Intervention at the European Parliament (12 Dec 2019) to propose a narrative change in the valuation, governance and allocation of food: from considering food as a commodity to be exclusively distributed through market mechanisms (only through purchasing power anyone can get access to food) to food as a human right, commons and public good (where food could be accessed through universal entitlements and market mechanisms). This change of narrative is based on the multiple non-monetary values of food (specially its essentialness to every human). This narrative differs from the current one: food as a pure commodity, such as screws, cement or TVs. The alternative value-based consideration of food is a pre-requisite to unlock other food policies, to redirect public subsidies and to enact laws based on the consideration of food as a human right. The consideration of food as a commodity is hegemonic within the corporate world and many governments, but it is not commonsensical within human beings. Let's restore common sense to our food system. Let's value and govern food differently.

1. OUR FOOD AS A
COMMONS
Reframing the food
narrative for a fair &
sustainable transition
Dr. Jose Luis Vivero-Pol
Right to Food Observatory, Spain

2. What is Food?
Essential for survival
(De Schutter & Pistor 2015)
Societal determinant (Ellul 1990)
Agent of power (Sumner 2011)
Commodity (Siegel et al. 2016)
Private Good (Samuelson 1954)
Public Good (Akram-Lodhi 2013)
Commons (Dalla Costa 2007)
Human Right (UN 1999)
Multiple meanings (Szymanski 2014)

3. Why food
narratives matter?
A NARRATIVE is a set of coherent
assumptions and principles to communicate
a certain worldview (Freibauer et al 2011)
NARRATIVES: a) Define Problems, b) Causal
relationships, c) Propose solutions, d) Moral
Valuations (Ferree & Merrill 2000)
People construct narratives
to persuade other people
Narratives become hegemonic
(Gramsci 1971, Foucault 1993, Wallerstein 2016)

4. 1. Sustainable Intensification (science)
2. Green Growth (UN + Governments)
3. New Green Revolution (Corporate)
4. Climat-smart Agriculture (World Bank)
6. Green New Deal
Clash of Narratives
5. Food Sovereignty

5. 5

6. If we waste one third of total food production AND
humanity is proyected to increased just 20%
(from 7.2 B in 2012 to 9 B in 2050),
why do we need to increase production by 50-70%?
Academia questioning the productivist narrative

7. “Loci of resistance” with
other food narratives

8. The way we value food (narrative) conditions the set
of policies, governing mechanisms and legal
frameworks to be proposed in transition pathways

9. 1- Questioning “food as a
commodity”
2- Industrial food system
no longer valid for human
needs within planetary
boundaries
3- Alienation from food &
food systems
a.- Reconnecting
b.- Embeddednes
c.- Autonomy
d.- Collective actions
FOOD NARRATIVE 1

10. FROM FARM 2 FORK 2030
• Food is multi-dimensional & essential for humans
• Does not define food as a human right
• Goal: food systems that deliver sufficient, safe and
affordable food (…as a commodity)…while leaving
no one behind (no rights-based).
• PROFITABILITY as key word (not in education or
health)
• Citizens as CONSUMERS only (not food citizens /
eaters)
• No different types of agriculture (industrial food
system, small-scale farmers, agroecology)
FOOD NARRATIVE 2

11. The dominant narrative in
industrial food system
“FOOD IS A COMMODITY”
Market as the best
allocation mechanism
Low-cost Food System

12. • FOOD AS A COMMODITY pervades international negotiations
• Food is not valued as a human right in SDGs route map
• Adamant US position against Food as a human right
• Timid/dual EU position: supporting RtF for others, doing nothing at
home (Vivero-Pol & Schuftan, 2016)
• US/EU posit that markets are far more efficient than rights-based
schemes for food (purchasing power & charity guarantee access)

13. No Right to Food in EU
• NOT in European Social Charter (1961,
1996) for Council of Europe members
• NOT in EU Charter of Fundamental
Rights (2000)
• NOT in European Convention on
Human Rights (1950 + 7 protocols)
• NOT in any EU constitution

14. The Right to Food for “the others”
(Global South & Developing Countries)
• The Commission has
expressed its support to
‘right to food-based
political and legal
frameworks’ in
developing countries, as
well as establishing and
strengthening redressal
mechanisms
Source: Increasing the impact of EU
Development Policy: an agenda for change.
Communication from the Commission to the
Council and the European Parliament. COM
/2011/0637 Final. European Commission, 2011.
• The European Parliament
has taken a similar
position regarding the
relevance of the right to
food to address food
security challenges in
developing countries
Source: Assisting developing countries in
addressing food security challenges. Resolution of
27 September 2011, (2010/2100). European
Parliament, 2011.

16. 16
The actual way of producing & eating
(western diets & industrial food system) is unsustainable
It cannot be maintained for the next 50 years
IAASTD (2008)
UNEP (2009) UNCTAD (2013)
UK Foresight (2011)
IPES FOOD (2016)

17. The 8 food dimensions relevant to humans:
multi-dimensional food as commons VS mono-dimensional food as commodity

18. 18
COMMONS
Goods (material + immaterial) which are jointly developed by a
community and shared according to community-defined rules
(commoning) for the common good (Kostakis & Bauwens 2014)

19. Food as a commons
means revalorising
different dimensions
relevant to human beings
(value-in use) & reducing
the commodity dimension
(value-in exchange)
19

20. 20
Framing food differently will
unlock unpermitted food
policies…
…and mobilise public funds for
unfunded alternatives
(customary & contemporary
food commons)

21. ALTERNATIVE FOOD
INITIATIVES
Contemporary food
commons
(collective actions)

22. 22
Customary Food
Commons (territories)
5% of Europe
(12 M Ha agricultural area)
More in coastal/forested areas
9% France
25% of Galicia is
onwed in communal
property
Not just private-state
duopoly

23. “Agroecology as the
compass”
How to go? What to do?
“Food as human right
and commons is the
value-based narrative
that holds the compass”
Where to? Why?
23

24. 24
Reframing FOOD as a COMMONS and
HUMAN RIGHT is already ongoing…
John Maynard Keynes
British economist (1883-1946)
“The difficulty lies not so much in
developing new ideas as in escaping from
old ones”
Marcel Proust
French writer (1871-1922)
“The real voyage of discovery consists
not in seeking new lands, but in seeing
with new eyes”

25. POLICY & LEGAL
OPTIONS with other
narrative of Food
25

26. Social Market
Enterprises
Supply-demand
Food as private good
Public
Private
Collective actions
Communities
Reciprocity
Food as common good
Partner State
Redistribution Citizens welfare
Food as public good
Tri-centric
Governance
of Food
Commons
Systems
More Incentives &
subsidies to
collective actions
Farmers as civil
servants
Banning food
speculation
Minimum free food
for all citizens
Local purchase
Rights-based Food
banks

27. To guarantee school
meals for all students in
public schools
27

28. To support local purchase
(small farming, agro-
ecology & cooperatives) to
satisfy food needs of
municipal premises
28

29. Stricter & innovative rules to
avoid food waste
To recycle all expired food (i.e. France)
Supporting citizens´ collective actions to
reduced waste,
promote food sharing
and co-producing
29

30. Shifting from charitable food
(Food Banks) to food as right
(Universal Food Coverage)
A food bank network that is
universal, accountable, compulsory
and not voluntary, random, targeted
30

31. Compulsory rooftop
greening for every new
building
(with edibles, non-edibles)
31

32. Establishing bakeries
where every citizen
can get access to a
bread loaf every day
(if needed or willing to)
32

33. Encourage Food Policy
Councils (open membership
to citizens) through
participatory democracies,
financial seed capital and
enabling laws33

34. Set target for food provisioning in
2030
(Food Council)
• 60% private sector
• 25% self-production (collective
actions)
• 15% state-provisioning (public
buildings, destitute people,
unemployed families) through
Universal Food Coverage
34

35. Communication by EP
considering Nature and
natural resources as
Commons
35

36. Territories of Commons as
legitimate alternatives:
- Collective property
(common lands) as
recognized legal category
- Commoning as valid
governing mechanism
36

37. Food
Commons &
Agroecology
are
alternative
pathways
(people are
opting for) 37

38. Territories of
Commons
• Climate adapted Food
commons
• Stewarding Nature &
Biodiversity
• Nurturing community,
citizenship & values
• Intergenerational
sustainability
• Public goods & services
(oxygen, soil, wáter)
• Participatory Governing
Systems
• Cultural Heritage &
Collective Knowledge

39. Agro-ecology
Climate Cooling
Socially resilient
39

40. 40
Davis & Dixon (2012)
Circa 3000 yrs exploited
as a commons…
Wether Hills,
Northumberland (UK)

41. Montes Veciñais
en man común
Intergenerational sustainability,
collective values, renewable
energy (Galicia, Spain)
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/carballo/corcubion/2016/04/13/pleitos-montes-comunales-
comarca-acumulan-anos-espera/0003_201604C13C1991.htm

42. La Partecipanza Agraria de Nonantola
• Collective Ownership of Agricultural Land in
Emilia Romagna
• Almost 1000 years: Carta del 1058 dell’Abate
Gotescalco, granting inhabitants of Nonantola the
user´s rights over arable land within the
municipal territory (now, 760 hectare)
• Guiding values: Solidarity, Respect, Identity,
Equality.
• “Boccas” are raffled every 18 years within
descendents still inhabiting Nonantola.

43. Cloughjordan
Ecovillage
Collective housing, nurturing
community, sharing, cooperation
(Ireland)

44. 44
In ARAGON (Autonomous Region)
300,000 ha governed by local
communities & customary
institutions
TERRITORIES of COMMONS

45. Allemansrätten
(The Everyman’s right)
you can walk, run, hike, camp,
swim, pick berries or
mushrooms anywhere in
privately owned and public land

46. Hazas de
la Suerte
Vejer de la Frontera
(Spain)
Two entitlements:
cultivate & benefit
Established 1288 by
King Sancho IV
3500 hectare, 232
allotments, 13,000
inhabitants (raffles
yrs per generations)

47. Croft lands
(Scotland)
http://www.c
rofting.org/a
boutus

48. Baldios
(Portugal)

49. Cloughjordan
Ecovillage
(Ireland)

50. Water Tribunal of
Valencia Huertas
(one of oldest juridical institutions)

51. 51
Universita Agraria
Medieval institution to govern
collective lands (Sacrofano, Italy)

52. Transition
Towns
Resilience, cooperation,
sustainability, fairness
(UK, Europe, USA, Aust)

56. 56
Eager to exchange on food as a commons
Many uncertainties & gaps remain to be
developed in a common way combining
praxis with normative social constructs
@joselviveropol
joseluisviveropol
http://hambreyderechoshumanos.blogspot.com
http://hungerpolitics.wordpress.com
Jose Luis Vivero Pol
joseluisvivero@gmail.com