Fairness and Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) in Italy

A fairer and sustainable distribution of added value and information along the food supply chain is becoming a relevant issue. Extensive literature has analyzed the development of distributions models, commonly called Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), that short-circuit the long, complex and rationally organized industrial chain, emphasizing their meanings in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to present some preliminary results from an on-going research that aims to investigate on rules and criteria for a fairer market. In particular we propose an analysis of AFNs in Italy, using Fair Trade as benchmark, according to their capacity to carry out fairer relationships between producers and consumers. AFNs evaluation, based on a qualitative analysis carried out looking for a representative sample of cases, has been done considering their results in terms of: distribution of value along the chain; price fairness and transparency; access to markets for small producers; compliance of products to social standards; relationships between consumers and producers (involvement, stability and trust). Three types of AFNs are discussed: Direct selling, Farmers’ Markets, Partnership between producers and consumers (in the form of Solidarity Purchasing Groups).