glossary of terms

Term 

Description 

Source 

Community supported agriculture (CSA) 

The CSA model involves consumers – often termed ‘shareholders’ – subscribing to a weekly (or other set interval) share of a farm’s harvest. CSA farmers can estimate their potential sales and costs each year prior to the growing season. This baseline knowledge and pre-harvest subscription capital can aid in decisions on whether to diversify market channels, scale-up production in selected vegetable varieties, and/or pursue certifications (e.g. food safety or organic). 

Rossi and Woods, (2025) 

Short-food supply chains (SFSC)  

SFSCs comprise a wide diversity of market-based initiatives, including on-farm direct sales, community-supported agriculture (CSA), farmers’ markets, farmer shops, direct farmer-to-retailer, artisan, canteen or restaurant procurement schemes as well as digital platforms proposing well-identified farmers’ products [3,4] 

Chiffoleau and Dourian, (2020) 

Agroecology 

Agroecology encompasses a broad spectrum of agricultural practices based on ecological principles like building life in the soil, recycling nutrients, the dynamic management of biodiversity and energy conservation at all scales. Agroecological farming is embedded and adapted to the ecosystems, communities, and soils of the places where it is practiced, incorporating a social and geographical element which makes Agroecology different according 

to people and place. Permaculture, Regenerative farming, Agroforestry, Organics and Biological farming can all be considered part of the broad family of Agroecological land use practices. 

Tallamh Beo, (2021) 

Person-centred 

Being person-centred means a whole system approach to health and social care that values people, innovation, learning and teamwork throughout the organisation and demonstrates appreciation and respect for the unique contribution that people make regardless of position or status.  

HSE (2016), Health Foundation (2016) 

Nexus measures 

"Nexus" is a perspective that emphasizes the inter-relatedness and interdependencies of ecosystem components and human uses, and their dynamics and fluxes across spatial scales and between compartments. For the purpose of this Plan, nexus measures are the indicators that will be used to measure progress towards the Plan’s targets under Living Lab.  

IPBES (2024) nexus assessment 

Food citizen 

The term food citizenship is defined as the practice of engaging in food-related behaviours that support, rather than threaten the development of a democratic, socially and economically just, and environmentally sustainable food system. 

Wilkins (2005), Bindi and Belliggianno (2023) 

Plants first approach 

The plants first approach normalises plant-based meals by making plant-based food the default.  

Morgenstern et al (2024) describes how NYC Health+ Hospitals have implemented a plants first nutrition program making plant-based meals the primary lunch and dinner options for patients at its 11 hospitals. Patient acceptance was over 95% and patient satisfaction above 90%. Per-tray food costs for plant-based mains cost $0.59 less compared to trays including animal products. Furthermore, the hospital system achieved a 36% reduction in calculated carbon emissions as a result of their plant-first approach. 

Not defined in literature. 

Plant-based  

A diet that revolves around plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, grains and seeds. This diet excludes all animal products and byproducts; however a person who follows a plant-based diet is not automatically a vegan. At the same time, a vegan is not automatically whole food plant-based either, as a vegan could eat vegan-friendly sweets and cookies, but a whole food plant-based diet stays away from processed foods. 

There is a clear need for guidance on the term ‘plant-based’ in particular. For most consumers, particularly those not familiar with more plant-based wholefoods, perceptions that plant-based diets are another fad diet, associated with vegan and vegetarian diets, and with a commercialised industry containing many highly processed foods, appear to be prevalent. The distinction made between traditional vegetarian diets containing plant-based wholefoods such as legumes, versus new vegetarian diets which were considered by some to be highly processed, is an important one that can be used to raise more awareness of plant-based wholefoods. More details in Appendix A. Pulse survey of student understanding of plant-based here.  

The proposed definition for a plant-based diet was “a dietary pattern in which foods of animal origin are totally or mostly excluded”. Other types of diets, such as flexitarian and pescetarian diets, could be considered plant-based. 

Safe food (2023) 

Safe food (2023) 

Hargreaves et al (2023) 

Plant-predominant 

Vegan, vegetarian, plant-based whole food diets are bundled as plant-predominant in this systematic review.  

The same review implies “usual” diets are the standard western diet and refers to standard health-oriented diets such as the American Heart Association (AHA), American Diabetic Association (ADA), and Mediterranean diets.  

Remde et al (2021) 

Local 

Food grown on the island of Ireland is the definition of local for this Plan. Brune et al (2023) propose defining local food using the specific locality where food is produced (e.g., county or state) as opposed to defining local food in terms of distance. They suggest a locality-based definition as a pragmatic response to overcoming disputed definitions of local amongst activists, governmental entities, and researchers. 

Brune et al (2023) 

Chicoine et al (2022) 

Neoliberalism 

Neoliberalism refers to a political-economic philosophy and set of practices that prioritize market mechanisms, deregulation, and privatisation, often leading to reduced state intervention in economic and social affairs. It fundamentally reshapes economies, societies and environments through the marketisation of public services, strategic state restructuring, and processes of uneven development. 

The term itself has remained largely invisible within Irish political and economic life. In contrast to the UK or the US, Ireland's initial path towards neoliberalism did not involve a torturous dismantling of the welfare state or contentious battles with trade unions. Neoliberal transformations were rather folded into a commonsense and consensual approach to policy formation that temporarily blunted their sharper edges, allowing the path towards a deregulated and “open” economy to appear both pragmatic and (almost) universally beneficial to the population. 

MacLeavy (2025) 

 
 
O’Callaghan et al, 2015, p. 34. 

Wellbeing Framework 

Ireland’s cross-government Well-being Framework brings economic, societal and environmental impacts together under one Framework placing a particular focus on equality and sustaining well-being into the future. It includes 11 dimensions of well-being, which capture the areas that matter most to the people of Ireland for a good quality of life -  areas such as housing, skills, work, health and community. 

Government of Ireland (2025) 

Vegan 

A person who doesn’t eat or use any animal products and commits to a lifestyle that is devoted to animal rights. Veganism has specific ethical and political beliefs that encourages people to abstain from buying, wearing or using animal products of any kind. 

Safe food (2023) 

Vegetarian 

A vegetarian diet should be defined as “a dietary pattern that excludes meat, meat-derived foods, and, to different extents, other animal products”. This review of literature suggests that definition would include, among others, ovolactovegetarian and vegan diets. A vegetarian diet should not be considered restrictive. Instead, terms such as alternative or non-conventional could be used to define it and to distinguish it from the conventional diet adopted by most of the Western population. 

Hargreaves et al (2023)