Being Close: The Quality of Social Relationships in a Local Organic Cereal and Bread Network in Lower Austria

Autor/inn/en	Milestad, Rebecka; Bartel-Kratochvil, Ruth; Leitner, Heidrun; Axmann, Paul
Titel	Being Close: The Quality of Social Relationships in a Local Organic Cereal and Bread Network in Lower Austria
Quelle	In: Journal of Rural Studies, 26 (2010) 3, S.228-240 (13 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0743-0167
DOI	10.1016/j.jrurstud.2010.01.004
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Food; Social Networks; Interpersonal Relationship; Sustainable Development; Global Approach; Social Environment; Agricultural Production; Local Issues; Rural Environment; Rural Population; Economic Factors; Rural Economics; Austria + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Lebensmittel; Social network; Soziales Netzwerk; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Nachhaltige Entwicklung; Globales Denken; Soziales Umfeld; Agriculture; Production; Landwirtschaft; Produktion; Agrarproduktion; Landwirtschaftliche Produktion; Ländliches Milieu; Landbevölkerung; Ökonomischer Faktor; Österreich
Abstract	Experience of the drawbacks of a globalised and industrialised food system has generated interest in localised food systems. Local food networks are regarded as more sustainable food provision systems since they are assumed to have high levels of social embeddedness and relations of regard. This paper explores the social relations between food actors and how "local" and "organic" are expressed by detailing how actors describe qualities of their intra-network relationships, how they understand "local" and how they are connected within the food system. A study from the province of Lower Austria in Austria, where organic cereals and bread are produced and marketed, serves to illuminate these issues. Actors agreed that geographical closeness contributed to the social closeness they experienced and that social relationships were a strong reason for being in the network. However, the meaning of "local" was elastic depending on where inputs and consumers could be found. Furthermore, despite strong commitment to organic production methods and the local market, actors faced constraints that made them hybrids between organic and conventional, and between locally focused and globally dependent. Thus, the binary thinking along the local-global and organic-conventional divide does not hold. While it is important to not make a causal link between high quality of social relationships and local food networks, the case described here indicates the possibility of such a link. (Contains 2 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10