Routledge Handbook of Food and Agricultural Policy in Europe

This handbook provides a state-of-the-art overview of food and agricultural policy in Europe, moving beyond a nutrition focus, to include the health, social justice and environmental dimensions of the food system.

With concerns over the global economy, geopolitical conflicts and the impact on human and planetary health, food policy has emerged as a key policy domain for Europe. Acknowledging that food and agricultural are areas of major concern for many diverse groups in society, often representing competing interests, this handbook provides a systemic and multifaceted overview of the current food and agricultural policy arena in Europe. The handbook utilises a food systems approach, organised into seven sections representing the food cycle from production and processing to distribution and consumption, as well as waste and disposal. Interdisciplinary chapters explore the tensions in policy development between cost and sustainability, industry power versus consumer demands, local supply versus intensive and unsustainable growth, and corporate control versus citizen and workers' rights. Ultimately, this handbook demonstrates the need for what are currently fragmented food and agricultural policies to be unified in order to support global aims of developing sustainable and healthy food systems for all.

This handbook will be essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers interested in researching, theorising, debating, and solving the multifaceted phenomenon of food and agricultural policy.