Shifting the Food System Paradigm - A Case Study of Food Purchasing in Los Angeles

Abstract: Malnourishment, food insecurity, food swamps and obesity. These are only a few of the detrimental effects of the current food system, a product of industrialization and path dependence within unsustainable practices. As sustainability issues in general, the inherent complexity that the Los Angeles food system is characterized by requires collective action by stakeholders from across the public, private and community sectors. A paradigm shift where sustainably produced, high quality food is both supplied and demanded is essential for the development of a sustainable food system; one where healthy and affordable food is accessible to all societies’ communities. A sustainable food system is not unobtainable. It does however require dedication and participation, and perhaps first and foremost: coordination. The Los Angeles Food Policy Council is a non-governmental organization that works effectively with initiatives to address food system issues in the Southern California region. An example of such an initiative is the Good Food Procurement Policy, which can be regarded as one of the most comprehensive and successful food procurement policies in the United States, in which the Los Angeles Food Policy Council coordinates actors in a collaboration toward developing a sustainable food system. The Los Angeles Food Policy Council and the Good Food Procurement Policy thus provide for an eminent case to study in order to address the purpose of this thesis, namely to increase the understanding of the mechanisms that affect an NGO’s ability to coordinate the actors in collaborations toward the development of sustainable food systems. In order to address that purpose, a qualitative case study was conducted where a framework was constructed through pattern matching of theoretical and empirical data. The theoretical data were, due to a gap in the research, gathered through a synthesis of the four areas: cross-sector collaboration theory, NGO theory, sustainable food supply chain theory, and coordination theory. The empirical data was collected through interviews conducted with individuals that provided valuable insights. The mechanisms found to be most relevant are; organizational characteristics of the NGO, knowledge-sharing about sustainable food, organizational characteristics of the collaboration, path dependence, communication and information-sharing, and financial resource dependence.