Possible Actors in Local Foodscapes? LEADER Action Groups as Short Supply Chain Agents—A European Perspective

Abstract

In recent decades, alongside industrialized agriculture and food-supply systems, an alternative, network-based framework has evolved supporting local development, social innovation and sustainability objectives. Short supply chains are in the focus of the new era. At the same time, from the 1990s a new, bottom-up, spatially bound rural development method, the Liaison Entre Actions pour le Development de l’Economie Rurale (LEADER) approach, has arisen. The purpose of this study is to examine the involvement of LEADER local action groups in the management of alternative food systems in Europe. After a literature-based, detailed theoretical review, a quantitative analysis concerning the content of the official websites of action groups was conducted. A local product promoting quantitative index was created from the qualitative characteristics of the sites. From the collected data, using basic statistical analysis and thematic mapping connections were searched between local action group general characteristics and their short supply chain support activities. The results indicate notable national differences between Western and Eastern European and Mediterranean LEADER groups, supporting previous literature. It may be concluded that local action groups as potential hubs of social innovation, can be crucial actors in local foodscapes, mainly in less developed areas where other non-profit or for-profit organizations are unable to manage supply chains.

Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19

“…The program concerns mostly small and medium-sized enterprises [49,50], and many local food initiatives [21]. In spite of national differences, Local Action Groups are very important actors in local foodscapes by organizing the actions of small-scale farmers [17,51]). Thus, for convenience producers were considered small-scale farmers if they were connected to these organizations, although this decision necessarily increased the limitation of our results.…”

Environmental Sustainability, Digitalisation, and the Entrepreneurial Perception of Distances as Drivers of SMEs’ Internationalisation

“…According to a number of studies, local production contributes to environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development [27][28][29][30][31]. Industrialized production processes cause longer and less transparent-and as a result, less transparent-distribution chains [28].…”

“…It is important to study the internationalisation of SMEs via a dual approach by focusing on the effect of both sustainable behaviour and digitalisation on exports. Traditionally, local production is considered to be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable [27][28][29][30][31], however, digitalisation can help local businesses to enlarge their market in a sustainable way [30] and overcome geographical barriers.…”

Inovação Social E Agricultura: Uma Análise Sob a Perspectiva Do Desenvolvimento Local

“…No ano de 2020 destacam-se os termos "agriculture", "alternative food networks", "agroecology" e "social farming" como tópicos de tendência. Por fim, vários artigos trazem a temática de canais de suprimentos curtos e a relação próxima entre produtores e consumidores para fomentar o desenvolvimento local (DUBOIS, 2019;RUSZKAI et al, 2021). Alguns autores tratam do tema mais voltado a ação dos consumidores (OCHOA et al, 2020;SANZ-CAÑADA et al, 2018) e outros artigos trazem a visão da estruturação da cadeia e ação sob a perspectiva dos produtores (ARCIDIACONO;MAESTRIPIERI, 2019).…”