502
Alternative Food Networks
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC40 Sociology of Agriculture and Food (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
AFNs are organizational schemes whose purpose is to set up and manage short food chains to re-valorize local, traditional and sustainable production. Seen as a response to the food system crisis, they carry a promise to facilitate access to sustainable foods, while concurrently providing an opportunity to revive the local rural fabric through processes of ‘re-socialization’ and ‘re-localization’ of food production, distribution and consumption practices.
Despite a growing body of literature assessing AFNs from the standpoint of consumption, a comprehensive representation of the role and prerogatives of farmers/producers in these networks is lacking.
This session aims to explore the ‘production side’ of AFNs, welcoming contributions that reflect on the effects of such social innovations on the human, economic, entrepreneurial and organizational pathways of the farmers and food producers involved. Invited research can address, but should not necessarily be limited to the following questions:
In what ways are AFNs around the world involving food producers and proposing to them a viable – more appealing – alternative to the current configuration of the food economy?
How do the participation to an AFN affect producers’ business strategies, entrepreneurialism and the pursuit of their livelihoods?
In what ways do AFNs multiply farms’ opportunities for diversification and multifunctionality, as well as their connections with other sectors such as tourism and land management?
What differences emerge between the global North and South in terms of food re-socialization and re-localization and how can they be explained from the perspective of farmers?