Sustainable Local Food Production and Consumption

Abstract

Local food systems (LFS) are considered as alternative approaches to mainstream food systems in industrialized countries. The authors apply the normative concept of sustainable development as an analytical framework within which to critique and summarize common arguments in favour of LFS and to confront them with contradicting evidence from empirical case studies. Most of the expected effects turn out to be bidirectional. For sustainable implementation, tradeoffs have to be evaluated. Several path dependencies may also hamper successful implementation. It is clear that scientific evaluation is crucial for sound policy guidance. Therefore, an orientation towards holistic ex ante assessments is suggested.