Two models of re-localisation of food: findings from a twelve countries study in the European Union

The presentation discusses the main results on the dynamics of knowledge in the processes of re-localisation of food, studied in the Working Packages 6 of the Corason Project. Two main models of re-localisation of food emerge from the case studies: one based on the valorisation of the origin of food, typical but not exclusive of the Mediterranean countries (for example, Norway and Poland presented case studies following that strategy), the other based on an effort to reconnect production and consumption at local level, in the same geographical space, through initiatives like the farmers markets and the promotion of local grown food. The two models spring from different contexts of the agrofood system, characterised as ‘marginalisation', in the first case and ‘food deserts', in the latter. While marginalisation has allowed for the survival of local lay knowledge in rural areas, the industrialisation of agricultural techniques has meant the professionalisation of agriculture knowledge in a way that implied the loss of local food culture, at production and consumption level.