Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Food networks'
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Gu, Youyang. "Food adulteration detection using neural networks." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106015.
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Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-100).
In food safety and regulation, there is a need for an automated system to be able to make predictions on which adulterants (unauthorized substances in food) are likely to appear in which food products. For example, we would like to know that it is plausible for Sudan I, an illegal red dye, to adulter "strawberry ice cream", but not "bread". In this work, we show a novel application of deep neural networks in solving this task. We leverage data sources of commercial food products, hierarchical properties of substances, and documented cases of adulterations to characterize ingredients and adulterants. Taking inspiration from natural language processing, we show the use of recurrent neural networks to generate vector representations of ingredients from Wikipedia text and make predictions. Finally, we use these representations to develop a sequential method that has the capability to improve prediction accuracy as new observations are introduced. The results outline a promising direction in the use of machine learning techniques to aid in the detection of adulterants in food.
by Youyang Gu.
M. Eng.
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van, der Merwe Jan Gabriel Jr. "Informal Production Networks." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/63625.
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The relationship between industry and the city is a damaged
one. However, with its existing mix of residents, industry
and commerce (albeit segregated from one-another)
Pretoria West holds the potential for a unique relationship
between industry and the citizens of Pretoria. Only by understanding
the role that these industries play within the
greater context of the city can the rich character and culture
of a place be ampli ed and solidi ed in a development
plan. Catalyzed by its heritage, development becomes
a manifestation of the character of place that will attract
further growth and simultaneously embrace the existing
stakeholders.
e existing industrial built-environment is often misshapen
and illegible and whilst it is di cult to organize
(and navigate) the seemingly disorganized site, it is possible
to resolve; through understanding historic boundaries and
development patterns that can be utilized as organizational
grids. In this case historic erf divisions and consolidations
can be utilized as an organizational tool at a large scale and
should serve as a guide to where future structures should be
erected in order to maintain a legible built environment.
When designing future additions, understanding the historic
expansion of these industrial buildings holds the key
to a harmonious relationship between old and new. With
minimal architectural intent these buildings supply little
for the architect to grapple onto, but with material spans
and structural repetition forming the underlying ordering
principle; it is possible to create a logical and ordered extension
of the past.Die verhouding tussen industrie en die stad is beskadig en as gevolg word industrië stelselmatig verwyder van die stad. Die mengsel tussen inwoners, industrie en handel in Pretoria Wes (albeit geissoleer van mekaar) gun egter die potensiaal tot ‘n unieke verbandskap tussen industrie en die inwoners van Pretoria. Slegs deur die rol te erken wat die industrië speel ten opsigte van die stad se groter konteks, kan die karakter en kultuur van so ‘n omgewing versterk en vasgevang word in ‘n ontwikkelings plan. Erfenis dien as katalisator vir ontwikkeling van die karakter van plek wat in beurt verdere nansiële groei sal aanhits. Die bestaande industriële bou-omgewing is misvorm en onvoorspelbaar. Alhoewel so ‘n omgewing nie aan die individie toeleen om weg te vind of organiseer nie, is dit moontlik deur die ontginning van historiese grense en ontwikkelings patrone wat kan dien as organiseerings mates. Historiese erf indelings en konsolodasies kan gebruik word om te dien as ‘n gids vir toekomstige toevoegings, om sodoende die nuwe argitektuur uit die bestaande te laat vloei. Die resultaat is ‘n leesbare en geordende bou-omgewing. Die ontwerp van die nuwe verbeelding steun op die morfologie van die bestaande omgewing om ‘n harmoniese verhouding tussen oud en nuut te skep. Materiale se span afstande neem die rol van die onderliggende orde stelsels aan as gevolg van die gebrek aan aansienlike argitektoniese bedoelings in die bestaande omgewing. Sodoende is ‘n leesbare en logiese uitbreiding van die verlede en na die toekoms moontlik in ‘n omgewing wat ontstaan het sonder ontwerp vir ervaring van mense.
Mini Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Architecture
MArch(Prof)
Unrestricted
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Nunez, Lucia. "Local Food Networks and the Power of Community." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/615.
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Local food networks (LFNs) have engendered a great deal of debate in the food justice community; scholars and activists are dubious about the potential of LFNs to contribute to the subversion of the very hierarchies of privilege that created the need for the food justice movement. Using a case study of the Claremont, California area local food network, I operationalize a definition of LFNs, defining them by the people, activities, and exchanges involved in the local food network. I provide a grounded view of these three facets of the Claremont area local food network to analyze the extent to which the network both perpetuates and subverts hierarchies of privilege. About 40 ethnographic interviews with key players in the Claremont area local food network show that the network is a patchwork of identities, values, goals, methods, interactions, and outcomes. The subversion and perpetuation of hierarchies of privilege occur simultaneously in nearly every part of the local food network, and the network has potential to enhance the subversive aspects to work towards a larger political challenge.
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Canal, Vieira Leticia. "Creating sustainable and resilient urban food systems: A study of Australian alternative food networks." Thesis, Griffith University, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/392015.
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Food systems are vulnerable to the impacts of resource scarcity, climate change, and population growth, as well as the issues associated with unsustainable social, environmental and economic practices. These challenges have encouraged local food systems as an alternative to global supply chains. This thesis studies this trend at the urban level in order to explore issues and opportunities for change. It argues that urban food systems need to embrace both sustainability and resilience. A sustainable urban food system has an economy that serves social needs while safely operating within ecological limits. Resilience, on the other hand, includes the ability to recover from shocks such as extreme weather events, as well as the capacity to adapt and ultimately transform in response to the ongoing impacts of climate change.
The main research question that this thesis investigates is “How can alternative food networks help to foster sustainable and resilient urban food systems considering climate change and increased urbanisation?” A comparative case study approach was used involving local initiatives in the Brisbane and greater Melbourne metropolitan regions (Australia). Both Australian urban areas have similar economic development; however, differences can be found in terms of institutional interest and the existence of food policies. The gathering of a diverse picture of alternative food networks was the strategy adopted for selecting the initiatives that participated in this research. The criteria that alternative food networks should attend were the existence of goals related to access to healthy food, fairer conditions for food workers, and reduction of environmental impacts. The thesis used multiple sources of data including primary (semi-structured interviews with founders or members of initiatives and field observation) and secondary data (publicly available documents such as annual reports).
The findings of this research contribute to the conceptualisation and planning of sustainable and resilient urban food systems, as well as, to the knowledge on the role and limitations of alternative food networks in achieving this. The case study conducted in this thesis revealed how alternative food networks can contribute to the creation of food provision systems that are aligned with environmental sustainability and social justice. The thesis exposed the particularities of initiatives that, among other aspects, have minimal food loss and waste, supports agroecology, provides farmers with fair payment and makes organic food affordable. Alternative food networks demonstrated to have resilience building capacity, something that is not confined to its borders and can impact on the whole urban food system. Alternative food networks’ values travel and allow the replication and creation of new models, however, not in the pace necessary for a wider urban food system transformation. The main challenge exposed by this thesis for alternative food networks is the need for scaling up by influencing institutions and policies more broadly.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Environment and Sc
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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Novie, Alexander G. "Street Level Food Networks: Understanding Ethnic Food Cart Supply Chains in Eastern Portland, OR." PDXScholar, 2014. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2084.
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Portland, OR, is the site of a unique urban food cart phenomenon that provides opportunities for small business ownership and access points for culturally specific food for the city's foreign-born and minority populations. Known as a "foodie haven," Portland also has an active sustainable food movement with engaged citizens and support from city and regional policies aimed at significantly increasing the consumption of local food. To date, there have been no in-depth studies on the sourcing habits of Portland food cart owners and whether or not these street-level actors are involved in the area's local alternative food movements (AFNs). The current understanding of the Portland food cart phenomenon is based on studies that have focused on carts and pods located in the central business district and "inner-ring" areas of the city. Areas beyond these locations (defined as Eastern Portland) are currently home to the majority of the city's growing foreign-born and minority populations. This thesis uses a situational analysis framework to explore the food supply practices of ethnic food cart owners operating in Eastern Portland cart pods. I investigate the feasibility of purchasing locally grown ingredients for use in ethnic cuisines and the degree to which cart owners incorporate the region's prevailing locavore ethics into their everyday culinary practices. Findings from this inquiry suggest that ethnic cart owners in Eastern Portland have a range of habitus, or personal dispositions and embodied knowledge, that is reflected in how they perceive the benefits of and barriers to "buying local" and the extent (if any) that they engage with AFNs in the Portland area. I assert that ethnic food cart owners in Eastern Portland are performing multiple community roles by providing access points for culturally specific cuisines for their particular ethnic groups, while also offering exotic experiences to other residents and tourists alike. I discuss variations within the food cart phenomenon itself by highlighting the differences in design, amenities, types of access, and neighborhood customer bases of cart pods located in Eastern Portland. Finally, I discuss future research directions for understanding the dynamics of food supply chains in small-scale, direct-to-vendor relationships and the implications for local and regional food sustainability policy goals.
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Layton, Astrid C. "Food webs: Realizing biological inspiration for sustainable industrial resource networks." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54307.
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This thesis considers the problem of how to design an industrial network to reduce cost, increase efficiency, and reduce environmental burdens. A recent approach is further developed that uses analogies with biological food webs to guide industry design. Studying ecological food webs shows that among the metrics in use, critical quantities of interest for industry design include the internal cycling of energy, the ratio of producers to consumers, and the ratio of efficiency to redundancy in the network. Metrics that are calculated using flow based information are also introduced for use in industry, a significant step forward for bio-inspired network design. A comprehensive data set of proposed, operational, and failed eco-industrial parks is compiled for use with structural food web analyses. A data set of biological food webs is also assembled to calculate sustainable benchmark values used as goals for the industrial designs. This research an essential difficulty in bio-inspired design approaches by quantitatively analyzing components of food web design by reconstructing found relationships from science and engineering 1st principles, specifically using thermodynamic 1st law efficiency. Results from this work have the potential to provide industry-wide cost savings, increase efficiency, and reduce environmental burdens through a reduction in raw material consumption and waste disposal. The results also support the view that financial competitiveness and sustainability need not be mutually exclusive: using food web network patterns embodying both economically and environmentally desirable properties, biologically redesigned industrial networks can ease both environmental and economic burdens.
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Anderson, Colin Ray. "Growing Food and Social Change: Rural Adaptation, Participatory Action Research and Civic Food Networks in North America." Elsevier, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/23453.
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The goal of this research was to better understand how farm families adapt to global environmental and political-economic change to secure their livelihoods and to build more resilient food systems. The dissertation reports on five iterative cycles of participatory action research that resulted in a diversity of pragmatic, conceptual and theoretical outcomes. I first examined how farmers adapted to the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) crisis in the Canadian Prairies, identifying three general adaptation types: ‘exiting’ from beef production or agriculture; ‘enduring’ through adaptations that seek stability; and ‘innovating’ to pursue new opportunities, including direct farm marketing and cooperatives as important forms of grassroots adaptation. Next, I reported on a five-year action research project that developed a “civic food network” in rural Manitoba, which emerged in large part as a response to the BSE crisis. This case study examined the tensions, politics and opportunities that arise through the intensely socially embedded relationships that underpin these grassroots innovations. I argue that CFNs must productively engage with difference if they are to reach their full potential for rural development and social change. Next, I examine the barriers that confront the local food movement, especially as they relate to food safety regulations. A series of short articles and videos are presented that were used to buttress the political efforts of our participatory action research team to advocate for scale-appropriate regulations in Manitoba. Next, I examined my PhD research as a whole to illustrate how participatory action research transgresses “academic” and “non-academic” knowledge and space to mobilize knowledge in intentional processes of social transformation. Through this research, we developed three Knowledge Mobilization strategies. These include: Using transmedia to exchange knowledge via multiple platforms and mediums; “setting hooks” to draw together diverse knowledge communities; and layering to deliver knowledge at varying levels of detail and complexity. Finally, through a performative autoethnographic script, I deconstruct graduate education, the dissertation and the professionalizing discourses that impede a vibrant “public scholarship” in Universities. As a whole, this participatory action research simultaneously argues for and also embodies democratic approaches to research and to agriculture and food practice and policy.
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Halnes, Geir. "Biological network modelling : relating structure and dynamics to function in food webs and neural networks /." Uppsala : Dept. of Biometry and Engineering, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2007. http://epsilon.slu.se/2007113.pdf.
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Korcekova, Kristina. "The Serving and the Served: Relationship between suppliers and food hubs in Swedish Alternative Food Networks." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-324560.
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The Swedish alternative food networks landscape is underdeveloped compared to that of the US or the countries of Western Europe, however its development has sped up in recent years. The relationship between the farmer and the food hub is the first one to be built when an Alternative Food Network is being set up and therefore represents a valid starting point in the hitherto scarcely studied field of alternative food distribution in Sweden. The paper used a relationship-marketing framework with the addition of elements from Civic Food Networks conceptualization of Alternative Food Networks in order to explain the creation and maintenance, as a well as the quality and depth of supplier-distributor relationships in two cases of Swedish food hubs. Given the immaturity of the Swedish market, this paper tried to explore the possible variations existing in the landscape. In the case of student-led food cooperative Ultimat and its two studied suppliers, values and larger local food systems goals played the primary role in creating and maintaining the relationship, in spite of the poor economic performance of such a relationship in the eyes of the suppliers. The linkages forged between the two entities are strong due to shared values and common goals. In the case of Bygdens Saluhall, the values play a certain role, but the economic element remains crucial for the farmers. At the same time, the connection is closer and ownership of the project by the farmers more significant. Additionally, points of interest arose for future research, notably the diverging stance of Ultimat’s suppliers vs. Bygdens Saluhall’s suppliers in the question of pro-business food hubs and organization of alternative food networks in general.
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Puranen, Niklas, and Markus Jansson. "Alternative Food Networks and Social Media in Marketing : A multiple case study exploring how Alternative Food Networks use social media in order to help small local food producers reach the market." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-131950.
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The food provision system of today has been argued to be unsustainable with large scale production, price-pressure and outbreaks of diseases. Many consumers in the EU and Sweden are reacting to these issues and are becoming increasingly interested in finding local food alternatives that they consider to be safer and of higher quality. However, the small local food producers due to scarce budgets and marketing skills have problems in reaching this target market. Partly due to this, there has been an emergence of Alternative Food Networks (AFN) within which producers come together to get assistance in marketing and sales. Social media has emerged as a phenomenon that is argued by marketing scholars to be a highly useful tool to spread information in a cost-efficient way. Therefore, this study seek to answer the explorative question: “How do Alternative Food Networks use social media in order to help small local food producers reach the market?” The main purpose of the thesis is to explore and develop an understanding of how the emerging AFNs use social media to promote small local agricultural producers and help them in reaching the market. This will be done by investigating AFNs as Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) marketing networks, and how these operate in terms of the theoretical areas external marketing communication, coordination of the SME marketing network, segmentation practices and sales promotion. The theoretical contribution is to see how AFNs work in terms of these areas, and the practical implications will be to give advice on how AFNs should use social media to improve these areas. The study is done in an exploratory manner, and the data collection has been performed in accordance with qualitative research. This has been done through seven semi-structured interviews with respondents from six different AFNs in Sweden that are active on social media. The conclusions of this study shows that AFNs value the use of social media, however they utilize this tool to a varied degree. The AFNs use it to inform and to interact with their customers. Social media does not seem to be very actively incorporated into network communication or monitoring. The AFNs have many ideas about who their customer groups are, and in some cases these have been identified specifically on social media, which has been used to some extent for targeted advertising. The AFNs position themselves as a “good” food alternative. In sales promotion the AFNs mainly promote their events on social media, and have also promoted discounts to some extent. The study provides new theoretical knowledge in the area of marketing through social media by SMEs like AFNs. Practical implications for the AFNs are discussed, which mainly involve increasing the time spent on social media as a mainly free and powerful marketing tool.
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Champion, Benjamin Lee. "The political economy of "local foods" in Eastern Kansas : opportunities and justice in emerging agro-food networks and markets." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2007. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6f0586d3-7302-4650-9fe7-8254b1e7e1f0.
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Alternative agriculture and counter-cuisine movements have grown to a strong cultural current in Western European and North American societies. In recent years,these movements have begun to converge and coalesce around the concept of localizing agri-food relations and commodity chains as a way of redressing the deleterious environmental, social, and economic consequences of what are seen as dominant globalized food relations. This dissertation reports on a regional study in Eastern Kansas of the political economy of local food relations that has arisen through this producer and consumer response. It is an effort to recognize the regional interplay of disparate forces in constructing local food systems in the interest of framing more contextualized and nuanced questions about the environmental, social, and economic outcomes of alternative agri-food development. Network, conventions, and spatial analysis theories and methods were customized and put into practice in the service of these aims, using triangulation among them to mitigate each of their individual weaknesses in representing the variable embeddedness, politics, and spaces of local food in Eastern Kansas. It was found that local food generally represents a marketing niche in urban consumerism that is served primarily by regional rural producers. The distances, agricultural and food ecologies, forms of organization, and values underpinning local food linkages were all found to vary quite considerably throughout the region, creating a diverse combination of development agendas and impacts from local food networks and making food localization a highly contested concept. Local food development in its current form is thus highly dependent on urban/rural dialectics and projects of urbanization that lack open, transparent, and reflexive governance. Critical acknowledgement of these development interdependencies is important as a step toward encouraging social, economic, and environmental justice through local food development.
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Carlsson, Mattias. "Neural Networks for Semantic Segmentation in the Food Packaging Industry." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Datorseende, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-145413.
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Industrial applications of computer vision often utilize traditional image processing techniques whereas state-of-the-art methods in most image processing challenges are almost exclusively based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Thus there is a large potential for improving the performance of many machine vision applications by incorporating CNNs. One such application is the classification of juice boxes with straws, where the baseline solution uses classical image processing techniques on depth images to reject or accept juice boxes. This thesis aim to investigate how CNNs perform on the task of semantic segmentation (pixel-wise classification) of said images and if the result can be used to increase classification performance. A drawback of CNNs is that they usually require large amounts of labelled data for training to be able to generalize and learn anything useful. As labelled data is hard to come by, two ways to get cheap data are investigated, one being synthetic data generation and the other being automatic labelling using the baseline solution. The implemented network performs well on semantic segmentation, even when trained on synthetic data only, though the performance increases with the ratio of real (automatically labelled) to synthetic images. The classification task is very sensitive to small errors in semantic segmentation and the results are therefore not as good as the baseline solution. It is suspected that the drop in performance between validation and test data is due to a domain shift between the data sets, e.g. variations in data collection and straw and box type, and fine-tuning to the target domain could definitely increase performance. When trained on synthetic data the domain shift is even larger and the performance on classification is next to useless. It is likely that the results could be improved by using more advanced data generation, e.g. a generative adversarial network (GAN), or more rigorous modelling of the data.
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Stanley, Kieron. "Constituting organics : the role of certification in European food networks." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.417638.
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Miller, Wendy M. "Allotments and alternative food networks : the case of Plymouth, UK." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2874.
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Alternative food networks (AFNs) are the focus of an ‘explosive growth’ of research in Europe (Goodman 2004), and the term covers a wide range of activities, from food banks, community gardens, and farmers’ markets, to community supported or organic agriculture. However, there is an impasse in differing positions over whether AFNs represent an exclusionary place-based ‘quality turn’ (Ilbery and Kneafsey 2000), or whether they contribute to inclusive local communities, sustainability and food security (Tregear 2011, Kirwan and Maye 2013). This research aimed to clarify these debates, through exploration of UK allotments as a benchmark for AFNs, using the case of Plymouth, SW England. A political ecology perspective of social-ecological systems (Ostrom 2008) was used to investigate the activities, relations and governance involved in allotments and AFNs, organised through the concepts of multidimensional capital assets (Bebbington 1999). This research demonstrates how activities on allotments involve human, social, cultural, natural and political capital assets, encompassing both basic food security and a quality turn towards ‘good food’ (Sage 2003). Taking the long view, it is seen that the relative importance of the different asset dimensions are contingent on wider socio-political settings. Relations on allotments illustrate the building of social capital, which extends to wider communities of interest, practice and place (Harrington et al. 2008), and which involves values of social justice that can be explained as diverse or care economies (Gibson-Graham 2008, Dowler et al. 2010). However, the politics and governance of allotments are largely influenced by neoliberal policies that favour oligopolistic and transnational food systems and restrict urban land allocations for place-based food initiatives. Present-day urban population densities are at levels far higher than envisaged for the original garden cities. Nevertheless, alliances at neighbourhood, city, regional, national and transnational scales are coalescing around the values represented in the original setting up of the UK allotment system: of self-reliance, human-scale settlements and the restorative value of the natural environment. Any realization of the potential contribution of allotments and AFNs to the sustainability and resilience of food supplies for urban populations (Armitage et al. 2008, Folke et al. 2010) ultimately depends on multilevel responses to a large range of challenges. Finally, the thesis contends that, in the present day, evidence is building up around the potential of allotments and many other AFN activities, or place-based food systems, to meet multiple policy objectives through aligned values.
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McGuire, Julia Bayer. "Social ecological food systems| Sustainability lessons from Maine dairy networks." Thesis, The University of Maine, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10300303.
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Milk production has played an integral role in the culture, landscape, and economy of Maine's agriculture. Maine dairy farmers have faced numerous sustainability challenges to economic, environmental, and social aspects of their industry. Like many other complex social ecological systems, the Maine dairy industry faces a gap between scientific knowledge and actionable management or policy. A cultural dichotomy exists between conventional and organic farming. Shifting the focus from this binary, metrics such as social capital may play a key role in solving sustainability issues. Difficulties arise in the governance of complex social ecological systems when the scales of assessment, management, and policy do not match principal challenges. Despite efforts by many, Maine dairy challenges may be fueled by a state political system that is restricted by term limits and short legislative sessions. Piecemeal policy-making leads to assessment and policy outcomes that do not take the complexities of the system into consideration.
In the case of the Maine dairy industry, using mental modeling and social network analysis: 1) we seek to explore a method that may improve understanding in cases of disintegration between sustainability policy and action; 2) we test whether social capital, measured using Maine dairy farmers' information networks, spans perceived boundaries between conventional and organic management and between different farm sizes, and; 3) we investigate the scale problemscape for long-term success of the Maine dairy industry.
We found no significant difference in the importance of the economic, environmental, or social factors that dairy farmers considered to be the most challenging to industry sustainability. Social capital, rather than farm management practice or size, is a critical variable for better understanding industry sustainability. We found gaps between the current industry policy structure and the management and assessment scales required to address sustainability challenges. The barriers to effective long-term management, assessment, and policy are numerous for the Maine dairy industry. Our findings suggest that solutions concentrating on only one sustainability factor are unlikely to work in the longterm. Solutions may lie in a more holistic evaluation process, and inclusion of social capital and scale assessments to effectively link science and policy.
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Alexander, Gretchen. "Why CSAs Matter: (re)localizing for people-based food networks." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2019. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1283.
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This thesis details the history of Claremont Market Shares, a Community Sourced Agriculture (CSA) project based out of Claremont, California. By using this project as a jumping off point for discussing local food networks, buzzwords such as "organic" and "local" are analyzed and re-defined. I argue for a people-based food network model over the currently popular 'place-based' that prioritizes producer-consumer relationships. The CSA functions as a sustainable model of this ideology.
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Beggs, Jennifer J. "Coping with food vulnerability the role of social networks in the lives of Missouri food pantry clients /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/4545.
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Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006.The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 21, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.
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Brain, Kelsey Ann. "The Transnational Networks of Cultural Commodities: Peruvian Food in San Francisco." PDXScholar, 2010. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2252.
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In a setting of increased movement, communication, and flows across space, commodity chain networks bring valued cultural commodities to transnational communities. This research examines the networks bringing foreign cuisine ingredients to Peruvian transnational communities in San Francisco, California. It seeks to answer three inter-related questions: 1) What are the origins and transportation networks bringing Peruvian food items to San Francisco; 2) Who controls and benefits from the movement of this food and resulting capital; and 3) How do networks vary for different classes of end consumers?
Chefs of ten Peruvian restaurants and ten Peruvian migrants in the San Francisco area are interviewed to determine primary imported Peruvian food items and their cultural value. Interviews with representatives of major importing companies as well as searches of import/export databases are used to trace network flows. Flow maps follow the food items from the point of origin to the point of consumption and visually demonstrate the flow of resulting capital. Additionally, network maps are divided into three categories determined by end consumer: expensive restaurant, moderate restaurant, and home cooking. Maps are analyzed for differences between these categories. Finally, a narrative analysis discusses the role of migrants' cultural eating habits in San Francisco and its connection to transnational commodity networks.
The research offers commentary on the role of food as a cultural marker for Peruvian transnationals and on the relations of power within the commodity network. This research unites economy and culture at the local and global scales while showing how “things” are imbued with cultural meaning during the processes of production to consumption on a transnational network.
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Reis, Kimberley Miscamble. "Food for thought: The governance of garden networks for building local food security and community-based disaster resilience." Thesis, Griffith University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366226.
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Food supply chains reach across the globe and rely on complex and interdependent infrastructures. The vast majority of Australia’s food supply infrastructure is privately owned and operated for commercial purposes. The complex network of producers, processors, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of food depend upon the ability to move freight long distances. This is utterly dependent not only on the vast network of transport infrastructure but also on uninterrupted access to cheap oil. Food supply chain interruptions due to severe weather events have become an emergent issue in terms of understanding our vulnerability to food insecurity. The Australian government recognises that economic costs of climate change will come from floods, droughts, heatwaves and other extreme weather events. Supermarkets are the main distribution points for emergency re-supply, however, they are not immune to the impacts of these weather events. Complicating things further, the growth in urban populations globally is identified as a key trend in urban disaster risk management. South-East Queensland has one of the most rapidly growing urban populations in Australia. The vast majority of this urban population will continue to source its food from supermarkets in times of crisis. The synergies between all these influences may expose our collective vulnerability to unexpected food insecurity. Policies that engage with interconnected systems are caught up in the ambiguity of their causal webs, therefore mistakes are very costly.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith School of Environment
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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MATACENA, RAFFAELE. "Exploring the production side: Small scale food producers and alternative food networks in European urban contexts Raffaele Matacena." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/241153.
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L’applicazione di modelli industriali intensivi alla produzione e alla distribuzione degli alimenti e la liberalizzazione degli scambi sui mercati internazionali hanno portato alla costituzione di un mercato globale del cibo ad alta intensità di capitale e fortemente concentrato, in cui evidenti squilibri di potere concedono enormi capacità direzionali e decisionali a un numero ristretto di grandi player internazionali. Ciò ha generato gravi esternalità che hanno provocato un impatto sulla vita umana, sociale ed ecosistemica, rendendo manifesta la necessità di un processo di re-interiorizzazione dei processi economici legati alla produzione, alla distribuzione e al consumo di cibo entro schemi sociali e ambientali in grado di proteggere le risorse (umane, culturali, sociali, economiche ed ecosistemiche) mobilizzate dalla filiera agro-alimentare.
In questo quadro critico, assistiamo ormai da alcuni anni alla nascita e al consolidamento di strutture organizzative ‘dal basso’ che mirano alla re-incorporazione (intesa come ‘ri-socializzazione’ e ‘ri-localizzazione’) delle pratiche di produzione, distribuzione e consumo di cibo entro sistemi sostenibili e locali. Si tratta di quelli che nella letteratura internazionale sono denominati alternative food networks (AFNs), ossia schemi organizzativi di filiera alimentare che puntano alla creazione di circuiti corti di ri-valorizzazione delle produzioni locali, tradizionali e sostenibili, con la promessa di potenziare l’accesso a cibi sani, nutrizionalmente adeguati ed eticamente corretti, ed al contempo costruire un’alternativa viabile alle strutture produttiviste e predatorie del capitalismo attuale.
Negli ultimi due decenni, un imponente sforzo di ricerca ha permesso la creazione di una robusta letteratura sui fenomeni di ri-localizzazione e sugli alternative food networks. Molte analisi hanno avuto ad oggetto la transizione dei modelli di consumo verso la riscoperta delle produzioni locali o etiche, o altrettanto si sono occupate dei presupposti valoriali, ideologici e relazionali di funzionamento dei network e delle economie alternative, analizzando queste reti in termini di innovazione sociale o driver di sviluppo rurale. Rimane tuttavia relativamente poco esplorata la componente produttiva, ossia l’arcipelago produttivo-imprenditoriale che viene mobilizzato da queste reti e che in esse trova un nuovo centro di gravità. Il mio studio vuole inserirsi proprio in questo solco, e tentare di avanzare la conoscenza del mondo sociale ed economico dei piccoli produttori alimentari che vendono i loro prodotti attraverso i circuiti commerciali stabiliti dagli AFN nella città di Milano e, in un’ottica comparativa, nelle città di Manchester e Lancaster nel Nord Ovest dell’Inghilterra.
Attraverso metodi qualitativi, dunque, si cercherà di fornire un’interpretazione della realtà dei produttori ‘alternativi’ nei due territori. L’obiettivo è di mettere in evidenza le loro identità e le loro storie, le loro rappresentazioni dei problemi del sistema alimentare e le strategie per venirne a capo, i requisiti, le logiche e i meccanismi d’azione che definiscono e rendono possibile la partecipazione a un AFN, l’insieme di riferimenti valoriali e ideologici che ispirano la loro azione, le opportunità, i punti critici e gli ostacoli che minacciano il proprio sviluppo personale-imprenditoriale e quello degli AFN stessi. Indagando l’habitus di questo campo emergente e le operazioni dei suoi attori, dunque, si tenterà di oggettivare la presenza e le pratiche dei ‘nuovi’ produttori alimentari e le modalità di ‘demercificazione’ tramite le quali le loro attività sono reintegrate entro un sistema innovativo di relazioni sociali.The food system crisis and the urgent need to develop a different socio-economic model for the organization of food production and consumption practices are analytical constructs about which a growing scientific consensus is coupled with increasing media attention. The application of intensive industrial models in food production and distribution together with ever growing liberalization of exchanges in international markets have spurred the development of a highly-concentrated and capital-intensive global food market, in which prominent power imbalances grant immense directional and decisional leadership to a restricted number of big international players. This type of food chain management has shown a marked incapacity to satisfy the requirements of sustainability, thus calling for a reform process which aims to re-internalize the economic processes linked to production, distribution and consumption of food within social and environmental frameworks able to protect the (human, cultural, social, economic, and ecosystem) resources which are mobilized by the agri-food chain. In this critical scenario, in the last years we have been witnessing the construction and consolidation of new ‘grassroots’ organizational structures, aiming at re-embedding (through processes of ‘re-socialization’ and ‘re-localization’) food production, distribution and consumption practices within the frame of local and sustainable systems. These initiatives have been labeled as alternative food networks (AFNs): they are food chain organizational schemes setting up and managing short circuits to re-valorize local, traditional and sustainable productions. They are seen as carrying a promise of facilitating access to healthy, nutritionally-adequate and ethically correct foods, while providing an opportunity to revive the local rural fabric by building a viable alternative to the productivist structures of current capitalism and to the predatory relationships inherent in them. In the last two decades, a great effort in research has brought about robust literature on the phenomena of re-localization and on AFNs. Many analysts have focused on the transition of consumption models towards the re-discovery of local or ethical production and others have concentrated on the values, ideologies and relations underlying the building and working of networks and alternative economies. However, the productive component of these networks remains relatively unexplored, i. e. the productive-entrepreneurial archipelago which is mobilized by these networks and which finds in them a new center of gravity. My study aims to occupy this field, and attempts to advance the knowledge of the social and economic world of small food producers selling their products through AFNs-related commercial circuits in and around the city of Milan and, in a comparative perspective, in the cities of Manchester, Lancaster and the whole region of the North-West of England. By employing qualitative methods, then, this thesis tries to provide an interpretation of the reality of ‘alternative' producers in these two cities. The objective is to bring out their identity and their story, their representations of the problems affecting the food system and their personal strategies to cope with them, plus the requirements, logics and mechanisms of action which define the participation to an AFN and make it possible. I tried to analyze the set of values and ideological references inspiring their actions, their opportunities, and the critical points and obstacles which threaten their development and that of the AFNs themselves. By investigating the habitus of this emerging field and the operations of its players, my attempt is to objectify the presence and practices of these ‘new’ food producers, along with the corresponding ‘de-commodification’ modalities with which their activities are re-integrated within an innovative system of social relations.
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Brislen, Lilian. "IN THE BUTTERNUT BIG TIME: FOOD HUBS, FARMERS, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY AGRO-FOOD ECONOMIES." UKnowledge, 2017. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/sociology_etds/34.
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Food hubs, a new model of values-based agro-food enterprise, are promoted by their advocates as a means to simultaneously improve the livelihoods of small and mid-sized farmers, increase the social and environmental sustainability of the food system, and supply the ever increasing consumer demand for health, local food. Noting the contradictions embedded in the promise of simultaneously generating both social values and economic value, this study explores how goals of promoting positive social, economic, or environmental change are achieved and/or inhibited when implemented though marketbased activities. Through a series of three in-depth case studies of food hubs in the Southeastern United States, the three papers compiled in this dissertation investigate how food hubs work to realize abstract non-financial goals (e.g. ‘helping family farmers’, ‘promoting sustainable food systems’) through the mundane work of food aggregation and distribution. Particular attention is paid to the experiences of mid-sized farmers who participate in food hubs, and the historic, material, and subjective processes that influence the development of food hubs and their many stakeholders. Highlighting the tensions and negotiations inherent to the hybrid social-and-monetary work of food hubs, I assert the need for an analytical framework that can account for the more-than-financial dimensions of economic and ethical praxis. To that end, I draw on the theories of J.K. Gibson-Graham to suggest that food hubs are best understood as a form of post-capitalist enterprise situated within a community agro-food economy, wherein reciprocal and interdependent relationships are forged between new economic subjects through deliberate and ongoing negotiation of care via the process and outcomes of diverse economic activity.
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Baker, Nicholas Jackson. "A quantitative exploration of the meso-scale structure of ecological networks." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Biological Sciences, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/10667.
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Analysing ecological communities as complex networks of interactions has become an important tool for ecologists. Understanding how these networks change through time, over landscapes, or in response to disturbances is a primary goal of community ecology. The number of interactions and the way in which those interactions organise themselves as individuals, small groups, and the whole community can play an important role in predicting how ecological communities will respond to disturbances. In this thesis, we investigated variation in network structure at several scales both empirically and in a theoretical context.
Our first hypothesis was that the structural role of species in a variable system would show little variation, despite high levels of species turnover and a fragmented landscape. In a collaboration with Riikkaa Kaartinen and Tomas Roslin, we studied the distribution of species’ roles at three scales in host-parasitoid networks collected from a fragmented forest in Finland. We found that species’ roles were remarkably consistent through time and in the presence of species turnover. These results suggest that species’ roles may be an intrinsic property of species and may be predictable over spatial and temporal scales. Our second study investigated the structural variation of simulated ecological networks and the relationship between structural variation and whole-network measures of network organization, such as connectance, nestedness, and modularity. We quantified structural variation of networks at three scales, macro-scale, motif-scale, and participation scale. These scales represent whole-network measures (macro-scale), sub-network measures (motifs – small groups of interacting species), and individual measures (motif participation). We compared the variation in these structures to connectance, nestedness, and modularity. We found that at fixed levels of connectance, nestedness, and modularity, the motif profiles of networks and the distribution of species across those profiles showed remarkable dissimilarity. This result suggests that networks displaying similar macro-scale structural measures can be composed of vastly different motif- and participation-scale structures.
Together, the work that makes up this thesis suggests that we should give more attention to the meso-scale structures of ecological networks. As the more detailed perspective of motifs can capture additional detail about the structure of empirical networks, and as a result, provide a clearer picture of ecological communities. In addition, we found that the particular species themselves can have a significant impact on the meso-scale structure and, in some cases, may impose strict limitations on what interactions can occur within a community. This has important implications for our understanding of how ecological networks are built and maintained, and thereby for our understanding of the stability and resilience of ecological communities.
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Kupongsak, Sasikan. "Food process control based on sensory evaluations /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3115564.
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Malek, Wasim. "Big Data Analysis in Social Networks : Extracting Food Preferences of Vegans from Twitter." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Mikrodataanalys, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-22460.
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Market research is often conducted through conventional methods such as surveys, focus groups and interviews. But the drawbacks of these methods are that they can be costly and timeconsuming. This study develops a new method, based on a combination of standard techniques like sentiment analysis and normalisation, to conduct market research in a manner that is free and quick. The method can be used in many application-areas, but this study focuses mainly on the veganism market to identify vegan food preferences in the form of a profile. Several food words are identified, along with their distribution between positive and negative sentiments in the profile. Surprisingly, non-vegan foods such as cheese, cake, milk, pizza and chicken dominate the profile, indicating that there is a significant market for vegan-suitable alternatives for such foods. Meanwhile, vegan-suitable foods such as coconut, potato, blueberries, kale and tofu also make strong appearances in the profile. Validation is performed by using the method on Volkswagen vehicle data to identify positive and negative sentiment across five car models. Some results were found to be consistent with sales figures and expert reviews, while others were inconsistent. The reliability of the method is therefore questionable, so the results should be used with caution.
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Melton, Stephanie Tillman. "The Relationship between Social Networks, Exchange and Kids’ Food in Children’s Peer Culture." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5991.
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This study investigates children’s peer culture, social networks and the role that kids’ food plays in peer exchanges during middle childhood. During this stage children develop social competencies as they join peer groups with other children and become socialized into children’s peer culture. In order to immerse myself within children’s culture, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork at two afterschool programs providing care for elementary school children. I investigated friendships, social networks and exchanges among third through fifth grade children at the programs. The study included participant observation and participatory group interviews with a sample of the children at both sites. The findings reveal how children use exchange of snack foods, candy and toys to build social connections among peers. The results indicate that children are active participants and creators in their peer cultures. They manipulated adult norms to structure oppositional identities as children. One tool for identifying with peers and gaining social acceptance are kids’ foods, which are processed food items marketed for children. Kids’ food served as a form of social currency in expressing friendship and connection. For the children in this study, food provided for edible consumption, entertainment and symbolic connection to peers. The results of this research demonstrate the need to approach child nutrition promotion from a cultural and social view point of children, not only based on physical and health motivation.
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Welti, Ellen A. R. "Ecological networks of grassland plants and arthropods." Diss., Kansas State University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/35284.
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Doctor of PhilosophyDivision of Biology
Anthony Joern
John Blair
Ecological communities are comprised both of species and their interactions. The importance of species interactions is embraced by ecological network analysis, a framework used to identify non-random patterns in species interactions, and the consequences of these patterns for maintaining species diversity. Here, I investigated environmental drivers of the structure of plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore networks. Specifically, I asked: (1) Do global-scale climate gradients shape mutualistic and antagonistic networks? (2) At a landscape scale (within a 3,487 ha research site), how do contrasting regimes of major grassland disturbances - fire frequency and grazing by bison (Bison bison) - shape plant-pollinator network structure? (3) How do fire and grazing affect plant-grasshopper network structure? And, (4) What is the role of plant species diversity in determining plant-herbivore network structure? At the global scale, variability in temperature was the key climatic factor regulating both antagonistic and mutualistic network structural properties. At the landscape scale, fire and grazing had major consequences for plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore communities. In particular, bison grazing increased network complexity and resistance to species loss for both plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore systems. Results from an experimental grassland restoration that manipulated plant diversity suggest that plant diversity directly affects plant-herbivore structure and increases network stability. Collectively, these results suggest that environmental gradients and plant species diversity regulate the network structure of ecological communities. Determining how the structure of ecological interactions change with environmental conditions and species diversity improves our ability to identify vulnerable communities, and to predict responses of biodiversity to global change.
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Wang, Yurong. "Prediction control development for food extrusion processes /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1996. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9823323.
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Richards, Richard Roberto. "Short Food Supply Chains: Expectations and Reality." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2015. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/415.
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Alternative food systems (AFSs) are so defined because they purport to challenge a value or ameliorate a negative impact of the dominant conventional food system (CFS). Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a type of AFS whose alterity is defined by socially proximal economic exchanges that are embedded in and regulated by social relationships. This relational closeness is argued to have benefits with respect to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. However, it would be a mistake to assume that AFSs and CFSs are paradigmatically differentiated or that their structures engender particular outcomes.
The first article traces a misguided attempt to find indicators of success for farms participating in short food supply chains. The effort was misguided, because in designing the original study there was an assumption that producers participating in these AFSs shared similar goals, values, and definitions of success. The true diversity of these variables was discovered through the analysis of eighteen semi-structured interviews with Burlington and Montpelier area farmers who participate in SFSCs. This diversity motivated an exploration of the origins, common applications, and recent academic skepticism regarding assumptions of the relationship between certain food systems structures and broader food systems outcomes.
The second article undertakes to develop a framework for exploring the actual motivations of SFSCs farmers and challenging common AFS assumptions. A framework that differentiates motivations guided by formal and substantive rationality is used to code the aforementioned data. Common themes amongst the responses are discussed demonstrating that producer motivations for participating in AFSs can be diverse, contradictory, and subject to change.
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Outhwaite, Samantha. "The social life of British organic biodynamic wheat : biopolitics, biopower and governance." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2017. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-social-life-of-british-organic-biodynamic-wheat-biopolitics-biopower-and-governance(01d36805-6def-4fb0-aa47-8bc0461c849e).html.
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This thesis unpacks the social life of an alternative food "thing". It is empirically grounded in an intensive ethnography and draws on the conceptual resources of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to narrate alterity as it is manifest in an alternative food network (AFN). Following and tracing British Organic Biodynamic (BOB) wheat, the research weaves through the seed (from breeding to certification), the grain crop's cultivation, harvest and milling, and the final transformations from flour to real bread and its consumption. The storying of the BOB wheat's social life, its social relations and subsequent transformations reveals a persistent blurring of formal distinctions separating 'nature' and 'culture', humans and nonhumans, and production and consumption. Most importantly, it disrupts the traditional categorization of food networks as either 'conventional' or 'alternative'. The analysis of the BOB wheat's social life betrays the imagined purity of alterity of this supposed alternative food network, unveiling a heterogeneous web of hybrid actants and multiple performances of wheats. The analysis reveals a conflict within the BOB wheat network, by demonstrating how performances that are presented as deeply incommensurable are nevertheless inextricably and intimately connected. Consequently, 'conventional', and some 'more-than-conventional', performances threaten to undermine the BOB wheat networks' legitimacy as an AFN. Further, they intimate an ontological impurity that threatens the very possibility of alterity. Accordingly, my analysis narrates the BOB wheat network's efforts to stabilize alterity and expand the collective, through the purification of these incommensurable versions of the wheat. Ultimately, this process of purification works to persistently reconstitute modern ontological binaries, specifically the alternative-convention bifurcations of food networks. To conclude I suggest that this purification, the making and manifesting of alterity, is woven through the contemporary biopolitical dispositive - persistently circulating and remaking, Modern ontological framings of reality as well as the moral and ethical values therein.
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Martinez, MaryAnn. "Human Centeredness: The Foundation for Leadership-as-Practice in Complex Local/Regional Food Networks." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1624179376157514.
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DiStefano, Rachel Anne. "Makers and mongers: Exploring social networks of Vermont artisan cheese." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2014. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/497.
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Vermont is widely-regarded as a hub for artisan cheese production, with more cheesemakers per capita than any other US state. Despite significant local and statewide support, out-of-state markets are essential to the long-term success of these small-scale producers. In spatially extended supply chains, retailers occupy a pivotal position. This thesis aims to examine the intermediary role of retailers in building social networks between producers and consumers. Consumers appreciate Vermont artisan cheese, in part, because it is embedded in a complex network of social values and relations related to where and how it is produced. Guided by social theories of consumption, sensory experience, and exchange, a transdisciplinary, mixed-methods study was conducted in order to better understand cheese retailers' role in this network.
First, participant observation and ethnographic interviews at a specialty cheese shop demonstrated how highly specialized cheese retail professionals (known as a cheesemongers) communicate social information about Vermont artisan cheese to consumers in practice. Specialized narratives are transmitted to consumers through in-store signage and social interactions. These stories also involve the cheesemonger as traveler, developing specialized knowledge of Vermont artisan cheese by traveling to the place of production. A second site of participant observation at a national conference for artisan cheese professionals added breadth to the study. While cheesemongers appear to agree that a certain level of intrinsic quality is necessary for consumer acceptance and preference, many also see the importance of, and derive pleasure from, knowing and conveying the social story, and perceive this to be an important part of their professional role and identity.
Second, social network analysis provided a broader examination of relationships between Vermont artisan cheesemakers and retailers in the region. In order to collect data on these relationships, an online survey was distributed to Vermont artisan cheesemakers and follow-up phone calls were conducted. A combination of statistical and network analyses was used to visualize the social structure of the network, identify key actors, and examine qualities of the relationships. The findings suggest that the social network for Vermont artisan cheese is a multiplex system, in which a cheesemaker's relative position in the network is the result of a complex balance--and sometimes compromise--between a cheesemaker's needs, goals, and desires and their various retailers' needs, goals, and desires. Moreover, geographic proximity, time, experience, convenience, cost, history, loyalty, and regard all appear to be important factors in the type of relationship cheesemakers have with retailers, and whether a relationship is established at all.
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Chiwenga, Kudzai D. "Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chain Networks: A Case Study of the Perishable Food Industry in the US." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/18501.
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Contemporary supply chain management (SCM) issues are multiplex and continually
evolving catalysed by complexities and dynamism. The perishable food industry
exemplifies this phenomenon, driven by globalisation, technological advancements
and a highly competitive business environment. Inescapably, food supply chains are
increasingly operating as supply chain networks (SCN). SCNs are typified by a higher
level of interdependence and connectivity amongst firms, consequently evolving from
dyad and triad relationships, which have dominated SCM research. These changes
generate divergent risks and vulnerabilities that perturb perishable food supply chains
in unconventional ways. Thus, the purpose of this empirical study is to investigate
how firms within a perishable food supply chain network can build resilience and
sustainability. The research focuses on advancing the management of fast-moving
consumer goods (FMCG).
Methodologically, an empirical qualitative study is undertaken within a food
manufacturer (focal firm) and 18 independent firms operating across all tiers of its
SCN. Applying a pragmatic philosophical positioning, the study draws concepts from
key supply chain theories to investigate the phenomena. The investigation uses
Nicolini’s Zooming in and Zooming out as an analytical lens. The zooming in and out
is established by shifting analytical lenses and re-positioning actors’ praxis, to ensure
certain facets of their actions are fore-grounded while others are put in a background
position and contrariwise moving the background to the foreground. The purpose of
this technique is to draw meaning from everyday practices and trace the actions of
actors across the entire SCN.
The results uncover four distinct but intertwined main categories; whose subtle and
often ignored interplay is crucial in attaining SCN resilience and sustainability. These
main categories are Collaboration, Power Dynamics, SCN Culture and Information
Systems. Current supply chain literature argues that collaboration is an essential enabler of resilience and sustainability. Building on this, the findings make a significant
contribution by teasing out the intangible and predominately unacknowledged
antecedents and salient sustaining factors of effective SCN collaboration.
Furthermore, the study develops a resilience and sustainability (RS) matrix, which
renders different impacts and outcomes of varying levels of SCN collaboration
between firms operating in a perishable food SCN. Therefore, this thesis contributes
knowledge towards constructing resilient and sustainable perishable food SCNs by
proffering pragmatic propositions. These aim to address challenges facing industry
stakeholders and ignite pertinent future research avenues for scholars.
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Walker, Ayron Elizabeth. "An Exploration of the Structure, Issue Framing and Priorities of Virginia's Food Policy Groups to Collaborate on a Healthy, Resilient and Sustainable Food System." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/90285.
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Food policy groups (FPG) have emerged in the United States (U.S.) to create healthy, resilient and sustainable food systems. There is a lack of research about FPG in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This M.S. thesis describes a mixed-methods study that investigated the structure, issue framing, activities and priorities of diverse FPG in Virginia to develop a healthy, resilient and sustainable food system framed around three research objectives. Objective one used a scoping review to inventory and visually map the location of Virginia's FPG. Objective two administered a validated, online questionnaire to document activities related to organizational capacity, social capital, context, effectiveness, and community outcomes. Objective three used a semi-structured interview guide to explore stakeholders' views about opportunities and challenges to align diverse FPG priorities and interests. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were transcribed, hand-coded, and analyzed for emergent themes. Results found that 58% of FPG (n=32/55) are located cities around universities (i.e., Richmond, Blacksburg and Charlottesville), and fewer located in rural counties with higher health outcomes. A majority (75%, n=12/16) operated on annual budget less than $50,000. A third (37.5%, n=6/16) reported food system resilience work and 50% (n=8/16) reported sustainability work. Stakeholders (n=11) reported collaboration as a mutual interest and necessary to address systemic challenges and all interviewed FPG (n=11) reported sustainable funding as a major challenge. The results of this study may inform future policies for Virginia's FPG to support a healthy, resilient and sustainable food system at local, state and national levels.Master of Science
Since the 1980s, food policy groups (FPG) including councils, networks and coalitions in the United States (U.S.) and other countries have emerged to address food system issues such as food insecurity, food access, diet-related chronic diseases, the environmental impacts agricultural systems, poverty and economic development in communities. In 2016, 411 FPG were active in the U.S. and Canada to create healthy, resilient and sustainable food systems. There is a lack of research about FPG in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This M.S. thesis describes a study design to investigate how the structure, issue framing, activities and priorities of diverse FPG in Virginia can develop a healthy, resilient and sustainable food system. Results found that 58% of FPG (n=32/55) are located cities around universities (i.e., Richmond, Blacksburg and Charlottesville), and fewer located in rural counties with higher health outcomes. A majority (75%, n=12/16) operated on annual budget less than $50,000. A third (37.5%, n=6/16) reported food system resilience work and 50% (n=8/16) reported sustainability work. Stakeholders (n=11) reported collaboration as a mutual interest and necessary to address systemic challenge and all interviewed FPG (n=11) reported sustainable funding as a major challenge. The results of this study may inform future policies for Virginia’s FPG to support a healthy, resilient and sustainable food system at local, state and national levels.
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Chauhan, Raamanand Raj. "The effect of colloidal aggregates on fat crystal networks." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f67568ea-27a3-4d95-960e-70843702fbcb.
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The effect of fumed silica aggregates on fat crystal networks is studied using a combination of rheology, differential scanning calorimetry and polarized light microscopy. We probe a model system for fat-structured foods with the aim of reducing the amount of fat whilst retaining the desirable mechanical and thermal properties. We begin with oscillatory rheology to investigate the effect of added silica and different fat concentrations on the resulting gel networks. The addition of silica is shown to increase the linear viscoelastic region, without significantly changing the storage modulus within this region. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements show that the presence of silica slightly increases the crystallization temperature but does not act as a seed for nucleation or significantly affect the melting profile of the system. We propose the formation of a composite gel network structure with a layer of silica on the surface of the fat crystal chains. We demonstrate that it is possible to create reduced-fat alternatives with similar rheological behaviour and thermal properties as the full-fat systems through the addition of colloidal silica. Next, we look at the effects of silica concentration, surface area and surface chemistry on the model system. In particular, we focus of the storage modulus, the length of the linear viscoelastic region and the rate of network breakdown after the linear region. We interpret these results in terms of hydrogen bonding between the silica aggregates and its role in reinforcing the fat crystal networks. Then, we study the time-dependent rheological behaviour of this system using the three interval thixotropy test. We measure the deformation under an applied stress and the recovery of structure once the applied stress is removed. We show that, under certain conditions, both fat and silica networks are thixotropic, leading to a full recovery after an applied deformation. We observe a synergistic effect leading to much stronger gel networks when fat and silica are present together. We use polarized light microscopy to gain a more direct insight into the effect of silica aggregates on the fat crystal microstructure. In particular, we study the effects of different fat concentrations, cooling rates, silica concentrations and silica surface chemistries. We use various image analysis techniques to quantify the fat crystal microstructure and find no significant difference in the presence of silica, at low concentrations.
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Bellante, Laurel. "Building the local food movement in Chiapas, Mexico: rationales, benefits, and limitations." SPRINGER, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623140.
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Alternative food networks (AFNs) have become a common response to the socioecological injustices generated by the industrialized food system. Using a political ecology framework, this paper evaluates the emergence of an AFN in Chiapas, Mexico. While the Mexican context presents a particular set of challenges, the case study also reveals the strength the alternative food movement derives from a diverse network of actors committed to building a “community economy” that reasserts the multifunctional values of organic agriculture and local commodity chains. Nonetheless, just as the AFN functions as an important livelihood strategy for otherwise disenfranchised producers it simultaneously encounters similar limitations as those observed in other market-driven approaches to sustainable food governance.
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LI, Wei, and Ayda Darban. "The impact of online social networks on consumers' purchasing decision : The study of food retailers." Thesis, Högskolan i Jönköping, Internationella Handelshögskolan, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-18366.
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The growth of online social networks around the world has created a new place of interactionand communication among people. Individuals can share their knowledge,opinions, and experiences with one other due to the online social networks providedfeatures and may have an impact on people’s behavior in terms of communicationand purchasing.The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of online social networks (Facebook)on consumers’ purchasing decision process in food retailer shops. More precisely,the authors are trying to find which steps do online social networks influenceconsumers’ purchasing decision when it comes to food retailers; and why are thesesteps influenced by online social networks.A theoretical framework based on previous study showed there is a gap regardingonline social networks on consumers’ purchasing decision behavior in the study offood retailers. In order to have a further understanding on consumers’ purchasing behaviorregarding food retailers on online social networks, face-to-face and telephonein-depth interviews with eleven interviewees are conducted during the study. Theempirical data are presented under the research questions, and sorted by the type ofinformation. The author analyze empirical finding by linking the finding with theoriesfrom theoretical framework. The authors found out that online social networksimpact every step of consumers’ purchasing decision process to different extent regardingfood retailer shops. The reasons are mainly because Facebook’s featuresbring convenience to people, consumers spend more time on it, and Facebook’s featuresallow consumers to interact with supermarkets and other consumers and seecomments from other consumers on supermarkets’ Facebook pages.
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Wilbur, Andrew Mahaffey. "Seeding alternatives : back-to-the-land migration and alternative agro-food networks in Northern Italy." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2012. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3440/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores ‘back-to-the-land’ migration in Northern Italy with reference to the social, political and economic networks that sustain it. ‘Back-to-the-land’ generally refers to the adoption of agriculture as a full-time vocation by people who have come from non-agricultural lifestyles. For categorical clarity in this project, research participants were limited to those from predominantly urban backgrounds, most of whom worked in service sector jobs before moving to the countryside. Many geographical studies have examined urban to rural migration but these have focused almost primarily on migrants who are not engaged in agriculture. This research traces theorisations of urban to rural migration within the discipline, situating back-to-the-land as part of broader counterculture practices originating in the 1960s. Many current expressions of back-to-the-land, however, reveal an attempt to address contemporary social, environmental and economic concerns, representing both a trajectory and an evolution from 1960s origins. Empirical research was conducted in four northern regions of Italy, looking specifically at urban to rural migrants engaged in organic or other ‘alternative’ forms of agriculture. Three simple questions informed the methodology and theoretical perspectives employed: 1) Why do people go back-to-the-land?; 2) How do they obtain the requisite skills to become competent farmers?; 3) How do they make this lifestyle economically sustainable? Answering these questions demands attention to how new farmers are inspired, supported and sustained by alternative agro-food networks (AAFNs). The research therefore explores the reciprocal relationships between back-to-the-landers and AAFNs, examining how new farmers can stimulate and influence AAFNs in addition to receiving their support. These issues are explored through interviews with back-to-the- landers and institutional representatives of AAFNs, as well participant observation in alternative agriculture projects. Particular attention is given to the organisations Slow Food, Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and Associazione per Esperienze (APE), primarily with regard to their respective roles in enabling back-to-the-land migration.
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Mansfield, Brent. "Growing the seeds of transition : the role of school food networks in scaling school food initiatives towards systems change in the Vancouver School Board." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59071.
Full textAbstract:
School food systems are significant contributors to the overall impact of humans on the planet, influencing both what students learn about food and their cumulative effects on the food systems in which they are nested. Students are influenced both by what is formally taught and by how food is experienced throughout the school day. The food procurement practices of schools and the diets that are promoted can have a large impact on the shape of food systems. Increasingly actors involved in school food systems are raising questions about the sustainability and quality of health promotion in school food systems. School food gardens and farm to school programs are two initiatives that have been undertaken with the aim to get more healthy, local and sustainable food into the minds and onto the plates of students. This qualitative case study explores the impact school food networks had on the policies and practices of the school food systems within the Vancouver School Board. The three overlapping school food networks examined in the case were Think&EatGreen@School, Farm to School Greater Vancouver and the Vancouver School Food Network, which were involved seeding and growing school food garden and farm to school initiatives in the Vancouver School Board between 2010 and 2014. These school food networks in Vancouver played an important role in supporting the development of innovative school food initiatives at the school level between 2010 and 2014, effectively supporting ‘niche’ development. School food networks facilitated niche development at school level by supporting the creation of innovative models, building the capacity of teachers and school communities through professional development and providing logistical support. When looking at broader institutional rules and practices at the school district and higher levels, impacts at the regime level were much more limited.Land and Food Systems, Faculty of
Graduate
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González, Calabuig Andreu. "Electronic Tongues for food and security applications." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/643301.
Full textAbstract:
En la present tesi doctoral s’aprofundeix en l’estudi de les llengües electròniques i el seu
desenvolupament com a línia d’investigació del grup de Sensors i Biosensors de la Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona. Aquesta línea d’investigació posa el focus en l’aplicació dels
coneixements del grup d’investigació en desenvolupament de sensors electroquímics per a
desenvolupar matrius de sensors per al seu ús en aplicacions del tipus Llengua Electrònica en
diferents camps. La llengua electrònica es considera un nou paradigma en el món dels sensors
ja que millora el resultats analítics mitjançant el tractament amb eines quimio mètriques.
Les dades electroquímiques van ser obtingudes mitjançant la tècnica de voltamperometria en
les diferents variants: cíclica i diferencial de polsos. El tractament estadístic es va utilitzar per a
extreure i seleccionar la informació química rellevant de les dades originals; els mètodes
utilitzats van ser l’Anàlisi de Components Principals i l’Anàlisi Discriminant Lineal per estudis
qualitatius i la Regressió de Mínims Quadrats Parcials i les Xarxes Neuronals Artificials per
estudis quantitatius.
Les aplicacions descrites en el present manuscrit estan classificades en tres camps diferenciats:
seguretat, seguiment mediambiental i sector del vi.
En el primer camp, la seguretat, les Llengües Electròniques conjuntament amb les eines quimio
mètriques s’han utilitzat per a la quantificació de components com: TNT, Tetryl, HMX, RDX,
PETN i TATP. A l’apartat quantitatiu es determinaren mescles ternàries de TNT, Tetryl y TATP.
Les Llengües Electròniques desenvolupades en el camp mediambiental es divideixen en dos
camps. La primera va ser desenvolupada per a la detecció de metalls pesants en aigua on es
van desenvolupar dues aplicacions per detectar simultàniament cadmi, plom i coure o cadmi,
plom i mercuri. La segona aplicació és la quantificació de mescles ternàries de contaminants
persistents tals com: cresol, m-cresol i guaiacol en mostres d’aigua residual.
En el camp alimentari es presenten dos treballs: la detecció de defectes tipus Brett en vi,
causats per la presència de fenols volàtils i la classificació i predicció de la denominació
d’origen i la nota de tast de vins negres i blancs de Catalunya.This thesis memory is focused on the continuation of the electronic tongue line of investigation in the Sensors and Biosensors Group in the Department of Chemistry of Universistat Autònoma de Barcelona. This line has been heavily focused on the application of the group know-how in electrochemical sensor development to design several sensors arrays to be applied following electronic tongue principles in different analytical scenarios. The electronic tongue principles are the new paradigm in the sensor field, where a large number of sensors with low selectivity are used in conjunction with chemometric data processing tools. The electrochemical data was acquired using voltammetry in its different variants: cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Statistical treatment was performed to extract and select the relevant chemical information from the data samples; the main methods employed were Principal Component analysis and Lineal Determinant Analysis for qualitative studies and Partial Least Squares and Artificial Neural Networks for quantitative studies. The applications described in this thesis memory are comprised in 3 different fields: homeland security, environmental monitoring and beverage field. In the field of homeland security an Electronic Tongue system coupled with chemometric tools was used to identify and quantify the explosive compounds such as: TNT, Tetryl, HMX, RDX, PETN and TATP. Also a quantification study with ternary mixtures of TNT, Tetryl and TATP was performed. The Electronic Tongues developed in the field of environmental monitoring have 2 disctinct branches. The first one is the detection of heavy metals in water, in this case two applications where developed to simultaneously detect cadmium, lead and copper or cadmium, lead and mercury. The second application is the quantification of ternary mixtures of persistent phenolic pollutants such as: cresol, m-cresol and guaiacol in wastewaters In the beverage field the works presented focus in the detection of the Brett defect in wines, caused by the presence of certain volatile phenols, and the classification and prediction of designation of origin and sensory panel scores in red and white wines.
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Sidsaph, Henry W. "Understanding the role of social media in relation to Alternative Food Networks : a case of Chester and its region." Thesis, University of Chester, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10034/621471.
Full textAbstract:
Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) are a system of food provision which is considered as the embodiment of the Sustainable Development (SD) agenda. They typically operate counteractively to conventional food networks (CFNs) seeking to reconnect all members in the supply chain through ethical and sustainable engagements. They are grounded by the theoretical underpinnings of quality conventions (Murdoch, 2000; Thévenot, 2002) and embeddedness notions such as alterity, valorisation, and appropriation (Dansero & Puttilli, 2014; Kirwan, 2004). Many scholars have focused on exploring AFNs in various contexts, initially focusing on binary notions of dichotomy between AFNs and CFNs, then developing discourse in terms of assessing hybridity (Holloway et al., 2006; Maye, 2013; Ponte, 2016; Renting, Marsden, & Banks, 2003; Tregear, 2011). Recent studies have indicated the potential for further research concerning social media based AFNs (Bos & Owen, 2016; Reed & Keech, 2017; Wills & Arundel, 2017). Therefore a contribution in terms of further understanding this issue arises from this thesis. The research was conducted in the midst of the referendum for the UK to withdraw from the European Union, the subsequent ‘leave’ vote resulting in a level of uncertainty in terms of policy implications. One policy implication may be that the UK will have to readdress the way it engages and supports its food and agriculture sector post-Common Agricultural Policy, therefore this research comes at a timely juncture. This research adopts an interpretivistic epistemological stance, with a constructivist ontological position. Social network analysis (SNA) of Twitter connections was conducted in order to assess connectivity and density of the AFN that was present in Chester and its region. Content analysis of this network was then conducted in order to understand SD related terms and shortlist pertinent actors for further analysis. Interviews were conducted with nine actors from this network in order to critically evaluate their perceptions of SD from an online and offline perspective. The results of the SNA suggest that the AFN of Chester and its region was not particularly well connected in terms of density. However, the SNA was a useful data collection tool, especially concerning the replicability and transferability of participant selection strategy. Further results suggested that there was a need for more organisational structures to support AFNs in becoming more mainstream and collaborative. It was also clear that there was still a degree of opposition between CFNs and AFNs, despite hybridity. A final finding of the research is the consideration of smart localism. The implications of this research are discussed, along with suggestions for future research including; the need to better understand leadership, relations between AFNs and CFNs, the role played by intermediates, and the expansion of social media based research.
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Kennedy, Rachael Eve. "Establishing Nourishing Food Networks in an Era of Global-local Tensions: An Interdisciplinary Ethnography in Turkey." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/85589.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation ethnographically explores the social concerns related to the global, agro-industrial system's impact on many communities' potential for livelihood and health. At the core of this study is the desire to understand the complex and dynamic ways that communities strive to develop, and make sense of, networks that address these wicked problems and to understand how these strategies might aggregate to promote community resiliency.
An investigation of alternative food networks (AFNs) was contextualized in one province in Western Turkey. The AFNs were articulated by an ethnographic design that utilized tools from different fields of study. Integrating actor-network theory, new social movements theory, and the nourishing networks framework allowed for robust triangulation of data.
I conclude that AFNs in this province are nascent and remain fragmented. At present, AFNs have not been leveraged for community resiliency efforts. However, they hold the seeds of what may become a food sovereignty social movement.
This ethnography reveals that the province has assets, including numerous affinity groups, and a durable connection to heritage with strong reverberations of a nature-culture. I illuminate the broad spectrum of submerged and visible actants and actors that prime the AFNs' development. The wide variance creates diffuse and contradictory cultural implications.
Actors report they constantly negotiate cultural aspects related to AFNs. They conceptualize this work as a polymorphous phenomenon of fragmented communities and a culture of dependency; but they show fortitude by negotiating multi-phasic actions and multi-vocal resistance messaging.
By way of this study I illustrate that their cultural politics take place where economy and identity interface. Actors seek legitimization. They speak of infusing heritage-based ideals into projects. They are firm that agricultural modernization must come from Turkish values. And, they are formulating and strengthening ideological-based discourses.
I further clarify their development strategies by showing how AFNs are experimenting with new governance strategies and focusing on social embedding. Promotion of niche markets has begun. However, public and private resources are limited, which hinders the momentum of AFNs. Additional research is needed to better understand the processes for high functioning AFNs in Turkey.Ph. D.
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Hasnain, Saher. "Food environments in Islamabad, Pakistan." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:10da5535-3e49-4a49-a3a9-908075ec886e.
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This dissertation examines how concerns about food system transformations affect how middle class consumers in Islamabad, Pakistan, perceive and approach food consumption in their everyday lives. The dissertation is situated in the context of risky food environments and food fears resulting from intensified, industrialised, and increasingly lengthened global food systems. Working within food geography and food environments paradigms, this dissertation explores how the transformation of food systems is associated with increasing anxiety about food security and safety for middle class urban consumers in Islamabad. Qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews and participant observation is used to illustrate the effects external influences, such as energy scarcity and violent events, have on everyday food environments. The dissertation examines the ways in which conceptualisations of 'good food', and trust relationships are negotiated in these dynamic food environments. The intensely geographical nature of these food environments and food systems, and the role of place-specific contexts on perceptions and adaptations related to food anxieties are emphasised. Situated in literatures on food anxiety and food consumption emerging from geography, food studies, and anthropology, this dissertation challenges dominant discourses on alternative and ethical consumption in a globalising food system. The results of this research not only contribute to literature on South Asia, but also contribute to consumption practices of a burgeoning middle class in developing countries.
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Gilbertson, Adam Lloyd. "The ecology of risk in an informal settlement : interpersonal conflict, social networks, and household food security." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4d914efd-5f9b-46f1-acad-01667a2dd681.
Full textAbstract:
Kenyan informal settlements have been thoroughly depicted by previous researchers as biophysical, epidemiological, and economic risk environments in which food insecurity is recognised as one of the most persistent everyday challenges. Although unemployment and illness are key contributors to the inability to purchase sufficient food, the reasons why households experience food insecurity are more complicated and not fully understood. Part of the problem is that few previous studies have privileged socio-political contributions (e.g. gender-based power inequalities and the impacts of social networks) to household food security risk. Whilst food security researchers commonly utilise the concept of vulnerability to address household-scale risk, this concept is rarely applied to interpersonal dynamics within households. Using data gathered through participant observation, questionnaires, and 109 in-depth interviews with 67 participants, this thesis provides an ethnographic account of household food insecurity in an informal settlement which addresses three primary questions: (1) In what ways might interpersonal relationships within households contribute social and political obstacles to achieving food security? For instance, how and why might risk for food insecurity emerge from experiences of interpersonal conflict? (2) What role do extra-household social networks play in experiences of food security within households? (3) How useful is the concept of vulnerability for addressing experiences of risk which are negotiated between household members? In the informal settlement of 'Bangladesh', Mombasa, Kenya, conflict within domestic, especially conjugal, relationships represents a potential source of risk to food security for individual members or entire households. Contributing to this conflict are gender inequality, power differentials, the failure to meet marital expectations, and how people respond when presente with risk. Resulting experiences of food insecurity are shown to contribute to further conflict in the household, thereby creating a cycle of conflict and food insecurity. Those who find that they have insufficient food at home may receive assistance (food or money) from members of their social networks. However, these relationships may also contribute to experiences of conflict, and therefore insecurity, within households. Applying concepts of vulnerabilty to account for experiences of risk and their consequences (food insecurity) requires differentiating between what represents a hazard, a response, and an outcome. Within multi-person households, it is exceedingly difficult to divide lived experiences involving interpersonal conflict among these three categories. Thus, I argue that vulnerability is less useful for research concerning intra-household dynamics than it is for studies which assume households to be undifferentiated units.
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Sahlgren, Anna, and Viktor Hilber. "Motives for Engaging in Alternative Food Networks : A Case Study with Partner Companies to Regionalwert AG." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Institutionen för Urbana Studier (US), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-45187.
Full textAbstract:
Modern society’s industrial food system has led to several environmental problems and is compromising the fundamental aspects of agriculture such as fertile soil, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. In addition to this, the food system contributes to economic and social difficulties for actors within the agricultural sector. Hence, the food system requires a deep socio-economic change. Regionalwert AG is among other alternative food networks, an initiative to enhance sustainable agriculture by operating at a regional level. In this study, interviews were conducted with partner companies of Regionalwert AG with the aim to examine what motivates people to engage in alternative food networks, using Regionalwert AG as an exemplary case. A further aim was to examine the partnership between the partner companies and Regionalwert AG. The results were analysed using the study's state of knowledge and the theoretical framework, consisting of alienation theory. The study shows that the informants had unique stories about how they engaged with the network and that the partnership was constructed in three different ways: investment partnership, licensed partnership, and supportive partnership. The motivations that emerged from the study were divided into three themes: (i) economic, social and ideological, (ii) critical approach towards the food system, and (iii) re-connecting people with agriculture. The informants expressed that they want to spread knowledge and awareness about food production and Regionalwert AG makes this financially possible as well as provides a platform to spread the message about the value of food.Det moderna samhällets industriella livsmedelssystem har lett till flera miljöproblem och det kompromissar fundamentala aspekter inom jordbruket som bördig jord, biodiversitet och ekosystemtjänster. Utöver miljöproblemen bidrar livsmedelssystemet till ekonomiska och sociala svårigheter för aktörer inom jordbrukssektorn. Därav krävs en stor socioekonomisk förändring av livsmedelssystemet. Regionalwert AG är tillsammans med andra alternativa livsmedelsnätverk ett initiativ till att öka hållbart jordbruk genom att verka på en regional nivå. I den här studien, genomfördes intervjuer med partnerföretag till Regionalwert AG med syftet att undersöka vad som motiverar människor att gå med i alternativa livsmedelsnätverk, genom att använda Regionalwert AG som ett exemplifierande fall. Ett ytterligare syfte var att undersöka partnerskapet mellan partnerföretagen och Regionalwert AG. Resultatet analyserades med hjälp av studiens kunskapsläge och teoretiska ramverk, bestående av alienationsteori. Studien visar att informanterna hade unika berättelser om hur de anslöt sig till nätverket och att partnerskapet var konstruerat på tre olika sätt: investerings partnerskap, licensierat partnerskap och stödjande partnerskap. Motivationerna som kom fram genom studien föll under tre teman: (i) ekonomisk, social och ideologisk, (ii) kritisk inställning mot livsmedelssystemet och (iii) återknyta människor med jordbruket. Informanterna uttryckte att de vill sprida kunskap och medvetenhet om matproduktion och Regionalwert AG gör detta finansiellt möjligt samt utgör en plattform för att sprida budskapet om värdet bakom livsmedel.
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Mandelblatt, Bertie. "Feeding the French Atlantic : Colonial food provisioning networks in the Franco-Caribbean during the Ancien Régime." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.521486.
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Lehmann, Richard J. [Verfasser]. "Sustainability Information Services for Agri-Food Supply Networks : Closing Gaps in Information Infrastructures / Richard Joachim Lehmann." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2011. http://d-nb.info/1016183666/34.
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Ke, Jinghan. "ALTERNATIVE AGRI-FOOD NETWORKS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT : THE CASE OF CHINA IN THE CONTEXT OF SANNONG." Kyoto University, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/244506.
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PINNA, SALVATORE. "The role of alternative food networks in agricultural landscape conservation: some evidences from Italy and Spain." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11584/248720.
Full textAbstract:
Drawing on the vast literature about Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) and by utilizing the concepts of social, spatial and ecological embeddedness, this thesis studies the driving forces boosting the AFN farmers’ behaviours in the Community of Madrid and the AFN and conventional farmers in Sardinia, as well as the promotion of AFN practices within the rural parks of Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Spain) and Milan (Italy). The aim is to discover if, and to what extent, landscape and environmental protection goals are embedded in individual AFN and conventional practices, and how practices are promoted in spatial planning projects regarding alternative forms of production.
The case studies are based on the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews: 13 producers in Spain and 25 in Sardinia (including organic and conventional ones), and on the analysis of websites promoting farms belonging to the Soto del Grillo agro-ecological Park in Rivas-Vaciamadrid (7 websites) and the Parco Agricolo Sud in Milan (14 websites).
Within the Grounded Theory (GT) framework, codification and saturation methods have been chosen to analyse texts and to determine the sample size. Sampling has been conducted by the non-statistic snowball sampling technique. Codification method allows deeply analysing textual contents and to build a theoretical model describing the case study, by disassembling texts into basic ideas and reassembling them in more general categories. The relationship among categories forms the final theory or model.
In the study, the behaviours of Spanish and Sardinian farmers are described through “embeddedness styles” characterised by the way in which categories interplay. In both the case studies, economy and ecology play a different balance within the behaviours, completed by other categories that influence farmers’ insights and practices. Every producer has been included just in one category according to her/his main preference, which does not imply the absence of a positive attitude towards other categories.
Websites contents have been analysed by drawing on geographical lores (or knowledges), which have been modified in order to adapt them to the case studies. Geographical lores allow classifying promotional material contents according to the concept of displacement, describing which type of information is used to influence purchasing decisions.
Finally, a questionnaire based on the values promoted by the two rural parks has been provided to seven of the 18 Sardinian farmers, in order to discover their attitude towards planning regulations and restrictions related to rural development, rural landscape preservation and environmental protection.
Results show how the three types of embeddedness (spatial, ecological and social) work in forming the farmers’ behaviours, and if and to what extent these are influenced by the territorial context where farmers live and work, as for example in the case of the Soto del Grillo Park in the Spanish case. Geographical lores from the websites stress the way of promoting the farms and the agricultural activities, indicating which values are considered more useful to influence consumers’ decisions.
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da, Silva Milton Barbosa. "Indirect interactions structuring ecological communities." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4a093748-6192-4bbc-bf0f-854e909b47c0.
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Ecological communities are collections of species bound together by their influences on one another. Community structure, therefore, refers to the way in which these influences are organised. As a result, ecologists are mainly interested in the factors driving the structure, functioning, and persistence of communities. The traditional focus, however, has been on the feeding relationships among species (direct trophic interactions), whereas relationships mediated by a third species or the environment (indirect interactions) have been largely overlooked. I investigated the role of indirect interactions in structuring communities through a series of field experiments in a diverse assemblage of arthropods living on a Brazilian shrub species. I experimentally reduced the abundance of the commonest galler on the shrub and found that the perturbation resonated across the food web, affecting its structure and robustness. Since there was no potential for these effects to be propagated directly or indirectly via the documented trophic links, the effects must have spread non-trophically and/or through trophic links not included in the web. Thus, I investigated non-trophic propagation of effects in the system. I demonstrate that hatched galls of the commonest galler, which serve as habitat for other species, can mediate non-trophic interactions that feedback to the galler modifying its interactions with parasitoids and inquiline aphids. I performed further manipulative experiments, excluding ants, live galls and hatched galls, to reveal mechanisms for the non-trophic interaction modifications observed in this system. Finally, I explored how non-trophic interaction modification could affect the structure and stability of a discrete ecological community in the field. I investigated how the densities of certain pairs of groups relate to each other, and how their relationship changes in relation to a third group. Then, I assembled an "effect network" revealing, for the first time in an empirical community, a hidden web of non-trophic indirect interactions modifying the direct interactions and modifying each other. Overall, the thesis presents evidence that communities are strongly interconnected through non-trophic indirect interactions. This is one of the first empirical demonstrations of the context-dependent modification of interactions via non-trophic interactions. However, determining the mechanisms behind such interaction modifications may be unfeasible. Understanding how the observed effects relate to community structuring requires shifting our focus from bipartite interaction networks to a more holistic approach.
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Heravi, Elnaz Jahani. "Recognizing Foods using Deep Neural Networks under Domain Shift." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/666383.
Full textAbstract:
Automatic tracking of daily food intake is an efficient method to tackle obesity and micronutrient deficiency. This could be done by developing a method that is able to classify foods using their images. Foods are highly deformable objects with great inter-class similarity and intra-class variation. For these reasons, we need a feature transformation function with ability to learn complex mappings. Deep neural networks possess this property, and they are able to generalize well if they are trained on big and diverse datasets. In absence of a large target dataset, we can train the network on a big and related dataset and adapt the knowledge acquired from this dataset to the target dataset. In this thesis, we formulate the problem of transfer learning and break it down to knowledge adaptation and domain adaptation. Alongside, we explain how to compute uncertainty of prediction in neural network. After studying these two problems, we explain how active learning could help us to improve neural network models with minimum amount of annotation. In the last part of the thesis, we designed a new network and show how to distill knowledge of a bigger network to a smaller network.