Reconnecting producers andconsumers:

the experience of solidarity purchasegroups

Symposium ‘Feeding theCity’

Siena School for LiberalArts

June 25-26, 2014

Sustainable development

Brundtland definition (WCED 1987):

“Development that meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs”

Problems with the ideaof sustainable development

• “Development that meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their ownneeds”

• Which needs exactly?

• Whose needs exactly (at home andabroad)?

• …And aren’t needs constantly changinganyway?

Which way forward? Option 1

• Ecological modernization

• Resolving the apparent contradictions ofeconomic growth and environmentalconservation through a combination ofclean technologies and other smartpractices

• Reconciling the material benefits ofindustrial society with environmentalconservation: we can, indeed, have ourcake and eat it too

• Same or more consumption

Which way forward? Option 2

• Thinking ethically (sustainably) aboutconsumption

• Animal welfare, fair trade, sustainabilityconsiderations (e.g. organic, low-input),provenance, quality

• Knowledge as power, removing the veil

• People’s power

• Alternative food networks

Alternative food networks

“Network”: Primary producers, food artisans,intermediaries (but genuinely interested inpromoting ethical and high-quality food),consumers and others, like restaurateurs,food writers, social entrepreneurs

A typology of alternative food networks:

• Face to face: farmers’ markets, farmshops and roadside stalls, pick-your-own,box schemes, home deliveries (onlinepurchases)

• Spatial proximity: consumer cooperatives,fairs (farmers’ markets), gastronomictourism routes, arrangements betweenfarm shops (Bottega di Stigliano)

• Spatially extended (social distance?):special foods with formal labels(Parmigiano Reggiano cheese,Champagne wine, Fair-trade products)