Retailing of organic produce in Europe and North America can be divided into two types -supermarket and non-supermarket. Supermarket retailing of organic produce usually favours production in bigger farms which grow six to ten crops per year, employ low wage labour and are profitable due to the economies of scale. Non-supermarket retailing is perceived as favouring small scale production where farmers tend to grow more than 30 varieties of crops and earn higher returns due to smaller supply chains. Examples of non-supermarket retailing are farmer’s markets, independent shops, food cooperatives, buying groups, online retail, community supported agriculture (CSAs) projects and box schemes. In academia, these types of enterprises have been part of the ‘Alternative Food Networks’ (AFN) literature.
The literature proposes that AFNs are more sustainable than conventional food retail because they aim to provide food sustainably by belonging to a certain locale, being financially viable, ecologically sustainable and socially just. But the sustainability of AFNs is questionable. Literature has highlighted socio-economic problems in the implementation of AFNs such as low wages, exclusion and protectionism. Whilst the organic movement in Europe and North America has developed knowledge and complexity in organic production techniques, it lacks knowledge on how to sustainably retail organic produce. As a result, some AFNs have begun to self-regulate by what is being called ‘beyond organic’ certification.
In the UK ‘beyond organic’ certifications hope to demonstrate that there are AFN retail businesses that have overcome socio-economic problems. They aim to introduce industry standards and benchmark current practices to support the growth of the sector. However, the organisers behind these initiatives have little understanding of the financial sustainability of the sector and what indicators to use in order to assess it. Furthermore, interest in understanding the sustainability, including financial, of the sector has become more important thanks to the uncertainty on food and farming policy in the UK due to Brexit. The AFN sector wants to be able to influence new policy that potentially will be beneficial for it.
This research aims to assess the economic value, economic impact and scalability of AFNs using vegetable box schemes as an example. Vegetable box schemes are businesses that deliver fresh produce weekly and customers pay in advance of delivery therefore ensuring demand week by week. The research will develop indicators to assess the financial sustainability of box schemes
This presentation will show a hybrid approach to assess box scheme’s financial sustainability. This approach considers box scheme’s commitment to locale, environment, social justice and financial viability. It will present results from a desktop research of frameworks to evaluate the financial sustainability of supply chains and food systems and a critical review of the values based supply chain framework developed in the USA. Finally, it will report on initial results of a national box scheme survey and how the hybrid approach will generate financial sustainability indicators that could be adopted by ‘beyond organic’ certifications.
