• Research
  • Education
  • Publications and Data
  • People
  • News
  • Contact
  • Suomeksi

WDRGWDRGWDRGWDRG
Menu
  • Research
  • Education
  • Publications and Data
  • People
  • News
  • Contact
  • Suomeksi

How could Finland positively impact the global food system?

Share this post

9.12.2020

Elina Lehikoinen is defending her thesis about Finland’s food security and global food systems on Friday 11th of December 2020. Read the main findings from this blog and tune in on Friday to hear more.

 

The global food system forms an interconnected and complex net that is facing contradictory demands and expectations from various sectors and multiple levels of society. Therefore, it is important to understand that the food system is much more than the food supply chain—it is impacted by environmental, social and economic systems as well as health and nutrition, policy and political, and technological and scientific drivers. The presented systems and drivers are connected with various linkages, interdependencies and feedback loops, making the food system equally intriguing and uniformly tricky. These internal connections within the food system have further inputs and outputs contributing or receiving from the supply chain (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The entity of the food system – combined with the social, environmental and economic sub-systems; and nutrition and health, political and policy, and technological and scientific drives. (click image for pdf)

 

Almost every country participates in the global food trade either as an importer, an exporter or both. Comprehensive country-scale studies are needed to detect blind spots within the complexity of the larger system and to discover the hidden potential within specific countries. I chose Finland as my case study because it has an interesting portfolio—a northern country rich in natural resources and a small population with relatively high self-sufficiency in terms of food production, but at the same time a great dependence on imported agricultural inputs (such as energy, fertilisers, protein feed and agricultural machinery). My primary aim of this dissertation was to discover how Finland could positively impact on the global food system without weakening its own food system resilience. I chose three research questions to response the overall aim:

 

  • RQ1: How is the Finnish food system connected to the global food system through international trade—regarding the trading partners, imports and exports?
  • RQ2: How can Finland utilise the domestic agricultural production to have a positive impact on the global food system—regarding the natural resources?
  • RQ3: How can the proposed changes in trade and production be implemented—regarding the food preferences and motivations of Finnish consumer?

The most significant finding of the research indicates that Finland’s overall food trade-related resilience has weakened as domestic food production diversity has decreased while its dependence on imported foodstuff has increased. Furthermore, international foodstuff trade has been centralised in terms of trading partners (Figure 2). However, Finland has the potential to replace some crop imports with domestic production and further increase certain animal product exports, while saving global natural resources and diminishing the outsourced environmental impacts of food production. Yet increasing domestic agriculture may lead to an amplified dependence on imported agricultural inputs. This may not be as detrimental to system reliance as its foodstuff dependence, since the number of import connections has increased over the past decades for agricultural inputs. Finally, consumers are often the key to influence in the food system. An analysis done based on a recent national questionnaire study reveals that Finns are most motivated to eat sustainably when they can combine health and environmental co-benefits in their everyday life.

 

Figure 2. Finland’s trade-related resilience regarding the foodstuff and agricultural inputs. Diversity in production and consumption, and connectivity regarding the independency and trading partners were used as resilience indicators. 

As a conclusion, I want to highlight that Finland’s positive contribution to the sustainable use of natural resources might be relatively small on the global scale, but it is not insignificant. Thus it is vital that global knowledge is incorporated at the country-scale and case studies continue to discover the hidden potential to influence towards a more sustainable food system through the wise use of natural resources.

 

Please feel free to follow my public defense through Zoom on Friday 11th December, at 12:00 hours (Finnish time)

Electronic dissertation: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/59139

Zoom-link: https://aalto.zoom.us/s/69732142929

 

Elina Lehikoinen (M.Sc.) is a doctoral student in Water and Development Research Group. Her research has focused on the connection between the Finnish and global food system, in the perspective of natural resources and resilience. The aim of her research has been to study what kind of positive impact one country could have on to the global food system. Lehikoinen is publicly defending her thesis on December 11th

 

 

Tweet

Related Post

JANUARY 26, 2021

Restructuring, rhythm &...

Marko Keskinen – 27.1.2021   — The longer...

00

JANUARY 26, 2021

Rakenna, rytmitä ja...

Marko Keskinen – 27.1.2021   — The...

00

JANUARY 19, 2021

The art and science of asking...

Photo by...

10
Here you can read blogs, research highlights, newsletters and other news from Water and Development Research Group.

Newsletters

  • WDRG Newsletter 1
  • WDRG Newsletter 2
  • WDRG Newsletter 3
  • WDRG Newsletter 4
Newsletter Archive →

News Archive

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017

Contact info

Aalto University

Water & Development Research Group
Aalto University
P.O.Box 15200
FIN-00076 Aalto
Finland

Aalto University is a multidisciplinary university, where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future.

© Water and Development Research Group. Aalto University School of Engineering

Recent news

  • Restructuring, rhythm & reflection – views on remote learning January 26, 2021
  • Rakenna, rytmitä ja reflektoi – oppeja etäopettamiseen January 26, 2021
  • The art and science of asking questions. January 19, 2021
  • How could Finland positively impact the global food system? December 9, 2020
  • Do you know just how important you are? December 3, 2020

Twitter feed

Tweets by AaltoWAT

© 2020 WDRG, All Rights Reserved.