One of the main research topics fostered by Foodiverse, is to draw the attention on Civic Food Networks as a particular subset of Alternative Food Networks that strongly emphasise the citizenship of the actors involved, including farmers, and their active engagement in the agrifood system. Some insight on that topic are provided by Marina Carrieri de Souza, Oscar José Rover and Francesca Forno in a recently published article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1130082/full
The objective of that paper was to identify CFNs within the Trentino territory, evaluate farmers’ participation, and answer if CFNs are contributing to the promotion of agroecology. Data were retrieved starting from Nutrire Trento (the living lab of the Italian team) and led to the identification of 19 agroecological family farmers who participated in the study. CFNs are still embryonic in the area analyzed because of difficulties in the collective organisation of farmers, due to the territorial structures that favour long commercialisation chains, monoculture, and individualisation of farmers, imposing restrictions on innovative and sustainable processes. However, the study also highlighted that there are initiatives contributing to the promotion of short food supply chains, the establishment of spaces for debate, and the participative construction of innovations for a more sustainable local food system.