Overcoming Barriers to Scaling Up Sustainable Alternative Food Systems: A Comparative Case Study of Two Ontario-Based Wholesale Produce Auctions

Rylea Johnson,Evan Fraser,Roberta Hawkins

doi:10.3390/su8040328

Abstract

Conventional food systems are viewed by the literature as unsustainable in that they provide consumers with convenience while disconnecting them from producers thus leading to environmental and social problems. By contrast, sustainable or “alternative” food systems are viewed as correcting such problems. Wholesale produce auctions, which are well established in the Old Order Mennonite community, are physical sites where large quantities of produce are sold through a competitive bidding process to local buyers. These are seen as a way of better connecting producers and consumers and thus realizing a more sustainable food system. However, this potential has not been tested. Therefore, this paper explores two produce auctions in southwestern Ontario, Canada, using an interview based methodology (N = 48) and demonstrates that despite wholesale produce auctions offering many opportunities to promote the benefits of alternative food systems, produce auctions are limited in that they fail to provide a practical and functional way of distributing food to individual consumers. Overall, this research highlights what appears to be a tension in the alternative food systems literature: producers and consumers may be simultaneously looking for the sustainability benefits associated with “alternative food systems” without wanting to sacrifice any of the convenience found in conventional food systems.

Highlights

The environmental and social problems caused by conventional food production systems have led many to conclude that mainstream food production today is unsustainable and this has given rise to a range of new institutional models such as farmers markets and community supported agriculture [1,2,3]
The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which “wholesale produce auctions,” which are a well-established way for Old Order Mennonites and Amish farmers to sell their produce, has the potential to act as an institutional model that can support the values and promote the benefits of alternative food systems (AFSs)
Perceived Benefits of Wholesale Produce Auctions. Overall, when both buyer and grower interviews were included from both case studies, the interviews revealed four broad themes representing key ways that respondents perceive that produce auctions may help promote more sustainable food systems

Summary

Introduction

The environmental and social problems caused by conventional food production systems have led many to conclude that mainstream food production today is unsustainable and this has given rise to a range of new institutional models such as farmers markets and community supported agriculture [1,2,3]. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which “wholesale produce auctions,” which are a well-established way for Old Order Mennonites and Amish farmers to sell their produce, has the potential to act as an institutional model that can support the values and promote the benefits of alternative food systems (AFSs) We do this by exploring the perceptions of the participants of two specific produce auctions currently operating in southern Ontario, Canada. There is an extensive literature on AFSs that critiques “mainstream” food production systems as creating serious social and environmental problems and explores the ways in which institutions such as community supported agricultural programs, farmers markets, and farm tours promote sustainability by better linking producers and consumers. A study conducted by Carrigan and Attalla [25] demonstrated that for many consumers hectic lifestyles played a strong part in the decision to purchase produce from mainstream supermarkets

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Conclusion