Communities, Supermarkets, and Local Food: Mapping Connections and Obstacles in Food System Work in North Carolina

Abstract

What is the role of retail chains in the institutionalization of local food systems? The most basic issue in the development of community based food systems is also the thorniest: how to sell local food through regular supermarkets without giving up the ideals of keeping the food system local. Beginning in 2009, a team of researchers in North Carolina has examined the potential for partnerships between local producers and grocery stores. The goals were (1) to document the way food producers and retailers defined local food, (2) to record how consumers related local food to notions of community, and (3) to identify how a community's cultural assets might reinforce economic cooperation among food enterprises. The research identified key differences between retailer and consumer conceptions of local food. Yet, through a sketch mapping task, the work also uncovered the ways that consumers saw stores as community connectors. Subsequent work has documented how actors within a conventional grocery chain work to align often divergent interests at stores, corporate headquarters, and distribution facilities in order to support local food. The paper concludes with an assessment of how a relational approach can address obstacles to local food sales in conventional supply chains.

Mission‐Driven Intermediaries as Anchors of the Middle Ground in the American Food System: Evidence from Warrenton, NC

“…In 2014, we published our findings on the role of retail chains in institutionalizing local food systems (Colloredo‐Mansfeld et al. ). It was in this broader work that we first encountered sustainable food‐related institutions that were transitioning into more complex revenue‐generating organizational forms, institutions we now call MDIs.…”

“…For economic anthropologists, the earnings and growth obstacles of alternative food marketing have become test cases for studying capital, competition, and commodity markets, and how alternative food economies may sustainably confront and engage with them (Colloredo‐Mansfeld et al. ). Local food may require more than the direct market relationship to be successful (Janssen ).…”

The Importance of Local Foods to Users of Food Pantries in Accessible Rural Alaska

“…In keeping with national trends, Alaskans employ the phrase "local foods" primarily to refer to cultivated foods. There is ongoing national debate regarding whether local refers only to distance or state of origin, or whether other issues are at play as well, such as the quality of food and/or interpersonal relationships (Colloredo-Mansfeld, Tewari, Williams, Holland, Steen, & Wilson, 2014). In Alaska, the emphasis for local foods is on foods grown within the state.…”

Farmer use of intermediated market channels: a review

“…Based on a study in North Carolina, implementing policies that allow stores to have a larger local orientation enable retailers to build meaningful social connections in their communities (Colloredo-Mansfeld et al, 2014). Even in cases when retailers do not purport to offer social value beyond the label ‘local’ on their products, they are able to earn higher margins and sell larger volumes when local foods make up an important part of their product lines (Richards et al, 2017).…”