introduction
‘Alternative food networks’ is a term used to describe the wide range of food production-consumption options which are presented as alternatives to ‘conventional’ food networks - globalized agri-food businesses.
Localization of food systems is often advocated as a way to reestablish connections between producers and consumers, and as a way to achieve specific social and environmental goals. Advocates of local food systems often state that:
- Eating locally reduces the food miles (and therefore carbon emissions) of food
- Eating locally will support the local economy and help reconnect consumers with the producers of their food
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A local food system is often represented as intrinsically ‘good’, compared to a conventional globalized food system which is ‘bad’.
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It is this idea of the ‘local’ as automatically ‘good’ or ‘better than the non-local’ that this research examines.
I firmly believe that more localized food systems hold great potential in the shift towards more sustainable lifestyles. Much academic work on local food systems, however, suggests that while there are clear benefits, there are also dangers in seeing ‘the local’ as automatically ‘good’.
It is important that local food systems are socially inclusive, and do not simply operate alongside conventional food systems as an alternative for those with the means to buy into them. It is also important that we do not jump towards local produce to reduce food miles without recognising the effect that seasonality and energy-use in production can also have on the carbon emissions related to food.
This research seeks to explore how the idea of localism is being expressed in emergent alternative food networks in Scotland, and to examine what ‘the local’ means to those participating in such networks.
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To continue, click here to learn about the research questions asked in the project.
