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2018 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Alternative Food Networks

An Interdisciplinary Assessment

Editors: Dr. Alessandro Corsi, Dr. Filippo Barbera, Prof. Egidio Dansero, Dr. Cristiana Peano

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

In recent years, Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) have been a key issue both in the scientific community and in public debates. This is due to their profound implications for rural development, local sustainability, and bio-economics. This edited collection discusses what the main determinants of the participation of operators – both consumers and producers – in AFNs are, what the conditions for their sustainability are, what their social and environmental effects are, and how they are distributed geographically. Further discussions include the effect of AFNs in structuring the food chain and how AFNs can be successfully scaled up.

The authors explicitly take an interdisciplinary approach to analyse AFNs from different perspectives, using as an example the Italian region of Piedmont, a particularly interesting case study due to the diffusion of AFNs in the area, as well as due to the fact that it was in this region that the ‘Slow Food’ movement originated.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Introductions

Frontmatter
1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the book, which argues that an interdisciplinary approach should be used to reach a better understanding of (1) consumers’ and producers’ motivations for participating in AFNs, (2) AFNs’ operating mechanisms and the conditions for their sustainability over time, and (3) their impact on the environment and on the local area. Hence, the book starts with a theoretical discussion of AFNs from different disciplinary approaches, proceeding then to analyse them from the consumers’ viewpoint, from the producers’ viewpoint, and in terms of their environmental and geographical impacts. A final chapter deals with future perspectives for AFNs.
Alessandro Corsi, Filippo Barbera, Egidio Dansero, Cristiana Peano
2. Multidisciplinary Approaches to Alternative Food Networks
Abstract
In this chapter, Corsi, Barbera, Dansero, Orlando, and Peano present the general theoretical framework for the research described in this volume. They discuss the concept of Alternative Food Networks as presented in the literature and the criteria of “alternativeness” on which it is based (length of the chain, local origin, embeddedness), arguing that the main factor that determines whether a chain can be considered alternative is the quality of the exchange relationship, that is, the fact that in AFNs the exchange is not only a question of selling a commodity for money, but produces benefits in itself. They review the current approaches to AFNs in different disciplines—economics, sociology, geography, anthropology, and environmental sciences—and present the approach followed in this book.
Alessandro Corsi, Filippo Barbera, Egidio Dansero, Giovanni Orlando, Cristiana Peano

AFNs from the Consumers’ Viewpoint

Frontmatter
3. Introduction to Part II: AFNs from the Consumer’s Viewpoint
Abstract
The subchapters analyse the role of consumers and their purchasing choices from different angles. All approaches acknowledge that AFNs are deeply shaped by agents’ intrinsic motivation and by the role of interpersonal relationships, but their understandings of these dimensions differ. In the economic approach, other-regarding motives are relevant as “different” arguments of the utility function but do not cancel out the relevance of budget constraints. The anthropological approach views AFNs and consumer choices as an expression of opposition to the industrialized and globalized agro-food sector. The sociological approach underscores the importance of intrinsically motivated choices, but also acknowledges the role of situational constraints. Lastly, the environmental approach illustrates that unlike consumers’ view, AFNs are not necessarily more ecologically sustainable than conventional chains, when objectively measured.
Filippo Barbera, Alessandro Corsi, Cristiana Peano
4. Determinants of Participation in AFNs and Its Value for Consumers
Abstract
In this chapter Corsi and Novelli discuss consumers’ motivations for participating in AFNs. Some consumers are self-interested and look for healthier food, lower prices, better quality, and food freshness and taste. Others have social, political, and environmental concerns. Lastly, personal relationships can count in the decision to join AFNs. These motivations can coexist in the same consumers and have different strength. This chapter discusses the relevant literature and presents the results of three empirical investigations assessing and quantifying the strength of consumers’ commitment to the AFNs. The first analyses the determinants of consumers’ choice to buy from farmers’ stands in urban district markets. The second estimates consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) to buy from farmers. The third estimates Solidarity Purchase Groups members’ WTP for participating in their group.
Alessandro Corsi, Silvia Novelli
5. Consumers’ Quality Conventions in Alternative, Conventional, and High-End Food Chains
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the analysis of quality conventions in five different food chains, both alternative and conventional ones. In line with quality conventions theory, we consider quality as an emergent social construct of a specific social field where strategic maneuvering takes place. After a descriptive analysis of how quality conventions are connected to consumers’ conventions and chains’ attributes, Barbera, Dagnes, and Di Monaco illustrate the interplay and overlapping of quality conventions in alternative, conventional, and high-end food chains. Specifically, they argue that high-end food retailers mimic AFNs in order to satisfy consumers’ desire for “alternative” quality conventions.
Filippo Barbera, Joselle Dagnes, Roberto Di Monaco
6. The Environmental Quality Factors Sought by Consumers in Alternative and Conventional Market Channels
Abstract
In alternative as in conventional market channels, environmental sustainability has become increasingly relevant in guiding and orienting consumers’ purchasing behaviour. In the case of fruit and vegetables, where most of the green attributes cannot be verified even after the consumption experience, green consumption takes different context-dependent forms or nuances. This chapter contributes to identifying, analysing, and understanding how green attributes and habits change in farmers’ markets, solidarity purchasing groups, and supermarkets. Our purpose is to discuss the different mechanisms for gathering information about the environmental impact of products and how they can affect consumers’ behaviour in purchasing fruit and vegetables.
Nadia Tecco, Cristiana Peano
7. Understanding Alternative Food Networks After the Crisis: Testing Four Scenarios in Italy
Abstract
Combining anthropological and food regimes theory, Orlando analyses the alternative food networks phenomenon in Italy to understand the processes through which economic and cultural values attached to food are currently being reproduced and contested as part of the capitalist system as a whole. He explores this topic specifically in relation to the changes that have taken place in the Italian solidarity economy after the crisis of 2008 and during the period of ensuing austerity. He proposes four scenarios to make sense of these changes: (1) the generation of new solidarity economy phenomena, (2) the strengthening of existing ones, (3) their obstruction, and (4) the irrelevance of the crisis to the phenomena in question. The chapter illustrates these scenarios through a case study from northern Italy.
Giovanni Orlando

AFNs from the Producers’ Viewpoint

Frontmatter
8. Introduction to Part III: AFNs from the Producers’ Viewpoint
Abstract
After illustrating the long-term trends that led to the birth of AFNs, this chapter discusses producers’ participation in AFNs, their motivations and behaviour. The most obvious motivation for producers’ participation in AFNs is arguably income, but subjective preferences and social and environmental motivations can play a role. Their coexistence and the social interplay among participants are addressed by three studies presented in the chapter. One analyses the objective and observable variables favouring direct sales by farmers, their subjective motivations and the effects of participation on the farm setting. The second examines how the operation of Solidarity Purchase Groups is based on members’ voluntary work. The third assesses producers’ strategies in setting quality and prices within the social relationships in a farmer market.
Alessandro Corsi, Filippo Barbera, Silvia Novelli
9. Determinants of Farmers’ Participation in AFNs
Abstract
In this chapter Corsi, Novelli, and Pettenati analyse the reasons that lead farmers to adopt direct selling or more generally AFNs, distinguishing between on-farm and off-farm direct sales. The issue is discussed first from a theoretical perspective. Next, empirical evidence is presented, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Using census data, the determinants of the choice to sell directly on-farm and off-farm are analysed on the basis of farm structural characteristics, farmers’ personal characteristics, and geographical explanatory variables. Then the results of an in-depth qualitative analysis of individual motivations carried out with a focus group of local producers are presented. The results highlight the technical constraints to the adoption of the direct chains as well as the subjective motivations, both monetary and non-monetary.
Alessandro Corsi, Silvia Novelli, Giacomo Pettenati
10. The Economic Viability of Solidarity Purchase Groups (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale)
Abstract
New forms of governance for collective food distribution such as Solidarity Purchase Groups claim to be based on ethical and solidarity logics and motivations. Non-market logics shape these groups’ organization and their members’ participation. Volunteers supply the labour for the distribution activities, which is arguably a key element for the groups’ economic viability. The value of voluntary work is an unpaid cost item but can also be viewed as an alternative monetary measure of the value of participation for the members. Novelli and Corsi present the results of an empirical analysis of the balances of several SPGs, finding that unpaid volunteer work is an indicator of the strength of the participants’ motivations and is indeed a crucial factor for the groups’ long-term economic viability.
Silvia Novelli, Alessandro Corsi
11. Quality and Price Setting by Producers in AFNs
Abstract
This chapter deals with the problem of setting prices and quality conventions among small-scale agro-food producers. Barbera, Dagnes, and Di Monaco first show how producers decide sales prices for their products and, more precisely, how relational mechanisms (e.g., imitation) mix with the moral economy (e.g., legitimate price thresholds) and economic fundamentals (e.g., labor cost, demand levels). They then show how different mechanisms bring about specific disputes and compromises within and between quality conventions on the producers’ side.
Filippo Barbera, Joselle Dagnes, Roberto Di Monaco

Environment, Territory, and AFNs

Frontmatter
12. Introduction to Part IV: Environment, Territory, and AFNs
Abstract
This chapter deals with AFNs’ relationship with the territory and the environment. Two sub-chapters address the environmental implications of AFNs and their territorial implications. The first sub-chapter examines the claims of AFNs’ superiority over conventional chains and presents empirical tests of the different chains’ environmental impact. The second discusses whether and how AFNs can contribute to rebuilding a relationship between consumers and producers at the territorial level.
Alessandro Corsi, Egidio Dansero, Cristiana Peano
13. Applied Environmental Sustainability of Fruit and Vegetables in Different Distribution Channels (AFNs and Large-Scale Retail)
Abstract
Growing concern about the conventional food system’s unsustainability has focused attention on AFNs, emphasizing how, over and above the production methods, the technical functions and forms of distribution channels have become more relevant. The notion of ‘environmental quality’ along the entire supply chain has thus become a core feature in characterizing products in AFNs. However, widespread lack of ‘ad hoc research’, distortion from popular/academic discourses, and limits in managing complex umbrella concepts like AFNs and sustainability make it difficult to assess how AFNs’ characteristics translate into sustainability. On the basis of a literature review and empirical findings, this chapter reflects critically on AFNs’ limitations and potential for reducing environmental impact.
Cristiana Peano, Nadia Tecco, Vincenzo Girgenti
14. Reterritorialization, Proximity, and Urban Food Planning: Research Perspectives on AFNs
Abstract
From a geographical perspective, AFNs produce and sustain new relationships between places, like rural and urban areas, that are reconnected by relationships between producers and consumers. Dansero and Pettenati explore Piedmont’s AFNs from three perspectives. First, they analyze the spatial distribution of AFNs in the region, finding that they are mostly urban in nature. Second, they interpret them as potential practices of reterritorialization of food systems, opposing the general deterritorialization affecting such systems at all scales. Understanding this reterritorialization means moving beyond the idea of a simple relocalization of food networks, exploring the many dimensions of the connections between food, people, and places. Third, they use proximity as a theoretical lens for analyzing AFNs, focusing on its spatial, relational, and cognitive dimensions.
Egidio Dansero, Giacomo Pettenati

Conclusions

Frontmatter
15. Conclusions: An Interdisciplinary Assessment
Abstract
In this chapter, Corsi, Barbera, Dansero, and Peano review the main findings of the research presented in this volume. These findings support the concept of alternativeness as a continuum rather than a dichotomy, due to the heterogeneity of consumers’ and producers’ preferences for private, rival attributes of self-interest or non-rival, altruistic ones. The “degree of alternativeness” can thus be interpreted along two dimensions: the degree of consumers’ preferences for rival vs non-rival goods and the relevance of personal relationships. After presenting the benefits of the interdisciplinary approach, the authors discuss the AFNs’ prospects for scaling up or scaling out. These prospects depend on increases in the criticism of the existing food system and on the demand for attributes such as personal relationships that conventional chains cannot provide.
Alessandro Corsi, Filippo Barbera, Egidio Dansero, Cristiana Peano
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Alternative Food Networks
Editors
Dr. Alessandro Corsi
Dr. Filippo Barbera
Prof. Egidio Dansero
Dr. Cristiana Peano
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-90409-2
Print ISBN
978-3-319-90408-5
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90409-2

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