Local Food Plus: the connective tissue in local/sustainable supply chain development

Abstract

Local Food Plus (LFP) is a non-governmental organisation that blurs the lines between traditional community and private sector functions by creating space for buyers and sellers to meet; building trust among diverse food-system actors; and creating new markets for goods. This article uses a participatory action research method to explore these functions in detail. The first section examines how LFP has both emerged from a community of food practice and in turn become a pivot in creating new communities of practice within values-based food chains. The second section identifies and analyses the diversity of tools that have proven essential to LFP's model. The third section examines how LFP has contributed to alternative norm construction by balancing various conventions. Finally, the fourth section explains LFP's engagement with the state and other “strange bedfellows” to advance change, to ultimately comment on LFP's role in fostering food hub development.