Towards Territorially Embedded, Equitable and Resilient Food Systems? Insights from Grassroots Responses to COVID-19 in Italy and the City Region of Rome

Zollet, Simona; Colombo, Luca; Meo, Paola De; Marino, Davide; McGreevy, Steven R.; McKeon, Nora; Tarra, Simona

doi:10.3390/su13052425

Cited by 39 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Although the survey and interviews indicated that producers could adapt to Covid-19 related challenges, some respondents pointed out that provincial regulations followed a “watering can” approach (e.g., posing the same measures for sales at outdoor farms as for supermarkets). This somewhat mirrors initial findings, such as by Zollet et al (2021) , who identify concerns about preferential treatment of big players in Italy. Not only does this show insufficient agricultural emergency and insurance programs that were not designed for pandemics ( Ker, 2020 ) but also the lack of nuanced regulations for different types of operations.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 83%

“…It is not clear, however, whether consumer demand alone will or can drive local food systems and where Québec will hit physical, social, economic, and political boundaries. According to O'Hara and Low (2016) , local food sales are more tied to income fluctuations compared to non-local products, raising questions about willingness or ability to spend money on local food if economic concerns arise in the wake of Covid-19 ( Zollet et al, 2021 ). Hence, to what degree financial commitments, as found in CSA, or household income will determine continued support of local farmers has yet to be seen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Covid-19 pandemic has bolstered the interest in and awareness for “eating local” ( Zollet et al, 2021 ), picking up a trend with local food systems and direct marketing that has grown in North America over the past decades ( Thilmany et al, 2021 ). The literature around local food and direct marketing has emphasized their capacity to build resilience to shocks, largely due to their dependence on relationships rather than on physical infrastructure (Clapp, 2017; Darnhofer et al, 2016Darnhofer et al, 2016; Vieira et al, 2018Vieira et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diverse adaptation strategies helped local food producers cope with initial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic: Lessons from Québec, Canada

Schreiber

Soubry

Dove-McFalls

et al. 2022

Journal of Rural Studies

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The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the vulnerability of food systems to disturbances. Advocates have promoted short food supply chains as more resilient and adaptable thanks to their embeddedness in local economic and ecological networks. As part of a broader case study on challenges facing farmers in local food supply chains in Québec, Canada, we asked farmers about the pandemic's impacts on food production and marketing in the province, including how food producers coped with these challenges. We sent an online questionnaire to 1046 farmers who distribute food through direct marketing in Québec, identified through consumer-facing online platforms. We conducted follow-up interviews with 15 of the 133 farmers that completed the questionnaire to gain a better understanding of their pandemic-related challenges and opportunities, as well as their adaptation needs and strategies. We identified four main types of challenges among farmers: workforce, food demand and supply, changes in sales outlets and marketing channels, and other operational and development issues. In turn, six key adaptation strategies helped farmers reorganize their marketing and sales, which we categorize as: redistribution, streamlining, replacement, collaboration, farm adjustment, and outlet adjustment. Most surveyed local farmers felt well-prepared to adapt to four major challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic forged or escalated, and our findings suggest that they demonstrated remarkable resilience to additional challenges posed by the pandemic. Our study therefore contributes important insights about how flexibility and redundancy among local farmers stabilized the local food system during the onset of a global pandemic. (244 words).

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Diverse adaptation strategies helped local food producers cope with initial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic: Lessons from Québec, Canada

Schreiber

Soubry

Dove-McFalls

et al. 2022

Journal of Rural Studies

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“…At the same time, locally led initiatives have emerged in response to urgent and pressing food access challenges at the community scale [5,6]. Local and global policy arenas are not substitutes, but rather interconnected complements and powerful tools for reform.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconnecting with Nature through Good Governance: Inclusive Policy across Scales

Wilkes

2022

Agriculture

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We are disconnected from nature, surpassing planetary boundaries at a time when our climate and social crises converge. Even prior to the emergence of COVID-19, the United Nations and its member states were already off track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fulfil climate commitments made under the Paris Agreement. While agricultural expansion and intensification have supported increases in food production, this model has also fostered an unsustainable industry of overproduction, waste, and the consumption of larger quantities of carbon-intensive and ultra-processed foods. By addressing the tension that exists between our current food system and all that is exploited by it, different scales of governance can serve as spaces of transformation towards more equitable, sustainable outcomes. This review looks at how good governance can reconnect people with nature through inclusive structures across scales. Using four examples that focus on place-based and rights-based approaches—such as inclusive multilateralism, agroecology, and co-governance—the author hopes to highlight the ways that policy processes are already supporting healthy communities and resilient ecosystems.

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“…In response to these impacts, actions have been taken by groups or individuals in society or governments to prevent, compensate for, or adapt to emerging changes. There are hints that local food actors have responded to the consequences and impacts by developing immediate decentralized collective strategies, and by implementing alternative practices under the umbrella of agroecology (Tittonell et al, 2021;Zollet et al, 2021). However, the particular changing conditions under which such practices have been implemented and what potentials they unfold within local food systems' sustainability transitions in time and in relation to the principles of agroecology (Wezel et al, 2020) remain to be further explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Conditions for Local Food Actors to Operate Towards Agroecology During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Frank

Kaufmann

Ejarque

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Given the novel character of disturbances caused by the pandemic in food systems, initial studies have been conducted to stress the reinforced urgent need for food systems' transformation toward sustainability. First assessments, conducted in the early months of the pandemic, found that local food actors responded to changing production and marketing conditions by implementing alternative practices under the umbrella of agroecology. However, given the unprecedented and dynamic character of the pandemic in regional situations, and related context-specific changes caused in food system actors' operations, case studies are needed to assess in more detail under which changing conditions food actors implemented alternative practices. Moreover, the maintenance of practices as conditions normalize, and food actors' transformative potential in relation to the principles of agroecology, need further assessment. In response to these emerging issues, we provide insights into our case study research conducted during 2021 in a local food system in Argentina. The aim of this research was to study how changing conditions triggered local food actors to (re-)frame their objectives and activities regarding marketing, and to assess the relevance of agroecological principles as a means of responding to changing conditions and to unfold longer-term transitions. We identified local producer shops (n = 5) and markets (n = 4) that were established or consolidated by self-organized producer groups (SOPGs) during the first months of the pandemic. Using semi-structured interviews with SOPG members (n = 12) and qualitative content analysis, we found that alternative practices were adopted in response to different changing conditions, and new needs and opportunities for producers and consumers brought about by the pandemic. Objectives pursued, and activities undertaken by the groups revealed reactive short-term mitigation strategies, and proactive longer-term transformative objectives. The relational analysis between practices and agroecological principles showed that the principles became important means of responding to changing conditions and to unfold longer-term transitions. The cases illustrate how local food actors operationalized agroecological principles, and in turn how principles can be used to investigate the nature and potentials of food actors' alternative practices, highlighting the relevance of agroecology to co-design sustainability transitions in local food systems and to mitigate possible future crisis.

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Towards Territorially Embedded, Equitable and Resilient Food Systems? Insights from Grassroots Responses to COVID-19 in Italy and the City Region of Rome

Cited by 39 publications

References 61 publications

Diverse adaptation strategies helped local food producers cope with initial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic: Lessons from Québec, Canada

Diverse adaptation strategies helped local food producers cope with initial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic: Lessons from Québec, Canada

Reconnecting with Nature through Good Governance: Inclusive Policy across Scales

Changing Conditions for Local Food Actors to Operate Towards Agroecology During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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