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Farmers’ markets in Prague: a new challenge within the urban shoppingscape

Agriculture and Human Values volume 30, pages 179–191 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Farmers’ markets are a relatively recent phenomenon in Prague, Czechia. The first of them was opened in the autumn of 2009, but the real boom started in the spring/summer of 2010. The survey introduced in this paper is concerned with the study of alternative food networks and farmers’ markets. It offers the results of methodological triangulation based on: (1) the data obtained via the questionnaire survey, (2) market organizers’ reflections on the customer structure, motivation for shopping at farmers’ markets and the question of social exclusivity of farmers’ markets in Prague as revealed in interviews, and (3) the field notes from the participant observation at the markets under study. The results show that farmers’ markets are emerging all around Prague in localities of different social status, so the poorer citizens are not necessarily excluded from the access to markets. The differences between markets, in terms of size, range of goods, and term seem to follow the inner city/hinterlands divide rather than the socio-spatial differentiation of the city. New consumer patterns clearly result from the cultural environment, specific context, and also from the different development path of the post-socialist consumer society.

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Fig. 1

Abbreviations

AFN:

Alternative food network

FM:

Farmers’ market

LCA:

Life cycle analysis

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project no. 404/12/0470: Geography of alternative food networks and sustainable consumption) and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (project no. MSM 002162083: Geographical systems and risk processes in the context of global changes and European integration).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czechia

    Jana Spilková, Lenka Fendrychová & Marie Syrovátková

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  1. Jana Spilková
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  2. Lenka Fendrychová
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  3. Marie Syrovátková
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Correspondence to Jana Spilková.

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Spilková, J., Fendrychová, L. & Syrovátková, M. Farmers’ markets in Prague: a new challenge within the urban shoppingscape. Agric Hum Values 30, 179–191 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-012-9395-5

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Keywords

  • Farmers’ markets
  • Motivations
  • Exclusion
  • Czechia
  • Prague