Abstract
The mainstream system of food supply has been heavily criticized in the last years due to its social and environmental impacts. Direct food purchasing schemes have emerged in recent decades as a form of supply that may be more ecologically sound and socially just, while allowing for a closer relationship between producers and consumers. The aim of this article is to show how a specific kind of direct supply, Collaborative Food Alliances, may help to foster sustainable urban–rural linkages. This paper presents, compares and discusses seven different cases, located in five different countries: Movimento de Integração Campo-Cidade (MICC) (Brazil), Canasta Comunitaria Utopía (Ecuador), GAS Testaccio Meticcio and Gasper (Italy), Grupo de Consumo Vera and Grupo de Consumo de Russafa (Spain), and De Groene Schuur at Zeist (The Netherlands). Analysis of the seven cases reveals that, through alliances between consumers and producers, solidarity and sustainable food supply are built. City dwellers benefit from such alliances by receiving organic products on a stable basis and at a fair price, while providing farmers with a stable income.
Highlights
According to the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) [1], facing the challenges of the 21st century—such as urbanization, population growth and climate change—makes it urgent to re-think the ways in which food provision is organized
The activities began in the mid-1980s in a political context in which the country was just emerging from a dictatorial regime and there was an effervescence of social movements in both rural and urban areas
The aim of this article was to present a transnational analysis of how a specific kind of direct food supply, Collaborative Food Alliances, may help to foster sustainable urban–rural linkages
Summary
According to the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) [1], facing the challenges of the 21st century—such as urbanization, population growth and climate change—makes it urgent to re-think the ways in which food provision is organized. According to the FAO “high-input, resource-intensive farming systems, which have caused massive deforestation, water scarcities, soil depletion and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, cannot deliver sustainable food and agricultural production” [1]. The first is the growing feeling of distrust in industrialized food due to an ongoing flow of food scares, such as “mad cow” disease, avian influenza, foot and mouth disease, and milk and meat adulterations. This has led consumers to question food quality and food safety [3]. The second problem concerns the alarming increase in diet-related ill-health problems caused by hunger, chronic malnutrition and obesity [4,5,6]
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