Local Food Systems Research Articles

Understanding small- and very-small-scale size meat processors in Missouri to strengthen the local supply chain

Promoting local food systems is crucial to providing a more viable economy, eco-friendly production, and equal opportunities for producers, consum­ers, and communities. Meat processors are critical to local meat producers and the meat supply chain. However, various barriers have restricted small-scale meat processors and challenged the local meat supply chain. Although local food systems have gained enormous scholarly attention, little attention has been devoted to specifically exploring the meat processing sector. This study investigated the characteristics and challenges of small-scale (<750 employees) and very-small–scale (<200 employees) meat processors in Missouri. Twenty-six meat processors participated in an online survey through Qualtrics, a mail survey, or a structured phone interview between May 2021 and March 2022. We identified the characteristics and constraints related to their businesses. The analysis revealed that 76% of meat processors perceived that their business was in better or much better condition than before the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting their adaptability to the disrupted meat supply chain. However, small-scale meat processing facilities were limited by the labor shortage, complicated regulations and high regulatory compliance costs, a lack of consistent supply, and limited access to tools and equipment. More integrated work is needed to aid smaller processors in positively impacting the local community and environment through locally sourced meat production. This study contains helpful implications for state-level policymaking, extension programs, and future research directions.

Empowering communities in the face of grand challenges The critical role of local food systems and democratized science

Empowering communities in the face of grand challenges The critical role of local food systems and democratized science

Searching for Germane Questions in the Ethnobiology of Food Scouting

In the past two decades, ethnobiologists have increasingly paid attention to the scouting and documentation of endangered corpora of local food elements and associated traditional knowledge. In this endeavor, food scouting encompasses the methodological tools used for mapping, inventorying, and documenting food and food-related resources. The growing body of research in this field is shedding light on the potentialities of these practices in obtaining baseline data regarding food heritage, which can, in turn, empower local communities in their dynamic understanding and safeguarding of this resource. While food scouting have been gaining an important role in current food and gastronomic ethnobiological research, as well as in other fields of study (e.g., geography and anthropology), little attention has been paid thus far to the methods and approaches underpinning these activities. To partially fill this gap, this contribution aims to tackle some methodological issues connected to the documentation of food and gastronomic elements embedded in local knowledge. Acknowledging the plethora of methods applicable in food scouting research, we describe three specific applications of food scouting to elicit data on local food diversity, highlighting their prospects and limitations. The first case addresses market surveys to obtain baseline data on the local food systems and their associated diversity, the second focuses on context-based freelisting methods for eliciting wild food plant uses, and the third discusses methods for scouting and inventorying artisanal food products. Acknowledging the contributions of Justin Nolan to the advancement of methods in the field of ethnobiology, we suggest that the methodological toolkit of food scouting should include ad hoc transdisciplinary platforms codesigned together with local food actors.

Thin layer drying characteristics of alligator pepper, ginger and turmeric

The delightful pungency, aromatic compounds and phytochemicals in some spices make them indispensable in local food systems and native medicine, hence, driving a robust market in many parts of the world. The understanding of their drying characteristics is very important for processing and adding value, and a thin layer drying study is a proven method for achieving this. In this study, changes in the moisture content, moisture ratio, drying rate and effective diffusivity of alligator peppers, ginger and turmeric were investigated at three drying temperatures 50, 60, and 70 °C following standard procedures. Five models were proposed to simulate the drying process. Non-linear regression was used to establish the coefficient of determination (R2), sum of square error (SSE) and root mean square error (RMSE) for each model to determine the model of the best fit. The Page model gave the best fit for ginger while the logarithmic model was best fitted for alligator peppers and turmeric. The effective diffusivity ranged from 1.79–3.08 × 10–9, 8.44–9.74 × 10–9, and 4.06–6.49 × 10–9 m2·s–1 for alligator peppers, ginger and turmeric, respectively. The activation energy ranged from 16.5–22 kJ·mol–1·K–1 for the three spices. These findings promise improvement in the drying, processing and handling of spices, thereby boosting the obtainable income from the value chain.

Servitization of Farming: A New Approach to Local Food Systems Building

Abstract The post-industrial service economy suggests new ways of thinking about food system design and building processes. This article discusses the need to explore best practices in the servitization of farming and theorize them as a new approach to food production, supply, and consumption. In contrast to prevailing theories that suggest reorganization of the global agri-food supply chain on the basis of the short supply chain concept or according to the community-supported agriculture model, servitization of farming puts forward a „made-to-order” food system. The purpose of this article is to develop theoretical and practical guidelines that suggest new ways of thinking about food system design and building processes. The article demonstrates the potential of a farming servitization to create new food system configurations through the combination of three approaches: holistic, design thinking, and evolutionary by providing a case study on a farm that uses a „service-driven” business model and makes-to-order organic vegetables, fruits, and greens. The case study approach allows in-depth, multi-faceted explorations and conceptualization of an innovative business model building process according to 5 phase design thinking model, which suggests gradual reorganization of the industrial food system as the result of farming servitization.

Towards the high-quality development of City Region Food Systems: Emerging approaches in China

The outbreak of COVID-19 has underscored the vulnerability of our current food systems. In China, following a series of strategies in guaranteeing food security in the past decades, the pandemic has further highlighted the necessity to strengthen urban-rural linkages and facilitate the sustainable development of local agri-food systems. The study for the first time introduced the City Region Food Systems (CRFS) approach to Chinese cities and attempted to holistically structure, analyze and promote the sustainability of local food systems in China. Taking Chengdu as an example, the study first took stock of existing concepts and policies in China and the city, and defined the high-quality development goals of CRFS for Chengdu. An indicator framework was then developed to serve as a CRFS assessment tool for identifying existing challenges and potentials of local food systems. Further, a rapid CRFS scan using the framework was conducted in Chengdu Metropolitan Area, providing concrete evidence for potential policy interventions and practice improvement in the area. The study has explored new paradigm of analysis for food related issues in China and provided supporting tools for evidence-based food planning in cities, which collectively contribute to the food system transformation in a post-pandemic scenario.

Edible wild plant species used by different linguistic groups of Kohistan Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan

BackgroundThe mountainous territory of Kohistan shelters diverse food plant species and is considered one of the important hotspots of local plant knowledge. In the era of globalization and food commodification, wild food plants (WFPs) play an important role in supporting local food systems and related local knowledge is one of the important pillars of food sustainability across the region. Since the area is populated by different cultural groups and each culture has retained particular knowledge on the local plant species, therefore, to make a cross-culturally comparison, the study was planned to record and compare the local plants knowledge among three linguistic groups viz Gujjar, Kohistani and Shina in order to not only protect the local knowledge but to determine the food cultural adaptations among these groups looking through the lens of their food ethnobotanies.MethodsField ethnobotanical survey was carried out in 2020–2021 to gather the data on wild food plants. We used semi-structured interviews. Use reports were counted, and the results were visualized through Venn diagrams.ResultsIn total, 64 plant species belonging to 45 botanical families were documented. Among these Ajuga integrifolia, Barbarea verna, Clematis grata, Impatiens edgeworthii, Ranunculus laetus (vegetables), Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana (fruit), Indigofera tinctoria (flower), Juniperus excelsa, Primula elliptica, P. macrophylla (flavoring agent), Leontopodium himalayanum (Chewing gum), and Juniperus excelsa (snuff) were reported for the first time. The highest use reports (≥ 90) were recorded for Mentha longifolia, Amaranthus hybridus, Quercus semecarpifolia, Solanum miniatum, Oxalis corniculata, Ficus palmata, and Urtica dioica. Maximum number of wild food plant species (WFPs) were reported by Kohistani, followed by Shinaki and Gujjari linguistic groups. The percentage overlap of traditional knowledge on WFPs was highest among Kohistani and Shinaki (56.0%), followed by Shinaki and Gujjars (17.0%), and Kohistani and Gujjars (15.0%). Kohistani and Shinaki groups exhibited maximum homogeneity in traditional knowledge. However, Gujjars had more knowledge on WFPs compared to Kohistani and Shinaki. In addition, some dairy products viz. Bhorus, Bagora, Bak, Cholam, Kacha, Gurloo and Poyeen were reported also reported that are consumed orally and used in traditional cuisines.ConclusionsThe study indicates that Kohistan is one of the important spots of biocultural diversity and could be recognized as biocultural refugia. WFPs have been an integral part of the traditional food systems among the studied groups, particularly the Gujjars have reported more distinct plant uses which could be referred to their distinctive ecological experiences among others. However, social change is one of the challenges that might lead to the erosion of local plant knowledge. Moreover, intercultural negotiations among the studied groups are also a matter of concern which could homogenize the local knowledge among them. Therefore, we suggest solid policy measures to protect the local knowledge and celebrate diversity across this mountain territory.

Enabling Conditions for Local Food Systems to Emerge in Predominately Rural Regions of Portugal—A Food Access Approach

Local food studies have stressed the importance of local food systems (LFS) in shortening the linkages between producers and consumers and in promoting resilient territories. Food consumption patterns are mostly studied around rural–urban dynamics, urban food security, and the revitalisation of rural communities, but little is known about the impact of LFS over rural residents and their capacity to access local foods. This paper explores the development of LFS in rural areas, from a food access approach, by characterising the rural landscapes promoting local food consumption. From a mapping of 74 predominately rural municipalities, statistical data of six socio-economic and political variables were collected to depict each municipality. A cluster analysis and Pearson’s correlation test informed us about the factors enabling these networks to emerge. Three clusters were identified: ‘meso-urban’, (N = 5) presenting urban-like characteristics (higher income and education levels, and reduced road infrastructure and small-scale farming); ‘dense’, (N = 26) characterised by high population density, road infrastructure and small-scale farming; and ‘castaway’ (N = 43) with low population density, income, post-secondary education, and expenditure in RD in agriculture. LFS emergence in rural Portugal was strongly determined by the levels of mean income and education levels in rural municipalities, which brought into question concerns regarding rural residents’ capacity to consume local foods. Low physical access, purchasing capacity, and awareness of food issues appeared to compromise the utilisation of these foods by the most socio-economically disfavoured groups. However, other territorial externalities and empirical work not included in this study could further complement our findings and provide a richer picture for the localisation of food systems in rural areas.

Digital technologies in local agri-food systems: Opportunities for a more interoperable digital farmgate sector

Agriculture e-commerce technologies are transforming how small and medium-scale farmers distribute food, consumers access local food, and market vendors negotiate sales. However, most of the social scientific literature exploring digital agriculture concentrates on big data analytics in the context of commodity farming systems and conventional supply chains. In this paper we review the social scientific literature on agriculture e-commerce technologies and situate this literature within broader debates over digital agriculture and its uneven social and economic dynamics. We find that most social scientific literature does not include agriculture e-commerce in its definition of digital agriculture, instead defining it predominantly in terms of production (e.g., variable-rate technology) or verification (e.g., blockchain) technologies. We contextualize this review with results from a series of focus groups exploring the challenges faced by Ontario's “digital farmgate sector”—the suite of agriculture e-commerce platforms that organize local food sales for hubs, farmers' markets, and small- and medium-scale farmers—related to lack of platform interoperability. We find that local food systems actors are increasingly adopting e-commerce platforms, particularly in the context of the pandemic, and observing substantial business-related benefits to their adoption. Yet, there are common frustrations with digital tools due to market fragmentation and lack of platform interoperability. We recommend the collaborative development of an open standard for e-commerce platforms that allows for the cross-platform sale of local food and farming products.

Dietary Panic under Public Crisis: A Case Study of the COVID-19 Outbreak

Since April 1st, Shanghai had been under a citywide quarantine for two months due to the exponential growth of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. Hence, over 25 million people have been confined, leading to drastic changes in residents’ dietary behaviours compared to the preceding period. This study aims to examine the patterns of dietary panic in the situation of public crisis through the case of shanghai confinement based on the method of participant observation. The discussion included perceived changes in food consumption, variety of foodstuff intake and individual culinary practices of inhabitants during the lockdown period. Variables which affected inhabitants’ dietary behaviours had been analysed, as well as the potential factors related to lack of food provisions. Research on the local food system and logistic access reflected the challenging food supply systems were facing as being restricted by anti-contagion policies and emergency public management, resulting in a common trend of irregular dietary habits and negative mental conditions during quarantine. Evaluating the situation may help to understand the relationship between dietary panic and global sanitary emergencies while being referenced further improvements in the method and timing of deploying public policy and societal management in the future.

Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE): Protocol of a multi-sectoral development project to improve food and nutrition security of secondary city populations in Bangladesh, Kenya and Rwanda.

Secondary cities tend to be better linked with local food systems than primate cities, acting as important platforms to trade agricultural produce with rural surrounding. COVID-19, conflicts and climate change continue to expose inefficiencies in food systems and have further exacerbated malnutrition, calling for substantial food systems transformations. However, tackling current food systems' challenges requires new approaches to ensure food and nutrition security. Nutritious and agroecologically produced food offer the potential to transform food systems by improving diets and alleviating pressure on the environment, as well as by creating jobs and reducing poverty. This paper describes the design of a project by a Swiss public-private consortium to improve food and nutrition security and to reduce poverty in city ecosystems in six secondary cities in Bangladesh, Kenya and Rwanda through governance/policy and supply and demand side interventions. The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project promotes well-balanced nutrition for city populations through interdisciplinary agricultural, food, and health sector collaborations along city-specific value chains. Adopting a transdiciplinary systems approach, the main interventions of NICE are (i) advocacy and policy dialogue, (ii) building of decentralized institutional capacity in multi-sectoral collaborations, (iii) support of data-driven planning, coordination and resource mobilization, (iv) anchoring of innovations and new approaches in city-level partnerships, (v) capacity building in the agricultural, retail, health and education sectors, as well as (vi) evidence generation from putting policies into practice at the local level. NICE is coordinated by in-country partners and local offices of the Swiss public-private consortium partners. The NICE project seeks to contribute to urban food system resilience and enhanced sustainable nutrition for city populations by (A) strengthening urban governance structures involving key stakeholders including women and youth, (B) generating income for producers along the supply chain, (C) triggering change in producers' and consumers' behavior such that nutritious and agroecologically produced foods are both in demand as well as available and affordable in urban markets, and (D) allowing a scale up of successful approaches to other national and international cities and city networks.

Urban agriculture in walkable neighborhoods bore fruit for health and food system resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Urban agriculture is the key to creating healthy cities and developing resilient urban food systems in uncertain times. However, relevant empirical evidence is limited. This study quantitatively verified the association of access to local food through urban agriculture with subjective well-being, physical activity, and food security concerns of neighborhood communities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The target was Tokyo, Japan, where small-scale local food systems are widespread in walkable neighborhoods. We found that diversity in local food access, ranging from self-cultivation to direct-to-consumer sales, was significantly associated with health and food security variables. In particular, the use of allotment farms was more strongly associated with subjective well-being than the use of urban parks, and it was more strongly associated with the mitigation of food security concerns than the use of food retailers. These findings provide robust evidence for the effectiveness of integrating urban agriculture into walkable neighborhoods.

Local Food Systems under Global Influence: The Case of Food, Health and Environment in Five Socio-Ecosystems

Globalization is transforming food systems around the world. With few geographical areas spared from nutritional, dietary and epidemiological transitions, chronic diseases have reached pandemic proportions. A question therefore arises as to the sustainability of local food systems. The overall purpose of this article is to put in perspective how local food systems respond to globalization through the assessment of five different case studies stemming from an international research network of Human-Environment Observatories (OHM), namely Nunavik (Québec, Canada), Oyapock (French Guiana, France), Estarreja (Portugal), Téssékéré (Senegal) and Littoral-Caraïbes (Guadeloupe, France). Each region retains aspects of its traditional food system, albeit under different patterns of influence modelled by various factors. These include history, cultural practices, remoteness and accessibility to and integration of globalized ultra-processed foods that induce differential health impacts. Furthermore, increases in the threat of environmental contamination can undermine the benefits of locally sourced foods for the profit of ultra-processed foods. These case studies demonstrate that: (i) the influence of globalization on food systems can be properly understood by integrating sociohistorical trajectories, socioeconomic and sociocultural context, ongoing local environmental issues and health determinants; and (ii) long-term and transverse monitoring is essential to understand the sustainability of local food systems vis-à-vis globalization.

The Importance of Becoming Tamed: Wild Food Plants as Possible Novel Crops in Selected Food-Insecure Regions

Domestication of new plants is one of the key (ongoing) phenomena in the history of agriculture. Wild plants are the ancestors of current and future crops and the largest reservoir of genetic diversity for crop breeding and improvement. Wild food species have been used for human nutrition since ancient times and are often the object of human strategies for coping with emergency situations, such as natural disasters and conflicts. We analyzed qualitative data collected through ethnobotanical field studies conducted in recent years in five selected Eurasian regions (Afghanistan, Kurdistan region of Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and Ukraine) that have been recently affected by wars and/or socio-political turbulence. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with local people. We identified five taxa for each region, which are culturally very salient in the local food systems, that retain an important economic value in local markets, and that, therefore, could be good candidates for becoming novel crops. The cultivation of the reported species may significantly help local communities in their post-war livelihoods and especially in terms of food security and domestic nutritional care. Future studies should focus on the agronomic feasibility of the highlighted species within their regional ecosystems.

Preserving peri-urban land through biodiversity offsets: Between market transactions and planning regulations

Competition for land use is a severe problem in peri-urban areas where available land is scarce and is also targeted for different purposes such as construction, local food systems, recreational areas, and biodiversity offsets. In this context, mitigation policies can be considered like innovative planning regulations, in order to neutralize land development impacts and sustain ecosystem restoration and conservation. The policies may lead to the production of biodiversity offsets, which are secured pieces of land where ecological restoration is carried out as a way to compensate for impacts. In this way, biodiversity offsets appear to be a viable option to maintaining natural areas in peri-urban areas in the long run. This article examines the different ways to deal with land availability and access to offset sites through the analysis of land strategies developed by public and private intermediary actors involved in the implementation of mitigation policies, and the consequences on the ecological quality of offsets. Based on a sociological survey of 20 case studies and 95 interviews conducted in 2019–2021 in six French regions, the article identifies three situations that rely on different balances between market transactions and planning: (i) private intermediaries and municipalities who coordinate to offer land solutions to developers; (ii) access to land for biodiversity offsets stems from private land transactions which can lead to temporary mobilization of land and thus to ecologically precarious solutions; (iii) attempts by municipalities to include offsets in planning policies. Finally, if municipalities do not intervene to identify and set aside dedicated land, biodiversity offsets will remain temporary and limited in their capacity to conserve biodiversity.

“Now we’ve all turned to eating processed foods”: A photovoice study of the food and nutrition security implications of ‘galamsey’ in Ghana

Galamsey, a popular name for small-scale mining in Ghana, is an important livelihood for many rural Ghanaians. Although concerns have been raised in the popular media about the adverse effects of galamsey on the environment, human health, and livelihoods, there is a representational paucity of evidence regarding its links with local food systems, particularly, from the perspective of affected mining communities. The current study explored community perceptions and experiences of galamsey and its perceived effects on food security and livelihoods in the East Akim Municipality in the Eastern region of Ghana. Primary data was collected in the East Akim Municipality of Ghana, using a photovoice method. Thirty-six male and female adults were purposively selected with the help of a community focal persons and advertisements in the study communities. Respondents participated in a one-day photography training and thereafter, were deployed to take at least fifteen photos that portray the effect of galamsey on food security and health. Subsequently, each participant was asked to select five of the photographs they have taken and explain why they captured that image. A photo exhibition was held to facilitate community conversation and perspectives on the effects of galamsey on food and nutrition security. Galamsey has resulted in degradation of, otherwise, fertile agricultural land, and contamination of freshwater sources. As a consequence, there is reduced cultivable land, reduced crop production, shortage of essential staple foods, increase in food price, and increased consumption of ultra-processed foods. There is also perception of increased exposure to heavy metals like mercury in locally-produced food. Given the adverse health consequences of both food and nutrition insecurity, and increased consumption of processed foods, it is important that public and policy discussions to minimize the effects of galamsey in Ghana should include considerations about food and nutrition insecurity in mining communities. Key words: mining, galamsey, food security, health, agriculture, land degradation, food system

Reframing the local-global food systems debate through a resilience lens.

Despite the growing knowledge that food system solutions should account for interactions and drivers across scales, broader societal debate on how to solve food system challenges is often focused on two dichotomous perspectives and associated solutions: either more localized food systems or greater global coordination of food systems. The debate has found problematic expressions in contemporary challenges, prompting us to revisit the role that resilience thinking can play when faced with complex crises that increase uncertainty. Here we identify four 'aching points' facing food systems that are central points of tension in the local-global debate. We apply the seven principles of resilience to these aching points to reframe the solution space to one that embeds resilience into food systems' management and governance at all scales, supporting transformative change towards sustainable food systems.

Vulnerabilities, power, and gendered violence in food systems

abstract Food systems present a complex web of interests and within this web exists different levels of vulnerabilities, inclusions, or exclusions, depending on the levels of power accessible to different interest groups. In addition, due to the global interconnections, more complexities have been added to local and national food systems. As national boundaries and rules enmesh into more powerful global trade rules, salient hierarchies based on race, class, nationality, and gender emerge with social and economic outcomes in food systems. There is consensus that women carry a disproportionately larger burden of productive and reproductive labour within food value chains, yet they are more likely to face greater distress and violence over scarce food and other life enhancing resources. This article is empirically informed by the life histories of 21 elderly women farmers as they navigated the different epochs in Zimbabwe’s political, economic, and agrarian reforms. An African feminist standpoint provided the lens through which the narratives and agency of elderly women farmers are framed as they negotiated with gendered structural biases and the violence coded into power asymmetries within food systems from production to consumption. Women’s acts of resistance are explored, including transnational collaboration through food justice social movements as acts of radical political resistance to forced assimilation into unsustainable modes of capitalist extraction. The voices of elderly women are centred in articulating alternative pathways to food sovereignty based on mutual reciprocity in a non-violent and ecologically sustainable food system.

Planning the foodshed: Rural and peri‐urban factors in local food strategies of major cities in Canada and the United States

AbstractMany North American cities seek to increase access to locally sourced foods. But to what degree are cities planning for and supporting peri‐urban and rural food production? We examined this question by analyzing 25 documents from 22 major United States and Canadian cities (>300,000 residents) with local food strategies or action plans, focusing on social, ecological, and technological factors relevant to local food production. Our review suggests that the following topics are often overlooked: farmland access and quality, farm viability, agricultural training and workforce, environmental and public health, processing infrastructure, climate change adaptation, and particular needs pertinent to those concerns among marginalized groups, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Just under half of the cities defined how success or progress toward reaching their food‐related goals would be monitored and measured. Many municipalities considered collaboration as an important governance tool for realizing their strategies toward local food systems, including with actors from within the city and beyond, as cities’ governance scope, resources, and power are often limited. Besides illustrating ongoing municipal efforts to enhance local food systems, our study identifies focus areas in food policy and planning to avoid overlooking social and environmental trade‐offs in local foodsheds, including potentially overestimating self‐sufficiency capacity.

COVID-19 impacts on food systems in fisheries-dependent island communities

Policies designed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted food systems worldwide. How impacts played out in local food systems, and how these affected the lived experiences of different people is only just coming to light. We conducted a structured analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 containment policies on the food systems of small-scale fishing communities in Kenya, Papua New Guinea, and Saint Lucia, based on interviews with men and women fishers, fish traders, and community leaders. Participants reported that containment policies lead indirectly to reduced volumes of food, lower dietary diversity, increased consumption of traditional foods, and reduced access to fish for food and income. Although the initiating policy and food and nutrition security outcomes often appeared similar, we found that the underlying pathways and feedbacks causing these impacts were different based on local context. Incorporating knowledge of how context-specific factors shape food system outcomes may be key to tailoring strategies to mitigate the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and designing timely, strategic interventions for future systemic shocks.