عنوان

Understanding regional agri-food systems and their supply chains :

Number

TLets642511

Title Proper

Understanding regional agri-food systems and their supply chains :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Adams, Marc Robert

Title Proper by Another Author

a socio-technological systems approach

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Cardiff University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2015

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

Cardiff University

Text preceding or following the note

2015

Text of Note

This thesis investigates the development of regional agri-food systems and their supply chains to understand how they affect the sustainability of rural regions. It argues that the existing dichotomies of alternative-local and conventional-global do not provide a sufficiently nuanced understanding of the dynamic transitions and interactions that occur in regional agri-food systems. Deploying and extending socio-technological systems theory, the thesis explores the interaction between nested levels of sectoral and general agri-food regimes and reconstructs the emerging logics of interaction. Against this background, it analyses how alternative agri-food supply chain innovations evolve and assesses their various degrees of success. The meat, dairy and horticultural sectors in SW Wales are investigated as case studies, using a mixed methodological approach combining secondary data analysis and interviews with key stakeholders and supply chain actors. The research finds three sub-sectoral systems with highly differentiated socio-technological configurations and equally diversely configured niches. Using the socio- technological systems framework the: socio-technological configuration, degree of system stability and the future transitional pathways of the each sub-sectoral system is examined. This framework also creates the basis for an assessment of how likely their innovations are to be adopted or absorbed by the conventional agri-food system in SW Wales. The thesis finds that meaningful interactions occur not only within each sub-sector and betweentheir niches but also between sub-sectoral systems. The thesis ultimately provides a nuanced analysis of SW Wales' agri-food systems that shows the complexity of regional food systems and critiques possible sustainable responses from public policy. It demonstrates that a socio-technical regime perspective can uncover the manifold relations between local and regional agri-food innovations and the dominant, multi-layered agri-food system. This constitutes a major empirical and conceptual contribution to the debates on sustainable food and rural development.

HM Sociology

HT Communities. Classes. Races

S Agriculture (General)

T Technology (General)

Adams, Marc Robert

Cardiff University

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y