“The win-win is we need to talk about it”
How U.S. and Canadian food system actors navigate trade-offs in food system transformation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24228283 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica Barth (0009-0006-5653-6519), Safura Abdool Karim (0000-0002-4843-9907), Anne Barnhill (0000-0003-1478-6609), Katelyn Esmonde (0000-0003-3437-2921) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Agriculture and Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0889-048X • E-ISSN: 1572-8366 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10460-026-10927-0 |
| OpenAlex | W7172436404 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 69 |
The global food system faces intersecting challenges that have prompted calls for transformation. Central to this transformation is the management of trade-offs when balancing competing goals such as health, environmental sustainability, and equity. This qualitative study explores how food system actors navigate these trade-offs while working to shift local food systems in a positive direction. From January to April 2024, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 food system actors in U.S. and Canadian cities who had knowledge of food system transitions. Interviews were transcribed, iteratively coded, and thematically analyzed. While participants reported alignment between the various goals of food system transformation, conflicts frequently emerged. In cases where these conflicts could not be resolved, participants had to engage in trade-offs. Cost, acceptability, and food security emerged as dominant considerations in trade-offs, often constraining efforts to promote a more healthful, environmentally sustainable, and equitable food system. While grappling with these trade-offs, participants remained optimistic that food system reform was possible, suggesting that transformations are mostly hindered by narrowly framed objectives and structural features of the food system that make it difficult to enact or maintain transformative policies that challenge the status quo. We propose that transformation in the food system can be more readily achieved by reframing ineliminable trade-offs as an opportunity to balance the objectives of transformations more meaningfully.
acceptability · cost · environmental sustainability · Equity · Food security · food system actors · food system transformation · local food systems · trade-offs · transformative policy · urban food systems · Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Organic Food and Agriculture
Food Politics
The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change
Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits
Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems
Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health
Supporting food systems transformation
Meat consumption, health, and the environment
Food security governance
Food in the Anthropocene
Thematic analysis
Food policy councils and the food-city nexus
Why understanding food choice is crucial to transform food systems for human and planetary health
The need for more inclusive deliberation on ethics and governance in agricultural and food biotechnology
Food System Transformation
Analysis of trade-offs in agricultural systems
Agency and Autonomy in Food Choice
A Framework for the Ethical Analysis of Novel Foods
The Ethics and Sustainability of Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture
Towards systemic solutions to food waste
Reconfiguring local food governance in an age of austerity
Viewpoint
Exploring dietary guidelines based on ecological and nutritional values
Why the Great Food Transformation may not happen – A deep-dive into our food systems’ political economy, controversies and politics of evidence
When food systems meet sustainability – Current narratives and implications for actions
Development pathways toward “zero hunger”
The challenge of systemic food change
Food system transformation
Food Systems Planning and Sustainable Cities and Regions
| Highly cited | No |
|---|