Can public food procurement drive agroecological transitions? Pathways and barriers to sustainable food procurement in higher education institutions in Spain

ABSTRACT

Public procurement can help drive a transition to a more sustainable food system based on local agroecological production. In countries with large public education systems, school and university canteen services can play a significant role by virtue of their enormous centralized purchasing power. In this study, we investigate the potential and feasibility of implementing an enduring transformation to a sustainable food procurement model in public higher education institutions based on agroecological principles for the case of Spain. To address our research questions, we employed participatory workshops and a questionnaire survey (1,058 respondents) to analyze perceptions and priorities around sustainable food practices on campus of the university community across three Spanish public universities. Workshop participants proposed and prioritized interventions aimed at improving the sustainability of on-campus food services. Some recommendations for action for policy makers are detailed in the Discussion section, as key actors in this process. Pathways toward a future transition to more sustainable practices included the importance of food services to the university community, the high level of understanding of food system impacts and demand for change from consumers on university campuses, the universities’ commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the potential of university networks as a powerful agent of social change and social innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable food systems
• consumer perceptions
• participatory processes
• agroecological transition
• SDG12

Acknowledgments

The database was generated under the project PDR19-Alimentando al Campus, of the Madrid Rural Development Programme, co-funded by EAFDR/European Union, Spanish Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Ministry (MAPA) and the Community of Madrid (through IMIDRA). Additionally, we want to thank the work and collaboration of Gisella L. Olivares y Adriana Samper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the The database was generated under the project PDR19-Alimentando al Campus, of the Madrid Rural Development Programme, co-funded by EAFDR/European Union, Spanish Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Ministry (MAPA) and the Community of Madrid (through IMIDRA).