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This paper utilises the ‘sustainable innovation journeys’ concept to trace how people organise and design urban food initiatives and influence city-region food policy. We evaluate whether designs succeed or fail and monitor the exchange of ideas that takes place between stakeholders. Tracing these interactions reveals the transformative potential of innovative projects, particularly if the food system changes they bring to the fore are aligned with policy interests. Three case studies provide on-the-ground insights to assess how small and medium-sized enterprises at the micro-level induce sustainability shifts. The case studies are businesses in the city-regions of Rotterdam, The Netherlands (urban farm and circular food economy); Vigo, Spain (food, forest and multi-functional land use); and Zurich, Switzerland (organic food and short supply chains). Each initiative was studied in-depth over a two-year period, with follow-up analysis for a further four years to monitor change over time (2013–2018). The cases promote the adoption of micro-level innovation practices: locally designed transition pathways that bring the benefits of change to the city-region (i.e. from the micro-level initiative to meso-level policy). The analysis highlights the importance of ‘soft change’. This can be something as simple as visiting an inspiring urban food initiative and meeting with stakeholders to generate mutual understanding, from where interests align to influence food chain practices and policy. Soft changes act as ‘seeds of transition’ for a shift towards more sustainable urban food systems, but we observe too potentially negative impacts due to lack of alignment at the micro- (initiative) or meso- (city-region) levels.

Analysis and comparison of country-level data from the VISIONARY study, examining treatment outcomes with the topical fixed-dose combination of preservative-free tafluprost (0.0015%) and timolol (0.5%) (PF tafluprost/timolol FC) in adults with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and ocular hypertension (OHT) who were insufficiently treated with or unable to tolerate either beta-blocker or prostaglandin analogue (PGA) topical monotherapy.A European, prospective, observational study was conducted in 11 countries. Adults with OAG/OHT were switched to the PF tafluprost/timolol FC from either PGA or beta-blocker topical monotherapy. Statistical analysis examined changes in mean standard deviation (SD) intraocular pressure (IOP) from baseline at Week 4, Week 12 and Month 6. Data were documented for each eye separately at baseline and during follow up visits, with the eye reported to have the higher IOP (mmHg), as measured using Goldmann applanation tonometry, being selected for analysis (study eye). Country-level subanalysis examined outcomes by prior monotherapy, diagnosis and timing of dosing for those countries recruiting ≥20 patients (Country-level Subanalysis Population). Two-sided pairedMean (SD) age among patients recruited to the VISIONARY study ranged between 63.9 (11.8) and 72.4 (10.6) years across all countries. The majority of participants (50%) were female in each country. The Country-level Subanalysis Population included 551 eyes. Mean (SD) IOP was significantly reduced from baseline in each country at Week 4, Week 12 and Month 6 (Subanalysis of VISIONARY study data revealed significant IOP reductions following a switch to the PF tafluprost/timolol FC from either PGA or beta-blocker topical monotherapy. Cross-country variation was likely due to baseline IOP differences. Within country, outcomes were consistent regardless of diagnosis, dosing or prior monotherapy. Treatment was generally well tolerated.

The VISIONARY study demonstrated statistically significant intraocular pressure (IOP) reductions with the preservative-free fixed-dose combination of tafluprost 0.0015% and timolol 0.5% (PF tafluprost/timolol FC) in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT) patients, sub-optimally controlled with topical prostaglandin analogue (PGA) or beta-blocker monotherapy. Current subanalyses have examined these data according to the baseline monotherapy.A European, prospective, observational study included adults (aged ≥ 18 years) with OAG or OHT, who were switched to the PF tafluprost/timolol FC from PGA or beta-blocker monotherapy. Treatment outcomes were reported according to prior monotherapy subgroup: beta-blocker, preserved latanoprost, PF-latanoprost, bimatoprost, tafluprost, and travoprost. Endpoints included the mean change from baseline regarding IOP, conjunctival hyperemia, and corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) at Week 4 and Week 12, and at Month 6.The subanalysis included 577 patients. All prior monotherapy subgroups demonstrated statistically significant IOP reductions from baseline at Week 4, that were maintained through Month 6 (p 0.001). Mean (SD) IOP change at Month 6 was 6.6 (4.16), 6.3 (4.39), 5.6 (3.67), 4.9 (2.97), 4.6 (4.39), and 4.7 (3.64) mmHg for prior beta-blocker, preserved latanoprost, PF-latanoprost, tafluprost, bimatoprost, and travoprost subgroups, respectively. The largest IOP change was observed in the preserved latanoprost subgroup for each of the ≥ 20%, ≥ 25%, ≥ 30%, and ≥ 35% IOP reduction categories at Month 6, demonstrating respective reductions of 8.06, 9.20, 10.64, and 11.55 mmHg. CFS was significantly reduced at Month 6 in the prior bimatoprost subgroup (p = 0.0013). Conjunctival hyperemia severity was significantly reduced at each study visit for prior preserved latanoprost users (p 0.001).PF tafluprost/timolol FC therapy provided statistically and clinically significant IOP reductions from Week 4 over the total 6-month period, in patients with OAG/OHT, regardless of the type of prior PGA or beta-blocker monotherapy used. Conjunctival hyperemia severity and CFS decreased significantly in prior bimatoprost and preserved latanoprost users, respectively.European Union electronic Register of Post-Authorization Studies (EU PAS) register number: EUPAS22204.

Aesthetic experience is an emotional response to the spontaneous interpretation of an object/situation as symbolic of either the fulfilment of an impossible but inalienable desire (positive aesthet...

International audience; European small-scale fisheries are confronted with several challenges, notably a decrease in the number of people engaged in capture fishing, growing competition from less expensive extra-EU markets, rising operational costs, strict regulations and the depletion of fishing stocks. Many small-scale fishers must adapt to change to maintain or increase their income using different business strategies. In this respect, we argue that new and diversified institutional arrangements combined with building social capital can help reach long-term economic sustainability for small-scale fisheries businesses, as well as the social-ecological resilience of coastal areas. In order to understand and analyse the multiplicity of strategies applied by small-scale fishers – including expansion towards non–productivist activities – this paper examines the role of new institutional arrangements based on small-scale, traditional, quality-orientated, multifunctional business strategies, as well as non-fishing activities. Using a case study approach, we analyse – in three different European fishery contexts (Greece, Italy, and the UK respectively) – how the interplay between building adaptive arrangements and the creation of social capital in selected small-scale fisheries provides relevant prerequisites for resilience.

European small-scale fisheries are confronted with several challenges, notably a decrease in the number of people engaged in capture fishing, growing competition from less expensive extra-EU markets, rising operational costs, strict regulations and the depletion of fishing stocks. Many small-scale fishers must adapt to change to maintain or increase their income using different business strategies. In this respect, we argue that new and diversified institutional arrangements combined with building social capital can help reach long-term economic sustainability for small-scale fisheries businesses, as well as the social-ecological resilience of coastal areas. In order to understand and analyse the multiplicity of strategies applied by small-scale fishers – including expansion towards non–productivist activities – this paper examines the role of new institutional arrangements based on small-scale, traditional, quality-orientated, multifunctional business strategies, as well as non-fishing activities. Using a case study approach, we analyse – in three different European fishery contexts (Greece, Italy, and the UK respectively) – how the interplay between building adaptive arrangements and the creation of social capital in selected small-scale fisheries provides relevant prerequisites for resilience.

For more than two decades market conditions for European producers have changed significantly due to liberalization and increasing price volatility. The objective of this article is to analyze how farming systems in five European countries (Denmark, Greece, France, Latvia, and the United Kingdom) have reacted to the emerging instability of the milk market. Dairy production is an ideal setting to study how different farming systems respond to changing conditions as a number of policy changes have altered market conditions for producers. Empirically, the analysis draws on statistical data on dairy production and farm structure, and qualitative and quantitative data from case studies in the five countries. During the period under study, dairy farming systems have operated under the same overarching EU regulation, but dairy sectors at the national level followed specific pathways. We found different strategies and institutional arrangements deployed to address price volatility at the national levels. We argue that divergence in the strategies developed to address this disturbance reflects different configurations of value chain organization (particularly dairies), production factors (production facilities and biophysical conditions), and market orientation. Increasing market volatility implies that succession planning and attracting investments is difficult for farming systems across all countries, and thereby to formulate strategies for resilience.

This article, through a case study of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), traces the reception, experimentation with, and uses of radium in early twentieth-century Ireland. Throughout the nineteenth century there was increasing state intervention in the provision of scientific and technical education in Ireland. This culminated in the loss of the RDS's traditional role in this area. The article demonstrates that the RDS was forced to re-envisage its role as a scientific institution by actively seeking to support experimental research. Using radium as a case study, the article argues for the success of this tactic. It demonstrates that radium played a central role within the RDS as a nexus for the maintenance of an experimental and philanthropic culture that permeated much of the society's scientific output in this period. In doing this it highlights the importance of sociability in the promotion of science in Ireland in the early twentieth century. In addition, it explores the role of the RDS as an arbiter of scientific authority.

This paper argues that ethics is a key driver of change in food chain performance. Critically, multiple stakeholder perspectives need to be understood as being legitimate when developing shared norms of what is understood by food supply chain (FSC) performance. To develop this perspective, the paper examines the discourses surrounding the performance of FSCs in 12 different national contexts. It develops a multi-criteria performance matrix (MCPM) composed of 24 attributes that reflect national FSC sustainability discourses. Specifically, it considers the potential role of reflexive governance in encouraging change to the frames by which actors and institutions judge the performance of FSCs. In assessing the links between ethics and reflexive governance, two types of ethical attribute are identified: ‘commonly identified’ attributes, which signify ethical dilemmas routinely discussed yet open to debate and subject to refinement and change; and ‘procedural’ attributes, which describe actions that encourage actors in the FSC to organise and structure themselves so as to more explicitly embody ethical considerations in their activities. The MCPM can be understood as a form of sustainability appraisal, but also as a cognitive tool with which to instigate further deliberation and action, helping to better manage transitions to sustainability within FSCs.

International audience; This article discusses the economic dimensions of agroecological farming systems in Europe. It firstly theoretically elaborates the reasons why, and under what conditions, agroecological farming systems have the potential to produce higher incomes than farms that follow the conventional logic. This theoretical exposition is then followed by a presentation of empirical material from a wide range of European countries that shows the extent to which this potential is being realized. The empirical data draw upon different styles of farming that can be described as ‘proto-agroecological’: approaches to farming that are agroecological by nature, but which may not necessarily explicitly define themselves as agroecological. The empirical material that we present shows the huge potential and radical opportunities that Europe's, often silent, ‘agroecological turn’ offers to farmers that could (and should) be the basis for the future transformation of European agricultural policies, since agroecology not only allows for more sustainable production of healthier food but also considerably improves farmers' incomes. It equally carries the promise of re-enlarging productive agricultural (and related) employment and increasing the total income generated by the agricultural sector, at both regional and national levels. While we recognise that agroecology is a worldwide and multidimensional phenomenon we have chosen to limit this analysis to Europe and the economic dimension. This choice is made in order to refute current discourses that represent agroecology as unproductive and unprofitable and an option that would require massive subsidies.

This paper extends arguments about the potential for reflexive governance in agri-food sustainability by linking food ethics to the notion of ‘unintended consequences’ and ‘responsibilisation’. Analysis of sustainable consumption governance shows the way authorities and intermediaries use food waste reduction projects to ‘responsibilise’ the consumer, including recent examples of shared responsibility. This paper takes this argument further by developing a ‘strategies of responsibilisation’ framework that connects relations between food system outcomes, problematisation in public discourse and strategies of responsibilisation in agri-food governance. A food and drink waste case study of strategies to introduce reusable coffee cups in UK coffee shops and food retail chains is examined to exemplify relations between problematisation and responsibilisation. We examine problematisation and responsibilisation discourses that have emerged in relation to the issue, particularly in relation to single-use plastics, together with emerging governance arrangements and their underlying rationalities. The case study shows two key things: firstly, how ethical questions about food in public discourses connect to wider environmental planetary concerns (in this case packaging in relation to the environment); and secondly, how responsibility has emergent and dynamic properties, which we term ‘cycles of responsibilisation’. The paper concludes by assessing the wider value of applying a responsibility framework to examine governance responses to increasingly complex agri-food system sustainability challenges.

Purpose\ud This paper aims to reveal, and contribute to an understanding of, the processes that connect learning and innovation networks in sustainable agriculture to elements of the mainstream agricultural regime. Drawing on the innovations and transition literature, the paper frames the analysis around niche-regime interaction using the notion of niche-regime compatibility.\ud Design/Methodology/approach\ud 17 Learning and Innovation Networks for Sustainable Agriculture (LINSA) (engaged in agricultural food production, non-food and rural development) were analysed. In line with the project’s transdisciplinary approach data were collected in a series of participatory workshops.\ud Findings\ud Five modes of LINSA-regime interaction are distinguished based on compatibility. The level of LINSA-regime compatibility influences the extent of the diffusion of LINSA ideas and practices into the regime. However, interaction processes within these modes reveal multiple and diverse connections between LINSA and regime entities suggesting a more complex relationship exists.\ud Practical Implications\ud A range of connecting processes and activities (for example, certification, exemption from regulation, facilitation of networking) can bring about effective LINSA-regime interaction and could be externally supported.\ud Originality/Value\ud Empirical evidence from 17 case studies provides valuable insights from a number of different contexts across Europe. By directing analysis of interaction at the level of LINSA (niche project), rather than at the macro level, the study offers an original perspective. It suggests that the transition to sustainable agriculture might be understood as a complex of interactive processes leading to a series of adaptive changes, rather than as regime change.

Chapter 3 examines Coleridge’s analysis of beauty in the ‘Principles of Genial Criticism’ (1814), which aimed to establish a religious dimension to aesthetic experience. Coleridge’s argument is traced through his Kantian account of aesthetic judgement, and his assertion of unity-in-multiplicity as the formal condition of beauty, to his grounding beauty in that which is ‘pre-configured’ to our faculties. Coleridge’s depends on eighteenth-century aesthetic axioms, despite deliberately avoiding explicit reference to such accounts, electing Plotinus instead as a precursor. It is suggested that Coleridge is therefore reluctant to explain aesthetic experience in purely psychological and, potentially, exclusively naturalistic terms. The appeal to Plotinus’s traditional notion of beauty as the soul’s recognition of its divine origin grounds aesthetic experience in religion. Concomitantly, in Coleridge’s reassertion of the claims of religion in the wake of the Enlightenment, aesthetic experience as contemplation of the world as it is becomes proof of the existence of the divine.

Food supply chains (FSCs) over recent years have been epitomised by a range of concerns such as food and nutrition security, the distribution of value and a growing awareness of the threats posed by climate change. Taken together, these pressures have created a sense of urgency to re-examine the performance, equitability and sustainability of FSCs. This paper argues for the need to acknowledge and access the multiple, contested meanings that are attributed to FSCs. Taking its lead from post-normal science, the approach developed aims to understand the different contexts and account for the ‘multiple realities’ that exist. Key to this has been the development of a range of attributes of FSC performance that are common across narratives of sustainability and yet framed in various ways by different categories of actors, examined across a range of national contexts and within four spheres of influence. In so doing, this approach has the potential to more widely legitimise knowledge claims regarding FSC performance. This is critical if producers, policy-makers and consumers are to have the cognitive tools to enable them to make informed decisions about the broader impacts of the different FSCs they engage with.

In 1804 Richard Lovell Edgeworth began transmitting telegraphic messages from Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland, to Galway, on the west coast. Claims of rapid transmission speeds appeared in national newspapers and great excitement was provoked by this marvel of modern science. Its potential as a means of secret military communication was self-evident. Edgeworth’s optical telegraph was but one of many that appeared in Europe in the period following the French Revolution.

This paper addresses the potential difficulties associated with researching controversial and/or sensitive issues. Drawing on the findings from in-depth interviews with farmers, the paper provides a reflexive commentary on the use of visual vignettes to explore farmers' attitudes towards the control of bovine tuberculosis in England – currently a highly controversial subject. Five short video clips were shown to interviewees to prompt discussions about different aspects of disease control, including methods to vaccinate and cull badgers. Visual vignettes have not been used widely outside the fields of health and social care. The method is used here to encourage interviewees to discuss sensitive issues related to badger control, including their trust in various stakeholders involved in the management of bovine tuberculosis, their own knowledge and understanding about disease control, and their attitudes towards control methods. The results suggest that visual vignettes have a number of advantages that could benefit research in human geography and the wider social sciences.

Whilst objectivist epistemologies have been dominant in productivist agriculture, the local, cultural and environmental contexts of sustainable agriculture are more fully informed by constructivist epistemologies. Within constructivism, tacit knowledge - an intuitive knowledge that cannot be formalised - is explored empirically. Six types of tacit knowledge were identified as a result of working closely with a sustainable food network: the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. Customs cohere around integrating food with other sustainable activity; developing a complex unregulated organisation requires savoir-faire. The unique character of Brighton has developed an operational folklore, and network identity is important, particularly in relation to conventional agriculture and to the city as a whole. A confidence in people's roles has helped define network development and using different discourses, communicating the network in diverse contexts, is important for understanding the network. All these tacit knowledge elements have a strong influence over the network but have to be assimilated knowledge rather than learned.

Explaining regional and local differences in organic farming in England and Wales: a comparison of South West Wales and South East England, Regional Studies, Few studies explain the concentration of organic farming in specific regions of England and Wales. This paper compares the development of organic farming in South West Wales and South East England. While the focus in the former is on the use of mainly national marketing channels and the movement of organic produce more than 60 min from the farm, in the latter greater use is made of local and direct marketing channels to distribute organic food within 30 min of the farm. The overriding importance of demand appears to provide a key explanation for regional differentiation in organic farming.\ud \ud 解释英格兰与威尔斯有机农业的区域及地方差异：西南威尔斯与东南英格兰的比较研究，区域研究。显少有研究解释有机农业在英格兰及威尔斯特定区域中的集中现象。本文比较有机农业在西南威尔斯与东南英格兰的发展。西南威尔斯的发展重点，主要在于利用全国行销通路，以及距离农场超过六十分钟的有机产品运送路程，东南英格兰则较着重运用在地且直接的行销通路，在距离农场三十分钟以内的运送路程中分派有机食品。需求的压倒性重要性，似乎提供了有机农业中的区域差异的关键解释。\ud \ud Expliquer les disparités régionales dans l'agriculture biologique en Angleterre et au pays de Galles: une comparaison du sud-ouest du pays de Galles et du sud-est de l'Angleterre, Regional Studies. Rares sont les études qui expliquent la concentration de l'agriculture biologique dans des zones spécifiques de l'Angleterre et du pays de Galles. Cet article cherche à comparer le développement de l'agriculture biologique du sud-ouest du pays de Galles à celle du sud-est de l'Angleterre. Tandis que celle-là met l'accent sur l'emploi des circuits commerciaux principalement nationaux et sur la distribution de la production agricole biologique à plus de 60 minutes de la ferme, celle-ci exploite davantage les circuits commerciaux locaux et directs pour distribuer les denrées alimentaires organiques dans un rayon de 30 minutes de la ferme. Il semble que l'importance primordiale de la demande constitue un facteur déterminant de la différenciation régionale de l'agriculture biologique.\ud \ud Erklärung der regionalen und lokalen Unterschiede bei der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in England und Wales: ein Vergleich zwischen Südwestwales und Südostengland, Regional Studies. Die Konzentration der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in bestimmten Regionen von England und Wales wird nur in wenigen Studien erklärt. In diesem Beitrag vergleichen wir die Entwicklung der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in Südwestwales mit der von Südostengland. Während in Südwestwales der Schwerpunkt auf den größtenteils landesweiten Absatzkanälen und dem Transport von ökologischen Lebensmitteln an mehr als 60 Minuten vom landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb entfernte Orte liegt, werden in Südostengland öfter lokale und direkte Absatzkanäle genutzt und die ökologischen Lebensmittel an bis zu 30 Minuten vom landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb entfernte Orte transportiert. Die wichtigste Erklärung für die regionalen Unterschiede bei der ökologischen Landwirtschaft scheinen in der vorrangigen Bedeutung der Nachfrage zu liegen.\ud \ud Explicación de las diferencias regionales y locales en la agricultura biológica de Inglaterra y Gales: comparación entre el suroeste de Gales y el sureste de Inglaterra, Regional Studies. En pocos estudios se explica la concentración de la agricultura biológica en regiones específicas de Inglaterra y Gales. En este artículo comparamos el desarrollo de la agricultura biológica en el suroeste de Gales y el sureste de Inglaterra. Mientras que en el suroeste de Gales se hace hincapié en el uso de canales mercantiles principalmente nacionales y el movimiento de productos biológicos a una distancia de más de 60 minutos de la explotación agrícola, en el sureste de Inglaterra se utilizan más los canales mercantiles locales y directos para distribuir alimentos biológicos a no más de 30 minutos de la explotación agrícola. Parece ser que la demanda es el motivo más importante para explicar las diferencias regionales en la agricultura biológica.

This paper analyses the acceptance of new technologies to manage environmental risks. In the management of animal disease, lack of trust in Government is seen as a key factor in explaining farmers’ resistance to new biosecurity technologies and practices to help prevent disease. However, the conceptual dimensions of trust are frequently loosely defined meaning that it is unclear how trust, as well as other factors, are related to the acceptance of new animal disease technologies. This paper explores the dimensions of farmers’ trust in relation to the use of vaccines to manage animal disease, and the extent to which different dimensions of trust are linked to vaccine confidence. The paper examines the introduction of a vaccine to help prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis between wildlife (specifically badgers) and cattle in England. Drawing on findings from a telephone survey of 339 farmers and in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of 65, the paper explores attitudes towards, and levels of acceptance of, badger vaccination amongst farmers across five study areas with varying levels of disease. Results reveal low levels of confidence in badger vaccine and trust in Government to manage bovine tuberculosis. Principal components analysis identifies three specific dimensions to trust which, along with farmers’ perceived self-efficacy, the perceived threat of disease, and faith in others to manage disease, are all significantly related to farmers’ confidence in badger vaccination. The paper concludes by considering the challenges facing policy makers in attempting to ensure that animal disease technologies match the social and ecological landscapes for which they are intended.

To date, analyses of European policies as they pertain to urban\ud agriculture and new modes of socio-technical innovation are rare,\ud beyond general assessments that recognise relative degrees of\ud influence. The purpose of this paper is thus to provide a targeted\ud review of key European policies that impact and are likely to impact\ud upon urban agriculture and sustainable modes of food provisioning,\ud with a particular focus on the Bristol city-region, to provide\ud contextualisation. Through interviews with key actors in the cityregion\ud we reflect on the importance not only of European level\ud policies but also of how they are perceived and interpreted at a local\ud level. By way of a systematic review based on key themes relevant to\ud urban agriculture, the paper presents analysis of some of the key\ud policies that are perceived to act to enable or frustrate the\ud development of urban agriculture. The paper concludes by\ud considering the ways in which a renewal of the CAP in particular\ud might empower urban agriculture.

This article utilizes the Communities of Practice (CoP) framework to examine learning processes among a group of permaculture practitioners in England, specifically examining the balance between core practices and boundary processes.\ud \ud The empirical basis of the article derives from three participatory workshops and 14 interviews with permaculture practitioners distributed across England.\ud \ud The research found that permaculture practitioners are informally bound together by shared values, expertise and passion for the joint enterprise of permaculture, thus corresponding to a CoP. It found that core practices (situated learning, mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire) are strong but also that boundary processes are active, enabling learning and interaction to take place with other learning systems, although this tends to be restricted to those with similar perspectives. This, and the strong cohesion and identity of the CoP, leads to some insularity.\ud \ud Scholars propose that innovative groups can strengthen the conventional Agricultural Knowledge System (AKS). This research, however, shows that the potential for the permaculture CoP to integrate with the conventional AKS is limited due to its insularity and self-reliance, in that the Permaculture Association fulfils the role of information provision and network facilitation. Most opportunities for integration lay in facilitating brokerage and dialogue between members at the periphery of the permaculture CoP and the AKS.\ud \ud The research provides a critique on the use and value of the CoP framework in a new context and offers insights into how learning takes place in the permaculture community.

This paper seeks to orientate research on local food networks more firmly towards ideas of grassroots and social niche innovations. Drawing on recent conceptual ideas from strategic niche management, this paper provides an exploratory analysis of attempts to spread grassroots social innovations through the Big Lottery Local Food programme run by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts in England. This £ 59.8 million programme aims to distribute grants to a variety of food-related projects and to make locally grown food more accessible and affordable to local communities. Insights into 29 funded projects, of varying length and scale of operation, are provided through over 150 telephone and personal interviews. While the Local Food programme is undoubtedly about bringing small, often neglected pieces of land into production and increasing access to affordable food, results show that the programme is also very much seen as a vehicle for building community capacity through facilitating community cohesion, healthy eating, educational enhancement and integrating disadvantaged groups into mainstream society and economy. The paper concludes with some reflections on the extent to which the concept of grassroots social innovations, as a form of niche innovation, can help understand the ability of local food networks to develop the capacity of communities to respond to locally identified problems and to effect more widespread, sustainable change.

The protection of geographical indications (European regulation 1151/2012) is arguably the most significant initiative, certainly within Europe, that promotes foods with territorial associations and reorganises agri-food chain governance through a strategy of reterritorialisation. Research on Protected Designation of Origins (PDOs) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) suggests that they generate significant economic value at an EU-level, especially in certain countries. They can also help to deliver territorial rural development policy and develop new food markets. In this paper we examine the way the PDO scheme has been developed and applied in one commodity sector (cheese) in two countries (Switzerland and the UK), where the uptake of PDOs is variable. We adopt a food chain approach and examine specific cheese product case studies (at micro and meso levels) in both countries to better understand how the PDO scheme (as a territorialisation and respacing strategy) is implemented. L’Etivaz and Le Gruyère are examined in Switzerland. Single Gloucester and West Country cheddar are examined in the UK. The PDO scheme is an important governance strategy and regulatory system, but despite strict guidelines regarding implementation and geographical infrastructure there are notable differences between the UK and Switzerland in terms of how the label is used to organise and respatialise food chains: it is framed as a strategy to protect the rural economy in Switzerland but is promoted more as a mechanism to communicate and reconnect with consumers in the UK., Agriculture, 6 (4), ISSN:2077-0472

Local food has recently gained popularity under the assumption that it is more sustainable than food from distant locations. However, evidence is still lacking to fully support this assumption. The goal of this study is to compare local and global food chains in five dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, social, ethical and health), covering all stages of the chain. In particular, four cheese supply chains are compared in detail: a local (L’Etivaz) and global (Le Gruyère) case in Switzerland and a local (Single Gloucester) and global (Cheddar) case in the UK. A multi-dimensional perspective is adopted to compare their sustainability performance. Eight attributes of performance (affordability, creation and distribution of added value, information and communication, consumer behaviour, resource use, biodiversity, nutrition and animal welfare) are used to frame the comparative analysis. The results suggest that local cheese performs better in the field of added value creation and distribution, animal welfare and biodiversity. Global chains, by contrast, perform better in terms of affordability and efficiency and some environmental indicators. This analysis needed to be expressed in qualitative terms rather than quantified indicators and it has been especially useful to identify the critical issues and trade-offs that hinder sustainability at different scales. Cheese supply chains in Switzerland and the UK also often present hybrid arrangements in term of local and global scales. Comparison is therefore most meaningful when presented on a local (farmhouse)/global (creamery) continuum ISSN:2071-1050

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This paper summarizes the main findings of the GLAMUR project which starts with an apparently simple question: is "local" more sustainable than "global"? Sustainability assessment is framed within a post-normal science perspective, advocating the integration of public deliberation and scientific research. The assessment spans 39 local, intermediate and global supply chain case studies across different commodities and countries. Assessment criteria cover environmental, economic, social, health and ethical sustainability dimensions. A closer view of the food system demonstrates a highly dynamic local-global continuum where actors, while adapting to a changing environment, establish multiple relations and animate several chain configurations. The evidence suggests caution when comparing "local" and "global" chains, especially when using the outcomes of the comparison in decision-making. Supply chains are analytical constructs that necessarily-and arbitrarily-are confined by system boundaries, isolating a set of elements from an interconnected whole. Even consolidated approaches, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), assess only a part of sustainability attributes, and the interpretation may be controversial. Many sustainability attributes are not yet measurable and "hard" methodologies need to be complemented by "soft" methodologies which are at least able to identify critical issues and trade-offs. Aware of these limitations, our research shows that comparing local and global chains, with the necessary caution, can help overcome a prioripositions that so far have characterized the debate between "localists" and "globalists". At firm level, comparison between "local" and "global" chains could be useful to identify best practices, benchmarks, critical points, and errors to avoid. As sustainability is not a status to achieve, but a never-ending process, comparison and deliberation can be the basis of a "reflexive governance" of food chains. ispartof: Sustainability vol:8 issue:5 status: published

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Leader programme has been hailed as the instrument of rural policy that most explicitly takes account of the territorial dimension. This culminated in the mainstreaming of its underlying concept into the Rural Development Programmes of the current period (2007–2013), with the aim of having more effective policy implementation that considers the diversified needs of rural regions. Starting from analysis of the application and delivery of Leader under the present Rural Development Programme in two EU countries, Austria and Ireland, this paper presents an assessment of the effects of this programme change. In addition, it includes the EU-wide discussion on the (limited) effectiveness of the current implementation of Leader and the search for a reorientation towards local development activities in the EU’s reform proposals. The paper frames the analysis around the notion of social innovation, a concept of central importance to the aims of Leader. It is argued that the implementation of Leader in this period falls far behind its potential to beneficially impact rural regions; hence it should be an object of critical debate in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and rural development measures, as well as coherence analyses with other policies, beyond 2013.

The following paper highlights the way in which contemporary analytic or Anglo-American aesthetics neglects the topic of aesthetic experience. The paper briefly examines the historical background to this situation. It also looks at how analytic aesthetics’ preoccupation with the topic of art is largely responsible for this neglect. It concludes by arguing that most of the fundamental problems in aesthetics, including those that contemporary analytic aesthetics does concern itself with, must remain intractable without a better understanding of aesthetic experience per se.

The following paper highlights the way in which contemporary analytic or Anglo-American aesthetics neglects the topic of aesthetic experience. The paper briefly examines the historical background to this situation. It also looks at how analytic aesthetics' preoccupation with the topic of art is largely responsible for this neglect. It concludes by arguing that most of the fundamental problems in aesthetics, including those that contemporary analytic aesthetics does concern itself with, must remain intractable without a better understanding of aesthetic experience per se.

The agricultural knowledge and information system (AKIS) in England has become more fragmented since the late 1980s. Its market orientation came just at the time of an increased need for non-market advice, particularly on the environment. Results from 11 face-to-face interviews and a workshop with a range of industry representatives suggest that this disjuncture and the unregulated nature of the AKIS have been frustrating for many in the agricultural community. These results support the literature in suggesting that sustainable agriculture (SA) has no consensual definition, but there is agreement that it requires a blend of market and non-market actions. Knowledge on SA is developing via retailers and consumers as well as farmers themselves, often through networks and co-learning, stimulated by regulatory requirements and grant information as well as profitability. There is much innovation in learning about SA within the AKIS, but its uptake is likely to be most strongly influenced by policy signals that provide incentives to farmers to farm more sustainably – for example, through the axes of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and a clearer justification as to why sustainable principles in agriculture make sound business sense for farmers.

Drawing on data from a research project that focused on the relationship between the biodiversity of grazing and food quality, this article explores the ecological dimensions of alternative food networks in the UK through the concept of ‘styles of ecological engagement’. Context is provided by briefly reviewing two contrasting ways of envisaging the relationship between ecology, food and rural development in policy debates. A qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with actors at the centre of 38 alternative food networks and of associated promotional materials enables the identification of five styles of ecological engagement: ecological conserving, ecological harmonising, ecological breed enthusing, ecological localising and ecological re-cognising. The article argues that identification and discussion of these styles of ecological engagement is not only helpful in understanding the ecological heterogeneity of alternative food networks but also signals the ways in which their ecological benefits and contribution to rural development might be sustained and enhanced.

Among their many ‘alternative’ characteristics, food networks that seek to reconfigure the relationship between producers and consumers are understood as having the potential to be beneficial for the rural environment and landscape. One of the ways in which this characteristic has been conceptualised is through the notion of ‘ecological embeddedness’. Although the roots of this concept lie in economic sociology, where the social embeddedness of economic relations has been the focus of interest, agro-food researchers have extended its meaning to suggest that alternative or ‘quality’ food production can also be seen as increasingly embedded in ‘natural’ or ecological processes. However, this paper argues that until now the notion of ecological embeddedness has lacked conceptual clarity. As such, the aim is to interrogate and refine the concept of embeddedness, specifically as it pertains to ecologies within the context of food production on-farm. Ecological embeddedness, it is argued, must encompass more than just recognition of the general influence of the natural environment on economic activity. Specifically, it must reflect a change in the relations between economic actors and the natural environment that produces a benefit to both. The paper also establishes how the concept of ecological embeddedness might be operationalised in research practice as a means of exploring the ecological dimensions of alternative food networks. An illustration of this empirical application is provided. The paper concludes by asserting the value of ecological embeddedness as a concept, in spite of the observed limitations of embeddedness in other contexts and the challenges that are associated with its ecological application.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the proportion and distribution of organic produce sold through different marketing channels by a sample of organic farmers in three “core” areas of organic farming in England and Wales. More specifically, it conducts a quantitative analysis of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion within different travel time zones.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative database was constructed on the marketing channels and travel time zones used by 61 organic farmers to sell their produce and purchase necessary inputs. Indices of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion (outputs and inputs) were then calculated for each farm and region.FindingsResults indicate a high level of marketing concentration, dominated by marketing cooperatives, direct marketing and abattoir/processors. Similar levels of concentration are recorded for the indices of geographical dispersion (especially outputs). Results vary significantly between the three regions, but it is clear that organic farmers in each region make use of different combinations of marketing channels, both local and national, in increasingly hybridised and individualised supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsMany organic farmers are developing hybridised supply chains, including both local and more conventional marketing channels, and further research is needed into the identified regional differences and the reasons for developing what are often very individualised marketing chains.Originality/valueThis is the first attempt to calculate indices of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion for organic farms in different regions of England and Wales. The paper also contributes to debates on the potential impact of organic farming on rural development and the local economy.

This paper focuses on a particular group of food commodities, associated with the wider turn to ‘alternative food networks’, that are described as ‘naturally embedded food products’ (NEFPs). These are commodities (specifically meats and cheeses) that utilise grassland biodiversity as an input into production to positively influence, in various ways, the final qualities of the commodity. Building on the geographical literature on commodity circuits and analysing data derived from NEFP promotional materials and focus groups with urban and rural residents in the UK, the paper interrogates the geographical knowledges that are deployed by producers in the promotion of NEFPs and how these knowledges are accommodated and contested by consumers as they bring their own geographical knowledges to the interpretation of these commodities. The paper undertakes this task in order to problematise the extent to which alternative food networks in general and NEFPs in particular are bringing about a reconnection of producers and consumers and, concomitantly, a defetishisation of food, as is claimed for them by many of their policy and academic proponents. In the process the paper reveals how the food commodities associated with alternative food networks entail the creation of new and rival fetishes paradoxically as a result of efforts to ‘thicken connections’ between the production and consumption of food.

Inherent within emerging new food supply chains (FSCs) in the UK in recent years, and in particular those based upon direct marketing, is the (re)connection of production–consumption processes and concomitantly producers and consumers. New forms of connection are apparent, as food produce is differentiated on the basis of quality constructs which are often linked both to the place and nature of its production, but also to the exchange context. As a result, quality evaluation has become increasingly complex and heterogeneous, necessitating context-specific examinations of its mediation. This paper seeks to do this through its examination of producers and consumers at farmers’ markets (FMs). Utilising the framework of Conventions Theory, it assesses how producers and consumers coordinate their mutual expectations in order to circumvent the uniform standards of ‘conventionally’ produced food and create new production–consumption spaces. In so doing, the notion of a Regard Convention is suggested as a means of acknowledging the non-economic benefits of FSCs that are underpinned by direct marketing and, in particular, those that involve face-to-face interaction between the participants concerned.

This article explores whether vegetarianism is congruent with the alternative food economy. Although it has been largely neglected by scholars concerned with agro-food system alternatives, there are good reasons to undertake an exploration of vegetarianism in this context, not least because of the ethical relationships that it seeks to create within the food system. Drawing on recent work by Hilary Tovey in which she applies Eyerman and Jamison's cognitive approach to social movements, the article conceptualises vegetarianism as a social movement with the potential to effect change within the food system and, ultimately (perhaps), bring about rural development benefits. The article identifies and discusses a number of tensions and contradictions within the cognitive praxis of the vegetarian movement, and between the movement's cognitive praxis and external institutions, raising questions about the congruence between vegetarianism and the alternative food economy. It also makes some suggestions about the ways in which the vegetarian movement might reclaim a place at the table of the alternative food economy and in the process make a contribution to rural development. By way of conclusion, the article identifies a number of areas for possible future empirical research, as well as suggesting that the extension of an invitation to vegetarians to sit at the table of the alternative food economy has provided an interesting opportunity to reflect upon the menu on offer.