Alternative Food Networks, Social Capital, and Public Policy in Mexico City

Ayari Genevieve Pasquier Merino, Gerardo Torres Salcido (), David Sébastien Monachon and Jessica Geraldine Villatoro Hernández
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Ayari Genevieve Pasquier Merino: Interdisciplinary Research Center in Sciences and Humanities, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Gerardo Torres Salcido: Research Center on Latin America and the Caribbean, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
David Sébastien Monachon: Coordination for Sustainability Department, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Jessica Geraldine Villatoro Hernández: Sustainable Regional Development, El Colegio de Veracruz, Xalapa 91000, Mexico

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-25

Abstract: Social initiatives that seek to promote socially fairer and environmentally more sustainable food production and distribution schemes have multiplied in the last two decades. Several studies have analysed their impacts and showed high contextual variability, making visible some of their contradictions. This research is interested in Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) as spaces of political mobilisation that aim to modify the predominant food systems. The analysis focuses on the role played by social capital in the capacities and strategies of AFNs to influence the design of public policies. The research was carried out in Mexico City as part of a wither participatory action research project. It is based on participant observation and discussion groups with representatives of citizen collectives involved in agroecological food distribution. The results show that the forms of social and cultural capital are key factors in understanding the interest and capacities of AFNs to strengthen collective action. The study also identifies the importance of the initiatives’ managers as facilitators of interactions between AFNs and other entities, such as universities and civil society organisations, which can ease the influence of social initiatives in the design of public programmes.

Keywords: Alternative Food Networks; food distribution; urban food policies; food sustainability; Mexico City (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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