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Alternative strategies in the UK agro-food system: Interrogating the alterity of farmers' markets

Kirwan, James

Authors

James Kirwan



Abstract

In recent years we have witnessed the development of numerous alternative strategies (AS) within the UK agro-food system intent on overcoming, or at least circumventing, some of the problems associated with the globalisation of food production and consumption. Within these AS, there is an intention to reconnect food to the social, cultural and environmental context of its production, leading to considerable interest in their potential to engender sustained change within the food system. However, it is apparent that AS are likely to face various pressures on their underlying integrity and alterity, and their possible re-incorporation within mainstream processes. There is a need, therefore, to interrogate the durability of AS, which this paper does through its critical examination of farmers' markets (FMs). Drawing upon a number of FM cases studies, it examines the engagement of producers and consumers, both with each other, but also with the exchange context of FMs. The resultant data are assessed within the conceptual domains of embeddedness and regard as a means of better understanding the nature of FMs as an AS. The paper concludes by outlining the implications of this research for our comprehension of AS more broadly. © European Society for Rural Sociology.

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2004
Journal Sociologia Ruralis
Print ISSN 0038-0199
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 44
Issue 4
Pages 395-415
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9523.2004.00283.x
Keywords food, farming, UK, agro-food system, farmers' markets, alterity
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1057541
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9523.2004.00283.x


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