Using Social Networking Analysis to Measure Changes in Regional Food Systems Collaboration: A Methodological Framework

Abstract

This article presents a methodological approach to studying and evaluating increasingly complex regional food systems. Social network analysis has been used to measure collaborations in health and education and is potentially a tool for regional food systems. The authors demonstrate the methodological advantages of using social network analysis to track changes in collaboration over time, illustrated through a case study of a multi-tiered, three-year food systems project in North Carolina. There are multiple benefits of using social network analysis; for food systems two of the most useful are its ability to create illuminating visualizations of collaborators, and its ability to use inferential statistics to evaluate significance of changes in food system projects.

Collaborative Concession in Food Movement Networks: The Uneven Relations of Resource Mobilization

“…One body of literature discusses alternative ways of organizing and valuing the exchange of food, say through farmers markets, community-supported agriculture, cooperatives, or solidarity economies [15,24,25]. Another approach is through the lens of local food systems and food sheds; this approach tries to understand their networked attributes with respect to how consumers and producers relate to each other within a particular place [26][27][28]. While these first two approaches offer some differences, they are similar insofar as collaboration entails a strong market focus, although there is some debate about what constitutes an "alternative food network" [29].…”

Farmer social connectedness and market access: A case study of personal networks among emerging farmers

“…The studies highlight the importance of building trust, social learning, and cooperative action through the creation of strong social bonds (DeLind, 2006;Hayden et al, 2018;Hightower et al, 2013;Jarosz, 2000). These contemporary examples serve to further demonstrate the nature of social connectedness as embedded within the American local food system (Christensen & O'Sullivan, 2015;DeLind, 2006;Hinrichs, 2000).…”

“…Much of this work is predicated on the importance of farmer-to-farmer networks, as well as the foundational principles of the Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003). While the theory has come under scrutiny in recent times (Stephenson, 2003), the consistent relevance to farmer-to-farmer information exchange networks serves to demonstrate the importance of close connections with farmer success, both commercially and productively (Christensen & O'Sullivan, 2015;Hayden, Rocker, Phillips, Heins, Smith, & Delate, 2018). Other scholars have demonstrated the limited efficacy of the farmer-to-farmer adoption model, with many positing that the cultural and ecological context is key in determining farmer adoption strategies (Knowler & Bradshaw, 2007;Prokopy, Floress, Klotthor-Weinkauf, & Baumgart-Getz, 2008).…”

“…Social networks have been shown to be key to entrepreneurial success by providing resource access, critical information, and risk management strategies for start-up farms (Hassanein, 1997;Mailfert, 2007). Over the longer term, networks have been demonstrated to be of paramount importance in accessing markets, providing social support, facilitating collaboration, and ensuring governmental support programs for vulnerable and entrepreneurial farms (Andreatta & Wickliffe, 2002;Ashby et al, 2009;Christensen & O'Sullivan, 2015;Hightower, Niewolny, & Brennan, 2013). For example, one study demonstrated how women farmers in Pennsylvania were often excluded from the wider food system due to limited networks.…”

Grappling With Complex Food Systems to Reduce Obesity: A US Public Health Challenge

“…14 Systems approaches are being used to design obesity interventions, food system policies, and other public health interventions, to identify the most effective places to intervene in systems, to model potential consequences of interventions, and to identify sets of interventions in which the interventions reinforce rather than undermine one another (Box). 14,21,33,35,40,45,46 Systems methods also are being used to monitor and evaluate obesity interventions, 46,[49][50][51] to understand how social relationships and networks operate, to explore how this operation can be leveraged to improve outcomes, 52,53 and to understand important social, economic, and political contexts. These methods also can be used to identify political obstacles to progress, policies that might alienate potential supporters, and policies that might build a broad alliance beyond public health.…”