“…Alonso & Liu, 2012;Che et al, 2005;Dollahite, Nelson, Frongillo, & Griffin, 2005;Griffin & Frongillo, 2003), yet few studies have sought to understand how collaboration works in local food systems. Those studies that have examined collaboration in local food systems have primarily presented examples of collaborative initiatives (e.g., Conner, King, Kolodinsky, Roche, Koliba, & Trubek, 2012;Griffin & Frongillo, 2003;King et al, 2010;Stevenson, Clancy, King, Lev, Ostrom, & Smith, 2011), examined barriers to collaboration (e.g., Che et al, 2005;Starr et al, 2003;Vogt & Kaiser, 2008), or identified benefits of collaboration (e.g., Griffin & Frongillo, 2003;Izumi, Wright & Hamm, 2010;Wargenau & Che, 2006). Although valuable contributions to the literature, such studies do not address the motivations of different parties to participate in collaborative initiatives.…”