Local, National, And Global Policy Frameworks at The Agriculture, Agri-food And Health Interfaces

In recent years, agriculture and agri-food issues have increasingly been taken into account in the development of health policies and frameworks. Similarly, health issues have been taken into account in the development of agriculture and agri-food policies and frameworks. Table 4 (Appendix 6) analyses the relevance of current agriculture, agri-food, and health policies and frameworks at local, provincial, national and global levels to the potential vision and goals of an Integrated Health and Agri-food Strategy for Canada.

The development of an integrated strategy must be guided by efforts to include building synergistically on current policies, recognizing the need to address gaps, and fostering the ability to resolve conflicts between policies. The policies listed in Table 4 (Appendix 6) indicate that much opportunity exists for synergy and for greater involvement not only of a “whole-of-government” but a Whole-of-Society approach to developing and implementing such policies.

The challenges of developing integrated, multi-level, multi-stakeholder policies are also revealed by examining gaps. Sometimes, the obvious gaps are related not to the absence of a goal but rather a failure of implementation. For example, consumption of fruits and vegetables is clearly linked to good health and can increase the productivity of the horticulture sector. However, in many countries, including Canada, it has been difficult to achieve these outcomes. A recent review from Europe indicates positive outcomes from projects where industry and multiple levels of government worked together. This required changes to the European Union’s CAP in regards to fruits and vegetables, which previously stipulated that fruit and vegetable surpluses be destroyed to avoid prices falling below certain levels.⁷¹

During the past decade, significant shifts have occurred in agriculture and agri-food policies in Canada. The Agricultural Policy Framework (APF)⁷² of 2002 is viewed as the first genuine attempt to create a comprehensive, overarching plan for agriculture and agri-food policy. The APF advocated securing the long-term profitability of the sector by making Canada the world leader in food safety, innovation, and environmentally responsible agricultural production. It focused not only on the agriculture and agri-food sector but also on the role of the value-chain and post-farm gate activities.

The Growing Forward Framework⁷³ (July 2008), recently endorsed by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of agriculture, articulates further the importance of links between agriculture, agri-food and health. Though only a limited number of health-related initiatives exist, this recognition of health within the federal agricultural and agri-food policies presents an opportunity to further build and solidify health considerations in current and future agricultural and agri-food policies.

In the private sector, food industry coalitions are seeking a better understanding of the synergy between their own sector-specific strategies and the broader health, agriculture, and agri-food policies at both national and international levels. Indeed, globalization has led to new dynamics as global value chains work to build their own system of standards (private standards) to govern aspects of food safety, food quality, and environmental sustainability. A good example is the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (Children’s Advertising Initiative),⁷⁴ where food and beverage companies came together and voluntarily set limits on advertisement aimed at children.

Clearly, current health policies focus predominantly on health care delivery. But the prevention of disease through population health approaches is also vital to improving overall health status. The Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy⁷⁵ and its related provincial policies emphasize the importance of healthy eating, physical activity and the relationship of these priorities to healthy weights. This approach is consistent with the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health⁷⁶ (2004), which states that the responsibilities for action to bring about changes in dietary habits and patterns of physical activity rest with stakeholders from public, private and civil society. Many disease-specific strategies (Canadian Diabetes Strategy,⁷⁷ Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control,⁷⁸ and the new Canadian Heart Health Strategy and Action Plan⁷⁹) specifically highlight the role that food can play in reducing chronic diseases and the importance of multi-stakeholder action.

In the early 1990s in Canada, Nutrition Recommendations: A Call for Action⁸⁰ was published, followed by the 1992 publication of the Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating⁸¹ (updated again in 2007). In 1996, as a result of a multi-sector, Canada-wide process, the Joint Steering Committee created Nutrition for Health: An Agenda for Action,⁸² a national nutrition strategy for Canada. It stated that food availability and choices are greatly influenced by the combination of powerful economic and social forces and individual tendencies and capacities. The policy statement advocated the integration of nutrition into social and economic policies and programs, and into programs related to health, agriculture, agri-food, and education.

At the provincial level, numerous policies related to healthy living, nutrition, and food exist. In the province of British Columbia, for instance, The British Columbia Agriculture Plan: Growing a Healthy Future for B.C. Families⁸³ is the first policy to link health, agriculture, and agri-food outcomes in an extensive manner. Furthermore, ActNow BC⁸⁴ provides a coordinated, cross-governmental, multi-sector platform to promote, support, and encourage food industry initiatives and activities that proactively “make the healthy choice the easy choice” for British Columbians. It provides a platform for providing as many B.C. products as possible which meet their healthy food choice standard (e.g. the School Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program⁸⁵ and the B.C. Dairy Foundation’s Elementary School Milk Program⁸⁶).

Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security⁸⁷ (1998) describes an extensive portfolio of action both at the domestic and international levels to address food security. Canada’s Fourth Progress Report on Food Security⁸⁸ recognizes that new programming on sustainable agriculture, as well as initiatives related to trade, can positively impact domestic and global food security.

Recently, the Government of Canada published the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan,⁸⁹ which sets a forward path to ensure that the food safety system in Canada remains modern and responsive to new and emerging challenges, both domestically and globally. Furthermore, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through a convergence-building workshop⁹⁰ hosted by the MWP and organized in collaboration with the WHO, began to examine how to link agricultural development outcomes with food safety, food security, and nutrition outcomes. Experience from these integrative policy exercises can also guide the development of a Canadian integrative framework.

In Canada, the development of both health policies and agricultural and agri-food policies is complicated by the issue of shared jurisdiction between the federal and provincial governments in both of these domains. Numerous policies exist in this area at both the provincial and federal levels. This jurisdictional issue becomes further complicated when one looks at the shifting role of private organizations engaged in developing policies in the area of health, agriculture, and agri-food. For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation currently has more funding than the entire WHO and is exercising an influential role in the development of policies. Other private foundations, such as the Safe Supply of Affordable Food Everywhere (SSAFE),⁹¹ which aims to improve food safety systems in developing countries, are now working to build formal partnerships with governmental bodies in order to deliver these programs.

In Canada, a strong, long-standing desire exists to achieve greater integration between health and agriculture and agri-food policies. Furthermore, several reports have been produced calling for an “all-of-government approach” to areas where food, health, and environment intersect. Increasingly, authorities in these areas recognize that engaging the full range of public policies and creating effective partnerships across all sectors is necessary to create the convergence required to achieve the desired health and economic outcomes (Dieticians of Canada,⁹² Heart and Stroke Foundation,⁹³ Health Council of Canada 2007 reports on chronic health conditions,⁹⁴ Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute,⁹⁵ McGill Health Challenge Think Tank reports⁹⁶).

In developing an integrated health and agri-food strategy, the impact of agricultural and agri-food policies on health must be better understood. While the evidence basis pertaining to these issues is under-developed, actions to bring about better convergence should not be delayed. Canadian society is now at a crossroad; it may be possible to galvanize action in the health, agriculture and agri-food systems, such that all actors would be willing to revolutionize their respective paradigms in order to work individually and jointly to shift the drivers of food supply and consumer demand toward safe and nutritious food that supports healthy diets for all. This revolution would fulfill the dual objective of containing health care costs and opening new avenues for market and economic growth and sustainability for the agriculture and agri-food sector.

The context for health and nutrition policy is being influenced by several factors, including the powerful global value chains, the rise of private standards and agreements, the growing importance of private-public partnerships, and the role of private foundations. This influence is in addition to the impact of the increasingly sound understanding among policy-makers of the need to balance the roles of government as a regulator, a catalyst or as a partner in a Whole-of-Society approach. Moreover, health, agriculture and agri-food systems do not operate in isolation from other systems (e.g. transportation, urban planning, etc.) and the behaviour of the individual is influenced by complicated cultural and social influences. The next sections of this discussion paper introduce the concept of a systems approach within which a future Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada would need to operate.

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