4

In recent years there has been a renewed interest and

a signicant growth in alternatives to the conventional
food supply chain which allow primary producers and
consumers to connect in new and more direct ways via
outlets such as farmers markets, online sales, restaurant
sales, specialist retailers, etc. This study involved both
desk research and intensive interviews with a sample
of fteen farm households who are involved to varying
degrees in short food supply chain activity. The results
of this research add to the emerging knowledge base
on this fast-growing sector of the food industry and
rural landscape and more specically, suggest how
the sector might be encouraged and facilitated to
grow and develop further. Although the experiences of
participants in this study have been mixed and there
remain signicant challenges and barriers to short
food supply chain (SFSC) activity, all plan to continue
operating in this sector of the food industry.
The key learning points to have emerged from this
study include:
Unless it is to remain at a relatively simple level, with
limited potential for growth, SFSC activity appears
to require the inputs (i.e. the skills and the labour)
of more than one member of the farm household.
It also appears that at least one member of the
farm households embarking on this kind of activity
will usually have signicant off-farm work and life
experience, or an entrepreneurial background or
education qualications outside of agriculture and
farming.
Individual farm households can improve the
viability and sustainability of their farm businesses by
operating at widely different scales within this sector,
from those who will scale up and sell predominately
into proximate and/or extended chains, to the
greater number who will consciously continue
to operate at a more small-scale level, typically
with a high level of control and with a business
model which is suited to their way of life and to the
capacities of the farm holding and farm household.
There is potential for this kind of activity throughout
the country, but proximity or otherwise to population
centres and/or a receptive consumer base appear
to impact strongly on how and in what way the
business evolves.
The typical farm household which embarks on this
journey seems to assemble and juggle a large range
of outlets for their products, with a majority selling
into three or more. There was a strong awareness of
the need to spread risk and to remain exible and
alert to shifts in consumer demand and behaviour
and to trends in the wider food industry.
Each type of outlet has its benets and its
drawbacks and every farm household embarking
on SFSC activity assembles a mix of outlets which
works for them and their operation. The factors
which appear to determine the most suitable mix
for each household include the location of the
farm, the type of produce, the labour available
to the enterprise, the personal preferences of
the household with regard to selling, the level of
ambition for the enterprise and the general market
conditions. Face-to-face SFSCs and proximate
SFSCs are the categories which appear to have
the greatest traction with the farm households
which took part in this study, with the most popular
outlets being farmers markets and local/regional
restaurants. The more direct, face-to-face means of
engaging with consumers farmers markets, farm
shops and farm-gate sales seem to be holding
up comparatively better in the current economic
environment and a level of control, agency and
cash-ow clearly remains with the producer. The
retail and restaurant trades are perhaps the most
problematic and risky in the current economic
environment and the larger retail operations and
chains do not appear a suitable outlet for most
small-scale producers. On the other hand, more
local and/or speciality shops appear a better
and more long-term t for the kind of businesses
involved in this study.
The perceived over-regulation of the food sector
emerged as the issue which most exercised
participants in this research and was identied as
the single biggest barrier to the further development
of the sector. Other difculties associated with
operating in this sector of the food industry include
what is generally seen as the limited food culture,
the price-driven nature of the market in the current
economic environment, the rising costs of inputs and
the time commitment required.
Executive Summary