Shared responsibility: understanding the role of governments, farmers, retailers, and consumers in food system policies

Abstract This paper explores the question of responsibility for transforming food systems toward greater sustainability. While many agree on general policy goals (e.g. environmental protection, sustainable food consumption, and fair income for farmers), there is less consensus on who should be responsible for achieving these goals. We fill this gap by examining how Swiss citizens perceive the responsibilities of government, farmers, retailers, and consumers. We analyzed two Swiss citizen surveys on agricultural policy and sustainable food consumption. We find that citizens recognize the need for a shared responsibility among governments, farmers, retailers, and consumers—for both agricultural policy and for consumer policy—suggesting that they already hold a systems perspective. Only the perceived role of the government differs, which is seen as highly responsible for achieving agricultural policy goals and less responsible for ensuring sustainable food consumption. Those who perceive food consumption as a government responsibility are more willing to accept policy measures, even if these measures limit their food choices. As nutrition and food consumption have only recently become a policy focus, it may be important to clearly communicate and explain this (new) responsibility to the public.