Household Food Security in the Global North
Submitting Institution
University of WarwickUnit of Assessment
SociologySummary Impact Type
SocietalResearch Subject Area(s)
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Economics: Applied Economics
Summary of the impact
Building on a background in nutritional science, Professor Dowler's
research on social and policy aspects of food, nutrition and household
food security has created impact at local, national and international
levels. Her membership of key national expert advisory panels and
councils, both official and voluntary, has allowed the research to inform
policy-making as well as print and broadcast media debates on many issues,
notably the consequences of low wages and benefit cuts on the diet of
low-income households; the role played by food banks in relieving food
poverty and the benefits of local food networks in securing
community-level food resilience.
Underpinning research
Dowler came to Warwick in January 2000 with an established expertise in
both nutritional and social sciences. This expertise developed further
through interlinked research projects, funded by local, national and
international agencies (2000-13). The research focuses on household food
security in terms of two inter-related agendas: (a) difficulties
encountered by poor households faced by falling real incomes, reduced
state benefits and rising food prices; (b) the interconnections between
food production and consumption within specific localities.
Addressing Food Poverty. From 2000-03, Dowler worked in the team
that successfully tendered for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Low Income
Diets Methods Study, preparing for the FSA Low Income Diet and Nutrition
Survey (2003-6), for which she acted as adviser. This research led to two
further projects (2008 - 10) for the Department of Food, Environment and
Rural Affairs (DEFRA) that analyse (a) factors threatening UK household
access to healthy and sustainable food in a context of rising prices and
falling real incomes; (b) how consumers in low income households
understand and address the rising cost of food. Research findings
reveal critical consumer concern over food budget management and nuanced
understanding of price increases. Despite unfamiliarity with `food
security' concepts, respondents recognise the need for affordable,
universally accessible, healthy food and reject `consumer choice' as a
mechanism to achieve sustainable food security, while expressing strong
views concerning the responsibility of government. Research outcomes.
This research has led to a current DEFRA-funded Rapid Evidence Assessment
to evaluate `food aid' provision as a means to address household food
problems in times of austerity, specifically the charitable sector's role
through food banks [and associated food provision], at national and
international levels. Diets of poor households continue to command public
attention; consultative work for the FSA [and the Northern Ireland Office]
on UK household food poverty is forthcoming.
Local Food Networks. Early work on four small-scale local studies
(Dowler: PI) analysed nutritional needs and access to healthy food in
deprived areas (2000-4). Collaboration on a ESRC/AHRC- funded project,
`Producers, Consumers and Food: Exploring Reconnection' (2003-6) analyses
6 food schemes (5 in the UK, 1 in Italy) that encourage direct contact
between food producers and consumers, to examine the multiple ways in
which these `reconnect': biologically, socially and morally. Research
findings show how local networks foster local economies, integrity,
environmental citizenship, health and well-being. Consumers act as
economic and social agents with sophisticated understandings of the
complexities of food production and consumption, challenging assumptions
about their necessary separation, low household income notwithstanding. Research
outcomes. The ESRC/AHRC project has led to a subsequent project
(2008-09), funded by the Council for the Protection of Rural England
(CPRE) that develops participative research `toolkits' to enable
communities to map `local food webs': to identify economic and social
benefits of locally produced and retailed food: also to demonstrate how,
through engagement with the local food economy, community-level food
resilience could be created. Research results include Mapping
Local Food Webs Toolkit, a physical (later online) research package
for local adaptation and use. (For further results, see section 4 below)
References to the research
DOWLER, E. and Caraher, M. (2003) Local Food Projects - the New
Philanthropy? Political Quarterly, 74, no1, pp. 57-65
[peer-reviewed] DOI: 10.1111/1467-923X.00512
DOWLER, E., (2008) `Food and Health Inequalities: the challenge for
sustaining just consumption' Local Environment 13, 8, pp. 759-772
[peer-reviewed] DOI: 10.1080/13549830802478736
DOWLER, E. (2008) `Policy initiatives to address low income households'
nutritional needs in the UK'. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society,
67, 3, pp. 289-300. [peer-reviewed] DOI:10.1017/S0029665108008586
DOWLER, E., Kneafsey, M., Lambie, H., Inman, A. and Collier, R. (2011)
`Thinking about "food security": engaging with UK consumers' special issue
Critical Public Health, 21, pp. 403-416. [peer-reviewed]
DOI:10.1080/09581596.2011.620945
MacMillan, T. and DOWLER, E. (2012) `Secure and sustainable? Examining
the rhetoric and potential realities of UK food security' Journal of
Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 25, 2, pp. 181-204.
[peer-reviewed] DOI: 10.1007/s10806-011-9304-8
Kneafsey, M., DOWLER, E., Lambie, H., Inman, A. and Collier, R. (2012)
`Consumers and food security: Uncertain or empowered?' Journal of
Rural Studies, 28, pp. 1-12. [peer-reviewed] DOI:
10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.05.005
Research Funding
(1) Addressing Food Poverty
• Low Income Diet Methods Study (2000-03); National Low Income Diet and
Nutrition Survey (2003-6): FSA (Dowler: Co-I in consortium bid led by
Kings College London): £4+ million.
• Drivers of Change in UK Food Security and Potential for Complexity
Science (2008-9) DEFRA [Collier (PI: Warwick); Dowler (Co-I: Warwick);
Kneafsey (Co-I: Coventry)] £50,000
• Consumer insight into food prices and food security (2009-10) DEFRA
Collier (PI: Warwick); Dowler (Co-I: Warwick); Kneafsey (Co-I: Coventry);
Mead (Co-I Warwick)] £190.000
(2) Local Food Networks
• Producers, Consumers and Food: Exploring Reconnection (2003-6): ESRC -
AHRC [Kneafsey (PI: Coventry); Dowler (Co-I: Warwick); Holloway (Co-I:
Hull); Cox (Co-I: Birkbeck)]: £207,000
• Development and Testing of Participatory Food Map Webbing (2008-9):
CPRE [Kneafsey and Dowler joint PI] £60,000.
Details of the impact
The research has contributed extensively to public debate on household
food poverty and its socio-political ramifications at local, national and
international levels. It has informed policy and media comment. It has
created new means for reinforcing and publicising local food networks,
aligning production and consumption for public benefit. The main impacts
are outlined below. Space does not permit further detail - such as
Dowler's engagement with faith groups (notably the Iona Community) and
their role in sustaining a reasonable diet and good nutrition in poor
households.
Policy Impacts. Using her established position on the Food Ethics
Council (FEC - where she has been an elected trustee / board member for 8
years) and the former UK Public Health Association, Dowler promoted
discussion of the research at the highest levels. As a representative of
both agencies, Dowler was invited to give evidence to the Cabinet Office
Strategy Unit's consultation on food (2007). This consultation generated
the report Food Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st
Century (2008) - `an overarching statement of government food
policy' (The Strategy Unit 2008, (i)). The report recommended the creation
of DEFRA's Council of Food Policy Advisers, a 16-person expert panel.
Dowler was selected as one of four academic members (2008-10). The Council
engaged with multiple users - such as the National Heart Forum, where
Dowler represented the Council in November 2009 - as part of its remit to
provide advice to the Minister over the development of a national food
policy, an objective achieved in 2010 (see Macmillan and Dowler, 2012).
Following the election that year, the Coalition government dissolved the
Council, but Dowler was appointed to the newly created DECC/ DEFRA Social
Science Expert Panel where she remains centrally networked in
policy-making circles.
The research has made a contribution to policy-making at national and
international levels. For example, the research has been cited in policy
documents, such as The Scottish Government, Food Affordability, Access
and Security (2009) and The Scottish Health Survey: Main Report,
(Sept 2010). Dowler co-authored a commissioned report for NHS Scotland
"Understanding food culture in Scotland and its comparison in an
international context" (November 2010). In December 2011, she contributed
to an expert panel's oral evidence to the House of Commons Environmental
Audit Committee. She was sole academic speaker at an Industry and
Parliament Trust event on the future of household food security at the
House of Commons in October 2012: research citations pepper the published
notes. Invited participation in a WHO/EU policy discussion on obesity
(Riga, 2008), consultancy work for UNHCR on human rights and nutrition and
invited participation as one of three international experts at an
Institute of Medicine workshop in Washington DC (2011) reviewing
relationships between food insecurity and obesity - all this illustrates
how international public engagement has been stimulated by this research.
Media Impacts Following the 2008 financial crisis, rising food
prices created increasing media interest in how poorer households could
cope, an interest further stimulated by recent cuts in UK welfare
benefits. As her research centred essentially on policy and the diet of
poorer households, Dowler's advice and comment has been persistently
sought. She is a regular contributor to Radio 4's The Food Programme, a
key media outlet for academics, practitioners and policy makers in the
field, and has made many media contributions, including appearances on
regional television in the West Midlands and Scotland. Dowler acted as
professional adviser for ITV1's series The Hunger Shame and appeared in
BBC 1 The Great British Budget Menu - both centred on dietary issues
facing poor households. Patrick Butler, social policy editor at The
Guardian (among other journalists), uses Dowler as his primary
source on food policy and poverty. Invited comments in the print media on
food and poverty, household food insecurity and food banks have included a
commissioned editorial in Food Ethics Council (FEC quarterly
journal) that led to an invited letter in The Observer (1 January,
2012) in response to an earlier article on food banks. This was
subsequently cited in a Guardian article on the growing reliance on food
banks, prompting public debate (21 August 2012).
Public Engagement Impact National impact also emerged from local
research on household food sustainability. Work supported by Council for
Protection of Rural England (CPRE) produced a research toolkit to enable
local people to develop their own `mapped' interconnections between local
food producers, retailers and consumers (see Dowler and Kneafsey, Mapping
Local Food Webs Concepts and Methods. Interim Report Part 1, SURGE,).
Local volunteers in 16 locations accepted the challenge: using surveys,
interviews and outreach they analysed interactive networks between local
production, food outlets and consumption within a 2.5 mile radius of town
centres, revealing economic, social and environmental benefits of local
food systems. Published reports on 6 pilot and 10 subsequent locations,
with a summary (From Field to Fork: The Value of England's Local Food
Webs - citing Dowler and co-researchers), were launched at the House
of Commons (June, 2012) and announced in a news release (11 June 2012)
"New national report finds local food is recipe for economic success".
Sources to corroborate the impact
Council for Protection of Rural England (CPRE)
http://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/farming-and-food/local-foods/item/2897-from-field-to-fork
http://www.cpre.org.uk/media-centre/news-release-archive/item/2892-new-national-report-finds-local-food-is-recipe-for-economic-success
Council of Food Policy Advisors (DEFRA)
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/policy/council/
Food Ethics Council www.foodethicscouncil.org
[Dowler was a panel member of the Food & Fairness Inquiry - http://www.foodethicscouncil.org/node/466]
Media
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/aug/21/councils-invest-food-banks-welfare-cuts
The Guardian 21 August 2012 "Breadline Britain: councils fund food
banks to plug holes in welfare state" 522 Comments, 473 Facebook shares,
526 Tweets, 22+ on Google
References can be sought from:
1) Project Director for the Campaign to Protect Rural England
2) Former Chair of the Food Policy Advisory Council
3) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
4) Former Chair, Food Ethics Council
5) Social Policy Editor, The Guardian