A new report has been published as part of the on-going work conducted by the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) which involved a number of researchers from the CCRI.
The research which was jointly led by Damian Maye, explored the role of infrastructure as foundational in enabling short food supply chains (SFSCs) to prosper and build resilience capacity for distributive food economies. Aimee Morse and Marie Steytler from the CCRI were also involved.
The idea of ‘infrastructure’ has gained attention in public discourse in recent years because of food system shocks. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, the agility of more local food economies – combined with the power of virtual forms of infrastructure to connect producers and consumers – was brought into sharp focus. It highlighted, albeit briefly, the resilience capacities of short food chains and local food systems and the need to ‘build essential infrastructure’ (e.g. material, virtual and legal) to support these food systems in future.
Building on this literature, this study introduced the idea of ‘foundational economy’ as a conceptual framework to explain why supporting infrastructure for SFSCs, and more distributive food economies in general, is important, both for business resilience and wider community well-being.
As part of this research, a workshop was held to share the findings and progress practical strategies to develop the infrastructure for SFSCs. More details regarding the workshop can be found in the report which can be downloaded from the University of Gloucestershire Research Repository.
The report explores the benefits of taking an infrastructure approach to developing SFSCs, drawing mostly on evidence from a workshop with participants involved with SFSCs in different capacities. Positively, we found that workshop attendees could engage with the concept, and it proved a helpful prompt for thinking about barriers, opportunities, and practical strategies for the future. Undoubtedly, all types of infrastructure are important, but we can see them as playing different roles and status.
In summary, by bringing problems and opportunities to the surface and suggesting a range of actions for different stakeholders, we hope this report supports the continuing growth of the SFSC movement, as well as highlighting some of the issues to keep reflecting on as the sector develops.
Further resources associated with NICRE’s work related to SFSC can be found on the NICRE website.
