Brinkley Catherine, Manser Gwyneth M, Pesci Sasha
Department of Human Ecology, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 USA.
Agric Human Values. 2021;38(4):911-927. doi: 10.1007/s10460-021-10199-w. Epub 2021 Feb 22.
Local food systems are growing, and little is known about how the constellation of farms and markets change over time. We trace the evolution of two local food systems (Baltimore County, Maryland and Chester County, Pennsylvania) over six years, including a dataset of over 2690 market connections (edges) between 1520 locations (nodes). Longitudinal social network analysis reveals how the architecture, actor network centrality, magnitude, and spatiality of these supply chains shifted during the 2012-2018 time period. Our findings demonstrate that, despite growth in the number of farmers' markets, grocery stores, farms and restaurants in both counties, each local food system also experienced high turnover rates. Over 80% of the market connections changed during the study period. Farms, farmers' markets, and grocery stores showed a 40-50% 'survival' rate, indicating their role in sustaining local food systems over longer time periods. Other actors, such as restaurants, had a much higher turnover rate within the network. Both food systems became more close-knit and consolidated as the center of gravity for both local food systems pulled away from urban areas toward rural farmland. Evidence of both growth and decay within local food systems provides a new understanding of the social networks behind local food markets.
地方食品系统正在发展，而对于农场和市场格局如何随时间变化却知之甚少。我们追踪了两个地方食品系统（马里兰州巴尔的摩县和宾夕法尼亚州切斯特县）六年的演变情况，其中包括一个由1520个地点（节点）之间超过2690个市场连接（边）组成的数据集。纵向社会网络分析揭示了在2012 - 2018年期间，这些供应链的架构、参与者网络中心性、规模和空间性是如何变化的。我们的研究结果表明，尽管两个县的农贸市场、杂货店、农场和餐馆数量都有所增加，但每个地方食品系统也都经历了高周转率。在研究期间，超过80%的市场连接发生了变化。农场、农贸市场和杂货店的“存活率”为40 - 50%，表明它们在较长时期内维持地方食品系统方面的作用。其他参与者，如餐馆，在网络中的周转率则高得多。随着两个地方食品系统的重心从城市地区向农村农田转移，这两个食品系统都变得更加紧密和集中。地方食品系统中增长与衰退的证据为地方食品市场背后的社会网络提供了新的认识。
