The Role of Information Sharing and Social Community in the Evolution of Collaborative Food Networks

In this exploratory analysis, we investigate the genesis and the evolution of local food-purchasing networks created and operated by consumers. In details, we describe how collecting and sharing information about food-products can become a central activity for some consumers' communities and how these communities are starting to play an active role in the food supply chain. We define this community-based food-purchasing model as collaborative food network (CFN), and we analytically describe its characteristics and differences with respect to the traditional and industrialized agrifood supply chain models. A collaborative food network community in Italy, known as GAS ("Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale" - "Solidarity Purchasing Groups"), is introduced as an example of our analytical model. We will use this empirical example to present the strengths and weaknesses of the CFN model.