FASS-Food is aware of the importance of learning from existing examples and mixing academic research with real market and regulatory experiences. Thus, the research team has engaged with three concrete cases of alternative food networks that aim at linking small scale farmers and SMEs to consumers in a sustainable and economically fair way. We used WFTO-Europe network to pick three pilots in three different geographies and three different markets that have enthusiastically agreed to be part of the project: Korto’m Leuven in Belgium, Solidale Italiano in Italy and Syn Allois in Greece.
We dialogue with them, learn from them, exchange information and establish a creative space for new forms of innovation (organisational, legal, financial, digital, etc.) to thrive and be potentially tested in a follow up phase of the project. The three case studies operate within the framework of the fair trade, ethical and North-North food system, but they occupy different positions, adopt different business strategies, implement (or not) different set of criteria for sustainability and fair distribution of value in their transactions, have specific methods to reduce food loss and waste, and face different challenges when it comes to scaling up, providing consistency, guarantee a continuous supply of goods and being accessible to consumers. From the research perspective, the geographical, legal, financial and commercial diversity of the pilots provides us with the unique opportunity to create comparison, favour exchange of knowledge and identify solutions that may operate across the whole of Europe. Through bottom-up learning, FASS-Food has documented the diversity of practices that characterise the three pilots. Particularly, the three pilots have been explored in relation to the following aspects:
- Problems – the environmental, social and economic problems that each pilot wants to solve through its business initiative.
- Solutions – the organisational, legal and technological solutions deployed by the pilots to deal with the environmental, social and economic problems they have decided to address.
- Resources – the material and immaterial resources mobilised to properly implement solutions.
- Stakeholders – the actors contributing to the design and implementation of the three pilots’ initiatives.
- Challenges and prospects – future development plans of the pilots.