The Significance of Short Food Supply Chains: Trends and Bottlenecks from the SKIN Thematic Network

Value propositions for improving the competitiveness of short food supply chains built on technological and non-technological innovations

“…Various aspects can hinder the development of the short food supply chains. Nevertheless, bottlenecks can be overcome by sharing information on successful SFSCs through disseminating Good Practices between various actors and territories (Hyland et al, 2019). These can impact the food chain members and the food chain as a whole.…”

Exploring regulatory obstacles to the development of short food supply chains: empirical evidence from selected european countries

“…Regarding access to the mar-ket and consumers, small farmers face numerous barriers among which Jarzebowski and Pietrzyck (2018) identified the following: poor internet network, weak IT systems, lack of affordable technical support, lack of knowledge of how to use social media, unreliable distribution, lack of communication skills in sales, inability to pay the cost of owning or renting store space, lack of skills and resources to submit an offer and meet the requirements, lack of bargaining power to challenge supermarkets in trade negotiations and poor organization compared to the professionalism expected by e.g., hotels. The lack of specific management and administrative skills represents an extremely important barrier that has been recognized by many researchers exploring this topic (European Commission, 2015b;Hyland et al, 2019). These shortcomings occur because farmers, in addition to producing foodstuffs, must perform a series of activities for which they do not necessarily have knowledge such as: marketing activities, creating and managing business strategies, distribution and selling activities, communication with customers etc.…”

“…Hygiene Regulations are often not adjusted to the specificities of SFSCs (Galli & Brunori, 2013). The implementation of the Hygiene Regulation in the EU favors larger players while on the other hand it marginalizes small producers and farmers, although some exemptions apply (Hyland et al, 2019). It means that some EU countries apply their own regulations and thus put their small farmers at a disadvantage compared to farmers from other countries.…”

“…It means that some EU countries apply their own regulations and thus put their small farmers at a disadvantage compared to farmers from other countries. Small primary producers also face exclusion from public procurement contracts and other lucrative markets (Hyland et al, 2019). Labelling and procedures of getting certifications are also recognized as obstacles for small food producers (Kneafsey et al, 2013).…”