Systematizing authenticity and codifying values: The role of values, standards, and governance at farmers markets

Manser, Gwyneth M.

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.10.021

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…According to our findings, we agree that the conjunction of values and an adequate institutional framework are important pillars for the governance of these markets (Manser, 2022) and that adequate internal coordination and multilevel coordination with relevant actors are fundamental for their future.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

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Multilevel governance in farmers’ markets: a stakeholder analysis in Tuscany

Belletti,

Torres Salcido,

Scarpellini

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Farmers’ Markets (FMs) have gained relevance in recent years as increasingly acknowledged to be critical to turn to more equitable food systems, easing agroecological transition, and preserving biocultural heritage. However, the issue of the forms of social and institutional coordination needed to create, organize, manage and promote FMs is a recent topic in the literature, and their governance is still poorly considered. Based on a set of case studies in Tuscany, Italy, this paper intends to contribute to filling this gap by analysing the forms of governance and the role of different stakeholders. The hypothesis is that FMs are social constructions that respond to processes of social and institutional innovation through direct exchanges between producers, consumers and other stakeholders, articulated at both local and non-local level. The aim of the paper is to explore the interactions between stakeholders and the corresponding forms of multi-level governance that emerge. The method for testing the hypotheses is qualitative, through semi-structured interviews to FMs managers and conversations with producers and other stakeholders, conducted between May and August 2022 in Tuscany. The research was complemented by consultation of indirect sources, such as FMs websites and social networks. The results are summarized in the elaboration of a three-dimensional and territorially embedded governance model. The first dimension refers to the management of internal relations between stakeholders within the FM. The second corresponds to the activation of dialogue, negotiation, and agreement with the municipality and other local authorities, and with local farmers’ unions. The third type corresponds to vertical flows between the FMs and extraterritorial bodies, i.e., regional government, regional and national farmers’ unions and other stakeholder associations. It is important to note that at FMs level, processes of hybridization between the different types of governance are established. The article contributes to the analysis of FMs as economic and social constructions and may be useful for establishing comparative frameworks around institutional and collective action dimensions, multi-actor and multilevel studies of governance.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Our analysis confirms that FMs are not just physical places but first and foremost socially constructed spaces (Smithers et al, 2008;Manser, 2022), whose creation involves the identification, sharing and management of economic and social practices, relations, knowledge and values.…”

Section: Fms As Socially Constructed Spacessupporting

confidence: 72%

Multilevel governance in farmers’ markets: a stakeholder analysis in Tuscany

Belletti,

Torres Salcido,

Scarpellini

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…A regional study in the state of Washington has demonstrated (somewhat ironically) that farmers markets have become more viable in the changing agricultural landscape, encouraged by the neoliberal turn in global food markets where commodity crop production shifting to new regions has left new spaces for small-scale farm producers in their wake (Jarosz, 2008). While often imagined and described as homogenous, research has revealed that farmers markets often exist under heterogeneous regulations and operate according to diverse values advancing different visions about which vendors belong and do not belong (Manser, 2022).…”

Section: Farmers Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Still others criticize landgrant colleges and other organizations for working with an industrial agriculture paradigm and failing to adjust and adapt their approaches to the real needs of the AFM, which usually includes a long menu of outcomes ranging from racial and gender equity to community-building and asset-provisioning (e.g., Iles et al, 2020Iles et al, , 2021Niewolny & Lillard, 2010;Oberholtzer et al, 2014;Wardnynski et al, 2018). Many tend to focus their critique on the possibilities and failures of engaging the appropriate values in AFM activities (Argüelles, 2021;Gordon & Hunt, 2018;Iles et al, 2020;Manser, 2022;Plana-Farran et al, 2023;Timmerman & Felix, 2015). All of them ignore or elide the critical foundation for a successful AFM: successful farmers.…”

Section: Everything But the Farmersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2024

J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev.

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Section: Farmers Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

First you need the farmers: The microfarm system as a critical intervention in the alternative food movement

Curtis,

Hand

2024

J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev.

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After more than three decades, the alternative food movement has developed multiple strategies, most of which are still struggling. This essay surveys the literature on six key alternative food movement (AFM) strategies, assessing their strengths and weaknesses before describing a novel strategy, the microfarm system, which is being implemented in north central Ohio. It argues that key omissions from most AFM scholarship and practices include sustained attention to training and supporting successful farmers, concerted efforts to help facilitate needed social networks or communities of practices around alternative food developments, and forwarding a set of ambitions that do not appreciate the scale of existing food systems nor the limits of alternative food systems’ impact. It offers the microfarm system as an emerging approach to address these omissions.

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Systematizing authenticity and codifying values: The role of values, standards, and governance at farmers markets

Cited by 10 publications

References 70 publications

Multilevel governance in farmers’ markets: a stakeholder analysis in Tuscany

Multilevel governance in farmers’ markets: a stakeholder analysis in Tuscany

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First you need the farmers: The microfarm system as a critical intervention in the alternative food movement

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