Scaling up: Bringing public institutions and food service corporations into the project for a local, sustainable food system

Harriet Friedmann is Professor of Sociology and Fellow of the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. Her research over thirty years has explored many aspects of food and agriculture, mainly through the historical framework of “food regimes.” These include the structure of family farms, international political economy of food and agriculture, agricultural policy from local to national, regional and international, changing patterns of trade and specialization, diasporic cuisines, agronomies and food practices, and international trade rivalries and institutions. Her current research is on the politics of certification and standards both globally and locally. Globally, how do new institutions and practices use “quality” standards to contest the restructuring of transnational and local agrofood relations? Locally, how can we understand creativity in local food networks and institutions, particularly in Toronto? She was recently a Fellow of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University, of All Souls College Oxford, and the Rockefeller Centre in Bellagio, Italy.


