Food Hubs: Reconnecting Alternative Food Networks and Conventional Supply Chain

Abstract

This paper considers whether it is possible to apply the concept of food hubs to the area of Piana di Sibari in Calabria, which has been established by regional law as a Quality Agrifood District ( Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità or DAQ ). This paper considers whether it is possible to apply the concept of food hubs to the area of Piana di Sibari in Calabria, which has been established by regional law as a Quality Agrifood District ( Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità or DAQ ). After identifying some features of the food hub concept in the biggest cooperative of the context, the paper will highlight how this situation represents an opportunity for small farmers to access conventional food supply chains from which they would otherwise be excluded. In this view, food hubs are a mixture of alternative and conventional food networks and constitute a way to solve the problem of economic viability of local food initiatives like community supported agriculture.