Food preparedness and the protection of agricultural land among municipalities : A case study in Haninge and Heby municipalities

Abstract: Food provision in times of environmental and social crises has become a hot topic over recent years. The covid-19 pandemic and the Russian war on Ukraine have led to a re-evaluation of Swedish food preparedness. One proposed way of addressing food preparedness is to increase the resilience of the food system, so that it is better able to withstand disturbances. Additionally, one way of increasing food preparedness can be by increasing domestic production and reduce the dependency on imported food and fertilisers. Swedish municipalities have the power to decide to build on or protect agricultural land. Additionally, Swedish municipalities are responsible for providing food to schools, hospitals and care facilities even during crises. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate how Swedish municipalities are working with food preparedness and protection of agricultural land through policies, plans and in practice. Case studies were conducted on Haninge and Heby municipalities through text analysis of governing documents and semi-structured qualitative interviews with municipality officials. Neither municipalities have policies in place for food preparedness nor protection of agricultural land. However, some efforts are being made in terms of food preparedness in public meals and encouraging locally produced food through procurement. Furthermore, limited practices outside of procurement and meal service could be identified, but some interesting ideas and potential innovative practices were mentioned in the interviews. Building housing or providing jobs within the municipality was prioritised over protecting agricultural land in certain cases. The results from the case study were analysed from a resilience thinking perspective, using the seven principles of resilience defined by Biggs et al. (2012). Resilience was not explicitly mentioned in the reviewed documents nor in interviews. However, some resilience thinking and practices were displayed by some of the officials during the interviews in terms of collaborations and connectivity, the encouragement of a diversity of actors at different scales and the enablement of participation and learning. As the municipalities are in the early stages of addressing food preparedness, they have the opportunity to include resilience thinking in the shaping of their governance and management policies. Ideally the inclusion of resilience thinking could aid in creating municipal food systems that are resilient to disturbances and sustainable in the long term.