COVID-19 has affected the functioning of food systems all over the world. This paper seeks to identify and analyse the economic, legal and institutional, as well as social effects of the pandemic’s outbreak on food systems, and the implications for the EU Farm to Fork Strategy whose main purpose is to put food systems on a sustainable path. Qualitative economic and social impact analysis was used to identify the above types of effect on the food system on a macroscale, using Poland as an example. Information was sourced from existing data and qualitative studies. Studies show that the consequences of the pandemic for individual elements of the food system in Poland in 2020 were related to numerous disruptions in functioning, leading to uncertainty, financial losses, and interrupted transactions. The crisis under analysis also revealed modifications in these actors’ behaviours in food markets, noticeable in changes in consumption patterns and in the ways demand for food was met. Nevertheless, an analysis of the gathered information and data testifies to the food system’s relative resistance to the effects of the pandemic, and also to the adaptive skills of the system’s entities, especially food producers and consumers. The paper’s discussion contains recommendations for public policies shaping the food system, pointing to actions that might reduce the negative effects of other potential exogenic crises in the future and aid the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy’s principles.

The purpose of this article is to present the specific character of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) in Poland as one of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We refer to the issue increasingly debated in the social sciences, that is, how to translate academic models embedded in specific social contexts to other contexts, as we trace the process of adapting ideas and patterns of AFNs developed in the West to the semi-peripheral context of CEE countries. Drawing on the theory of social practices, we divide the analysis into three essential areas: The ideas of the network, its materiality, and the activities within the network. We have done secondary analysis of the research material, including seven case studies the authors worked on in the past decade. We distinguish three network models—imitated, embedded and mixed—which allow us to establish a specific post-transformational AFN growth theory. Particular attention should be paid to the type of embedded networks, as they highlight the possibility of local and original forms of AFNs. Mixed networks show that ideas imported from abroad need to be considered in juxtaposition and connection with local circumstances.

The aim of this article is to analyze class divisions and exclusions limiting the potential of Polish Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). The authors discuss the tensions arising from the continuing class division in Polish society. Elements determining class stratification – such as values, motivations, capitals, space of relations, and imaginaries are considered. This paper is based on a qualitative research conducted in 2019 in six various types of AFNs in Poland. The authors conclude that alternative networks operating in Poland are currently separating and polarizing. Given their increasing diversification in terms of the economic capital and other resources, their class-related cultural practices and specific imaginary, a clear distinction emerges between what can be recognized as élite (exclusive) initiatives and mass-scale (albeit less evident) alternative food practices. The well-embedded and largely invisible networks based on seemingly trivial daily practices are revealed as a distinctive category of AFNs marked by the lowest potential to generate class exclusions.

The main goal of this article is to answer the question whether organic farming, which is developing in some parts of Poland, can be considered as a form of multifunctional farming and contribute so to non-commodity functions and the process of change in a particular territory of given areas. The analyses are based on data obtained from 2013 of several points in the south of Poland representing a cluster of organic market oriented farmers. The results show that namely market organic farming may serve as multifunctional one, but only under certain conditions and for a specific type of farming. Through specific functions, organic farming facilitates the changes, primarily on a local scale. The existence of a strong integrated organic farming sector might influences development and change, resulting in not only the improvement of economic welfare of organic farmers, but also of whole local communities, strengthening the bonds amongst them, mobilising the social resources

Rolnictwo ekologiczne jest alternatywnym względem rolnictwa konwencjonalnego systemem gospodarowania, który dynamicznie rozwija się w Polsce. W ciągu ostatniej dekady 11-krotnie wzrosła ich liczba w naszym kraju. W prezentowanym tekście autorzy starają się odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy rozwinięte i zorganizowane rolnictwo ekologiczne sprzyja rozwojowi ekonomiczno-społecznemu obszaru, na którym występuje. Odwołując się do teorii rynków zakorzenionych, w 2013 roku zrealizowano badania jakościowe, obejmujące pięć wybranych przypadków. Na podstawie wyników badań autorzy pokazują, kiedy i przy spełnieniu jakich warunków zorganizowana produkcja ekologicznej żywności może stać się podstawą rozwoju nie tylko samych producentów, ale również szansą rozwojową dla szeroko rozumianego otoczenia. Afiliacja:Autorzy są pracownikami Instytutu Rozwoju Wsi i Rolnictwa (kontakt: kuba.jasinski@gazeta.pl; sibia@wp.pl; ruta.spiewak@irwirpan.waw.pl)

This article describes how members of consumer cooperatives define quality food. Cooperatives are seen as one of the forms of Alternative Food Networks. The concept of quality food is defined subjectively. The analysis presented in the paper is based on the results of a questionnaire conducted in winter 2015/2016 among members of consumer cooperatives in Poland. The spontaneously made three main associations with the notion of “high quality food” indicate that customers consider qualities that are the result of the ways and methods of production. Food quality and safety are the results of individual and organisational trust and mutual relations, among consumers themselves as well as between consumers and producers. In the case of mass-produced food, issues of safety have become crucial: for the indicated group food safety means shifting from the rules of the “industrial world” to the rules of the “domestic world” where safety is the result of trust, direct consumer/supplier relations, and/or traditions rather than standardised norms.