Reflecting on the Concept of Local Agroecological Food Systems

• Published in: Land (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 6; p. 1147
• Main Authors: Sanz-Cañada, Javier, Sánchez-Hernández, José Luis, López-García, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Agricultural research; Agricultural systems; Agroecology; Biodiversity; Collaboration; Collective action; Cooperation; cooperative supermarkets; Environmental aspects; Farms; Food; food hubs; Food supply; Food systems; Literature reviews; Methods; Production management; Public policy; public procurement; short food channels; Social innovation; Social justice; Socioeconomic factors; specialisation vs. diversification; Specialization; Sustainability; Territorial behavior; territorial governance; Spain
• ISSN: 2073-445X; 2073-445X
• DOI: 10.3390/land12061147

Despite the extensive literature on Local Agro-food Systems (LAFS), which involves research on local food identity and organisational proximity, the environmental sustainability of these systems has rarely been addressed. This paper develops a new concept called Local Agroecological Food Systems (LAEFS), which focuses the research not only on local food identity, but also on agroecological principles. We aim to conduct a reflexive review of the literature on the conceptual factors attempting to describe the particular characteristics of LAEFS (distinguishing these from LAFS). We explore five axes of analysis: (a) to establish a compromise at the local level between agro-food sectoral specialisation on the one hand and greater cultivated biodiversity and a more diversified economic structure on the other; (b) to geographically and commercially shorten food channels to the fullest extent; (c) to construct new institutional formulae in the fields of logistics, distribution and public procurement for the scaling up of sustainable food; (d) to develop a participatory, bottom-up, multi-stakeholder and multi-level territorial governance; and (e) to reduce the metabolic profile of food systems by reorganising rural-urban linkages. One of the principal objectives of LAEFS should involve redesigning agricultural and food systems at a scale greater than that of the farm (territory or landscape). This requires both a major public policy push and sustainable territorial governance that incorporate an approach based on territory, food systems and agroecology.