Growing a sustainable local grain economy in Arizona: A multidimensional analytical case study of an alternative food network

Food Network ◽

Generalized Knowledge

Local grain economies are being developed in North America and Europe as alternatives to the global grain economy and its negative externalities. Little is known, however, about their size, structure, and sustainability, in particular as they evolve. This study offers such insights from a case study of the local grain economy in Arizona. The study uses an analytical framework that combines quantitative and qualitative data and a number of analytical methods to construct a multidimensional profile of the local grain economy. The findings indicate steady growth of the local grain economy in Arizona—in production quantities, range of businesses, diversity of products, and local economy benefits over a number of developmental stages. The findings also suggest that challenges of consolidation, transparency, and other growth issues might undermine its sustainability. The insights can inform the further development of the local grain economy in Arizona and other regions. The study also provides a framework that, through comparative research, allows for creating generalized knowledge about local grain economies and alternative food networks.

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

Agricultural and Food Economics ◽

10.1186/s40100-019-0139-3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lucia Baldi ◽

Danilo Bertoni ◽

Giuseppina Migliore ◽

Massimo Peri

Keyword(s):

Metropolitan Area ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Northern Italy ◽

Alternative Food ◽

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.

Food waste in an alternative food network – A case-study

Resources Conservation and Recycling ◽

10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.05.029 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 149 ◽

pp. 210-219 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ana Poças Ribeiro ◽

Jakub Rok ◽

Robert Harmsen ◽

Jesús Rosales Carreón ◽

Ernst Worrell

Keyword(s):

Food Waste ◽

Alternative Food ◽

Food Network ◽

Alternative Food Network

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

International Food and Agribusiness Management Review ◽

10.22434/ifamr2020.0193 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Erik Hunter ◽

Andreas Norrman ◽

Eva Berg

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Alternative Food ◽

Farmers Markets ◽

Community Supported Agriculture ◽

Economic Returns ◽

Food Network ◽

Food Networks ◽

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.

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

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20207405015 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 74 ◽

pp. 05015

Author(s):

Miroslava Navrátilová ◽

Josef Abrhám ◽

Markéta Beranová ◽

David Brož

Keyword(s):

Distribution Channels ◽

Alternative Food ◽

General Level ◽

Food Network ◽

Food Networks ◽

Young Consumers ◽

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.

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

International Journal of Agriculture System ◽

10.20956/ijas.v4i2.692 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 184 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Huan Yang

Keyword(s):

Food System ◽

Alternative Food ◽

Community Supported Agriculture ◽

Small Scale ◽

Middle Income ◽

Food Network ◽

Food Networks ◽

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.

Running wild in the marketplace: the articulation and negotiation of an alternative food network

Journal of Marketing Management ◽

10.1080/0267257x.2017.1329224 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (7-8) ◽

pp. 502-528 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell ◽

Will Low ◽

Eileen Davenport ◽

Tim Brigham

Keyword(s):

Alternative Food ◽

Food Network ◽

Alternative Food Network

The Small World of the Alternative Food Network

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10082921 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 2921 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

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.

Brooklyn's agrarian questions

Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems ◽

10.1017/s1742170514000222 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 92-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Evan Weissman

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Urban Agriculture ◽

Food Justice ◽

Small Scale ◽

Food Network ◽

The Usa ◽

The Relationship ◽

The City

AbstractThroughout the USA, urban agriculture is expanding as a manifestation of an emerging American food politics. Through a case study of Brooklyn, New York, I used mixed qualitative research methods to investigate the political possibilities of urban agriculture for fostering food justice. My findings build on the existing alternative food network (AFN) literature by indicating that problematic contradictions rooted in the neoliberalization of urban agriculture limit the transformative possibilities of farming the city as currently practiced in Brooklyn. I suggest that longstanding agrarian questions—concerns over the relationship between agriculture and capitalism and the politics of small-scale producers—are informative for critical interrogation of urban agriculture as a politicization of food.