Avoiding Asda? Exploring consumer motivations in local organic good networks

Supermarkets such as Asda (owned by Wal-Mart) have responded to the growth in direct marketing and alternative agri-food networks by promoting local produce ranges, and increasingly sourcing organic produce from the UK. Thus consumers now have a choice of outlets for local and organic produce. This paper examines the implications of that choice for direct marketing in particular, and sustainable consumption in general. The paper tests the hypothesis that consumers make a conscious choice to engage in an alternative food network when they purchase through direct marketing channels, and that they are deliberately avoiding mainstream supermarkets. Research findings are presented from a survey of customers of a local organic food cooperative in Norfolk, UK which examines consumer motivations and perceptions of alternative and mainstream food provisioning. The hypothesis is confirmed: consumers expressed wide-ranging preferences for participation in the alternative food system, though there is some concern that the convenience and accessibility of supermarket provision of local and organic food threaten to erode the wider social and community benefits achieved by direct marketing initiatives

Inequality and sustainable consumption: Bridging the gaps

This article examines the potential for cross-fertilisation between the sustainable consumption (SC) scholarship and the environmental justice (EJ) scholarship. The article first maps the two areas of scholarship, discussing the cognitive, social marketing and social provisioning systems literatures of SC and the empirical and conceptual literature on EJ. The article then discusses the potential for cross-fertilisation between the two areas of scholarship. It indicates how SC scholarship can benefit from the social justice sensitivity of the EJ scholarship and how the latter area of scholarship can gain a whole new area of empirical research focusing on social justice aspects of consumption. The article seeks to demonstrate the social and policy significance of the cross-fertilisation by comparing the consumption and EJ implications of carbon taxation and personal carbon allowance trading as tools of carbon management. The article suggests that to be fair both strategies of carbon management require complementary (albeit different) measures that address background inequalities and capabilities to act in the setting created by the instruments

Desperately seeking niches: Grassroots innovations and niche development in the community currency field

The sustainability transitions literature seeks to explain the conditions under which technological innovations can diffuse and disrupt existing socio-technical systems through the successful scaling up of experimental ‘niches’; but recent research on ‘grassroots innovations’ argues that civil society is a promising but under-researched site of innovation for sustainability, albeit one with very different characteristics to the market-based innovation normally considered in the literature. This paper aims to address that research gap by exploring the relevance of niche development theories in a civil society context. To do this, we examine a growing grassroots innovation – the international field of community currencies – which comprises a range of new socio-technical configurations of systems of exchange which have emerged from civil society over the last 30 years, intended to provide more environmentally and socially sustainable forms of money and finance. We draw on new empirical research from an international study of these initiatives comprising primary and secondary data and documentary sources, elite interviews and participant observation in the field. We describe the global diffusion of community currencies, and then conduct a niche analysis to evaluate the utility of niche theories for explaining the development of the community currency movement. We find that some niche-building processes identified in the existing literature are relevant in a grassroots context: the importance of building networks, managing expectations and the significance of external ‘landscape’ pressures, particularly at the level of national-type. However, our findings suggest that existing theories do not fully capture the complexity of this type of innovation: we find a diverse field addressing a range of societal systems (money, welfare, education, health, consumerism), and showing increasing fragmentation (as opposed to consolidation and standardisation); furthermore, there is little evidence of formalised learning taking place but this has not hampered movement growth. We conclude that grassroots innovations develop and diffuse in quite different ways to conventional innovations, and that niche theories require adaptation to the civil society context

Constructing grassroots innovations for sustainability

One of the cleavages within sustainable development is division between grassroots environmental action, often deemed good on participation terms, and green innovation, usually centred on technologies in firms and deemed good for ecological modernisation. This special section is dedicated to an obvious and missing connection: grassroots innovation for sustainability. Grassroots innovations typically involve networks of activists and organisations generating novel bottom-up solutions for sustainable development; solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved (Seyfang and Smith, 2007). What they share is commitment on the part of those involved towards openness and inclusion in the processes of innovation and the outputs of innovation. Research is still needed that considers whether and how grassroots innovators network with one another; the extent to which movements for grassroots innovation approaches exist and how they operate; whether and how innovations diffuse through processes of replication, scaling-up, and translation into institutions; and whether or not these developments constitute alternative pathways for sustainability. The empirical contributions in this special section consider the dilemmas of going to scale, the challenges of moving from innovation to institutionalisation, and the risks of capture and instrumentality when grassroots innovations encounter more powerful political economies of conventional innovation systems (see also Smith et al., 2013). A recurring theme is diversity in innovation for sustainability; which might be served best by resisting pressures to mainstream, yet simultaneously generates accusations of marginality. In highlighting these themes and introducing the special section, we use a particular example, the Brighton Earthship, and which all contributing authors visited as part of a research workshop on grassroots innovation held at Sussex University in May 2012 and that led to the papers here

Growing green money? Mapping community currencies for sustainable development

Parallel sustainable monetary systems are being developed by civil society groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), informed by ecological economics perspectives on development, value, economic scale and growth, and responding to the unsustainability of current global financial systems. These parallel systems of exchange (or community currencies) are designed to promote sustainable development by localising economic development, building social capital and substituting for material consumption, valuing work which is marginalised in conventional labour markets, and challenging the growth-based monetary system. However, this international movement towards community-based ecological economic practices, is under-researched. This paper presents new empirical evidence from the first international study of the scope and character of community currencies. It identifies the diversity, scale, geography and development trajectory of these initiatives, discusses the implications of these findings for efforts to achieve sustainable development, and identifies future research needs, to help harness the sustainability potential of these initiatives. © 2012 Elsevier B.V

Community innovation for sustainable energy

As in other countries, there is a growing public, policy and business interest in the UK in the roles and potential of community-led initiatives for sustainable energy consumption and production. Such initiatives include green lifestyle-based activities to reduce energy consumption (e.g. Transition Towns, and Carbon Reduction Action Groups), more traditional behaviour change initiatives such as neighbourhood insulation projects and energy-saving campaigns, as well as renewable energy generation projects such as community-owned windfarms and biofuel projects. Case studies of specific projects identify a variety of rationales amongst participants, whilst policy interest suggests a more instrumental concern for facilitating additional, larger-scale sustainable energy transitions. Amongst participant rationales are ideas that bottom-up, community-based projects deliver energy savings and behaviour changes that top-down policy instruments cannot achieve, due to the greater local knowledge and engagement they embody, the sense of common ownership and empowerment, and the social capital and trust that is generated among local actors. These resources provide organisational and values-based 'grassroots innovations' which experiment with new consumption practices based on alternative 'new economics' values. However, previous research shows 'grassroots innovations' face a series of critical challenges requiring support to overcome, in order to achieve their potential benefits more widely. This includes developing 'niche' networks for mobilising reforms both to highly centralised energy institutions and infrastructures, as well as deeply ingrained social practices of 'normal' energy consumption and everyday life. What makes this experience fascinating for the purposes of the SCORAI workshop is the way these community-based initiatives are trying to develop new energy-related consumption practices with a view to the socio-technical transition to local, renewable or lower carbon energy systems. Understandably, many projects remain practically focused on securing early successes and resourcing their long-term survival. However, the institutional and infrastructure reforms that will help in this endeavour require strategies for addressing the wider (national and international) political economy of consumption which adopts an ecological modernisation approach to sustainability. In surveying the community energy scene in the UK, our paper pays particular attention to this last issue

Community action for sustainable housing: Building a low-carbon future

This paper presents a new analytical framework of 'grassroots innovations' which views community-led initiatives for sustainable development as strategic green niches with the potential for wider transformation of mainstream society. This framework is applied to a low-carbon, low-impact, community-based sustainable housing initiative in the USA that pioneers straw bale housing techniques within a strong community-building ethos. The project is evaluated according to New Economics criteria of sustainable consumption, and is found to be successful at localising the construction supply chain, reducing ecological footprints, community-building, enabling collective action and building new institutions and systems of provision around housebuilding. However, viewing it as a strategic niche with aim to influence wider society, it is clear that it faces significant challenges in diffusing its ideas and practices beyond the niche. Its model is not necessarily suitable for scaling up or widespread replication; however, the scope for niche lessons to be adopted by mainstream builders is greater, given a supportive policy environment. Recognising the innovative nature of green niches at the policy level could lead to new approaches to governance of bottom-up community action for sustainable development

What Influences the Diffusion of Grassroots Innovations for Sustainability? Investigating Community Currency Niches

Community action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (Strategic Niche Management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’. We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as LETS, time banks, local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil-society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of grassroots innovation niche diffusion which builds on existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically-informed recommendations for practitioners and policymakers to support the development and potential of grassroots innovations

Birth litter sex ratio affects gilt behaviour, endocrine status and reproductive performance

This thesis tested the hypothesis that females that developed in a male biased litter would be masculinised and therefore have impaired reproductive performance and be more aggressive than those born into female biased litters. One of the aims of this thesis was to investigate new tools for selection of gilts into the breeding herd. Current selection criteria are minimal, with genetics, weight, and body conformation as the main determinants. We investigated effects of the sex ratio of a gilt’s birth litter, as in other litter bearing species it affects reproduction, behaviour, and physiology. One of the mechanisms that may be involved is the transfer of androgens from male to female fetuses during development which can occur either to neighbouring fetuses or to the whole litter. Therefore, females from male biased litters may have impaired reproduction and be more aggressive due to masculinisation during fetal development. A literature review found evidence that this phenomenon may affect pigs. We defined a male biased litter having ≥60% males (including stillborns) and female biased as ≥60% female. We examined sex ratio effects on induction of ovulation prior to puberty, and the endocrine milieu before and during natural oestrus. We also investigated behaviour by applying anxiety and aggression tests. Phenotypic differences were also assessed by measuring the anogenital distance (AGD; distance from anus to the vulva), which is commonly elongated in females from male biased litters. Interestingly, we found, in contrast to findings from other species, that the AGD of gilts from female biased litters was longer than those from male biased litters at 16 weeks of age. The anogenital distance at 21 weeks of age was then employed in a commercial study to examine associations with gilt fertility through two parities. Gilts with longer anogenital distances reached puberty younger, were more likely to be mated, and had a higher total born alive litter size. Based on our earlier data, we suggest these gilts were likely from female biased litters. In our behavioural studies we found that gilts from male biased litters were bolder as they had a faster emergence time in an arena test, but they also showed trends towards increased aggression with increased scratch scores around weaning and greater likelihood to fight in a resident intruder test. We also found that when stimulated with exogenous gonadotrophins at 18 weeks of age, gilts from male biased litters has a higher ovulation rate. During second oestrus, gilts from male biased litters had impaired ovulatory luteinising hormone surges but no change in tonic luteinising hormone. These results highlight that gilts from male and female biased litters have different reproductive responses. Overall, our research shows that gilts from male biased litters are different to gilts from female biased litters in reproduction, behaviour, and physiology. Currently, it appears that gilts from female biased litters, or those with above average anogenital distances, are better suited to the breeding herd but further commercial work is required to assess the effect that this new selection tool has on overall performance.Thesis (Ph.D.) (Research by Publication) -- University of Adelaide, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, 201

Prediction of ruminal acidosis in dairy cows from milk constituents

Subacute rumen acidosis (SARA) is a common, but hardly assumable disease in modern dairy cows herds. SARA incidences are prevalent in two circumstances. The first, when the cows have to adapt fast to a ration high in carbohydrates after parturition. Since the feed composition has to be changed fast, to meet the cows requirements energy- and nutrients wise, the rumen microbiota climate has to adapt fast, which can cause unbeneficial rumen circumstances. The second, when the lactating cows have, beside high milk yield also a high feed intake in mid-lactation, when feed high in energy but low in structural carbohydrates is fed. This can lead to high density of VFAs in the rumen, if the outflow and absorption through the ruminal wall, as well as the buffer capacity in the rumen is not sufficient for the high production of those acids. Then the ruminal milieu becomes more acid, which can negatively affect the cows health. The cows suffering SARA, if at all, show mild symptoms like reduced water and feed intake, depression, diarrhea, reduced rumen motility, laminitis or reduced milk yield and milk fat depression. Since those symptoms can also show up with a delay in time and can be caused by several other factors, monitoring SARA in herds can be difficult. An unambiguous definition of SARA circumstances in the rumen cannot be found in literature, although it is under research for decades. Since SARA can influence the milk yield and can lead to a milkfat depression and a change in composition of milkfat, we focused on milk parameters and milkfat composition in particular with the aim of correlating those with pH conditions in the rumen. Three trials were made with feeding rations that were predictably capable of inducing SARA conditions in mid-lactation. During the trials, besides performance and ruminal parameters, as well as continuous pH measurement, milk samples were taken. The cows used were all rumen cannulated. Therefore, datalogger with integrated pH meter (Large Ruminant Logger M5-T7, Dascor Inc., Oceanside, USA) were placed in the ventral sac of the rumen to measure reliably and continuously. In Trial 1, three feeding rations with constant 20% grass silage were used. One ration consisted of additionally 20% corn silage and 60% concentrate (treatment CS60), the other two rations included 20 respectively 60% pressed sugar beet pulp silage and 60 respectively 20% concentrate (treatments SBPS60 respectively SBPS20). With those rations, low pH values were induced in the rumen, leading to SARA incidences of 89% in the measured days in the CS60, 100% in the SBPS60, and 61% in the SBPS20 treatment. In Trial 2, for all three rations a fix concentration of 52% concentrate was used. The remaining 48% consisted of corn silage (treatment CS), grass silage (treatment GS) or hay (treatment Hay). In the CS treatment, SARA incidence was 23%, while the GS and Hay treatments did not show SARA incidence. While the first two trials were designed as a 3x3 Latin square, in Trial 3 the cows remained in their respective treatment. One group stayed in the barn with a TMR, including 30% concentrate (treatment CG), while the other group was full time grazing and got additional 1.75 kg concentrate per day (treatment PG). SARA incidences were 7% in the CG and 8% in the PG. Additionally, in an intertrial approach, regression models for SARA detection were developed. Therefore, easily accessible performance data from the barn and milk parameters from the official milk control and milk fatty acids were used to estimate the rumen parameters pH mean and the time spent below pH 5.8. One first model was designed to include 63 variables. Besides 11 parameters gained in the barn or from the official milk control, also 52 parameters that were gaschromatographically detected fatty acids and sums of these fatty acids. A second model was designed to be useable if no gaschromatographical milkfat analysis was available. Therefore, only those FAs were included that can be estimated in a good quality with MIR spectroscopy. With those regression models the SARA days from the 185 measurement days were calculated to test the accuracy of the models. From the original 47 SARA days the first model was able to detect 43 days and the second model detected 39 SARA days. Although the accuracy of SARA prediction based on these models might be too inaccurate for a decision if a single day was SARA prevalent or not, an information on herd basis seems assessable. Still the small number of cows and measured days, as well as the fact that two breeds of cows and only cows in the later lactation phase were integrated in the model establishment has to be considered and further developed before it becomes a useful tool in field use for SARA detection.Subakute Pansenazidose (SARA) ist eine weit verbreitete, aber schwer erfassbare Krankheit in der modernen Milchkuhhaltung. Die Kühe zeigen unter SARA Bedingungen im Pansen, wenn überhaupt, milde Symptome in Form von verringerter Wasser- und Futteraufnahme, geringerer Aktivität, Durchfall, reduzierter Pansenaktivität, Laminitis oder eine verminderte Milchleistung und einen reduzierten Milchfettgehalt. Da die Symptome auch erst mit zeitlicher Verzögerung zu den Missständen im Pansen auftreten können ist ein Erkennen von SARA in der Herde schwierig, da diesen Symptomen auch andere Ursachen zugrunde liegen können. Auch nach Jahrzehnten der Forschung ist keine einheitliche Definition der Pansenbedingungen, die eine subakute Azidose darstellen, gegeben. Da SARA einen Einfluss auf die Milchleistung, den Milchfettgehalt und die Milchfettzusammensetzung haben kann, lag der Fokus darauf Änderungen der Milchfettzusammensetzung zu erfassen und in Zusammenhang mit dem pH im ventralen Pansen zu bringen. Dafür wurden drei Versuche mit Kühen in fortgeschrittenem Laktationsstadium und unterschiedlichen Rationen durchgeführt, die das Pansenmilieu erwartbar in den Grenzbereich einer SARA bringen können. Tierindividuell wurden während der Versuche nicht nur Leistungs- und Pansenparametern erfasst sowie kontinuierlich pH Daten gemessen, sondern auch Milchproben genommen. Die Versuchskühe waren alle pansenfistuliert, wodurch Datenlogger mit integriertem pH Meter (Large Ruminant Logger M5-T7, Dascor Inc., Oceanside, USA) in den ventralen Pansen eingebracht werden konnten um die pH Verläufe zuverlässig und kontinuierlich zu messen. In Versuch 1 kamen drei Rationen mit konstant 20 % Grassilage zum Einsatz. Eine Ration bestand aus zusätzlich 20 % Maissilage und 60 % Kraftfutter (CS69), die anderen beiden Rationen hatten 20 bzw. 60 % Pressschnitzelsilage und 60 bzw. 20 % Kraftfutteranteil (SBPS60 bzw. SBPS20). Mit diesen Rationen wurden niedrige pH-Werte im Pansen provoziert, mit SARA Inzidenzen von 89 % der gemessenen Tage in der CS60, 100 % in der SBPS60 und 61 % in der SBPS20 Behandlung. In Versuch 2 wurde ein fixer Kraftfutteranteil von 52 % eingesetzt, die übrigen 48 % der Ration bestanden aus Maissilage (CS), Grassilage (GS) oder Heu (Hay). In der CS Behandlung lag die SARA Inzidenz bei 23 %, wohingegen in den beiden anderen Behandlungen keine SARA vorkam. Während die ersten beiden Versuche als 3x3 Lateinisches Quadrat angelegt waren, blieben in Versuch 3 die Kühe in einer Behandlung. Eine Gruppe im Stall (CG) bekam 30 % Kraftfutter in der TMR vorgelegt, die zweite Gruppe hatte ganztägig Weidegang (PG) mit 1.75 kg Kraftfutter Zufütterung. Die beobachteten SARA Inzidenzen lagen bei 7 % (CG) bzw. 8 % (PG). Die drei Versuche wurden jeweils versuchsintern statistisch ausgewertet. Darüber hinaus wurden, in einem versuchsübergreifenden Ansatz, Regressionsmodelle zur Feststellung von SARA entwickelt. Dafür wurden einfach erfassbare Leistungsparameter aus dem Stall, sowie Milchparameter aus der Milchleistungsprüfung sowie Milchfettsäuren verwendet, um den pH Mittelwert und die Zeit, die der Pansen einen pH-Wert von weniger als 5,8 aufweist, zu schätzen. Für ein erstes Modell wurden 63 Variablen zur Verfügung gestellt. Neben 11 Parametern aus der Milchleistungsuntersuchung und Leistungsdaten der Kuh, auch 52 Parameter aus der gaschromatographischen Milchfettanalyse und Summen der analysierten Fettsäuren. Für ein zweites Modell wurden statt der kompletten 52 gaschromatographischen Milchfettparameter nur 9 Milchettsäurenparameter zur Verfügung gestellt, die zuverlässig aus MIR Daten abgeleitet werden können, sodass insgesamt 20 Parameter für das zweite Modell zur Verfügung standen. Mithilfe der Modelle wurden aus den gewählten Parametern SARA Inzidenzen berechnet um die Genauigkeit der Modelle zu testen. An den 185 Messtagen, mit 47 gemessenen SARA Tagen, konnte das erste Modell 43 Tage und das zweite Modell 39 SARA Tage identifizieren. Obwohl die Genauigkeit der Vorhersage auf Grundlage dieser Modelle zu ungenau für eine Einzeltagbeobachtung ist, scheint eine Einschätzung, ob SARA ein Problem in einer Herde ist, möglich zu sein. Dennoch muss die geringe Tierzahl und der kleine Stichprobenumfang, sowie die Tatsache, dass zwei Kuhrassen und nur ein späterer Laktationsabschnitt für die Modellierung verwendet werden konnten berücksichtigt, und die Modelle weiterentwickelt werden, bevor sie in der Praxis zur SARA Identifikation angewendet werden können