Local Food Systems Overview

Principles

Definition

Local food systems is an academic concept and research field investigating the production, distribution, and consumption of food within spatially delimited regions. It examines the distinctive socio-economic, ecological, and governance characteristics that differentiate these systems from conventional, globalized supply chains, exploring their potential contributions to sustainability and community resilience.

Ontological type

Environmental Outcomes

Socioeconomic Impacts

Governance Arrangements

Key developments

Key Figures

Local-Global Systems era

Alan Beardsworth [1], associated with Loughborough University [3], contributed to the study of food consumption and cultural change in the Local-Global Systems era (1990–1996). His key contributions, notably in The Vegetarian Option: Varieties, Conversions, Motives and Careers [6], illuminate how motives and career paths around vegetarianism refract between local practices and global trends, underscoring why such conversions mattered for provisioning and nutrition in this era. Alessandro Bonanno [2], affiliated with University of Wisconsin–Madison [4] and University of Missouri [5], helped articulate globalization dynamics within local food systems of the same period. His 1995 paper From Columbus to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food [7] highlighted how multinational corporate networks reframe access and resilience across scales, enabling a multi-scalar analysis of sustenance in local-global systems.

Relocalization and Governance era

Terry Marsden[1] is a prominent scholar associated with Cardiff University[3] and the University of Oxford[4] during the Relocalization and Governance era. His work, including Understanding Alternative Food Networks: Exploring the Role of Short Food Supply Chains in Rural Development[7], and Quality, Nature, and Embeddedness: Some Theoretical Considerations in the Context of the Food Sector*[8], along with Worlds of food: place, power, and provenance in the food chain[9], advanced the analysis of local food systems by highlighting short supply chains, embedded networks, and the role of place, power, and provenance in shaping rural development and governance. C. Clare Hinrichs[2] is a notable scholar associated with Pennsylvania State University[5] and Iowa State University[6] during this era. Her paper Embeddedness and local food systems: notes on two types of direct agricultural market[10] contributed to conceptualizing how local markets are embedded in social networks and governance structures, illuminating pathways for local production and governance strategies through direct markets.

Community-Driven Food Governance era

Mario Herrero [1], associated with Cornell University [3] and the New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences [4] in this era, contributed to shaping local food governance. His work argues that Innovation can accelerate the transition towards a sustainable food system [6], and he presents A research vision for food systems in the 2020s: Defying the status quo [7], which reframed policy incentives and practical experimentation for this era. H. Renting [2], affiliated with Aeres University of Applied Sciences [5], advances civic food networks and newly emerging forms of food citizenship through the papers Building Food Democracy: Exploring Civic Food Networks and Newly Emerging Forms of Food Citizenship [8] and Validating the City Region Food System Approach: Enacting Inclusive, Transformational City Region Food Systems [9]. H. Renting [2], affiliated with Aeres University of Applied Sciences [5], and the papers Building Food Democracy: Exploring Civic Food Networks and Newly Emerging Forms of Food Citizenship [8] and Validating the City Region Food System Approach: Enacting Inclusive, Transformational City Region Food Systems [9] illustrate a shift toward inclusive, democratic governance of local food systems.