Sustainability of global and local food value chains. An empirical comparison of Peruvian and Belgian asparagus

Jana Schwarz, Monica Schuster, Bernd Annaert, Miet Maertens and Erik Mathijs

No 232594, Working Papers from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics

Abstract: The sustainability of food value chains is an increasing concern for consumers, food companies and policy-makers. Global food chains are often perceived to be less sustainable than local food chains. Yet, thorough food chain analyses and comparisons of different food chains across sustainability dimensions are rare. In this article we analyze the local Belgian and global Peruvian asparagus value chains and explore their sustainability performance. A range of indicators linked to environmental, economic and social impacts is calculated to analyze the contribution of the supply chains to economic development, resource use, labour relations, distribution of added value and governance issues. Our findings suggest that none of the two supply chains performs invariably better and that there are trade-offs among and between sustainability dimensions. Whereas the global chain uses water and other inputs more intensively and generates more employment per unit of land and higher yields; the local chain generates more revenue per unit of land.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Agricultural and Food Policy; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Environmental Economics and Policy; International Development; Production Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34
Date: 2016-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Sustainability of Global and Local Food Value Chains: An Empirical Comparison of Peruvian and Belgian Asparagus (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:kucawp:232594

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.232594

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