New Literature Reviews on Local Food Systems

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Author: Jolene Cushman

Posted: July 17, 2013

Categories: Food in the News

Researchers working with the Nourishing Communities research group have released two reviews of the literature on local food systems, one focusing on North American trends and the other on models from around the world. This work supplements a report released earlier this year, based on their Ontario research, and also available on their website: “Models and Best Practices for Building Sustainable Food Systems in Ontario and Beyond”. Details and links to the two reviews follow.

Local Food Systems in North AmericaA Review of Literature

Prepared by Elena Christy, Karen Landman, and Elizabeth Nowatschin (University of Guelph
), and Alison Blay-Palmer, (Wilfrid Laurier University) for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

This report is a survey of the prominent North American literature from academic, governmental, and non-governmental sources published within the last thirteen years on the subject of local food systems. The goal of this report is investigate current discussion on North American localized food systems and to identify the terms of engagement of participants seeking to access the perceived benefits of this form of food marketing.

Local Food Systems – International PerspectivesA Review

Prepared by Irena Knezevic (Mount Saint Vincent University),
 Karen Landman, (University of Guelph) and
 Alison Blay-Palmer, (Wilfrid Laurier University) for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food

As the development of the local food movement in Ontario is not happening in isolation, the trends and the lessons of local/regional food initiatives around the world are worthy of consideration. The purpose of this review is to provide a brief overview of research and initiatives in other parts of the world, which may be useful for identifying patterns of successful models for local food hubs. Focusing on European Union countries, with an additional, less comprehensive turn to Australia and New Zealand, this overview is a cursory scan of scholarly and “gray” (government and community) literature on food hubs and regional food systems.

 

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