Alternative Food Networks from the Institutional Perspective

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##

Published Apr 30, 2023
Ruta Śpiewak

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8336-8414

Wojciech Goszczyński

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3389-1255

Abstract

This article analyses the internal diversity and dynamics of Polish Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), using the concept of institutions and their impact on collective action as a theoretical tool. Emphasis is put on four dimensions of AFNs’ internal diversity: meanings, association models, control mechanisms, and actions. The analysis is based on empirical material collected from nationwide qualitative studies conducted in six AFNs selected through purposive sampling. While adhering to a similar system of values focused on individual health, family and profit, the networks differ from one another in terms of the prevalent models of relationships, supervision, and activity. They appear to share certain motives and values in their market-oriented or own security-oriented actions and strategies, and show an inclination to use formal tools. In parallel, they reveal differences in their levels of focus on building internal relationships, which also emerge as the primary factor determining the potential and activity of the studied initiatives.

How to Cite

Śpiewak, R. and Goszczyński, W. (2023) “Alternative Food Networks from the Institutional Perspective”, The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food. Paris, France, 29(1), pp. 5–24. doi: 10.48416/ijsaf.v29i1.482.
Abstract 706 | PDF Downloads 525

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

Keywords

alternative food networks, institutions, meanings, actions, associations, control

References
Adler, P. (2001) Market, hierarchy, and trust: The knowledge economy and the future of capitalism. Organization Science 12(2).pp. 215-234
Alston, E., L. Alston, B. Muller, T. Nonnenmacher (2018) Institutional organizational analysis (Cambridge: University Press).
Benton, T.G. G. (2019) Using scenario analyses to address the future of food. EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority 17 (1), e170703.
Bergmann, M. (2005) Tanio, skutecznie, bezpiecznie? Nowa analiza instytucjonalna i jej wizja instytucji społecznej. Dialogi Polityczne 5–6 pp. 151.
Bilewicz, A., Śpiewak, R. (2019) Beyond the “Northern” and “Southern” divide: Food and space in Polish consumer cooperatives. East European Politics and Societies 33 (3) pp. 579–602. DOI: 10.1177/0888325418806046.
Corsi, A., F. Barbera., E. Dansero, C. Peano (2018) Alternative food networks. An interdisciplinary assessment (Cham: Springer International Publishing).
CBOS (2020): Wartości w czasach zarazy [Values in the Times of the Plague] (Ref. No.: 6151). https://www.cbos.pl/SPISKOM.POL/2020/K_160_20.PDF ( data of access 1.9.2021)
Dufeu, I., R. Le Velly, J.-P. Bréchet A. Loconto (2020) Can standards save organic farming from conventionalisation? Dynamics of collective projects and rules in a French organic producers’ organisation. Sociologia Ruralis 60 (3) pp. 621–638.
Duncan, J., Pascucci, S. (2017) Mapping the organisational forms of networks of alternative food networks: Implications for transition. Sociologia Ruralis 57(3) pp. 316–339.
European Social Survey Trust (https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/) ( data of access 10.12.2021)
Fendrychová, L., Jehlička, P. (2018) Revealing the hidden geography of alternative food networks: The travelling concept of farmers’ markets. Geoforum (95) pp. 1–10. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.06.012.
Forssell, S., Lankoski, L. (2015) The sustainability promise of alternative food networks: An examination through “alternative” characteristics. Agric Hum Values 32(1), pp. 63–75. DOI: 10.1007/s10460-014-9516-4.
Goodman, M.K., Maye, D., Holloway, L. (2010) Ethical foodscapes? Premises, promises, and possibilities. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 42(8) pp. 1782–1796. DOI: 10.1068/a43290.
Goodman, D., E.M. DuPuis, M.K. Goodman (2014) Alternative food networks. Knowledge, practice, and politics (London: Routledge).
Goszczyński, W., Knieć, W. (2011) Strengthening alternative agro-food networks in the Eastern European countryside. Eastern European Countryside 17(2011) pp. 5–20. DOI: 10.2478/v10130-011-0001-4.
Goszczyński, W., Śpiewak, R., Bilewicz, A., Wróblewski, M. (2019) Between imitation and embeddedness: Three types of Polish alternative food networks. Sustainability 11(24) p. 7059. DOI: 10.3390/su11247059.
Grivins, M., Keech, D., Kunda, I., Tisenkopfs, T. (2017) Bricolage for self-sufficiency: An analysis of alternative food networks. Sociologia Ruralis 57(3) pp. 340–356. DOI: 10.1111/soru.12171.
Grodzicki, M. (2015) Dlaczego grupom udaje się podejmować działania? Przedstawienie teorii działań zbiorowych Elinor Ostrom [Why Do Groups Manage to Take Action? The Theory of Collective Action by Elinor Ostrom]. Ekonomia Społeczna (1) pp. 66–78. DOI: 10.15678/ES.2015.1.05.
Hagedorn, K. (2008) Particular requirements for institutional analysis in nature-related sectors. European Review of Agricultural Economics 35(3) pp. 357–384. DOI: 10.1093/erae/jbn019.
Healey, P. (2006) Transforming governance: Challenges of institutional adaptation and a new politics of space. European Planning Studies 14(3) pp. 299–320. DOI: 10.1080/09654310500420792.
Hodgson, G. M. (2006) What are institutions? Journal of Economic Issues 40(1) pp. 1–25. DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2006.11506879.
Ilbery, B., Morris, C., Buller, H., Maye, D., Kneafsey, M. (2005) Product, process and place. European Urban and Regional Studies 12(2) pp. 116–132. DOI: 10.1177/0969776405048499.
Isett, C.M., S. J. Miller (2017) The social history of agriculture. From the origins to the current crisis (Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Rowman & Littlefield).
Jaklin, U., Kummer, S., Rebecka, M. (2015) Why do farmers collaborate with a food cooperative? Reasons for participation in a civic food network in Vienna, Austria. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food (22) pp. 41–61.
Jehlička, P., Jacobsson, K. (2021) The importance of recognizing difference: Rethinking Central and East European environmentalism. Political Geography 87, p. 102379. DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102379.
Jędral, P., Czech, Ł., Konopczyński, F. (2020) Rolnictwo w obliczu kryzysu 2020 roku. Raport z badania opinii polskich rolników. (Fundacja Kaleckiego, AgroWe).
Jung, Y., A.J. Klein, M. Caldwell (Ed.) (2014) Ethical eating in the postsocialist world (Berkeley, California, United States: University of California Press).
Kopczyńska, E. (2020) Are there local versions of sustainability? Food networks in the semi-periphery. Sustainability 12(7), p. 2845. DOI: 10.3390/su12072845.
Kvale, S. (2007) Doing interviews (London, England, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications).
Leitner, H., Cadieux, K.V.; Blumberg, R. (2020) For food space: theorizing alternative food networks beyond alterity. Journal of Political Ecology 27(1). DOI: 10.2458/v27i1.23026.
Lemeilleur, S. Sermage, S. (2020) Building a Knowledge Commons: Evidence from the Participatory Guarantee System for an Agroecology Label in Morocco. International Journal of the Commons 14 (1) pp. 465–480
Lewins, A., Silver, C. (2014) Using software in qualitative research. A step-by-step guide (2nd ed) (Los Angeles, California: SAGE Publications).
Lohest, F., Bauler, T., Sureau, S., van Mol, J., Achten, W.M. J. (2019) Linking food democracy and sustainability on the ground: Learnings from the study of three alternative food networks in Brussels. Politics and Governance 7(4) pp. 21–31. DOI: 10.17645/pag.v7i4.2023.
Manganelli, A., van den Broeck, P., Moulaert, F. (2020) Socio-political dynamics of alternative food networks: a hybrid governance approach. Territory, Politics, Governance 8(3) pp. 299–318. DOI: 10.1080/21622671.2019.1581081.
Maxwell, J. A., Chmiel, M. (2014) Generalization in and from Qualitative Analysis. pp. 540–553 in (Eds) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, (Eds.) Uwe Flick (London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications).
Michel-Villarreal, R., Hingley, M., Canavari, M., Bregoli, I. (2019) Sustainability in alternative food networks: A systematic literature review. Sustainability 11(3), p. 859. DOI: 10.3390/su11030859.
Möllers, J., Traikova, D., Bîrhalã, B. A-M, Wolz, A. (2018) Why (not) cooperate? A cognitive model of farmers' intention to join producer groups in Romania. Post-Communist Economies 30(1), pp. 56–77.
Niederle, P., Loconto, A., Lemeilleur S., Dorville C. (2020) Social movements and institutional change in organic food markets: Evidence from participatory guarantee systems in Brazil and France. Journal of Rural Studies 78 pp. 282–291
Nigussie, Z., Tsunekawa, A., Nigussie, H., Adgo, E., Cochrane, L., Floquet, A., Abele, S. (2018) Applying Ostrom’s institutional analysis and development framework to soil and water conservation activities in north-western Ethiopia. Land Use Policy 71, pp. 1–10. DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.11.039.
Ostrom, E. (1986) An agenda for the study of institutions. Public Choice 48, pp. 3–25.
Ostrom, E. (2005) Understanding institutional diversity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University).
Ostrom, E. (2011) Governing the commons. The evolution of institutions for collective action (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).
Ostrom, E., S. Larry, W. Susan (1993) Institutional Incentives and Sustainable Development: Infrastructure Policies in Perspective (Boulder, CO: Westview).
Pellicer-Sifres, V., Belda-Miquel, S., López-Fogués, A., Boni Aristizábal, A. (2017) Grassroots social innovation for human development: An analysis of alternative food networks in the city of Valencia (Spain). Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 18(2), pp. 258–274. DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2016.1270916.
Polska Wieś 2020. Raport o Stanie Wsi [Polish Countryside 2020. Report on the State of the Rural Areas]. (2020) FDPA, (Wydawnictwo Naukowe SCHOLAR).
Poteete, A., ; Janssen, M., Ostrom, E., (2009) Working Together: Collective Action, The Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice (Princeton University Press).
Ribeiro, P. A., Harmsen, R., Feola, G., Rosales Carréon, J., Worrell, E. (2021) Organising alternative food networks (AFNs): Challenges and facilitating conditions of different AFN types in three EU countries. Sociologia Ruralis. 10.1111/soru.12331.
SAPEA (2020) A sustainable food system for the European Union. Berlin https://sapea.info/topic/food/ ( data of access 19.12.2022)
Sage, C. (2003) Social embeddedness and relations of regard. Journal of Rural Studies 19(1) pp. 47–60. DOI: 10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00044-X.
Smith, J., Jehlička, P. (2013) Quiet sustainability: Fertile lessons from Europe's productive gardeners. Journal of Rural Studies 32, pp. 148–157. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2013.05.002.
Sovová, L. (2015) Self-provisioning, sustainability and environmental consciousness in Brno Allotment Gardens. Social Studies 12(3) pp.11-26
Śpiewak, R., Jasiński, J. (2020) Organic farming as a rural development factor in Poland – the role of good governance and local policies. International Journal on Food System Dynamics 11(1)
Thorsøe, M., Kjeldsen, C. (2016) The constitution of trust: Function, configuration and generation of trust in alternative food networks. Sociologia Ruralis 56 (2) pp. 157–175. DOI: 10.1111/soru.12082.
Tregear, A. (2011) Progressing knowledge in alternative and local food networks. Critical reflections and a resaerch agenda. Journal of Rural Studies 27), pp. 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.06.003
Vermeulen, S., J. Woodhill, F. Proctor; Delnoye, Rik (2008) Chain-wide learning for inclusive agrifood market development - A guide to multi-stakeholder processes for linking small-scale producers to modern markets. Wageningen: (International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Capacity Development and Institutional Change Programme (CD&IC) - Wageningen University and Research Centre).
Whaley, L. (2018) The critical institutional analysis and development (CIAD) framework. International Journal of the Commons 12(2), p. xx. DOI: 10.18352/ijc.848.
Whatmore, S., Stassart, P., Renting, H. (2003) What's alternative about alternative food networks? Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 35(3), pp. 389–391. DOI: 10.1068/a3621.
Woodhill, J. (2010). Capacities for institutional innovation: A complexity perspective. IDS Bulletin, 41(3), pp. 47–59. DOI: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2010.00136.x.
Zarycki, T. (2007) Cultural capital and the accessibility of higher education (Based on the Results of a Comparative Study of Surveys of College and University Students in Moscow and Warsaw). Russian Education & Society 49(7), pp. 41–72. DOI: 10.2753/RES1060-9393490703.
Zoll, F., Specht, K., Opitz, I., Siebert, R., Piorr, A., Zasada, I. (2018) Individual choice or collective action? Exploring consumer motives for participating in alternative food networks. International Journal of Consumer Studies 42(1), pp. 101–110. DOI: 10.1111/ijcs.12405.
Section
Articles

Funding data