fork. Addressing these holistic challenges and drivers requires a systems-led approach engaging all actors along the food supply chain, enabling contributions from scholars, food scientists, policymakers, civil society activists and environmentalists.
Questions
Solutions
This project aims to increase our understanding of the means, barriers and drivers for increasing the production and use of Scotland’s fruit and vegetables.
Assessing the agroecological potential for increased fruit and vegetable production in Scotland
We are establishing patterns of current supply and demand of fruit and vegetables and predicting future demand for domestic fruit and vegetable production based on future scenarios of shifts to human and environmentally healthy diets and increased national self-reliance. This analysis determines the production gap by combining the above to establish patterns of supply and demand under alternative scenarios.
We are assessing the capacity of fruit and vegetable production systems to meet future demand. It involves reviewing fruit and vegetable production systems with potential applications in Scotland and the literature on the biophysical requirements of fruit and vegetable crops. We are using results to predict Scotland’s production potential under future climate scenarios, any further barriers to increasing fruit and vegetable production and to identify geographical and sectoral narrowing of production scope. All the above is used to determine any potential human and environmental health benefits of future fruit and vegetable production.
Assessing the systematic barriers and drivers for increased fruit and vegetable production
We are identifying the range of stakeholders representing the different sectors and actors active in the food system, including public, private and third-sector organisations, farmers and food businesses, policymakers, community groups, consumers, and activists. We are conducting a literature review to identify international examples of increased fruit and vegetable production and scope for emerging and current technology to maximise capacity and minimise waste. It includes an assessment of the challenges and impacts of increased production in terms of potential economic, environmental and health benefits.
We are identifying what barriers, drivers and impacts exist for transformation towards sustainable and resilient increased production of domestic fruit and vegetables at local/regional scale levels. This project identifies opportunities and barriers for change with different actors and sectors, trade-offs between imports and exports, and potential contributions from social and technical innovations. We are visualising these participatory systems models and using them as an engagement tool with stakeholders.
In sum, this project works towards equipping policymakers, practitioners, and campaigners with a shared understanding of the potential for increased domestic production of fruit and vegetables in Scotland.
Project Partners
Progress
2023 / 2024
This interdisciplinary research project combines agroecological science (Work package 1), stakeholder engagement (Work package 2), and knowledge exchange (Work package 3) to explore how Scotland can increase fruit and vegetable production while achieving economic, environmental, and health co-benefits.
Work Package 1 – Assessing Agroecological Potential
Activities examined Scotland’s capacity to scale up fruit and vegetable production to meet future demand.
Work package 2
This involved assessing international examples of increased production, emerging technologies, and strategies to reduce waste and increase system efficiency under.
Together, these activities from work packages 1 and 2 involved a literature review on:
• Food system stakeholders
• International case studies
• The Scottish food policy landscape
• Sustainable diets
• Local food procurement, food waste, and marketing/retail standards
This work highlights that increasing fruit and vegetable production requires system-wide changes, touching every part of the supply chain.
Policy-Relevant Outputs
Findings contributed to policy recommendations focused on:
• Scaling up production through a food systems approach
• Strengthening food security and resilience
• Supporting sustainable diets
• Recognising the role of urban and peri-urban agriculture
• Aligning local and national food policy with sustainability goals
Engagement and Strategic Contributions focused on:
• Contributing to Short Life Working Group of the Scottish Science Advisory Council on food security and local food systems
• Helping to design and distribute a survey on local food
• Publishing the report “Scotland’s Food Systems – The Contribution of Local Production” (Fowler, 2023)
Through the Underpinning Capacity call-down, researchers also:
• Conducted a rapid evidence review on the role of urban and peri-urban agriculture
• Published the report “Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Scotland” (Dinnie, 2024)
• Presented findings to RESAS advisors in February 2024
Stakeholder and Public Engagement
• Steering group involvement with Fair Food Aberdeenshire
• Participation in national and thematic events, such as:
o Net Zero, Poverty and Dietary Shift webinar
o Food Systems under Pressure
o Food Justice (FRIED Seminar)
o Careers and Skills for a Future Climate
o The Future of Public Diners in Scotland
o Bringing about a Horticultural Revolution
o RSE Scotland-Europa Agriculture and Food Initiative
o Political Economy of Food System Transformation
• A presentation of findings at the Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference (August 2023).
External Funding Applications
Year 2 also saw the development of strategic funding bids, including:
• UKRI NERC Engaged Environmental Science (October 2023 – not funded)
• HORIZON Europe BeaSmart (Stage 1 submission): “New sustainable business and production models for farmers and rural communities” (February 2024 – outcome pending)
• Scottish Centre for Agri-Food Systems (SCAF) Pump Priming Award: Co-design of a suitability map for small-scale horticulture in Scotland (February 2024 – outcome pending).
2022 / 2023
The project combines agroecological sciences (work package 1/WP1) with stakeholder engagement (WP2) and knowledge exchange (WP3) to take a systems-led approach to understanding the barriers in increasing fruit and vegetable production and assessing potential impacts of increased production such as economic, environmental and health benefits. This year focussed on WP1 and WP2. The focus on agroecological components of production in WP1 is key to understanding production capability for increases in fruit and vegetable production in Scotland. The focus on cultural, social and economic factors in WP2 means that the uptake and potential impacts of increased production can also be addressed.
To establish patterns of supply and demand of fruit and vegetables, a crop production and soil capacity mapping exercise has been undertaken using secondary data analysis of soil maps such as LUCAS (Land Use and Coverage Area frame Survey) and Scottish Cropping Pattern maps. Initial validation of production-capacity maps are broadly in line with Agricultural Census data on crop production. Production-capacity maps will provide a baseline of crop production and identify the production capacity of potential areas for which land-use/crop pattern change is feasible. This work progresses into year 2.
To predict future demand on domestic fruit and vegetable production a value chain analysis was undertaken for soft fruit, potatoes and legumes which identified supply chain barriers to increased production. A further analysis of food-related policies in health, agriculture and environment policies was undertaken to understand and identify the conflicts and tensions between different policy areas that have an impact on food production and to start to build scenarios for future shifts to healthy and sustainable diets.
Stakeholder mapping was undertaken to identify relevant local, national and international stakeholders and to understand the aims of different groups and organisations in relation to food systems transformation. Stakeholder engagement has continued throughout the year via representation on the steering group of Fair Food Aberdeenshire, representation on the advisory board of Granite City Growing and dialogue with Dundee Food and Drink Tayside BioRegioning group. The project is also represented on the Short Life Working Group; Local production and food security, of the Scottish Science Advisory Council.
Opportunities for knowledge exchange have occurred throughout the year and include media interviews on local food production and food security (Scottish Herald) and being interviewed by students as part of their dissertation. There has also been interest in the soil capacity mapping output from both BioRegioning Tayside and the Sustainable Food Places network, which will be followed up on in year 2.
Previous Projects
Related Projects
Enhancing Food Security
Originally, this research had two main aims. The first was to establish the nature of household food insecurity in Scotland, what societal sectors and communities are affected by and respond to it, how it affects health and wellbeing, and what can be done about it. The second aim was to examine the practicability of producing maps of the range and availability of culturally acceptable foods in Scotland.