Policy Tools Affecting Health, Agriculture And Agri-food

Numerous instruments are available to governments to advance public policies that affect health, agriculture and agri-food (Figure 4).²⁴ These include: laws (statutes and regulations), economic instruments (including taxes, subsidies, and public expenditure), forms of self-regulation, standards, voluntary initiatives, information and education, and collaborative or consensual approaches.* Addressing health and agri-food domains in a way that reasonably accounts for both health and economic considerations requires broader involvement than government departments and jurisdictions. It calls for the participation of the private sector, non-governmental org-anizations, as well as communities and consumers.

Government policies can shape food supply and consumer demand in various ways.²⁵ Some policies can affect farm and agri-food input and technology costs, and shape food products, by making certain ingredients and/or methods cheaper or more accessible. Such policies include farm-income and commodity-price support, trade policies, and public investment in R&D. Taxation policies, meanwhile, can shift consumer demand. Information policies, like mandatory nutrition labelling and front-of-package labelling schemes, can affect consumer demand and market competition.

Finally, policies that influence business practices, such as industry self-regulation and mandatory restrictions or bans on certain ingredients in processing (or advertising to children), have the power to shape both food supply and consumer demand.

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