Lokal och hållbar mat i skånska kommuner - Strävan efter närproducerat och relationen till andra hållbarhetsmål

Sammanfattning: Food production is a major driver of climate change and environmental degradation. There is a political will to use public procurement as a strategic tool to promote more sustainable practices in the food industry. There are many aspects of sustainable food consumption, and one aspect that is getting increased attention is locally produced food. This study aims to examine how municipalities in the region of Skåne, Sweden, work with locally produced food, and the environmental impacts that work has. This is done by a mixed method including analyzing municipal food policy documents, conducting a survey for municipal officials working with the issues as well as interviewing representatives from some of the municipalities. The results show that increasing the use of locally produced foods is the most frequent sustainability goal in municipal food policies in Skåne. However, there is a lack of definition and clarity in what local politicians mean and aim to achieve with this goal. Furthermore, the results show that municipal officials face a range of challenges in the work of buying locally produced food, among the most common having to do with logistics and the Public Procurement act. Different measures have been taken to deal with these challenges, including adapting the procurement format, working with joint transportation of goods, cooperation with wholesalers, and dialog with local producers. Finally, the results show that there are both conflicts and synergies between working with locally produced foods and other sustainability aspects, such as ecologically produced food and plant-based meals. The study concludes that serving locally produced food has the potential to make the meals more sustainable, if done in a deliberate way. The study provides information for municipalities wanting to serve more local food as well as other actors wanting to support this practice.