Alternative Food Networks: Approaches and open questions

Περίληψη

Alternative ventures have rapidly flourished in all the economic sectors (work, market, business, property, finance) mainly since the 80’s. The underlying approaches setting the context of these ventures are characterized by diverse economies and alternative economic and political spaces that have emerged as important issues in Geography in the last 20 years. The questions that are posed in the broader context of diverse economies and alternative economic and political spaces include, the diverse nature of economy where all the possibilities for a postcapitalist future are open, the notion of alterity as a way of acknowledging the degree of difference between alternative ventures and the restrictions that are imposed from the existing power relations which sometimes hinder the evolution of such ventures. The above debate affects the discussion about Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). The AFNs (or otherwise alternative food institutions’ or ‘alternative food geographies’) include - among others - ventures like farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture schemes, corporate organic food markets labelling schemes and food box programs. The products of such networks are usually characterised by labels such as ‘organic’, ‘local’ ‘quality’, ‘specialty’. Some authors argue that AFNs are defined by the following four characteristics: (1) distances between producers and consumers are shorter; (2) farms and scale are small, while farming methods are organic or holistic (3) there are special meeting sites (venues) for food purchasing (e.g. food cooperatives, farmers markets, local food-to-school linkages) (4) the food cycle (production, distribution and consumption) is characterized by significant care for its social, economic and environmental dimensions. There is a significant debate about the way and the degree to which these ventures constitute an ‘alternative’ or a ‘conventional’ food provisioning practice. In this debate there are mainly two different approaches bringing to the fore discussions about alterity issues and diverse economies. Specifically, the first approach distinguishes between different degrees and types of alternatives. For example, for some authors the emphasis in production and consumption processes is considered stronger than the emphasis in the place. This is because the former is a prominence of social and ethical values, while the latter addresses economic and rural development issues, like increasing the value of local products in global markets and strengthening the local economy. The second approach claims that any categorization, which is based on the degree that a venture is alternative to the mainstream, might limit the value of AFNs only as a reaction practice that try to overcome the hegemony of the dominant system. Instead, some scholars argue that the aim of such ventures is to shape practices that are completely new and not just try to overtake the mainstream. The aim of the paper will be two-fold: on the one hand, we will try to review the broader discussion about diverse economy and alternative.