Weaving Chains of Grain

Abstract

The development and diversification of short food supply chains is a primary characteristic of burgeoning alternative food networks and systems in North America. This paper examines several grain production initiatives in southwest British Columbia that respond to the commodification and concentration of conventional, globalized grain production by developing alternative and socially embedded networks that transform the way grain travels from field to plate. Based on a multi-sited ethnography of emerging “grain chains,” we argue that these new short food supply chains strengthen existing connections in alternative food networks as well as assist in developing new ones. Localized grain chains thus serve as mobilizing structures that strengthen the organizational capacity of alternative food systems. Exhibiting dynamic social histories that link landscapes, farmers, processors and consumers, these alternative grain chains function by facilitating the traceability of local food production, preserving the identity of local producers and consumers, redefining the range of local food production, and testing and strengthening the development of niche markets.

Keywords:

• grain chains
• short food supply chains
• alternative food networks
• local food systems
• southwest british Columbia
• social history

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Hergesheimer

Christopher Hergesheimer completed his MA in sociology from Simon Fraser University, and is now a contract research associate examining farmers' markets in western Canada. He also coordinates a grain chain project based in Vancouver, BC and manages a local farmers' market near his home on the Sunshine Coast, BC. His research interests include bioregionalism, agro-food studies and environmental sociology. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada ([email protected]).

Hannah Wittman

Hannah Wittman is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University. She conducts collaborative research on local food systems, farmer networks, agrarian citizenship and food sovereignty. Her work has been published in the Journal of Rural Studies, Journal of Peasant Studies, the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Land Degradation and Development and Human Organization. She is co-editor of Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community and Food Sovereignty in Canada: Creating Just and Sustainable Food Systems. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada ([email protected]).