**6. Findings**

In the past decade, there has been a growing interest in sustainable food production and distribution systems which promote food citizenship, food democracy, social capital and embeddedness, and sustainability. By deploying a systematic review approach, this chapter provides a holistic exploration of Alternate Food Networks (AFNs) which contributes to further mobilization of locally produced products as well as informing the channels of distribution in short food supply chains.

Our research demonstrates that there is a common set of motivating factors for consumers to engage in AFNs; however, there is disparity in the significance level of these factors to consumers in different regions. The implication of this finding mainly concerns the selection of a channel by consumers to participate in buy-local activities. For instance, if the social interaction aspect of buying local is not of high importance to some consumers in a specific region, they may consider shopping from an online farmers' market with a delivery or pick-up option instead of farmers' market. This phenomenon can lead to transformation or addition of business practices in currently existing platforms which connect suppliers, e.g., farmers, with consumers. In this regard, farmers' market in some regions may consider adding different channels of distribution including online ordering with delivery option to their platform.

Besides investigating the economic and societal benefits of AFNs and consumers' motivations to participate in buy-local activities, we also explore the farmers' perspectives on engaging in sell-local activities. Farmers suggest that reduced transportation costs, more interactions with consumers, and improving their marketing strategies as well as operations by understanding consumers' demands are among the benefits of selling at farmers' market [18, 47]. Furthermore, farmers' markets provide farmers with a friendly and attractive environment to market their

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**Note**

*Exploring Constituents of Short Food Supply Chains DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93401*

**7. Recommendation for future research**

products.

products [48] and facilitate their collaboration with other vendors to achieve their common goals including improved profitability [18]. Besides, this clustering enables them to exchange their knowledge which provides the knowledge mobilization. The implications of those interactions are helping vendors build solid connections with consumers, promote social learning, lead the innovation on farming practices, and improve the quality of products [18]. In terms of challenges of selling local, Robinson and Farmer's [25] suggest that vendors need to convince more potential consumers to pay a premium price for their products. The second barrier is the gap between consumer demand and supply in terms of season. Farmers' Markets Canada [48] also found that the top two reasons for people to not shop at farmers' markets are the inconvenience of location and the lack of awareness. Overcoming these challenges can enhance consumers' access to fresh and locally produced

Farmers' markets are established venues for mobilization of locally produced food products with societal benefits such as supporting community economic development and sustainable food production and distribution systems in addition to promoting food democracy, food citizenship, social and human capital, and

The social interaction aspect of participating in alternative food networks (AFNs) has been cited in the literature as one of the motivating factors for farmers to engage in sell-local activities in the farmers' markets. Similarly, some studies suggest that the social interaction aspect of buying local is a motivating factor for consumers to participate in buy-local activities in farmers' market. COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social-distancing affected brick and mortar businesses in general, and in our context farmers' market. There was a shift in selection of a channel to access locally produced food products for safety reasons, and placing online orders with delivery option at the door was offered to consumers. Future research can explore consumers' preferences on channel selection to participate in buy-local activities post COVID-19 pandemic. To capture one aspect of the potential impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on AFNs, we propose an investigation on whether the social interaction is still an influential factor in consumers decision to buy local, meaning whether consumers will resume their shopping at the farmers' market post-pandemic. This can have business implications in alternative food networks (AFNs) as it is possible that the importance of the social interaction aspect of buying local will be replaced by the convenience of receiving fresh locally produced

facilitating knowledge mobilization between farmers and vendors.

food products at consumers' doorstep via online ordering process.

requirements of the degree of Master of Business Administration.

This chapter includes excerpts from Applied Research Projects submitted to Cape Breton University by Yang Xing and Cheng Zheng in partial fulfillment of the *Exploring Constituents of Short Food Supply Chains DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93401*

*Operations Management - Emerging Trend in the Digital Era*

with fresh and inexpensive food.

**6. Findings**

transparency. Consumers can either reach their sites of production or talk to growers to obtain information about local grown foods [40]. From managerial point of view, based on the survey conducted by Oberholtzer and Grow [42], most managers of farmers' market believe that the impacts brought by farmers' market to the community can be in many aspects. They described that a farmers' market provides a platform for all kinds of social and economic practices. This contributes to the formation of linked community and increases the individuals' sense of belonging in the community. Meanwhile, its basic function also enables it to provide consumers

There are both benefits and challenges for farmers to sell their products in farmers' markets. In terms of benefits, from vendors' perspective, first, selling food products in local markets shortens the distance they travel, which implies reduced transportation costs [47]. Second, selling in local markets enables them to have more interactions with consumers and improves their operations by understanding consumers' demands. Based on the Robinson and Farmer's [25] description, the first challenge for vendors is to convince more potential consumers to pay a premium price for their products. The second barrier is the gap between consumer demand and supply in terms of season. Farmers' Markets Canada [48] also found that the top two reasons for people to not shop at farmers' markets are the inconvenience of location and the lack of awareness. According to Colasanti et al. [49], the major reasons for less awareness of farmers' markets are largely due to the ineffective promotion strategy and the inconvenience of location. According to Wittman et al. [15], many customers would choose to support locally sourced food when there is a

In the past decade, there has been a growing interest in sustainable food production and distribution systems which promote food citizenship, food democracy, social capital and embeddedness, and sustainability. By deploying a systematic review approach, this chapter provides a holistic exploration of Alternate Food Networks (AFNs) which contributes to further mobilization of locally produced products as

Our research demonstrates that there is a common set of motivating factors for consumers to engage in AFNs; however, there is disparity in the significance level of these factors to consumers in different regions. The implication of this finding mainly concerns the selection of a channel by consumers to participate in buy-local activities. For instance, if the social interaction aspect of buying local is not of high importance to some consumers in a specific region, they may consider shopping from an online farmers' market with a delivery or pick-up option instead of farmers' market. This phenomenon can lead to transformation or addition of business practices in currently existing platforms which connect suppliers, e.g., farmers, with consumers. In this regard, farmers' market in some regions may consider adding different channels of distribution including online ordering with delivery

Besides investigating the economic and societal benefits of AFNs and consumers' motivations to participate in buy-local activities, we also explore the farmers' perspectives on engaging in sell-local activities. Farmers suggest that reduced transportation costs, more interactions with consumers, and improving their marketing strategies as well as operations by understanding consumers' demands are among the benefits of selling at farmers' market [18, 47]. Furthermore, farmers' markets provide farmers with a friendly and attractive environment to market their

well as informing the channels of distribution in short food supply chains.

greater variety of products and easier accessibility for shopping.

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option to their platform.

products [48] and facilitate their collaboration with other vendors to achieve their common goals including improved profitability [18]. Besides, this clustering enables them to exchange their knowledge which provides the knowledge mobilization. The implications of those interactions are helping vendors build solid connections with consumers, promote social learning, lead the innovation on farming practices, and improve the quality of products [18]. In terms of challenges of selling local, Robinson and Farmer's [25] suggest that vendors need to convince more potential consumers to pay a premium price for their products. The second barrier is the gap between consumer demand and supply in terms of season. Farmers' Markets Canada [48] also found that the top two reasons for people to not shop at farmers' markets are the inconvenience of location and the lack of awareness. Overcoming these challenges can enhance consumers' access to fresh and locally produced products.
