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Putting the farmer’s face on food: governance and the producer–consumer relationship in local food systems

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Abstract

Local food systems (LFSs) have grown in popularity around the world in recent years. Their framing often emphasizes the re-connection of producers and consumers against the “faceless” and “placeless” industrial agriculture. However, previous research suggests that such romanticized narratives may not keep up with reality. This relates to the transformative potential of LFSs and to whether they actually generate alternative modes of social organization that challenge problematic aspects of the food system. We place our focus on the practices and narratives that construct the producer/consumer relationship and show how these systems are governed. Our fieldwork was carried out in two LFSs in two distinct settings: community supported agriculture groups in NYC and responsible consumption communities in Catalonia, Spain. Three main types of practices and narratives are identified: sharing, negotiation and utilization practices, and narratives. Our findings reveal great heterogeneity between the two LFSs and show how intermediates participate in the producer/consumer relationship.

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Abbreviations

CSA:

Community supported agriculture

LFSs:

Local food systems

RCCs:

Responsible consumption cooperatives

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program of the Earth Institute, Columbia University for their help and support during the data collection on CSAs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rovira and Virgili University, Avinguda Universitat 1, Tarragona, Spain

    Eleni Papaoikonomou & Matías Ginieis

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  1. Eleni Papaoikonomou
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  2. Matías Ginieis
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Correspondence to Eleni Papaoikonomou.

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Papaoikonomou, E., Ginieis, M. Putting the farmer’s face on food: governance and the producer–consumer relationship in local food systems. Agric Hum Values 34, 53–67 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-016-9695-2

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