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Short food supply chain (SFSCs) initiatives have developed throughout Europe as an alternative to the long industrialized chains characterizing the contemporary global food industry. They are often driven by small-scale actors belonging to different phases of the chain (producers, retailers, consumers) and rooted in specific territorial contexts. Innovative organizational models of SFSCs are attracting interest in the academic field (Jarosz, 2008, Khan and Prior, 2010, Aubry and Kebir, 2013 and beyond (RUAF, 2015). This work contributes to the debate with a focus on the logistics of SFSCs in urban and peri-urban areas across Europe, specifically on the role of local intermediaries in facilitating connections between urban consumers and peri-urban and rural farmers. The structure of three small/medium enterprises (SMEs) acting as local SFSC intermediaries has been analyzed by a research network involving researchers and entrepreneurs in a mutual learning process. The aim was to identify the main business objectives of local intermediaries in SFSCs, the elements that from the SMEs point of view characterize SFSCs and their vision of sustainability. A simple theoretical model has been developed to look at leadership of SFSCs in urban and peri-urban areas. The research process provided interesting insight into the contribution that qualitative research can give to SMEs' reflection on their organizational model (Zakic et al., 2014). core ideasLocal intermediaries can stimulate innovative organizational models in short chains.Leadership in short chains determines prioritization between sustainability goals.Trust and communication, more than distance, are short chain key elements.Flexible regulation can contribute to speeding up development of innovative partnerships.Qualitative research can support SMEs with an integrated vision of their supply chain.

Abstract:The "transfer of technology", typical of a top-down linear process of innovation cannot be used in the new contexts of sustainability, characterised by uncertainty and complexity. There is a need to redefine categories and concepts around which innovation and agricultural policies are built, as those currently in use provide only a partial representation of reality. Innovation paradigms underpinning technological development and public policies design will have a direct impact on decisions regarding which agricultural models will ultimately be supported. Looking at local learning capacity and systems of relations can help to understand the potential to develop innovation within a specific context. This work contributes to the definition of new actors who are developing innovation for sustainability in rural areas. The study focuses on the knowledge systems of farmers who are applying alternative breeding strategies: it uses a network approach to explore the knowledge system in which individual farmers are embedded in order to understand their specific relational features. Three main conclusions emerge from the study: for enhancing the agro-ecological innovation paradigm there is a need to define the 'innovation broker', to revise the evaluation system of public research and to integrate innovation and agricultural policies.

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