scholarly journals Quantifying differences in alternative food network supply chain activities and their relationship with socio-economic outcomes

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Erik Hunter ◽  
Andreas Norrman ◽  
Eva Berg
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
Fair Wages

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have the potential to enhance and redistribute value in favour of producers and consumers through novel ways of organizing supply chain activities. What is more, AFNs are often characterized by their ‘sustainability promise’ – or the idea that their networks foster social, ecological or environmental improvements over conventional food networks. Based on a purposive sample of 286 producers across five Swedish AFNs (i.e. community supported agriculture, REKO-rings, farmers’ markets, farm stores and food nodes), we explore how differences in how supply chain activities are managed and relate them to profitability, fair wages, cooperation, logistics efforts, happiness and future beliefs. Using a combination of correlation analysis, linear regression and means comparisons, we challenge the notion that AFNs achieve their sustainability promise or enhance value through novel combinations of supply chain activities. Our findings include several key differences in how supply chain management (SCM) activities are organized across AFNs and their variant importance for profitability. Moreover, we find significant differences in happiness across AFNs that are better explained through beliefs about the future than profitability or fair wages. By exploring happiness and profitability, we offer insights into why some AFN actors thrive despite poor economic returns.

scholarly journals Alternative Food Networks Development and Multiple Actors’ Participation in China: A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Yang
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
The Government

This article reviews the studies about the alternative food network development in China, summarizes the results and identifies the issues for further research. It first introduces different theoretical perspectives in alternative food network studies in China, including community supported agriculture, nested market, short food supply chains and producerconsumer connection. The causes of rising alternative food networks are the serious food safety problem, the un-balanced power between different actors in the mainstream agrofood system and the increasing number of middle income citizens. Its development close relates to the changes in the international agro-food system. And the government dominates the establishment of the certification system and give limited support to the emerging food networks. The consumers and majority of producers are social elites, and the small scale farmers participate in the networks under the support of intermediaries. Further studies can pay more attention to following issues: the landscape of alternative food networks development in China, the value construction processes between different actors, the role of companies in alternative food network construction and introducing technical perspective of ecological agriculture into research.

scholarly journals Know the Farmer That Feeds You: A Cross-Country Analysis of Spatial-Relational Proximities and the Attractiveness of Community Supported Agriculture

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1006
Author(s):  
Christina Gugerell ◽  
Takeshi Sato ◽  
Christine Hvitsand ◽  
Daichi Toriyama ◽  
Nobuhiro Suzuki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component Analysis ◽  
Food System ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Component Analysis ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Alternative Food Network

While food production and consumption processes worldwide are characterized by geographical and social distance, alternative food networks aim to reconnect producers and consumers. Our study proposes a framework to distinguish multiple dimensions of proximity in the context of Community Supported Agriculture (a type of alternative food network) and to quantitatively evaluate them. In a principal component analysis, we aggregated various detailed proximity items from a multinational survey using principal component analysis and examined their relationship with the attractiveness of Community Supported Agriculture in a multiple regression analysis. Our findings highlight the importance of relational proximity and thus of increasing trust, collaboration, and the sharing of values and knowledge within and across organizations in the food system. Rather than focusing on spatial proximity, increasing relational proximity might support alternative food networks, such as Community Supported Agriculture.

scholarly journals Alternative food networks as a counterbalance in the globalized perception of young consumers

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 05015
Author(s):  
Miroslava Navrátilová ◽  
Josef Abrhám ◽  
Markéta Beranová ◽  
David Brož
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Channels ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
General Level ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Young Consumers ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
On Farm

The phenomenon of alternative food networks is becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of changes in consumer behavior and business sustainability. The distribution channels of some products place a disproportionate burden on the environment. In this context, the issue of local food production and the use of local distribution channels are becoming increasingly important as counterbalances of international trade processes in the context of globalization. New food-specific forms include alternative food networks. Sustainability is a topical issue, especially among young consumers, who are sensitive to environmental issues and like all new things. This consumer target group will shape the future of the current globalized world. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the general level of awareness among young people aged 20 34 in the Czech Republic about alternative forms of purchasing food and to identify knowledge of different forms of this sale. Primary research data was used to evaluate preferences in 2019. The total number of participants was 519 respondents. The results show that more than half of the respondents have ever encountered the concept of an alternative food network. Most often, respondents said they had personal experience of selling on farm markets and selling organic food.

scholarly journals How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Baldi ◽  
Danilo Bertoni ◽  
Giuseppina Migliore ◽  
Massimo Peri
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
High Motivation ◽  
Small Producers

Abstract Our paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a characterization of them. To this end, we carried out a survey of 795 participants involved in 125 SPGs in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Taking advantage of a questionnaire with 39 questions, we run a factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different profiles of SPG participants. Our results show that the system of values animating metropolitan SPG practitioners does not fully conform to that traditionally attributed to an alternative food network (AFN). In fact, considerations linked to food safety and healthiness prevail on altruistic motives such as environmental sustainability and solidarity toward small producers. Furthermore, metropolitan SPGs do not consider particularly desirable periurban and local food products. Observing the SPGs from this perspective, it emerges as such initiatives can flourish also in those places where the lack of connection with the surrounding territory is counterbalanced by the high motivation to buy products from trusted suppliers who are able to guarantee genuine and safe products, not necessarily located nearby.

scholarly journals Eroding the Community in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Competition's Effects in Alternative Food Networks in California

2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan E. Galt ◽  
Katharine Bradley ◽  
Libby Christensen ◽  
Julia Van Soelen Kim ◽  
Ramiro Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Food ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Networks

scholarly journals Food Hubs: Reconnecting Alternative Food Networks and Conventional Supply Chain

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 621-624
Author(s):  
Michela Felicetti
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Economic Viability ◽  
Community Supported Agriculture ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Hubs ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Food Hub ◽  
Food Networks

This paper considers whether it is possible to apply the concept of food hubs to the area of Piana di Sibari in Calabria, which has been established by regional law as a Quality Agrifood District (Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità or DAQ). This paper considers whether it is possible to apply the concept of food hubs to the area of Piana di Sibari in Calabria, which has been established by regional law as a Quality Agrifood District (Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità or DAQ). After identifying some features of the food hub concept in the biggest cooperative of the context, the paper will highlight how this situation represents an opportunity for small farmers to access conventional food supply chains from which they would otherwise be excluded. In this view, food hubs are a mixture of alternative and conventional food networks and constitute a way to solve the problem of economic viability of local food initiatives like community supported agriculture.

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