Abstract
The aim of the study is to identify legal instruments, implemented in France, supporting short food supply chains and, more generally, local food systems. The research has identified these tools from a variety of domains and levels, including national laws, government policies, and local government initiatives, and analysed them in relation to various forms of short supply chains present in French territory, which are the key components of local food systems, such as direct marketing, producers’ stores, basket systems, urban agriculture, and deliveries to public catering. Overall, the French instruments are multiple, diverse, mostly innovative, take into account social, environmental, and solidarity values, and can be good examples to follow. Most of them are established at the local level, being thus an expression of new models of local food governance, corresponding to the values of a participative economy and food democracy.
Highlights
The research has identified these tools from a variety of domains and levels, including national laws, government policies, and local government initiatives, and analysed them in relation to various forms of short supply chains present in French territory, which are the key components of local food systems, such as direct marketing, producers’ stores, basket systems, urban agriculture, and deliveries to public catering
The European Commission, in its Farm to Fork Strategy (European Commission 2020, p. 4), recognised the growing importance of short supply chains and local food systems, stating that “the calls for shorter supply chains have intensified during the current outbreak” of the pandemic “with a view to enhance resilience of regional and local food systems, the Commission in order to create shorter supply chains will support reducing dependence on long-haul transportation” (European Commission 2020, p. 14)
It is not an easy task, as the regulations concerning the short food supply chains (SFSCs) and LFS cannot be found in one single act devoted to this issue. They need to be drawn from a variety of domains and levels, including national laws, government policies, and local governance5 initiatives. These legal initiatives, national and local, will be analysed in relation to various forms of SFSC which are the key components of local food systems, such as direct marketing, producers’ stores, basket systems, urban agriculture, and supplies to public catering
Summary
The European Commission, in its Farm to Fork Strategy (European Commission 2020, p. 4), recognised the growing importance of short supply chains and local food systems, stating that “the calls for shorter supply chains have intensified during the current outbreak” of the pandemic “with a view to enhance resilience of regional and local food systems, the Commission in order to create shorter supply chains will support reducing dependence on long-haul transportation” (European Commission 2020, p. 14). SFSCs began to disappear after World War II, when the American model of agriculture was promoted, aiming at mechanization, intensification of production based on chemicals, specialization and enlargement of farms, and the concentration of the agri-food industry and supply chains in the hands of several large entities The aim of this study is to identify legal instruments, implemented in France, supporting short food supply chains and, more generally, local food systems It is not an easy task, as the regulations concerning the SFSCs and LFS cannot be found in one single act devoted to this issue. These legal initiatives, national and local, will be analysed in relation to various forms of SFSC which are the key components of local food systems, such as direct marketing, producers’ stores, basket systems, urban agriculture, and supplies to public catering
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