Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Whole-of-food system governance for transformative change

Governance is key to the much-needed reorientation of food systems towards better social, environmental and economic outcomes. Yet, food system governance is fraught with competing interests, policy incoherence and power asymmetries. Here, we provide insights into whole-of-food system governance to resolve these issues and propose a governance approach informed by systems thinking that considers paradigms about who should govern food systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Schneider, K. R. et al. Nat. Food 4, 1090–1110 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Clapp, J., Noyes, I. & Grant, Z. Development 64, 192–198 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Secretary-General’s chair summary and statement of action on the UN Food Systems Summit: inclusive and transformative food systems nourish progress to achieve zero hunger. United Nations https://go.nature.com/465tYv8 (2021).

  4. Béné, C. World Dev. 154, 105881 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Patay, D. et al. Sustain. Dev. 32, 1261–1278 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bojić, D., Clark, M. & Urban, K. Focus on Governance for More Effective Policy and Technical Support (FAO, 2022); https://go.nature.com/40czTL2

  7. European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Webb, P., Sonnino, R., Fraser, E. & Arnold, T. Everyone at the Table: Transforming Food Systems by Connecting Science, Policy and Society (Publications Office of the European Union, 2022).

  8. Patay, D. et al. Glob. Health 19, 11 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Meadows, D. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System (Sustainability Institute, 1999); https://go.nature.com/4k0MYya

  10. Lawrence, M. A., Friel, S., Wingrove, K., James, S. W. & Candy, S. Public Health Nutr. 18, 2333–2340 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Slater, S., Baker, P. & Lawrence, M. Glob. Food Sec. 32, 100610 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Candel, J. J. L. & Pereira, L. Environ. Sci. Policy 73, 89–92 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Garton, K. et al. Public Health Nutr. 25, 2353–2357 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Patay, D. et al. Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health 46, 455–462 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Fanzo, J., Shawar, Y. R., Shyam, T., Das, S. & Shiffman, J. Int. J. Health Policy Manag. 10, 934–945 (2021).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dori Patay.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Food thanks Molly Anderson and Kate Schneider Lecy for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Patay, D., Reeve, E., Thow, A.M. et al. Whole-of-food system governance for transformative change. Nat Food 6, 636–640 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01196-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01196-x

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing