Off to market: but which one? Understanding the participation of small-scale farmers in short food supply chains—a Hungarian case study

Abstract

The research described in this paper was designed to identify the factors that influence the importance small-scale farmers place on different marketing channels of short food supply chains. The focus concerns two entirely different types of market that are present in the bigger cities in Hungary: 'conventional' markets where there are no restrictions on locality but the farmer-market relationship is based on binding contracts, and newly-emergent farmers' markets at which only local growers can sell ad hoc, using their own portable facilities. Results are based on a survey that was conducted in 2013 among 156 Hungarian market oriented farmer-vendors at different types of market and confirm that different markets are visited by different types of farmers. Farmers who favour conventional markets are typically less educated, operate on smaller scales and are more committed to their chosen markets via long-term contracts (which reduce the probability of their trying other outlets). The preference for farmers' markets is stronger with farmers who are more open to cooperation, have specific investment plans for developing their farms and among those who are specifically looking to directly interact with their customers to avoid middlemen. The relevance of the findings is highlighted by the ongoing Short Food Supply Chain Thematic Sub-programme in the present European Union financing period; farmers' profiles in any given marketing channel must be understood if short food supply chains are to be effectively promoted. Different types of small-scale farmers will benefit from different supporting frameworks, interventions, and initiatives.

Community Supported Agriculture Farmers’ Perceptions of Management Benefits and Drawbacks

“…Obtaining funds from the buyers before harvest allows for the farmers in the CSA program to carry lower financial debts, and allows them to recover from possible low yields due to weather uncertainties. The shared responsibility by CSA members is one of the main differences between a CSA and a vegetable box scheme [4,14].…”

Farmers’ Attitudes towards Participation in short Food Supply Chains: Evidence from a Chinese field research

“…The lack of education also reflects in the absence of sustainable agriculture, the usage of pesticide, and the ignorance of biodiversity (Chen and Zheng, 2016). It can be noted that in developed countries farmers' motivations of participating in SFSCs are mainly spontaneous, such as reducing energy consumption (Smith, 2008), improving biodiversity (Canfora, 2016), and regaining the profits shared by intermediates (Benedek et al, 2017). However, although Chinese farmers enjoyed some typical advantages of SFSCs, such as increased profit and direct communication with customers, their participations in SFSCs are more like a passive choice, as they tend to have rather limited knowledge of SFSCs and its benefits.…”

“…The most widely acknowledged social benefits of SFSCs in existing studies are identified as the improved food quality and security (Hinrichs, 2000;Marsden et al, 2000;Hinson and Bruchhaus, 2008;Smith, 2008;Jones and Bhatia, 2011;Bimbo et al, 2015;Engelseth, 2016;Leiper and Sather, 2017), additional employment opportunities (Ilbery and Maye, 2005;Sgroi et al, 2014;Falguieres et al, 2015;Tudisca et al, 2015;Mundler and Laughrea, 2016;Rover et al, 2017), and the regained consumers' trust (Hinson and Bruchhaus, 2008;O'Kane and Wijaya, 2015;Giampietri, 2016;Giampietri, 2018). Meanwhile, the friendly shopping atmosphere (Hinson and Bruchhaus, 2008;Watts et al, 2011;Zirham and Palomba, 2015;Benedek et al, 2017;Leiper and Sather, 2017) and the social connection with customers and fellow farmers (Beckie et al, 2012) are also noted as the improved social sustainability of SFSCs. Based on the results from the conducted pilot study, it can be noted that a high correlation can be found on the farmers' opinions on this social pillar.…”

“…This is the most widely acknowledged economic feature of SFSCs in the existing studies. Meanwhile, some researchers (Watts et al, 2011;Smith, 2008;Migliore et al, 2015;Balázs et al, 2016;Benedek et al, 2017;Elghannam et al, 2017) also found that SFSCs can have a positive influence on local economy. Although the improvements in economic sustainability are fewer than the social benefits, a high correlation was also found between the interviewed farmers and these existing studies.…”

Short food supply chains: the link between participation and farmers' competencies

“…Work on consumers' behavior towards these chains shows a consistent focus on the motives driving participation in such production—consumption lines (Giampietri et al ., 2016; Hashem et al ., 2018). On the other hand, the antecedents of farmers' participation in SFSCs have received only a small share of attention (Benedek et al ., 2018; Charatsari et al ., 2018 a ). However, to further support the development of alternative food networks (AFNs), an important question to be answered is how to increase farmers' participation in such initiatives (Bruce and Som Castellano, 2017).…”