Food Hub or Not Yet? Exploring the Food Hub Milieu in Czechia

Smutná Zdeňka () and Hruška Vladan
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Smutná Zdeňka: Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem, Czechia
Hruška Vladan: Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem, Czechia

European Countryside, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 204-223

Abstract: In global research, food hubs are evaluated as a suitable tool for the development of alternative food networks and the transformation of the agri-food system towards sustainability. However, in Europe, research conclusions in recent years point to a lack of knowledge about operating food hubs. Expanding information about how food hubs work is crucial for improving their operational effectiveness and establishing support from the public sector. Therefore, this exploratory research aims to discover examples of food hubs in Czechia where the term "food hub" is not used and no appropriate equivalent has been developed. This leads to the task of determining the criteria under which it is possible to define existing entities as food hubs. Using several examples supported by qualitative research, the article opens a discussion about the acceptability of the hybridization of alternative food networks. Our findings contribute to the debate about the potential of food hubs to develop local and regional food markets, especially in the context of post-socialist countries, where the conditions are different from the Western states.

Keywords: food hubs; alternative food networks; hybridization; Czechia; post-socialist state (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:eurcou:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:204-223:n:1002

DOI: 10.2478/euco-2024-0012

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