Smart Food Action: Transforming Cagliari's Food System from Farm to Fork

Establishing an inclusive food system encompassing all sectors of the industry
Improving the management and sharing of data within the metropolitan food system
Enhancing infrastructure for civic markets

The Metropolitan City of Cagliari, located in southern Sardinia, Italy, comprises 17 municipalities with a population of 430,000 residents, a quarter of the population of Sardinia.

In 2021, Cagliari finalised its Metropolitan Strategic Plan after two years of extensive public consultations, which included discussions with a wide range of stakeholders including the public.

The plan identified a need for a Strategic Food Plan to shape future nutritional strategies for Cagliari.

The Smart Food action aims to create an inclusive food system including production, marketing and consumption of nutritious food. It seeks to develop skills and improve data sharing within the food system while promoting integrated planning, collaboration with local communities, sustainable rural production, biodiversity preservation, and climate change adaptation including financial support food businesses in both urban and peri-urban areas. The overarching goal is to create a more sustainable, equitable, and environmentally friendly food system in Cagliari.

Citation

Food Action Cities. (2023, October 1) . Smart Food Action: Transforming Cagliari’s Food System from Farm to Fork – Cagliari, Italy, Food Action Cities. https://foodactioncities.org/case-studies/a-food-strategy-to-guide-action-to-reshape-the-food-environment-cagliari-italy/

Photo: by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

The city of Cagliari, Italy is part of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact.

The action and its aims

The Smart Food action aims to create a sustainable, equitable, and inclusive food system from production to utilisation – from farm to fork. The aim is to collaborate with local and environment friendly farmers to protect nature and to adapt to climate change. In addition it addresses transport and the logistics of getting food to markets, providing regular deliveries and ensuring fresh seasonal food for the citizens of Cagliari.
Furthermore, there are plans to enhance the civic market infrastructure through the Integrated Urban Plans initiative, funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The Food Strategic Plan will include measure for ensuring quality control.

When it was introduced

Following two years of public consultations and discussion workshops held through Living Labs reaching over 3500 stakeholders, the Metropolitan Strategic Plan was finalised in 2021. Part of this plan included the Smart Food action. Today, Cagliari plans to develop a Strategic Plan on Food policies in the same manner.

Why it was needed

Food is intricately interconnected with the health and wellbeing of communities and cannot be seen in isolation of other policies. Therefore, a systems approach is needed when creating food policies. However, the Food System in Cagliari was fractured and disparate, with no organisation or department taking ultimate responsibility. With this in mind, Cagliari developed a Strategic Plan on Food Policies which will encourage biodiversity, prevent food waste and improve the food supply chain.