Towards Territorially Embedded, Equitable and Resilient Food Systems? Insights from Grassroots Responses to COVID-19 in Italy and the City Region of Rome

Simona Zollet, Luca Colombo, Paola De Meo, Davide Marino, Steven R. McGreevy, Nora McKeon and Simona Tarra
Additional contact information
Simona Zollet: Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima 739-8529, Japan
Luca Colombo: Italian Foundation for Research in Organic and Biodynamic Agriculture (FIRAB), 00159 Rome, Italy
Paola De Meo: Terra Nuova, Viale Liegi 10, 00198 Rome, Italy
Davide Marino: Department of Bioscience and Territory, University of Molise, 86090 Pesche, Italy
Steven R. McGreevy: Research Department, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan
Nora McKeon: Department of Economics, International University College, University of Rome 3, 147, 00153 Rome, Italy
Simona Tarra: Department of Bioscience and Territory, University of Molise, 86090 Pesche, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-24

Abstract: The negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have further exposed and exacerbated the structural weaknesses and inequalities embedded in the global industrial agri-food system. While the mainstream narrative continues to emphasise the importance of ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of global supply chains to counter COVID-related disruptions, the pandemic has also highlighted the resilience of small-scale, sustainable family farming and of spatially and socially embedded food systems. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of three surveys, this study examines organic and agroecological farmers’ responses to the first COVID-related lockdown (March–May 2020) in Italy, as well as the responses of grassroots alternative food networks (AFN) in the city region of Rome. The results show how local grassroots action played a significant role in ensuring food access, provisioning, and distribution, often in the face of delayed or insufficient action of mainstream food system actors and institutions. These grassroots responses identify opportunities and barriers for agri-food system transformation away from neoliberal, market-based interventions and towards policies that support food sovereignty and democracy in the context of localised, agroecology-based and more resilient agri-food systems.

Keywords: local food systems; alternative food networks; COVID-19; food policy; city region food system; organic farming; small-scale farming; food security; resilience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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