Food System Makers: Motivational Frames for Catalyzing Agri-Food Development through Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration

Abstract

Multi-stakeholder partnerships are indispensable in the tool kit of community economic developers. In this paper, we examine the role of multi-stakeholder collaboration as a tool for renewing agriculture by using evidence from the Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP) in Michigan. FSEP represents a unique partnership of diverse - and in many cases, historically antagonistic - stakeholders from local government and universities, agri-business, and civil society. We present individual motivations of actors involved in this multi-stakeholder collaboration and their aspirations for agriculture as well as the collaborative experience. Using interview data from the partnership's leadership team, we examine the ways in which stakeholders frame their support for and involvement in food system collaboration. We identify two frames that explain motivation for participation in FSEP: agrarian fundamentalism and civic agriculture. These frames provide a look at how meaning is constructed around food system collaboration and informs future opportunities for sustainable community and economic development through cooperation. We conclude by identifying future directions for improvement of FSEP.

Keywords:

• agrarian fundamentalism
• civic agriculture
• frame analysis
• Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP)
• multi-stakeholder partnerships