Eva Fraňková

Organic farming in the past and today: sociometabolic perspective on a Central European case study

This paper contributes to the vivid academic debate on potentially more sustainable models of food production, focusing especially on energy issues. Applying social metabolism and energy flow analysis, it compares the functioning of a current small-scale organic family farm in the village of Holubí Zhoř, Czech Republic, with the historical performance of the village agroecosystem in c.1840. Historical data from the Franciscan stable cadastre and current data from direct field research are employed to quantify main productive assets (land, livestock, machinery and labour) and related energy flows into energy balance indicators. Their comparison shows that the present farm lies halfway between modern mechanized and traditional organic agriculture and thus constitutes an indicative case of the limits and potentialities of present-day more sustainable farm systems. Methodologically, the study is innovative by applying the social metabolism approach on the local (village and farm) level in the context of the global North, and by advancing the use of Energy Return On Investment (EROI) indicators for agroecosystems.

Conclusions: Promises and Challenges for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems

This chapter summarizes the main sustainability challenges (in terms of science and policy) of the current dominant agri-food system and presents insights derived from the cases in the volume. We return to the two main questions asked in the introductory chapter of the book. How useful is the socio-metabolic approach in studying the sustainability of local food systems (LFS)? To this, we identify three main methodological contributions: (1) That classic indicators (of material and energy flows) derived from the sociometabolic approach offers greater insights as well as lend power and rigour when combined with social, ecological, political and other dimensions; (2) Multi-dimensional and multi-scalar analyses can contribute not only to sustainability assessment of a particular LFS but also to broader theoretical and conceptual debates regarding sustainability and potential localisation of LFS; (3) Socio-metabolic studies on the local level provide detailed understanding of the particular LFS while revealing potential leverage points for intervention for improved system performance with respect to sustainability. Besides methodological insights, the chapter derives key lessons from the cases in the book, in particular the promising characteristics of both the historical and current local food system. We identify the following points as important: (1) A close proximity between the producers and consumers holds a very strong potential for systemic change of the current dominant agri-food system, but also the other way round, the growing distance obscures the sustainability challenges; (2) LFS proves better in closing nutrient cycles on local and regional levels. This issue is also related to the importance of the multifunctionality of land use, and livestock use, in both the historical and the current LFS. As seen in our case studies, LFS cannot be seen as a panacea to address all sustainability challenges of the current dominant agri-food system, however, they hold great potential and therefore deserve further exploration.

Socio-Metabolic Perspectives on the Sustainability of Local Food Systems

This book delves into diverse local food systems and critically assesses their ecological and societal benefits and trade-offs, their limits and opportunities for improving sustainability of food production, and framework conditions which either hinder or promote their development. More and more people with gradually meat heavier diets will demand growth in food production, whilst our increasingly industrialized and globalized agri-food system has already caused serious sustainability problems in the past. This calls for a change in the way we produce, distribute and consume food. A re-emerging debate on food security and food sovereignty seems to support this quest. But what are the promising alternatives to mainstream developments? Such a discussion regarding sustainability of local food systems requires a sound systemic understanding and thus invites a socio-metabolic reading of local cases by analyzing the nexus between material and energy flows as well as land and time use. This approach is needed to complement the so far mostly qualitatively-based local food studies. Applying socio-metabolic approaches to local food systems fosters a better understanding of promises and pitfalls for sustainable pathways in the future.

Introduction: Key Concepts, Debates and Approaches in Analysing the Sustainability of Agri-Food Systems

The Introduction sets the tone for the book by outlining the main concepts, debates and applications illustrated by the various contributions in this volume. The theme of Local Food Systems (LFS) is a complex one, and therefore a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary effort, drawing on a myriad of research concepts and frameworks. The chapter begins by embedding the food debate within the broader sustainability discussion. It highlights issues around future demand and supply scenarios, current production and consumption patterns, and the challenges of addressing some of these issues in the context of climate change. The chapter also provides a review of some of the responses so far to counter the current unsustainability of the global agri-food system. Initiatives and concepts such as local food systems, localisation, food security and sovereignty are discussed, drawing on examples from both the Global North and South. Since the volume is about socio-metabolic approaches to agri-food systems, the chapter also introduces the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of this approach, and how this relates to political ecology, social conflicts and environmental justice. The chapter ends with an introduction to the various contributions in this volume that discuss the following cross-cutting issues: the necessity to consider local cases as nested in regional, national and global scales, including the debate on what might be an optimal scale for food regionalisation or sovereignty; the agenda of re-localisation and its political and ideological background in relation to biophysical/socio-metabolic insights with respect to LFS; the inclusion of trade in the methodological and ideological framework of LFS studies; the multi-functionality of agriculture and various related metrics of efficiency in agriculture (including the energy efficiency/EROI variables); the biophysical performance of other, more sustainability-focused, production regimes; the land-sparing versus land-sharing debate in connection to the biodiversity and landscape multi-functionality of both historical and existing agri-food systems; the role of livestock in various agri-food systems, and the related issue of meat consumption and dietary transition as part of a broader metabolic transition happening in many parts of the world; the issue of labour in terms of efficiency, and also in broader social and economic contexts; the political underpinnings of peasant livelihoods, existing social conflicts and uneven ecological exchange related to food; the issue of democratisation of food systems, access to means of production for fulfilling basic needs, and the agenda of food sovereignty. The contributors to this volume all ask the following two questions: Which local food systems or their particular characteristics can serve as the best practice examples for maintaining and designing more sustainable agri-food systems in the future? Which scientific and policy relevant insights can the socio-metabolic approach offer with respect to studying the sustainability of local food systems?

Food, Feed, Fuel, Fibre and Finance: Looking for Sustainability Halfway Between Traditional Organic and Industrialised Agriculture in the Czech Republic

In this chapter, we provide an in-depth analysis of a potentially sustainable local food system located in the Czech Republic, a small-scale organic family farm, involved in the Community Supported Agriculture scheme, with a traditional integrated farm structure combining cropland, grassland, and woodland, and a highly localised mode of both production, consumption and distribution. Both the biophysical and monetary profile of the farm is provided, and the biophysical characteristics benchmarked with pre-industrial era (1840’) and current average data on organic and conventional Czech agriculture. The results show an interesting combination of traditional systems’ characteristics (no artificial fertiliser inputs, significant human labour inputs, a significant level of closed internal material loops), and modern/industrialised features (input of fossil fuels related to mechanisation, prevalent market orientation and dependence on external, although mainly local markets). The concept of food localisation is employed to discuss the complex issues of sustainability on the farm level, and the nexus of Food-Feed-Fuel-Fibre production as discussed in the literature is extended to also include the aspect of Finance, too often neglected in current socio-metabolic studies.