Meeting in the Middle: Scaling-up and Scaling-over in Alternative Food Networks

Abstract

The “scaling-up” of Alternative Food Networks (AFN) through food hubs and other values-based supply chains has the potential to simultaneously serve the needs of mid-sized farmers and expand the scope of AFN impact and access. This paper argues for greater consideration of the process and practice of scaling-up as it applies to farmers transitioning into AFNs from conventional markets. Interviews with mid-sized farmers from two food hubs in the Southeastern U.S. shows that food hub farmers consist of a mixture of new-entrant farmers growing their farm enterprises from direct markets, and heritage (e.g., multi-generational) farmers already engaged in large-scale production who are scaling-over to wholesale AFNs from traditional commodity production. Relative to first-generation farmers, the larger scale heritage farmers have distinct motivations and challenges that vary along a number of dimensions of their personal and enterprise history. The paper concludes that by supporting the unique needs of mid-sized farmers scaling-over from conventional markets, Food Hubs can play a transformative role in the expansion of AFNs and thus the broader goal of transforming our food systems.