Here are some background details on the Food System Transformation Solution Bank (‘Food System TSB’). Further details can be found in the full project report [link].
It is a tool for researchers, policymakers and anyone else interested in identifying ways to change food systems. It comprises of a database of ‘solutions’ for transforming food systems, plus accompanying guidance documents.
The database was populated from a wide range of sources (e.g. reports, academic literature, policy databases) which provide lists of possible actions to target particular food system goals, or ‘outcomes’, such as improving the healthiness of people’s diets, or increasing the sustainability of how food is produced.
The solutions within the TSB are searchable, according to different categories. The categories were co-developed through a participatory process, with representatives from a range of food systems projects, scientific disciplines, and civil society organisations.
The term solutions is used as a catch-all to include: Actions, Levers, Interventions, Measures, Tools, Instruments, Proposals, Recommendations.
There is a proliferation of research, policy, and practice activity directed towards intervening in food systems. But the current approach to identifying and understanding the possible interventions which may offer solutions to these problems is fragmented and inefficient [Deconinck et al. 2021, Parson & Barling 2021, Parsons et al. 2022 ].
Many sources exist, offering a rich source of information and ideas on potential solutions, but they are fragmented across organisations, and tend to focus on specific food system activities or outcomes [Parsons & Barling 2021]. Thinking holistically about the relevant levers for food systems transformation can be overwhelming, particularly when many would-be transformers are located in a particular part of the food system, familiar with the activities, outcomes and related policies in their own specialist area but not beyond. This presents a barrier to assessing the full range of possibilities for shaping the system and can lead to stakeholders being unaware of over 40% of available options [Walsh et al. 2015]. Solution scanning enables a wider range of possible actions to be considered before making decisions, and provides a critical first step towards more evidence-based decision-making, by creating a list of interventions on which evidence can be searched for and synthesised [Sutherland et al. 2021].
For food system transformation, there is likely to be a vast array of possible solutions, at different scales, and in different parts of the system, making comparison and synthesis challenging [Parsons & Barling 2021]. Any attempt to simply list possible solutions, with no indexation or categorisation, can rapidly become overwhelming. However, with so many actors and stakeholders in food systems research, there is a multitude of frameworks for thinking about how, where and why solutions can act within the system. A synthesis drawn from one area of research, therefore, may not be readily transferable to other projects, limiting its widespread use.
By bringing together expertise and solutions from different parts of the system, there is also a greater opportunity to generate ideas for more innovative or disruptive solutions – for example by combining solutions from different areas, or applying an existing solution to a new scenario.
There are many different goals for transforming food systems, or ‘outcomes’ which solutions may impact. These tend to coalesce around the dimensions of health, the environment, social, economic and political, as illustrated in the Food Systems Flower below.
The TSB is not a fully-fledged repository for available evidence on food systems solutions. A repository of that kind, akin to a ‘What Works Centre’, where different solutions can be explored in depth with full details of the evidence of their effectiveness, remains some way off. It is a collection of ‘raw’ data, which has not been synthesized, de-duplicated, and solutions included have not been extensively analysed for their effectiveness or viability. The TSB aims to catalyse efforts towards creating a fully-fledged repository, by establishing the foundations; harvesting and categorising fragmented solutions into a single database covering a wide range of food system activities and outcomes, holistically. This will enable further synthesis and evidence gathering to be conducted on the bank of solutions. That said, there are a limited number of solutions where evidence is available, and there are problematic time lags in evidence production. Only focusing on solutions where full evaluation evidence is available, therefore, risks a menu of only the ‘usual suspect’ type of actions. For food system transformation, a more innovative, bold approach is needed.
The Food System TSB was developed by Kelly Parsons, University of Cambridge, and Andrew Bladon, University of Reading, with a number of collaborators from across and beyond the UKRI Transforming UK Food Systems Programme
From the TUKFS Programme:
Non-TUKFS Experts:
Along with these formal collaborators were many participants from across the TUKFS Programme, who attended workshops for the project, and engaged in discussions around the TSB outside of those workshops.
The harvesting and coding of solutions was done by research assistants Julie Carter and Struan Tait.
The Food System Transformation Solution Bank project was funded by a Synergy grant [Synergy grant] from the Transforming UK Food Systems (TUKFS) Programme, and supported by resources from the Mandala Consortium [Mandala Consortium].
There is growing interest in how to improve food systems evidence use in policy and practice. Evidence of ‘what works’ from the menu of possible options is often limited [Glopan 2020]. Evaluations of effectiveness may be limited to short-term outcomes only, or on health outcomes but not environmental or economic outcomes [Parsons et al 2022]. The demand for, and practical implications of, taking a ‘what works’ approach [What works] to food systems in general, and dietary shift in particular, were explored in a project conducted by researchers now working on TSB collaborator projects Fix Our Food, Mandala and BeanMeals. Two ‘What Works Centres’ for food were recommended in the National Food Strategy Independent Review to address the issue of evidence use in food systems, but there has been little progress to date.
A wide range of collaborators were engaged, with expertise across food system activities and outcomes, with the aim of gathering interdisciplinary experience on how best to create the database, to identify the best sources and most useful classifications, and to avoid duplication with existing or historic policy/practice repository initiatives. Two workshops were held, one at the outset of the project and one towards the end. In workshop 1, participants undertook three tasks to identify and test possible categorisations, and identified their preferred sources for harvesting solutions, using an online Miro board to collate ideas. In between workshops 1 and 2, solutions were harvested and coded, by two research assistants, to create the database. Guidance on categories was developed, based on existing taxonomies created by the project leads. This was iterated during the coding process, with new categories and clarifications added where necessary. In workshop 2, participants were presented with the database, and discussed its potential utility, methods for presentation, and funding options.
Full details of the method can be found in the project report [link].