Cultivating Change: What Writing a Food Security Policy Taught Me About Green Politics

By Giuliana Polverino

When I first joined the FYEG project to draft a policy paper on Food Security, I didn’t choose the topic by chance. Living in a suburban area, I see every day what "food insecurity" really means. It’s not just an abstract concept found in textbooks or global statistics; it’s the lived reality of seeing neighbors struggling to afford fresh produce or having to travel long distances just to find a grocery store that sells something other than highly processed, low-quality food.

For me, this wasn’t just a political exercise, it was a way to bring the voices of my community into this project.

The process of writing this policy was a deep dive into the overwhelming complexity of our global food systems. As young greens, we are often driven by a passionate "no": no to pesticides, no to exploitation, no to corporate greed. However, this educational journey forced us to transform that "no" into a credible, structural "yes." 

I remember one particularly intense call with the FYEG working group that felt like a stalemate. We were stuck, circling around the vastness of the food system, overwhelmed by how many issues, from soil health to international trade, seemed equally urgent. That’s when I decided to share my experience of the periferia and proposed focusing on the actual accessibility of healthy food in marginalized urban areas.

This suggestion broke the deadlock. By focusing on the "last mile" of the food chain, we found a way to link social justice with environmental sustainability. We spent hours debating a radical but necessary solution: Public Supermarkets.

We realized that if we want to dismantle the industrial food complex, we must provide a public alternative. We started designing a model where the state or local municipalities ensure that healthy, agroecological, and seasonal food isn't a luxury for the wealthy, but a guaranteed right for everyone. We explored how these spaces could act as hubs for community building and education, effectively fighting "food deserts" while supporting local farmers through fair procurement contracts. It was a lesson in creative policy-making: taking a local struggle and turning it into a European-wide proposal.

Writing the policy required us to master the balance between radical green visions and the technicalities of European legislation. We had to understand the intricacies of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and how its current subsidies often favor big agribusiness over small-scale ecological farmers. Through this process, I learned that "Food Sovereignty" is more than a slogan; it is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods.

This journey also taught me that there isn't just one way to be an activist or to engage in politics. We often think of political action only as marching in the streets or casting a vote, but drafting these policies showed me that technical advocacy is just as vital. Politics is a multifaceted toolkit: it is the passion of the protest, the community care in our neighborhoods, and the rigorous work of translating our values into legislative proposals.

By mastering the language of policy, we aren't abandoning our radical roots; we are simply making sure our voices are loud enough to be heard in the rooms where decisions are made.

This experience changed my perspective on activism. I realized that being a "Young Green" means being capable of proposing a researched, intersectional alternative that speaks to everyone. 

The most important takeaway for me isn't the final PDF or the technical footnotes. It is the realization that policy-making is a vital tool for us to claim our space in the political arena. We have shown that green policies aren't "elitist", on the contrary, they are the key to improving the daily lives of people in my neighborhood and across Europe.

This journey taught me that we are not just waiting for the future; we are learning how to write it. We are making sure that there is always a place at the table, and healthy, sustainable food on the plate, for everyone, especially for those who have been left behind for too long.

Read the “Food over Profit” policy paper here.