chapter 3 inventory of local food systems

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Project CP/59 - “Instruments and institutions to develop local food systems” CHAPTER 2 MEASURING THE IMPACT OF LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS 2.1. Introduction Due to a growing concern about personal health and the sustainability of the current marketing system of food and agricultural products and the related side effects, there is an increasing interest from consumers in local food systems (LFS). The key to LFS is that consumers prefer to purchase their food from predominantly local sources for both social and environmental reasons. Often, but not necessarily, such systems are based on direct contact between producers and consumers. Therefore, a variety of marketing channels are used: on-farm sales, farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture, farmer cooperatives, box schemes and various other ways. However, while a substantial share of consumers would prefer to buy locally, in reality only a small share is actually engaged in LFS. The objective of this chapter is to investigate whether LFS can contribute to more sustainable production and consumption patterns. To measure the impact of local food systems compared to mainstream food systems (MFS), we limit ourselves to the marketing phase of the supply chain, that is, from the point the product leaves the farm to the point of purchase by the end-consumer. Food systems are defined as systems which include the whole chain of production, processing, selling and consumption of food. LFS are collective systems with a direct link between consumer and producer, possibly involving a long-term contractual agreement. The distance amongst different actors needs to be restrained, both geographically as concerning the number of links in the chain. We see MFS as the marketing system resulting in one-stop shopping market points where consumers enter freely and are offered a wide range of products on almost every moment of the week. 2.2. Material and methods To enable a comparison between LFS and MFS we proceded in five steps: (1) defining system boundaries, (2) selecting indicators, (3) selecting case studies, (4) collecting data and (5) calculating the indicators for the cases. First, we define boundaries of the systems to be analyzed from the farm gate to the consumers’ house, as our focus is on what is happening in between among the different steps. Second, based on the literature review presented in chapter 1, we selected three economic, three social and two ecological indicators. They describe effects on the society as a whole as well as effects on consumers and producers more specifically. We SPSD II - Part I - Sustainable production and consumption patterns - Agro-Food 25
Project CP/59 - “Instruments and institutions to develop local food systems” refer to the literature review in chapter 1 and the results sections of this chapter for more details on these indicators. Third, we constructed scenarios of LFS by selecting a basket of typical products and by selecting a limited number of cases from the LFS inventory (chapter 3). We made a selection of typical products based on a combination of available consumption statistics from the GfK services and the availability of the food items in both local and the mainstream food system. This selection consists of beef, Gouda cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, potatoes and apples. By combining these products we get a typical Belgian meal, namely: beef with potatoes and a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and Gouda cheese cubes and for dessert an apple. A thorough inventory on local food systems in Flanders (see chapter 3) preceded the selection of four LFS case studies. While selecting case studies, we took into account the following aspects: representation of the different types of LFS in Flanders, a balance between criteria such as organic and conventional production, size of the network, age of the initiative and product groups. This resulted in the following four cases: • Case 1: Cooperation amongst organic vegetable farms. Case A involves three vegetable farms working together to exchange products amongst one-another, each of them selling the major part of their produce through a vegetable box scheme to the consumer. Their focus however is not only on the exchange of products. The exchange of knowledge and ideas, talking about their personal philosophies and looking continuously for the surplus value (on different levels) of their cooperation are essential within the cooperation; • Case 2: Cooperative association of livestock breeders. Case B is a cooperative of 5 farmers, created to market their meat products directly to consumers individually or through food teams. A great variety in production systems, size and philosophy characterizes the five partners (a normal size double purpose (milk and meat) cattle farm, a normal size pig farm with spacious stables, a midtime small size sheep farmer in a nature reserve, an organic poultry farm in combination with fruits and a farm with social care selling chicken and rabbits through the cooperative; • Case 3: Cooperative association of cheese producers. Case C is a cooperative association of individuals, producing organic cheese prepared according to traditional methods and marketing this cheese in their own store, via delis and in a selection of supermarkets. The organic milk farms that deliver the milk are also part of the cooperative association, as the milk quality for their cheeses in an unprocessed form is highly valued. At the other side of the chain, they are in close contact with vendors as special care is addressed to the state in which the cheese is sold; • Case 4: Fruit growers on farmers markets. In Case D, the focus is on fruit growers selling apples at farmers markets. Farmers markets in Flanders date from the eighties, when special interest went to an action year on local villages. Different SPSD II - Part I - Sustainable production and consumption patterns - Agro-Food 26
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