Assessing community-led food trade: value, impact and scalability

The ‘alternative’ food economy appears to have grown: demand for local foods has gradually increased despite the recent recession. Many communities are organising their own initiatives to grow and buy sustainable and ethical food. Some cities are developing urban food strategies to deliver health and wellbeing, tackle food poverty and stimulate food entrepreneurship.

Despite these indicators, robust data on the size, scale and impact of this ‘alternative’ food economy is scarce. Data for England produced by the CPRE (2012), put the value of local food sales through independent outlets at around £2.7 billion and estimated that 61,000 jobs were directly attributable to local food sales. Other studies have developed an Index of food relocalisation which mapped the national geography of selected local food systems (Ricketts Hein et al. 2006, 2010). These studies, however, focused only on retail outlets and excluded community food initiatives or box delivery schemes and so did not capture the full scale of the emergent community-led food economy.

Current research in this field is characterized primarily by small-scale case studies focusing on the social benefits of community food initiatives. Studies that examine the economic dimensions of such examples have produced contradictory results depending on which variables are included and where system boundaries are drawn. Innovative methodologies are required in order to fully capture the dimensions and impact of ‘alternative’ food economies and also to shift understandings of what constitute valid, reliable and relevant indicators in this field.

The student will work closely with up to three case studies of comparatively large-scale community-led food systems, operating along ‘alternative/progressive/radical’ ethical frameworks to support sustainable food production and serve large populations. The project is expected to produce novel concepts and methods for monitoring and evaluating the impact and potential of ‘alternative’ food economies and there will be a strong emphasis on ensuring that research outcomes are of maximum relevance to community research partners.

The student will be supervised by leading scholars in the field of ‘alternative’ food networks, agroecology and community food studies, and will develop their skills in research, critical thinking and professional conduct in a vibrant research community which is committed to producing excellent research with impact.