Final Report Summary - DAFNE (Determinants of Alternative Food Networks and Exchanges)
This projects addresses the issue of how consumers and farmers organize credence food transactions. Particularly it develops the concept of Food Community Network (FCN). A FCN is defined as an organization where consumers and farmers integrate their goals organizing a network. FCN is based on pooling specific resources and using membership-based contracts, to assign decision and property rights. It implies an organization based on a combination of several democratic and communitarian elements, with few market-like and bureaucratic ones. Based on those concepts this project has implemnted a research framework to analyse the FCN governance mechanisms in several contexts. Real case studies collected through different investigations on Farmers Markets, Community Supported Agriculture, Solidarity Purchasing Groups in Europe and in North America have been implemented. By applying (i) new institutional economics and (ii) organizational science arguments, the case studies were used to determine features that are useful to describe how FCN governance works. The project has also explored the role of participation in FCN (namely Farmers Markets) in changing consumers habits. The acquired results indicate a great variety of FCN organizational forms emerging both in Europe and North America in which the community component is a fundamental element to differentiate this alternative form of food distribution to mainstream supply chains. Moreover preliminary evidence of possible impacts on consumers choices and sustainable habits have been highlighted.