This report presents case studies of local initiatives that have overcome obstacles and successfully promoted local food. To start an initiative that is ecologically, economically and socially sustainable and combines organic food production with recycling and society may sound like a complicated task

Kakriainen, Salla

von Essen, Hans

English

Organic Eprints

E K O L O G I S K T   L A N T B R U K   N R   4 4   •  D E C E M  B E R   2 0 0 5OBSTACLES ANDSOLUTIONS IN USEOF LOCAL ANDORGANIC FOODSalla Kakriainen & Hans von Essen (ed.)Centrum för uthålligt lantbrukBaltic Ecological Recycling Agriculture and Society (BERAS) Nr. 4ISSN 1102-6758ISRN SLU-EKBL-EL--29--SEISBN: 91-576-6858-2Antal sidor: 95Ämnesord/Key words: Organic farming, Organic food, Local food, Sustainability,Resource management, Food systems, Rural developmentEkologiskt lantbruk – 44Obstacles and Solutions in Use of Local and Organic FoodCentrum för uthålligt lantbrukSLUBox 7047750 07 UppsalaEcological Agriculture – 44Obstacles and Solutions in Use of Local and Organic FoodCentre for Sustainable AgricultureSwedish University of Agricultural SciencesS-750 07 UppsalaAuthors are responsible for the factual contents of the report.79P A R T  IIIDISCUSSIONObstacles and solutionsIn line with the goals for this part of the BERAS project, this reportpresents case studies of local initiatives that have overcome obstaclesand successfully promoted local food.To start an initiative that is ecologically, economically and sociallysustainable and combines organic food production with recycling andsociety may sound like a complicated task. Although we may have aclear goal with regard to local and organic food, food systems arecomplex and many people in different positions are involved. In such asituation it is not always easy to see how the kind of change needed   toachieve a sustainable society can be initiated.Entry points to initiating such changes have been very different inthe different cases presented in this report. Farmers and NGOs haveconstructed a bicycle path and eco museums in Poland. In Finland,administrators have set up an electronic ordering system and farmersand shopkeepers have introduced a label for local products. Farmers inSweden have set up a cooperative to help with marketing and proces-sing. All these examples stress the importance of cooperation amongactors within the local food chain. A school program in Swedenillustrates how  the education sector can be included and the benefitsfrom this. In one Finnish municipality, the town administration sawhow supporting the local organic food sector would also support thedevelopment of opportunities for entrepreneurs in other sectors as well.In Sweden associations with an ideological base have been founded. Thesecases illustrate the need for people to take action on a practical level intheir work as well as the need for policy makers and others who caninfluence the system on a more general level, e.g. policy and legislation,to create a foundation and a positive atmosphere for the cause.It is encouraging to see from these examples that people in diffe-rent positions have been successful in bringing about a positive change.As Ewa Hajduk and Maria Staniszewska write, in Poland environmentalawareness is not high, and a local organic market is almost non-existant.They have dealt with this by increasing awareness and creating learningsituations – such as information tags along a bicycle path and in ecomuseums. In this way they have combined leisure time activities andeducation about the environment. Because people often are more openfor new ideas during their leisure time than in a stressful work situa-tion the positive effect is even greater. New markets are set up to resp-ond to new needs. Offering organic food baskets to the consumers isone example of this. According to Angelija Buciene and MarijaEidukeviciene the organic food sector in Lithuania is not well developedand interaction among actors in the food chain is weak. Low purchasingcapacity of consumers, lack of organic food processing facilities andlack of awareness about the demand and supply possibilities slow downSalla Kakriainenand Hans von Essen˘   .˘   .80       E K O L O G I S K T   L A N T B R U K   N R   4 4   •   D E C E M B E R   2 0 0 5P A R T  IIIthe development of the organic market. Organic marketing channelswould make it easier for supply and demand to meet. To meet thesechallenges they have established an “Eco information –centre”.In Finland and Sweden local food systems are trying to find waysto better compete with conventional systems. Hanna-Riikka Tuhkanendescribes how an electronic ordering system and a middleman arehelping municipal kitchens, one big potential customer group for localand organic food, to make purchases. The kitchen staff rarely have timeto search for local products and they also want one main supplier ifpossible, rather than receiving small amounts from various suppliers.The middleman is a link between kitchens, farmers and producers. Heis a messenger and mediates the needs of both sides as well as takingcare of the deliveries. This system improves information exchange andsolves logistical problems by combining deliveries from different farm-ers and producers. Leif Holmberg and Hans-Petter Sveen present oneexample of the cooperation among farmers in Sweden. Competition onthe local market was not sustainable and growing vegetables also has alow system flexibility. For example, tomatoes cannot be stored for longperiods. The farmers formed a cooperative association in order to bet-ter organise their production and share the costs of investments. Theirlatest idea is to invest in tomato processing equipment. This approachis comparable to the solution in Poland. Because organic markets arefar from farmers – products are chosen and processed so that they canbe transported easily.Hans von Essen presents a larger-scale action under the brand“Farmer’s own”. Farmers do not want to give away the positive repu-tation that comes with this brand name to the big, faceless food industry.They are striving to strengthen the link between consumers and pro-ducers through marketing campaigns and by organizing farmers’market that are also an enjoyable experience for consumers. Other textsfrom von Essen describe initiatives to increase the awareness about food.A bag of groceries in the classroom challenges students in the 12th gradeto follow the route these groceries have travelled and teaches them howcomplex the food system is. The highlight of the course is spending afew days on a farm.Salla Kakriainen describes a case where a Finnish rural municipal-ity has made the development and use of local organic food part of alarger development strategy for the whole municipality, including theprocessing sector. Kauhajoki serves as an example where problems likewhere to get local food and who has the time to organise and developthe local food system have been answered by networks, contacts andseveral years of project funding. If the activity is financed through short-term projects, it is important to ensure that the main goal is kept insight at all times. If it is lost, then  changes occur here and there withoutthe system as a whole changing. In Juva, a local label for products fromtheir own municipality was how farmers and shopkeepers showedconsumers that a variety of local products are available.81P A R T  IIIIt seems that in every country local food chains and food systemsneed to develop further. They are not yet strong enough to competewith conventional systems which are becoming increasingly centrali-sed and international. These changes will require continuousadaptations as well.The examples show that simple and down-to-earth ideas speak tothe heart and make the initiative powerful. This simplicity also makesit easier for others to join in and support the effort which is veryimportant. If the costs for joining an effort become too high, it might beeasier to change strategy and start over from the beginning. On theother hand, a new initiative needs to be protected and nurtured in thebeginning. When the initiative is strong and has enough supporters itcan face the rules set up by society and even contribute to modifyingthem for the benefit of everyone. But facing such obstacles too early cankill the initiative before it takes wing. For example the bag of groceries-needs support also from actors in the food chain to be successful.Without information from the actors it is impossible to do the task. One of the big challenges for alternative food systems is how tocompete with the mainstream large-scale food industry. They cannotcompete with the same products but local specialised products can findmarkets of their own. The concepts of large-scale food industry andlocal food systems are in many ways incompatible. The very idea of thefood industry is to mechanize the production and gain large-scale adv-antages. Such an industry requires raw products of uniform qualityand trucks that deliver full loads regularly. It is easiest for large farmswith highly specialized monoculture production to fulfil these needs.In contrast, the basic principles for organic agriculture and local foodsystems is diversity, reliance on ecosystem functions and sustainability.The high degree of biodiversity creates an ecosystem that carries itself.Social responsibility means local employment opportunities rather thanhighest possible mechanization. These farms have difficulties to producethe amounts that the food industry requires at the prices they are willingto pay. John Higson (2005), the initiator of the ”Farmer’s Own” project,has compared the efforts of the organic movement to have the foodindustry help them with their deeper ambition of changing the foodsystem with trying to squeeze a round object into a square hole. It isbetter to accept that these two systems are incompatible. Higson’s (2005)solution is to work side by side and to accept that there will be twosystems competing with each other on the market for a long time tocome. (See also Söderberg, 2005.)Local organic food systems (alternative systems that includeconsumers and have their own specific food chain) developunconventional ways of working. As the cases ”initiative locally grown”and ”bag of groceries” show, new ideas need a certain degree of free-dom and space to be able to grow. An idea has to be nurtured and growstronger before it can face the ‘real’ world. This can be done both bytesting it in practice and improving it as well as by sharing the idea and82       E K O L O G I S K T   L A N T B R U K   N R   4 4   •   D E C E M B E R   2 0 0 5P A R T  IIIconvincing others, including the concerned authorities, the judiciaryand consumers, of its value. This is a lot of work, especially when it isdone side by side with developing the initiative.The initiatives described in this paper are survivors that have foundthe balance between the openness that is needed for the initiative togain support and grow stronger and the protection needed to avoidbeing take over. From these cases two major conclusions can be drawn.For actors: Learn the art of balance between protection and openness!For policy makers: Allow necessary protection – especially for local andorganic food systems!Learning from othersAnother important lesson from these cases is the importance of takingaction. Often one or two persons with an idea can be found in the back-ground. Taking in new information is one thing, turning it into actionis another. And they both need time. Once an idea is born and matures,it then usually spreads to other interested people. In a study oncooperation among farmers it was found that it is important to havetime to let new developments settle down and find routines beforeadditional changes are made. The study also found that cooperation isessential. (Kallioniemi 1998.) It provides a possibility to have a peergroup and social contacts as well as a place where ideas and contactscan be exchanged.Although it is important to let new developments become stableand the farmers and processors have a routines that work, change isalso needed. The Swedish examples of the farmers’ cooperation andthe ”Initiative locally grown” illustrate the need to redirect activitieslittle by little. Without such adaptations the activities will not correspondto needs which are also always changing. For example, as consumerhabits change there is a growing demand for new and more processedproducts. The association also changed its form to avoid competingunnecessarily with other actors working for the same goals.Also apparent from these cases is the importance of communicationamong actors. Once communication channels have been put in place,the situation and needs of others can be better understood and takeninto consideration so that both the supplier and the customer can besatisfied. When both are willing to be a little bit flexible, then local foodinitiatives really start to work. But without such open-mindeddiscussions, it is difficult for initiatives to develop.Cooperation is a prerequisite for creating local food systems. A Bri-tish project run by the Soil Association has listed the lessons they havelearned while working with local and ecological food. The goal they hadwas to increase the share of local and organic food in schools. Althoughit is about schools, the main points in the ten-point checklist are similarto the lessons learned from the cases presented in this report.1. Establish mutual objectives in the beginning. Ensure all partners candevote to the objectives so they feel they have ownership of the83P A R T  IIIproject and its outcomes.2. Catering managers will prefer to deal with only one individual tocoordinate supply. They rarely have time to deal with many diffe-rent people individually.3. Educational support is crucial to supply this market.4. The public procurement market is not an easy market to access. Don’tbe put off by the difficulties, however, as there is plenty of supportavailable. Don’t underestimate the time this process needs.5. When approaching any school, hospital or county caterer, find outhow their catering system works and what facilities they have.6. It is crucial to have the support from producers, procurers, distributors,parents, governors and pupils. It is necessary for the whole chain towant to change the existing supply chain.7. Producer co-operation is the key to success in setting up an efficientsupply chain.8. It is helpful, although not essential, to have an impartial co-ordinatorwho must not seek to gain financially more than others from theprocess.9. It is important to link with other markets and not rely on this marketalone.10.Local processing facilities are crucial to the set up of the supply chain.Ensure that someone can provide support with certification require-ments.11.Affordability of organic produce is a limiting issue. In-season localorganic produce can often be more competitive. Clustering schoolsso that volumes are greater is also a helpful way to manage costs.(Soil Association, 2004.)Despite overwhelming difficulties, some individuals continue to makegreat efforts and are successful in overcoming many obstacles. Whysuch enthusiasm? The reasons they give vary, as do the cases. One mainreason is that local and organic food is good for the environment, forexample through recycling agriculture and by avoiding unnecessarytransportation. Another is that it supports the local economy andproduction and has a positive effect on local development. A thirdimportant reason is the good quality of local products. Their flavourand freshness are valued by both individual and institutional consumers.Also standardised processed products are sold over large areas whereaslocal food helps to sustain local food cultures and diversified tastes aswell as local knowledge about ways to use raw materials to make localspecialities.Other BERAS reports provide additional information about theecological and economic benefits of local organic food.

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