chapter 3 inventory of local food systems

Project CP/59 - “Instruments and institutions to develop local food systems”
• Information sharing. For example in the contact between producer and
consumer, decisions are made on the basis of information one receives. A
consumer seeks for information on price, freshness, health, origin,… before a
decision is made. The producer on the other hand needs information on the
expectations of the consumer or the middlemen, in order to meet them in his
farming practices.
• Stalwart clientele. In a producer-consumer relation decisions for both parties are
simplified when there is certainty concerning the future. Development on the
farm or within the food system then moves beyond a sometimes turbulent search
for markets.
• Advising rather then teaching (concerning advisors). Knowledge a farmer looks
for with external parties might become more useful for him with time. This is
when the external advisor makes himself unnecessary after a while: the farmer
then becomes the expert himself and relies on his own capacities to deal with
problems. In order to reach this goal, farmer and advisor can work together
(opposing to a teacher-pupil relationship) on the given problems or questions,
and in doing so, both parties enrich their knowledge.
“Meaning when successful”
When preconditions are fulfilled, one can describe the results of different contacts. What
is described in the next relates to the farming networks. Many other meanings can be
described for those relations:
• Support is part of the basis and the ground a farmer feels under his feet in doing
what he does. Does he feel a symbolic push in his back during his daily
activities?
• Efficiency. How does one receive the best possible effect given a certain input,
investment,…?
• Embeddedness for farmers means support for personal ideas and beliefs, and a
common feeling of importance within society. As farmers look for one another,
they find shared vision and ideas, and experience to be part of a bigger entity,
pointing at the importance of supporting each other as a necessity.
• Knowledge is part of the basis one uses to manage the daily activities on a farm.
It enables the farmer to react on situations on the basis of past experiences and
collected information.
• Inspiration brings about new ideas which might result in (minor) changes with
(great) consequences. Most importantly, inspiration prevents boredom and keeps
the motivation up and is necessary to react upon ever present changes.
SPSD II - Part I - Sustainable production and consumption patterns - Agro-Food 36