scholarly journals Multiple Understandings of Sustainability among Alternative Food Organizations in Geneva

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13925
Author(s):  
Catalina González ◽  
Jasmine Lorenzini
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Heterogeneous Network ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Organizational Survey ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Swiss Canton ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Common Understanding

Alternative Food Organizations (AFOs) seek to establish more sustainable practices in the food system. However, they might hold different conceptualizations of sustainability. Hence, we miss an overview of AFOs’ conceptualizations of sustainability that allows grasping their overall transformative potential. In this paper, we analyze a broad range of AFOs active in food production, distribution, and consumers’ advocacy to examine to what extent they share a common understanding of sustainability. Our empirical analyses focus on the Swiss canton of Geneva, we build on organizational survey data and detailed coding of the discourses published on their websites. We find that the environmental dimension of sustainability is more prominent and that weak and strong conceptualizations of sustainability are equally present in AFOs’ discourses. However, important differences appear between food producers and distributors. The former have a multidimensional and strong conceptualization of sustainability, while the latter focus on fewer dimensions and a weak conceptualization. In spite of these differences, AFOs interact within a small but heterogeneous network.

scholarly journals Online and On-Site Interactions within Alternative Food Networks: Sustainability Impact of Knowledge-Sharing Practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola De Bernardi ◽  
Alberto Bertello ◽  
Francesco Venuti
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Food System ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Farmers Market ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Food Networks

The sustainability debate in the food sector has exposed the current food system to critics, encouraging the significant growth of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), new ways of food production, distribution and consumption that aim to shorten the food chain. Our study is focused on Food Assembly (FA), a special kind of AFN combining the culture of social entrepreneurship and digital innovation to achieve sustainability and a high social impact. The coexistence of a digital platform and a weekly farmers’ market triggers, within this network, mechanisms of knowledge sharing and self-organisation. To date, however, few studies have focused simultaneously on online and on-site interactions within AFNs, especially with quantitative studies. Our paper aims to test the hypothesis that online and on-site knowledge sharing affects the success of a FA measured by customer sustainable behaviour change. To do so, we developed a quantitative analysis based on a regression model. We collected data via a questionnaire submitted to 8497 Italian FA customers, of which 2115 responses were included in our analysis. The results show that online knowledge sharing significantly affects customer change towards more sustainable purchasing and consumption behaviours, while on-site knowledge sharing positively affects sustainable purchasing behaviours.

scholarly journals Politics Within Associations of Food Production and Distribution. Ethnography of an Alternative Food System in a City in Eastern France

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-471
Author(s):  
Antoine Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract Alternative agri-food initiatives have the ambition to build an alternative to the market and industrialization, but these initiatives are nevertheless accused of depoliticization. Scarcely prone to subversion, allegedly they would only address the upper classes and fail to create a movement. An ethnographic survey among these initiatives in a city in eastern France, provides answers to these questions, showing a different definition of the economy re-embedded in politics and territory.

Hired gardens and the question of transgression: lawns, food gardens and the business of ‘alternative’ food practice

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Naylor
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Local Foods ◽  
Alternative Food Movement ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Food Gardens

As increased awareness of the industrial-capitalist food system draws consumers into ‘alternative’ food networks, a variety of approaches are being taken to access fresh, local foods. A growing trend within alternative food practice is the increasing number of people who are ripping out their lawns and creating sites of food production in neighborhood spaces. This challenge to the iconic lawn landscape has been viewed by some as both an alternative to the conventional marketplace and an act of transgression against neighborhood norms. This article explores a new strategy that has been used to access food, what I have termed the ‘hired garden’, to examine the contradictory implications of yard food production done for hire. Using the space of the yard as a vehicle for exploring transgression and resistance, this article considers the claim that accessing food through ‘alternative’ means is necessarily transgressive. I argue that such practices are not inherently transgressive or resistant and instead invite scholars to ask critical questions about transgression, resistance and landscapes of power. At the same time, this article suggests that the recent establishment of businesses that can be hired to install, maintain and harvest vegetables from their clients’ yards is a fundamental cultural contradiction, whereby consumers have competing desires to have easy access to fresh, local foods and to produce their own food. Finally, this analytical look at the hired garden addresses: who are the recipients of such services, and who has access to this type of food, drawing on critiques of the ‘alternative food movement,’ which characterize it as a white, middle-class phenomenon.

Food, Water and the Consequences of Society Not Valuing the Environment

2019 ◽  
pp. 858-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Allan
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
The Political ◽  
Environmental Services ◽  
Accounting Systems ◽  
The Impact

The first purpose of this chapter is to highlight the impact of the food system on environmental and human health. The delivery of secure affordable food is a political imperative. Unfortunately, the food system that delivers it is environmentally blind. Food prices do not effectively reflect the value of food and often seriously mislead on the costs and impacts of food production. For example, actual food production takes place in a failed market—the value of environmental services such as water and the supporting ecosystems are not taken into account. The second purpose is to summarize and expose the political economy of the different ‘market’ modes of the food system. It is shown that there are weak players such as underrewarded and undervalued farmers who support society by producing food and stewarding our unvalued environment. The inadequacies of accounting systems are also critiqued.

scholarly journals Food System Resilience during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Roman Solidarity Purchasing Groups

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Simona Tarra ◽  
Giampiero Mazzocchi ◽  
Davide Marino
Keyword(s):  
Food Environment ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Important Food ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Supply Channel ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
System Resilience ◽  
Depth Interviews

The restriction measures linked to the COVID-19 shock suddenly highlighted the vulnerability of most socioeconomic systems, including the food sector. In a context in which the limitation to the movement of people and goods has put the longer and more structured supply chains in serious difficulty, many experiences and initiatives have emerged as viable alternatives. The aim of the research was to understand if and how the Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPG) of Rome have contributed to the resilience of the food system of the metropolitan city during the lockdown. The research was based on the results of a questionnaire administered to the SPGs of Rome during the first period of the pandemic (April–July 2020), enriched by some in-depth interviews carried out by the authors. What emerged was that, despite the limited extent in terms of products conveyed within the whole food system, the SPGs represented an important food supply channel during the lockdown period, for two main reasons: a greater flexibility and agility in moving and in handling goods and the possibility of remunerating local farms, contributing to the resilience of the local agri-food fabric. The analysis of the results confirms the strong vitality of such Food Movements in Rome and, at the same time, allows for the identification of a series of interventions that the institutions could adopt to favor the spread of a food environment more compatible with more sustainable and fairer forms of food production and distribution.

scholarly journals Alternative Agri-Food Systems Under a Market Agencements Approach: The Case of Multifunctional Farming Activity in a Peri-Urban Area

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Maria Cecilia Mancini ◽  
Filippo Arfini ◽  
Federico Antonioli ◽  
Marianna Guareschi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Alternative Food Systems ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Trade Offs

(1) Background: A large body of literature is available on the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of alternative food systems, but not much of it is devoted to the dynamics underlying their design and implementation, more specifically the processes that make an alternative food system successful or not in terms of its sustainability aims. This gap seems to be particularly critical in studies concerning alternative food systems in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). This paper explores how the design and implementation of multifunctional farming activity in a peri-urban area surrounding the city of Reggio Emilia in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy impact the achievement of its sustainability aims. (2) Methods: The environmental, social, and economic components of this project are explored in light of the sociology of market agencements. This method brings up the motivations of the human entities involved in the project, the role played by nonhuman entities, and the technical devices used for the fulfillment of the project’s aims. (3) Results: The alternative food system under study lacked a robust design phase and a shared definition of the project aims among all the stakeholders involved. This ended in a substantial mismatch between project aims and consumer expectations. (4) Conclusions: When a comprehensive design stage is neglected, the threefold aim concerning sustainability might not be achievable. In particular, the design of alternative food systems must take into account the social environment where it is intended to be put in place, especially in UPA, where consumers often live in suburban neighborhoods wherein the sense of community is not strong, thus preventing them from getting involved in a community-based project. In such cases, hybridization can play a role in the sustainability of alternative food networks, provided that some trade-offs occur among the different components of sustainability—some components of sustainability will be fully achieved, while others will not.

scholarly journals Promises of meat and milk alternatives: an integrative literature review on emergent research themes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Lonkila ◽  
Minna Kaljonen
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Scientific Journal ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Research Themes ◽  
Social Scientific

AbstractIncreasing concerns for climate change call for radical changes in food systems. There is a need to pay more attention to the entangled changes in technological development, food production, as well as consumption and consumer demand. Consumer and market interest in alternative meat and milk products—such as plant based milk, plant protein products and cultured meat and milk—is increasing. At the same time, statistics do not show a decrease in meat consumption. Yet alternatives have been suggested to have great transitional potential, appealing to different consumer segments, diets, and identities. We review 123 social scientific journal articles on cell-based and plant-based meat and milk alternatives to understand how the positioning of alternatives as both same and different in relation to animal-based products influences their role within the protein transition. We position the existing literature into three themes: (1) promissory narratives and tensions on markets, (2) consumer preferences, attitudes, and behavioral change policies, (3) and the politics and ethics of the alternatives. Based on our analysis of the literature, we suggest that more research is needed to understand the broader ethical impacts of the re-imagination of the food system inherent in meat and milk alternatives. There is also a need to direct more attention to the impacts of meat and milk alternatives to the practices of agricultural practices and food production at the farm-level. A closer examination of these research gaps can contribute to a better understanding of the transformative potential of alternatives on a systemic level.

scholarly journals The Small World of the Alternative Food Network

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Brinkley
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Small World ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Robust Network Design ◽  
Alternative Food Network

This research offers the first use of graph theory mathematics in social network analysis to explore relationships built through an alternative food network. The local food system is visualized using geo-social data from 110 farms and 224 markets around Baltimore County, Maryland, with 699 connections between them. Network behavior is explored through policy document review and interviews. The findings revealed a small-world architecture, with system resiliency built-in by diversified marketing practices at central nodes. This robust network design helps to explain the long-term survival of local food systems despite the meteoric rise of global industrial food supply chains. Modern alternative food networks are an example of a movement that seeks to reorient economic power structures in response to a variety of food system-related issues not limited to consumer health but including environmental impacts. Uncovering the underlying network architecture of this sustainability-oriented social movement helps reveal how it weaves systemic change more broadly. The methods used in this study demonstrate how social values, social networks, markets, and governance systems embed to transform both physical landscapes and human bodies. Network actors crafted informal policy reports, which were directly incorporated in state and local official land-use and economic planning documents. Community governance over land-use policy suggests a powerful mechanism for further localizing food systems.

Conclusion: An Alternative Agriculture for Our Time

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connor J. Fitzmaurice ◽  
Brian J. Gareau
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Food System ◽  
Consumer Involvement ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Local Agriculture ◽  
Shopping Experience ◽  
Alternative Markets ◽  
Small Scale Farmers ◽  
Full Force ◽  
The Many

Without abandoning the practical idea of farming as a business, the small-scale farmers in this book foster connections between consumer experiences and expectations and farming practices that support their visions of organic. They try to build new, alternative markets to challenge the watering down of “organic” that the full-force entrance of corporate market logics ushered in. However, there are limitations to how sustainable such farming operations can be without further changing the relationships the modern food system is based upon. This chapter begins by recognizing the many limitations of localism, including the potentially neoliberal aspects of such efforts. However, the neoliberal notion that individuals can and should bring forth their own interests and engage in political contestation could (paradoxically) be the very kernel that further popularizes small-scale food production networks that provide safer, more healthful food and a better sense of community than the isolating conventional shopping experience. Finally, the chapter considers how deepening consumer involvement in the process of agriculture, incorporating concerns about social justice into local food systems, and addressing the inefficiencies of decentralized food production could push local agriculture to be even more alternative.

scholarly journals Integrating Agricultural Diversification in China’s Major Policies for Sustainable and Resilient Crop Production

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wanger ◽  
Xueqing He ◽  
Wolfgang Weisser ◽  
Yi Zou ◽  
Shenggen Fan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Food System ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Agricultural Diversification ◽  
Small Fields ◽  
Production Areas

Abstract Agricultural diversification of intensified farming systems is being proposed as a solution for achieving both food security and agricultural sustainability, but so far there has been little implementation of such policy at a larger scale. In China, major policies promote the “High-standard farmland consolidation” (HSFC) strategy to improve productivity and reduce environmental degradation in the world’s largest food production areas by simplifying instead of diversifying landscapes on large instead of small fields. As China’s Central government is asking for scientific innovations to improve its sustainable development strategy, we argue that China can become a role model to integrate agricultural diversification in its major policies, if HSFC builds on five decades of diversification research to achieve the national food security and sustainable development goals. We use text mining to analyze the past 17 years of China’s most important agricultural policy, the No. 1 Central Documents (1CD) policy and show that agricultural diversification at the field and supply chain level has received limited attention. Based on global synthesis studies covering five decades of research, we provide practical recommendations of how to integrate agricultural diversification in the China’s major policies from the national (the National 5-Year Plan and 1CD) to the provincial level. We use the major agricultural commodities rice, tea, wheat, and rapeseed in Zhejiang province as a case study to discuss how diversification can help to reach China’s sustainable agriculture targets. Diversification of China’s major food production areas on small fields could be an important example globally of how scientific progress informs policy and facilitates the food system transition.

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