Making reconnections in agro-food geography: alternative systems of food provision

By D. Watts, B. Ilbery, D. Maye. 2005

630 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article reviews recent research into alternative systems of food provision. It considers, first, what the concept of`alternativeness' might mean, based on recent discussions in economic geography. Informed by this, it discusses food relocalization and the turn to `quality' food production, arguing that both are `weaker' alternative systems of food provision because of their emphasis on food. It then examines some `stronger' alternative systems of food provision, which emphasize the networks through which food passes. Lastly, the paper reflects on the concept of alternativeness in the context of food supply chains, and suggests some possible directions for future research.

Subfields: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6f48d7ce38c4e9c318ada2269d77e9c88dc59308

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In General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

1. A. Tregear
2. D. Maye
3. B. Ilbery
4. J. Wiskerke
5. D. Wright
6. M. Hamm
7. Jan Douwe van der Ploeg
8. H. Renting

In Plant Science

1. A. Tregear
2. D. Maye
3. B. Ilbery
4. J. Wiskerke
5. M. Hamm
6. D. Wright
7. M. Kneafsey
8. Betty Izumi

Citations in the corpus

• Rural development through the construction of new, nested, markets: comparative perspectives from China, Brazil and the European Union (2012, background): “…a different distribution of value added, resulting in a higher price for farmers (Roep 2002, Ploeg and Renting 2004); . a different infrastructure (Watts et al. 2005); . a different location of transactions in time and space (Brunori et al. 2009); . a different governance pattern (Roep and…”
• Alternative food networks as “market agencements”: Exploring their multiple hybridities (2016, background): “The term “hybrid” has regularly been put forward in such research to break with the hypothesis of a great divide between conventional and alternative food networks (Bloom and Hinrichs, 2011; Cleveland et al., 2014; Ilbery and Maye, 2005; Klein and Michas, 2014; Milestad et al., 2010; Watts et al., 2”
• Alternative (Shorter) Food Supply Chains and Specialist Livestock Products in the Scottish–English Borders (2005, background): “The centrality of economic considerations for livestock enterprises does not, of course, preclude their alternativeness (Watts et al, 2005).”
• Characterizing alternative food networks in China (2015, background): “Correspondingly, ‘‘reconnection’’ between producers and consumers, alongside ‘‘re-placing’’ and ‘‘relocalization,’’ are seen by agro-food scholars as some of the most prominent features of alternative food initiatives (Kirwan 2004; Watts et al. 2005; Wiskerke 2009).”
• The quality of sustainability: Agroecological partnerships and the geographic branding of California winegrapes (2007, background): “Debates over alternative agrofood networks, food relocalization, and the turn to ‘‘quality’’ food production are thriving (Watts et al., 2005), with a heavy emphasis on the transformative potential of embeddedness and local relationships of trust to stimulate change in the agrofood sector (Winter,…”
• Shortening food supply chains: A means for maintaining agriculture close to urban areas? The case of the French metropolitan area of Paris ☆ (2013, background): “Some authors (Watts et al., 2005) have nevertheless shown that this link is not automatic, as the ‘‘local’’ alone is not a guarantee of ‘‘a strong turn to quality based production’’ (Winter, 2003, see also Ilbery et al.”
• Choosing a Food Future: Differentiating Among Alternative Food Options (2009, background): “By maintaining their proximity to consumers, each of the farmers has managed to maintain the economic and social components of alternative food networks, as well as the ecological component ( Watts et al. 2005 ).”
• On Places Lost and Places Regained: Reflections on the Alternative Food Geography and Sustainable Regional Development (2009, background): “Due to the burgeoning literature on AFNs a rich database of AFN cases has been built (see Watts et al. (2005) for an excellent literature overview) concomitant with a lively theoretical debate about network dynamics, conventions, producer-consumer linkages, power relations and paradigmatic change…”
• Progressing knowledge in alternative and local food networks: Critical reflections and a research agenda (2011, background): “Categorisations of types of AFN, for example, as either ‘alternative or ‘oppositional’ (Allen et al., 2003), or ‘strong’ vs ‘weak’ (Watts et al., 2005)4 may encourage this tendency.”
• Understanding and (dis)trusting food assurance schemes: Consumer confidence and the ‘knowledge fix’ (2008, background): “Ilbery et al., 2005; D Watts et al., 2005; Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food, 2002; Seyfang, 2006; for a critique, see Hinrichs, 2000).”