The food system impacts multiple dimensions of societal wellbeing. This includes health, land stewardship, economic development, social connection, and more. However, the contemporary agriculture and food (agri-food) system is critiqued for prioritizing economic growth over these dimensions of wellbeing. This growth-focused policy-making is widely contested for causing unsustainable consumption of natural resources and waste generation, as well as underpinning widespread inequity between people, nations, species, and generations.
This criticism underscores broader calls for reform within mainstream growth-oriented policies that establish gross domestic product (GDP) as a ubiquitous metric for policy success. In response, scholars have proposed a “wellbeing economy” (WE) to address the ecological and equity challenges of the ever-increasing human economy. Wellbeing economies aim to directly support prosperity without necessitating economic growth as the vehicle for its delivery. WE theory identifies two critical paradoxes that contest the growth narrative. First, the Easterlin paradox challenges the assumption that economic growth is the best way to achieve societal wellbeing. It proposes that, above a certain threshold, economic welfare is unrelated to wellbeing. Second, the Jevons paradox challenges the assumption that continuous technological innovation can sustain limitless growth. It observes that increasing resource use efficiency through technological innovation can (paradoxically) increase overall resource use.
There are few direct applications of WE theory to research on agri-food policy, despite the alignment between the two domains. This research aims to address this gap through three interrelated questions that, combined, document the limitations of growth-focused policy making in agri-food and highlight alternatives to prioritize ecological integrity and social equity. 1) How has the growth narrative been embodied in Canadian agri-food policy? 2) Is there evidence of the Easterlin and Jevons paradoxes in the Canadian agri-food system? 3) What key policies might promote a transition toward a WE in the Canadian agri-food?
Read
Robert, N. and Mullinix K (2022) Beyond: Lessons for redefining progress in Canadian food system policy. Frontiers in Communication, 6.
Listen
Robert, N. (guest feature). (2023, October). “Will the Pursuit of Limitless Growth Make Us Better Off?: Redefining Progress in the Canadian Food System Policy”. Handpicked Podcast: Stories From the Field. Season 3 Episode 6. Produced by Wilfred Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. Handpicked Podcast | Broadcasting Change | Wilfrid Laurier University (wlu.ca)