Summary
This paper looks at the challenges that exist in the governance of food system transformation, the current knowledge around how complex social-technical systems transform over time and the implications for governing food system transformations in terms of the types of interventions that are needed to make
systems change. The paper argues that supporting food system transformation requires more than obtaining science-based understanding and analysis of how components in the system interact. It suggests that changing the emergent properties of food systems is a socio-political challenge that is affected by competing views regarding system boundaries and purposes, and limited possibilities for central steering and control. This paper suggests that we need to move beyond rational engineering approaches to system change and look for approaches that anticipate and accommodate social tensions and struggles in processes of changing food system dynamics and outcomes. Suggested governance strategies and principles include the creation and nurturing of diversity in the system, as well as process interventions aimed at visioning, destabilization and formation of discourse coalitions.