Marie Houdart

Food production for the city: hybridization of farmers’ strategies between alternative and conventional food chains

ABSTRACT Alternative and local food supply chains (ALFSCs) have been indicated as drivers of territorial development through increasing the food security at local scale. The aim of the study is to characterize strategies that periurban farmers adopt to contribute to local food provision through ALFSCs. We surveyed a sample of 55 farmers in the urban region of Pisa, Tuscany (Italy). By combining qualitative and quantitative analysis of on-farm surveys, this study characterized three farmers’ strategies, depending on the percentage of production they allotted to local markets: few/passive, intermediate/opportunistic, entire/active. The main factors influencing each strategy were personal and professional bonds, diversification of the commercial network, and the number and the diversification of products sold in ALFSCs. Even though farmers can allocate 100% of their production to ALFSCs, most farmers combine ALFSCs with conventional food chains, suggesting that hybridization has advantages for the sustainability of these farms. Farmers who adopt an opportunistic strategy appeared more dynamic and adaptable to local opportunities and constraints. This analysis will offer empirical evidence about the participation of farmers in ALFSCs and especially about the hybridization between conventional and alternative food chains, contributing to the characterization of the local supply of produce, with benefits for community food security.

Food, Integrating Urban and Agricultural Dynamics in Pisa, Italy

Food concerns are reshaping the links between urban and agricultural dynamics. They are emerging as significant issues at the interface between public policies and local initiatives that are in turn establishing new approaches in urban planning and land use. Food occupies a concomitant position as an agricultural product of periurban areas, the principal commodity of a supply system, and a focus of community projects. But does this mean that it acts as an integrating element in an agricultural system? Drawing on data from the research project, ANR-DAUME, which focuses on the sustainability of urban agriculture in Mediterranean cities, we analyse the urban agricultural system of Pisa, Italy, in terms of a geo-agronomical model based on a triad of actors, activities, and spaces. This model highlights the diversity of agricultural food production, the hybridization of sales, distribution networks, and the multifunctionality of organizations involved in various related food projects. These aspects combine in a web of relationships that infuse Pisa’s urban agricultural system with new abilities to transform and adapt to evolving dynamics, showing that food can play the role of a common denominator, integrating actors from these diverse worlds and transforming the dynamics that influence land use and development in the territory.