Jarosz (Forthcoming) states they
are defined in four major ways: (1) by shorter distances between producers and
consumers (Renting at al. 2003); (2) by small farm size and scale (Kloppenburg et al.
2000); (3) by the existence of food purchasing avenues such as food cooperatives,
farmers markets and community supported agriculture (Trobe 2001); and (4) by a
commitment to the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable
food production, distribution and consumption (Kloppenburg et al. 2000). Examples
of AFN’s include farmers markets, producer markets, organic markets, box schemes,
2
producer cooperatives and community supported agriculture schemes. These
overlapping but non identical entities represent some of the most rapidly expanding
food markets in Europe over the past decade (Whatmore et al. 2003