Researching diverse food initiatives: from backyard and community gardens to international markets

Given the current environmental crisis and prevalence of social justice concerns, there is no doubt that we need a different approach to how food is produced, consumed and distributed. While both academic and popular accounts of the food system often focus on the violences and exclusions created by export-oriented, high-input, industrial agriculture, the focus of many communities, practitioners and academics is on what can and has been done to create and support alternative food initiatives. Food sovereignty movements in the Majority and Minority worlds, community gardens, community supported agriculture and people-led approaches to sustainable agriculture have all made important contributions to how food is produced, distributed and consumed in the 21st century. For those involved in these movements, and for those who work with them, there is a need for detailed discussion of the specific practices associated with alternative food initiatives, and for considered, yet generative, explorations of the strengths, limitations and conundrums of different approaches. For academics working closely with alternative food movements, there is also the question of how best to contribute to the movements, and how to understand the role of the researcher in researching and actively supporting movements in varied ways.