scholarly journals OBJECTIVES AND RESOURCES USES RANKING IN SOLIDARITY PURCHASING GROUPS: LITERATURE REVIEW AND DESIGN PRINCIPLES

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela ASCANI ◽  
Gaetano MARTINO
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Ethical Consumption ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Food Citizenship ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Health Objectives

The objective of the paper is investigating food networks (FNs), focusing on the emerging of recurring themes in literature and investigating how the networks relationships may influence the resources uses in farming activities. The research was carried out through access to Web of Science and Scopus databases in order to investigate the literature on FNs. The period considered is 2000-2016, using as selected key words food networks, food and practices, alternative food networks. Then we selected and classified the resulting articles and identified a set of themes addressed in literature. The main outcome of this analysis is the identification of the following themes: a) common/shared FNs characteristics; b) trust creation and embeddedness facilitated by face to face relations; c) role of FNs in transformation of food systems towards social, environmental and health objectives; d) food citizenship/sovereignty-civil engagement; e) values inspiring FNs objectives, namely sustainability, fairness/social justice, health protection, ethical consumption/political action; f) governance of the consumers-producers relations. We argue that identified themes are dimensions related to FNs objectives. More precisely we then conceptualize the identified characteristics as drivers of the ranking of resource uses in farming systems. Elaborating on this idea we derive principles for supporting the design of governance of these groups. The study concludes underlying the complexity of food networks and their capability to influence the resources uses by setting up flexible but resilient governance structures.

scholarly journals For food space: theorizing alternative food networks beyond alterity

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Renata Blumberg ◽  
Helga Leitner ◽  
Kirsten Valentine Cadieux
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Agrarian Change ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Food Networks

<p>In response to calls by scholars to deepen theoretical engagement in research on Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), in this article we critically discuss and assess major theoretical approaches deployed in the study of AFNs. After highlighting the strengths and limitations of each theoretical approach, we provide an alternative framework – which we refer to as the Geographical Political Ecology of Food Systems – that integrates the contributions that have emerged in the study of the alternative geographies of food with an understanding of capitalist processes in the food system. We do this by bringing together literature on the political ecology of food systems and multiple spatialities, including Doreen Massey's understanding of space as a heterogeneous multiplicity and Eric Sheppard's conceptualization of sociospatial positionality. We utilize research on agrarian change and AFNs in Eastern Europe to elaborate this approach. We argue that this new perspective helps navigate tensions in AFN scholarship, and provides new avenues for research and action. We focus particularly on the ability of AFNs to provide a sustainable livelihood for participating farmers, thus far a neglected topic in AFN research in Europe.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Alternative Food Networks, Eastern Europe, spatialities, positionality, livelihoods</p>

scholarly journals Are There Local Versions of Sustainability? Food Networks in the Semi-Periphery

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Kopczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Local Food Systems ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Food Networks

The results of many studies of Central and Eastern European food networks suggest that the changes in local food systems are not a delayed repetition of their Western counterparts but have different dynamics resulting from the political and economic circumstances in the countries. To examine the specific sustainability potential of local food networks in Poland, this study compares the collectives based on novel alternative food networks and traditional networks. Drawing on the concept of actant in actor–network theory and content analysis methodology, the study identifies the specificity of these networks. The results show that traditional networks are more focused on the material core of practices, being geographically close, unified, and more specific regarding material actants of the networks. On the other hand, collectives based on Western-style alternative food networks are more widely distributed, reaching out to more abstract and distant actants.

scholarly journals Conventionalization of Organic Agriculture: A Multiple Case Study Analysis in Brazil and Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6580
Author(s):  
Oscar José Rover ◽  
Adevan da Silva Pugas ◽  
Bernardo Corrado De Gennaro ◽  
Francesco Vittori ◽  
Luigi Roselli
Keyword(s):  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Metropolitan Regions ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

The conventionalization of organic agriculture has been described as a process in which organic agriculture increasingly adopts the features of conventional modes of production based on industrial farming methods. The increasing supply of organic products to the large retailers is considered the main driver of conventionalization. This process has negative implications for the agrobiodiversity of organic farming systems. The present study aims to investigate and analyze the impact of retailing strategies on the agrobiodiversity of organic farms. A survey of farms located in rural areas near large urban centers (three metropolitan regions in Southern Brazil and four Italian regions) was undertaken. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The analysis indicates that the farms surveyed maintained a high level of agrobiodiversity and active participation in alternative food networks. Our findings point out that there was a significant and positive correlation between the crop richness index and the share of farm sales through alternative food networks. We conclude that adopting various forms of direct sale is the key factor in stimulating farms’ agrobiodiversity, but proximity to densely populated areas is a necessary precondition for the development of the short food supply chains needed to stimulate the diversification of organic agriculture.

scholarly journals Evolution of Sustainability in Alternative Food Networks: A Systematic Literature Review

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Michel-Villarreal ◽  
Martin Hingley ◽  
Maurizio Canavari ◽  
Ilenia Bregoli
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Methodological Approaches

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to individuals organizing themselves and managing food systems in an &lsquo;alternative&rsquo; and more sustainable way. Such emerging food initiatives are most commonly known as &lsquo;Alternative Food Networks&rsquo; (AFNs). However, there is an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which AFNs facilitate social, economic and environmental change. There are criticisms of the overall sustainability promise of AFNs related to sufficiency of impact, possible countereffects and relevance of impacts. Because often empirical studies only focus on specific sustainability issues or AFNs, it has been difficult to develop more robust theories about the relation between diverse AFNs arrangements and sustainability. Thus, the aim of this paper is to contribute towards reducing this knowledge gap through a systematic literature review on AFNs in relation to sustainability. We summarise main methodological approaches, types of AFNs studied and sustainability dimensions addressed in literature to date. Findings serve as reference to propose opportunities for future research regarding sustainability in AFNs.

scholarly journals Sustainability in Alternative Food Networks: A Systematic Literature Review

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Michel-Villarreal ◽  
Martin Hingley ◽  
Maurizio Canavari ◽  
Ilenia Bregoli
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Methodological Approaches

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to individuals organizing themselves and managing food systems in an &lsquo;alternative&rsquo; and more sustainable way. Such emerging food initiatives are most commonly known as &lsquo;Alternative Food Networks&rsquo; (AFNs). However, there is an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which AFNs facilitate social, economic and environmental change. There are criticisms of the overall sustainability promise of AFNs related to sufficiency of impact, possible counter effects and relevance of impacts. Because often empirical studies only focus on specific sustainability issues or AFNs, it has been difficult to develop more robust theories about the relations between diverse AFNs arrangements and sustainability. Thus, the aim of this paper is to contribute towards reducing this knowledge gap through a systematic literature review on AFNs in relation to sustainability. We summarize main methodological approaches, types of AFNs studied and sustainability dimensions addressed in literature to date. Findings serve as reference to propose opportunities for future research regarding sustainability in AFNs.

scholarly journals Sustainability in Alternative Food Networks: A Systematic Literature Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Michel-Villarreal ◽  
Martin Hingley ◽  
Maurizio Canavari ◽  
Ilenia Bregoli
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Methodological Approaches

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to individuals’ organizing themselves and managing food systems in an ‘alternative’ and more sustainable way. Such emerging food initiatives are most commonly known as ‘Alternative Food Networks’ (AFNs). However, there is an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which AFNs facilitate social, economic and environmental change. There are criticisms of the overall sustainability promise of AFNs related to sufficiency of impact, possible counter effects and the relevance of impacts. Because empirical studies often only focus on specific sustainability issues or AFNs, it has been difficult to develop more robust theories about the relations between diverse AFNs arrangements and sustainability. Thus, the aim of this paper is to contribute towards reducing this knowledge gap through a systematic literature review on AFNs in relation to sustainability. We summarize main methodological approaches, the types of AFNs studied and sustainability dimensions addressed in literature to date. Findings serve as reference to propose opportunities for future research regarding sustainability in AFNs.

scholarly journals Notes on the practice of food justice in the U.S.: understanding and confronting trauma and inequity

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Slocum ◽  
Kirsten Valentine Cadieux
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Food Movement ◽  
The U.S

The lexicon of the U.S. food movement has expanded to include the term 'food justice.' Emerging after approximately two decades of food advocacy, this term frames structural critiques of agri-food systems and calls for radical change. Over those twenty years, practitioners and scholars have argued that the food movement was in danger of creating an 'alternative' food system for the white middle class. Alternative food networks drew on white imaginaries of an idyllic communal past, promoted consumer-oriented, market-driven change, and left yawning silences in the areas of gendered work, migrant labor, and racial inequality. Justice was often beside the point. Now, among practitioners and scholars we see an enthusiastic surge in the use of the term food justice but a vagueness on the particulars. In scholarship and practice, that vagueness manifests in overly general statements about ending oppression, or morphs into outright conflation of the dominant food movement's work with food justice (see What does it mean to do food justice? Cadieux and Slocum (2015), in this Issue). In this article, we focus on one of the four nodes (trauma/inequity, exchange, land and labor) around which food justice organizing appears to occur: acknowledging and confronting historical, collective trauma and persistent race, gender, and class inequality. We apply what we have learned from our research in U.S. and Canadian agri-food systems to suggest working methods that might guide practitioners as they work toward food justice, and scholars as they seek to study it. In the interests of ensuring accountability to socially just research and action, we suggest that scholars and practitioners need to be more clear on what it means to practice food justice. Towards such clarity and accountability, we urge scholars and practitioners to collaboratively document how groups move toward food justice, what thwarts and what enables them.Key words: food justice, trauma, food movement, alternative food networks, antiracism

scholarly journals Towards Producer-Consumer Cooperation: Collective Learning in Alternative Food Networks as a Food Sovereignty Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 49-73
Author(s):  
Magdalena Popławska
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Informal Education ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Collective Learning ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Networks

The paper analyses collective learning strategies aimed at the transformation of food systems in the framework of food sovereignty, in the context of such key issues as environmental sustainability, socially just relations in diversified economy, and citizen participation in food systems governance. In particular, the author proposes to focus on the systematisation created by Colin R. Anderson, Chris Maughan and Michel P. Pimbert on the basis of their qualitative and action research undertaken for the purpose of developing the European Agroecology Knowledge Exchange Network (EAKEN). The network is part of the broader process of knowledge circulation led by the La Via Campesina movement, which has introduced the concept of food sovereignty into wider public debates. The main objective of EAKEN is to strengthen bottom-up learning strategies and informal education processes in the field of agroecology, which is defined through reference to sustainable farming practices and their recognised transformative potential. The author considers the pillars of transformative agroecology learning identified by the above-mentioned researchers in combination with various approaches in social movement learning and critical pedagogy. The analysis recognises that the evolving concept of food sovereignty covers both rural and urban fields of activity, emphasising the connections between producers, workers, consumers and social activists. Consequently, this paper contributes to the discussion on the educational practices present in alternative food networks (AFNs). As studies indicate, although new AFNs in Poland are often inspired by initiatives created in Western Europe and USA, they adopt forms that depend on the local context. The analysis of learning strategies associated with such networks, taking into account different forms of power relations, as well as emerging opportunities and constraints, allows areas for future research to be identified.

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