Alternative agrifood networks in a regional area: a case study

Abstract

An alternative agrifood network (AAFN) can be regarded as a local food system that is purposely attempted to put into practice political–ethical concerns staying out of and creatively reshaping conventional agrifood chains. Under social, knowledge and learning perspectives, we discuss some issues for a regional agrifood breeding environment that supports configurations of many different AAFNs as well as manages knowledge flows within a local community in an agrifood regional area. Moreover, we present challenges, constraints, and organisational solutions for AAFNs, based on a case study we conducted in the District of High Quality Productions in Sibari, (Calabria, Italy).

Keywords:

• collaborative network
• breeding environment
• regional alternative agrifood network
• learning communities
• e-business

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Erratum

Notes

1. Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) use vivid metaphors to describe the organisational cultures classified along four dimensions. The first of these dimensions, ‘Clan culture’, describes organisations that focus on flexibility, friendliness, concern for people and sensitivity to customers. The clan culture is like an extended family where the leaders, or the heads or the organisation are considered to be mentors and perhaps even parent figures and the organisation is held together by loyalty and tradition. The organisation places a great emphasis on teamwork, participation and consensus.

2. Henderson and Morgan refer to social capital as ‘a relational infrastructure for collective action predicated on trust, reciprocity and the disposition to collaborate to achieve mutually beneficial ends’ (p. 19), (Henderson and Morgan 2001).