期刊名称：International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food
印刷版ISSN：0798-1759
出版年度：2017
卷号：24
期号：1
页码：57-76
出版社：The Research Committee on Food and Agriculture (RC40)
摘要：Growth processes are uniquely problematic for small-scale farms due to their impacts on a delicate balance of basic internal resources. Most of these resources, such as permanent labour, machinery, structures, and livestock cannot be increased incrementally in linear processes. Additionally, farms with the lowest levels of production have the most problematic task of resource realignment. Due to higher transaction costs and inconsistent quality, market partners are not eager to meet increased demand by increasing the number of suppliers. Instead, these partners ask current suppliers, such as small-scale farmers, to increase the volume of production or they threaten to replace them with larger producers. Thus, small-scale farmers often feel growth is forced upon them. However, there are examples where supply chain actors actively engage to preserve small-scale structures by developing a distinct growth strategy based on increasing the output of an entire network rather than placing the onus on single suppliers. Such novel growth accommodations may contribute to a future food system increasingly sustainable in economic, social, as well as environmental dimensions.
