Sustainable Consumption, the Middle Classes and Agri-food Ethics in the Global South

Sustainable food consumption spaces and practices in the global South are of critical importance yet remain under-researched and poorly understood because most studies assume that ethical consumers are situated in the global North. Expanding middle class consumption in global South countries is seen simultaneously as providing a potential stimulus to global economic growth and a threat to environmental sustainability. The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production) recognises the need to support developing countries in strengthening their technological capacity to enable more sustainable patterns of consumption, to promote sustainable public procurement practices, and to ensure that consumers have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable lifestyles. In response, this research evaluates the mobilisation and practice of sustainable consumption in the global South through an examination of systems of food provision and regulation, everyday consumer habits, and trends and fashions in food consumption. It draws on case study research in Brazil, China, and South Africa, where there is robust evidence of large and growing middle classes.

The research is essential to understand how sustainable food consumption is mobilised and practised in distinct global South contexts, how this might be affected during times of increasing political instability and social precarity, and how this relates to the wider context of global population growth and globalising consumerism. Pilot research in the case study countries suggests that digital technologies are increasingly interwoven into societies and food systems as follows: consumers share, receive information about, purchase and review food online; food retail companies optimise their distribution with the help of IT technology; and state procurement systems increasingly move online. Recognising these realities, the research provides an innovative investigation of the interconnectedness of online and offline spaces of sustainable food consumption in the global South.

The research is organised into four phases. The first focuses on institutional and cultural drivers of sustainable food consumption. It analyses policy and media reports, business strategies, codes, campaigns and initiatives in the policy and popular domain. Key informant interviews are conducted with government departments responsible for food procurement and standards, campaigners, and leading food retailers, wholesalers and restaurateurs. The second phase, focusing on consumer habits and everyday trends, comprises ethnographic research in middle-class residential areas of Guangzhou, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg. Interviews address household food consumption practices, judgments about 'good' food, and popular influences on food ethics and environmental values. Digital ethnographies examine the online practices of consumers, including how they collect information, shop or review online, and the influence of social media on ethical judgment and creating markets for sustainable foods. Accompanied shopping interviews and co-cooking sessions capture the nuances of food choices, moral judgments, engagement with government and corporate ethical initiatives, and the ordinary ethics of food purchase and use. The third phase, focusing on fashion and trends, uses text mining of social media to trace lines of influence in sustainable food consumption. To widen the reach of the research, and provide material with traction with policy and commercial actors, the final phase gathers quantitative data through a web-based survey of the drivers of sustainable food consumption and the behavioural intentions arising from these. The research is an innovative analysis of different global South contexts in which shifts towards sustainable food consumption are likely to have global impact. The three case studies offer comparisons of the potential of different drivers of food sustainability.

Our impact objectives will ensure that new institutional and cultural levers and practices for change are identified for sustainable food consumption among the urban middle-classes of Brazil, China and South Africa. We will create qualitative and quantitative data-sets that will allow for analysis of the presence and prevalence of consumer values and choices influencing ethical/sustainable consumption behaviour. This will generate for research beneficiaries a deep understanding of the values and choices shaping middle class consumers' everyday purchase and use of food. Non-academic research users will also gain knowledge of how consumers relate and respond to specific campaigns, initiatives and standards for sustainable food production and provision, including the digital dimensions of this engagement. Targeting recommendations to organisations responsible for regulating, managing and promoting food sustainability, the project aims to influence future policy and strategy that is so reliant on consumer engagement for its success. A key benefit to users will be knowledge of sustainable food consumption across three countries and therefore extending learning and knowledge exchange significantly beyond a single country case study and impact. The Pathways to Impact document details our outputs and communication and engagement plans that will demonstrate how a diverse set of food actors, including those using social media and on-line platforms, can stimulate and support sustainable food consumption. Collaboration and co-production throughout the project to engage end-users and 'impact carriers' will deepen and extend the impact. The latter have already been identified in pilot research projects, with five project beneficiaries (across policy, public, private and third sectors) identified in each case study country.

Beneficiaries include (but will not be limited to) the following groups with whom we have existing contact via previous funded projects and who also comprise some of the Phase 1 key informants: Policy makers: at international level (e.g. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), at national level (e.g. Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil Work and Pensions Department regarding Solidarity Economy, Department of Environmental Affairs and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in South Africa and government procurement departments) and at regional level (e.g. Bureau of Agriculture of Guangzhou Municipality and Guangzhou Urban-Rural Convergence; certification bodies: Fairtrade International, Fairtrade Label South Africa, China Organic Food Certification Center under the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the Organic Food Development Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, China (OFDC-MEP) and China Green Food Development Center (CGFDC); Producers / Farmers: All three Universities have strong links with alternative farmer networks, particularly in Brazil and South Africa, e.g. CLAC in Brazil and Via Campesina groups; suppliers and retailers: e.g. Pick n Pay and Woolworths in South Africa; social media and on-line grocery producers: Nogogo Online Groceries in Guangdong and Organic Farms Delivery Service in China; consumer groups: Globescan, Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (leading Brazilian Consumer Rights Campaign Group); non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and charities: iPES (International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems), World Wildlife Fund South Africa, Instituto Alana (NGO campaigning for sustainable futures for young people in Brazil); industry associations: e.g. Sustainable Seafood Initiative (South Africa); and media: including Jornol O Globo, Globo News, TV Globo and Canal Online G1 in Brazil.