Understanding local agri-food systems through advice network analysis

Chiffoleau, Yuna; Touzard, Jean-Marc

doi:10.1007/s10460-013-9446-6

Cited by 51 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Scale economies can result in a substantial saving of energy, water and materials. This is the case of global bulk wine in France (see Touzard et al [49] in this special issue and [50]), global apples in Spain [39] and Belgium [33], and global bread in Italy and the UK [29,51]. However, these operations generate intense flows of resources both from and to the outside: water, energy, materials, and labour.…”

Section: Size Of Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment

et al. 2016

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This paper summarizes the main findings of the GLAMUR project which starts with an apparently simple question: is "local" more sustainable than "global"? Sustainability assessment is framed within a post-normal science perspective, advocating the integration of public deliberation and scientific research. The assessment spans 39 local, intermediate and global supply chain case studies across different commodities and countries. Assessment criteria cover environmental, economic, social, health and ethical sustainability dimensions. A closer view of the food system demonstrates a highly dynamic local-global continuum where actors, while adapting to a changing environment, establish multiple relations and animate several chain configurations. The evidence suggests caution when comparing "local" and "global" chains, especially when using the outcomes of the comparison in decision-making. Supply chains are analytical constructs that necessarily-and arbitrarily-are confined by system boundaries, isolating a set of elements from an interconnected whole. Even consolidated approaches, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), assess only a part of sustainability attributes, and the interpretation may be controversial. Many sustainability attributes are not yet measurable and "hard" methodologies need to be complemented by "soft" methodologies which are at least able to identify critical issues and trade-offs. Aware of these limitations, our research shows that comparing local and global chains, with the necessary caution, can help overcome a priori positions that so far have characterized the debate between "localists" and "globalists". At firm level, comparison between "local" and "global" chains could be useful to identify best practices, benchmarks, critical points, and errors to avoid. As sustainability is not a status to achieve, but a never-ending process, comparison and deliberation can be the basis of a "reflexive governance" of food chains.

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Section: Size Of Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment

et al. 2016

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“…Varying networked forms of interdependence between enterprises and institutions play a role in structuring processes of cooperation and innovation around food quality within LAFS. Cendón et al (2014) and Chiffoleau and Touzard (2014) measure the quantity and frequency of advice relationships between managers of agro-industrial firms and other stakeholders and institutions, making use of Social Network Analysis techniques: these contributions consider the PDOs of olive oil in Andalusia, Spain, and the wine producers of the Languedoc PDO, France, respectively. Regulatory Boards and other local agro-food development institutions can assume the role of integrating poles of collective action for local stakeholders, chiefly in terms of dissemination of knowledge and innovations.…”

Section: Organisational Proximity and Territorial Governance In Localmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographies of Origin and Proximity: Approaches to Local Agro-Food Systems

Cañada¹,

Muchnik²

2016

Cult. Hist. Digit. J.

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ABSTRACT:The present paper aims to provide a critical review with respect to the literature on Local Agro-Food Systems (LAFS) in America and Europe over the last two decades, devoted to investigating the geographies of the relationships between territory and identity-based food products. In studies on LAFS, the concept of origin of food products is based upon a historical and bio-cultural analysis of food identity. Debates on territorial anchorage focus on the causal factors -natural, cultural and socio-economic-that a distinctive territory imprints on the specific attributes of identity-based foods. Moreover, the notion of geographical and organisational proximity aligns with a socio-cultural and economic approach to collective action aiming at rural development. A LAFS implies a certain spatial density and a network of mutually cooperating farms, firms and institutions, specialised in producing and marketing an identity-based food product, what can in turn be used to valorise the food identity both on the markets and also by contributing to the creation of common and public goods. A transdisciplinary view is required both for comprehending the emergence and evolution over centuries of the identity-based foods and also for understanding the role they play in constructing more sustainable rural development in the future. KEYWORDS: identity-based foods; terroir; territorial anchorage; local governance; knowledge; local networks; America; Europe. RESUMEN:Geografías del origen y de la proximidad: Enfoques sobre los sistemas agroalimentarios locales.-El artí-culo tiene como objetivo efectuar una revisión crítica de la literatura aparecida en las dos últimas décadas sobre los Sistemas Agroalimentarios Locales (SIAL) en América y en Europa, que investiga la geografía de las relaciones existentes entre el territorio y los productos alimentarios identitarios. En los estudios sobre SIAL, el concepto de origen está basado en un análisis histórico y bio-cultural de la identidad de los alimentos. Los debates sobre el anclaje territorial se focalizan en los factores causales -naturales, culturales y socioeconómicos-que un territorio distintivo incide en los atributos específicos de los alimentos identitarios. Además, la noción de proximidad organizativa lleva implícito un enfoque socio-cultural y económico de la acción colectiva para el desarrollo rural. Un SIAL implica la existencia de una cierta densidad espacial y de una red de explotaciones agrarias, empresas e instituciones que cooperan mutuamente y están especializadas en la producción y la comercialización de un alimento identitario, lo que a su vez puede servir para poner en valor la identidad alimentaria, tanto en los mercados como en el ámbito de la generación de bienes comunes y de bienes públicos. Es necesario construir una visión transdisciplinar destinada a comprender tanto la emergencia y la evolución secular de los alimentos identitarios como el papel jugado por ellos en la construcción de un desarrollo rural más sostenible cara al futuro.

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“…Our two-step approach has therefore led to a more detailed description of the three chains, in which many practices are dependent on both the local area and the global context. Moreover, thus far, grape production is not out-of-soil and needs land, locally adapted skills and the right to plant vines, and has to take into account local resources and environment, even with very intensive production models [44]. At the same time, in a globalized society, the purchase and consumption of wine-even in the most local face-to-face interactions-requires global/external judgments, standards and benchmarks [45].…”

Section: Continuum Of Situations Where Local and Global Practices Arementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the most global chains, grape producers are more involved in professional formal groups and networks, have little contact with consumers and clients and are less invested in their community. Their contrasting relational profile may be consistent with specific moral values or economic objectives [44]; we have also observed that in some cases it is not a choice, but it is inherited from their parents and difficult to change: in this sense, our research is also a way of creating some distance through the strategic vision of the relational dimension of markets and economic activities, developed in some economic sociology research from the English-speaking world [47]. In any case, it defines some opportunities for and constraints on action, and influences their judgement on "what suits" in specific contexts [34].…”

Section: Embeddedness Of Actors' Practices Reflexivity Of Analystsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is Local or Global about Wine? An Attempt to Objectivize a Social Construction

2016

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What is a "local" food chain as opposed to a "global" chain? Are local food chains more sustainable than global chains? In the context of market globalization and the proliferation of local alternatives, these questions have taken on a new aspect, which has been addressed by the GLAMUR (Global and Local food chain Assessment: a Multidimensional performance-based approach) project. Using an analysis of three archetypal wine chains in the south of France, and considering food chains as embedded social constructions, we will first attempt to objectivize which aspects of wine are local, and which are global, using a multidimensional analytical approach. As local vs. global characteristics seem to be strategic assets or constraints, and not structural components, we will then outline an evaluative approach to wine chain sustainability by valuing qualitative indicators to be scored and benchmarked by experts. We will discuss our findings from a scientific and operational perspective by highlighting how a local vs. global approach produces new sustainability issues and practical solutions. Nevertheless, as concrete chains often mix global and local characteristics, further research must be done in order to assess how this combination may be sustainable for different types of actors, depending on their values, capacities, networks and constraints.

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Understanding local agri-food systems through advice network analysis

Cited by 51 publications

References 21 publications

Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment

Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment

Geographies of Origin and Proximity: Approaches to Local Agro-Food Systems

What Is Local or Global about Wine? An Attempt to Objectivize a Social Construction

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