Via online. 5 pages., "Industry in a frenzy, trying to decode the sludge of public opinion while still getting used to the idea this is something to take seriously."
24 pages, Alternative food networks (AFN) are argued to provide platforms to re-socialize and re-spacealize food, establish and contribute to democratic participation in local food chains, and foster producer–consumer relations and trust. As one of the most recent examples of AFN, Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) have gained notable traction in attempting to redefine consumer-producer relations in the organic value chain. The participation of stakeholders, such as consumers, has been a key element theoretically differentiating PGS from other organic verification systems. While research on farmer participation in PGS is attracting interest, consumer participation is still widely overlooked. Using a mixed methods approach, this paper describes five PGS markets in Mexico, Chile and Bolivia. A survey was conducted with consumers in the PGS markets to explore their awareness of the PGS, how consumers participate in the PGS, and their level of trust in the respective PGS and its certified products. Results showed a low level of awareness of PGS among market consumers, few participation possibilities, and minimal consumer participation overall. Nevertheless, trust in organic quality was generally high. Consumers primarily relied on the direct relationship with producers and the PGS market itself as sources of trust. These results provide novel insight into PGS consumer-market interactions, and contribute to discussions concerning social embeddedness, awareness and participation within AFN.
9 pages., Article # 1RIB4, Via online journal., Food hubs represent a business model through which farmers can collectively market product to access new supply chains and buyers can efficiently access locally sourced foods. Many farmer marketing cooperatives fit within the food hub definition and have existed for decades. Accordingly, much can be learned from them to support food hub business planning efforts. We developed and synthesized case studies of three successful cooperatives in order to match key food hub operational challenges with recommended best management practices. Such information is useful for Extension education efforts supporting the development of economically viable food hub businesses.
Available online at www.centmapress.org, Authors examine ways in which club theory can help provide an alternative approach to recognizing and overcoming market failure in agricultural and food value chains.
In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in new type, direct and short supply chains (SSC) Hungary, and the markets have proved to be globalisation-resilient, keeping their market share from sales of fast-moving consumer goods. We conducted a consumer and producer survey to identify the most important expectations and experiences about markets in Hungary. We applied a service quality model (SERVQUAL) to measure the consumers’ and producers’ opinions and satisfaction of Hungarian markets. A warning result of our study is that vendors estimate their level of service above that of the consumers’ experiences which means that, in spite of the direct communication, they do not have an accurate understanding of their customers’ requirements. Our surveys also showed that there is a substantial deficiency between the services expected and experienced at markets in all dimensions (environment, service, convenience and produce) that influence the choice of retail channel. The most important dimension proved to be produce quality which should thus remain in the focus of market developments. In recent years, new trends in urban local food movements have started to emerge in Hungary which could not be detected at the time of our survey (2012). Thus we intend to extend our survey in the future to see whether these new local-alternative food movements have formed a new consumer segment for farmers’ markets in Hungary, and in what way should the market vendors modify their services to be able to ride this new trend.
Barkley, Andrew (author) and Barkkley, Paul W. (author)
Format:
Book
Publication Date:
2015
Published:
USA: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 154 Document Number: D07071
Notes:
196 pages., "In an information-based economy...the only source of prosperity is providing consumers with what they desire." Authors conclude that the flow of information from consumers to producers may be more important than providing consumers with knowledge about agriculture.
