Characteristics and Motivations of Consumers of Direct Purchasing Channels and the Perceived Barriers to Alternative Food Purchase: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Ecuadorian Andes

Traditional Food Consumption in Andean Ecuador and Associated Consumer Characteristics, Shopping and Eating Habits

Traditional foods (TFs) hold increasing global relevance due to their potential to address health and dietary challenges. This study explores TF consumption and patterns in a middle-income country's general population. Using 2017 Ecuadorian highlands survey data, we identified four consumption clusters with distinct TF preferences. Chi-square tests identified variations in independent variables across clusters. Poisson regression models highlighted city, age, education, and food habits as independent predictors of TF-based clusters. Our findings broaden TF importance to nutrition beyond specific populations. Understanding consumption patterns and socioeconomic links supports nuanced public health strategies to tackle contemporary health, social equity, and sustainability issues.

Nutrition as a driver and outcome of agroecology

The principles of agroecology do not explicitly state a link with nutrition. Yet, we argue that among them, input reduction, biodiversity, economic diversification, social values and diets, fairness, connectivity and participation are directly linked to nutrition. Nutrition can serve as a critical outcome and driver of agroecological practices and can drive transformative change across the food system.

Who Prefers Regional Products? A Systematic Literature Review of Consumer Characteristics and Attitudes in Short Food Supply Chains

The present work is a selection of empirical studies focusing on the characteristics and attitudes of Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) consumers. Using a systematic literature review approach (PRISMA), we identified five different aspects of the SFSC within the publications: producer participation, swot, state intervention, attitude and “other”. Based on the findings of studies from the academic literature, the results are quite mixed. Though the number of SFSC-related empirical studies has risen in recent years, there is a lack of SFSC-related data, even in the European Union (EU), where a sustainable agriculture and food system must play a crucial role in the implementation of the Green Deal. Overall, it is hard to name those features that, without any doubt, affect the willingness of consumers to purchase from an SFSC. The studies mostly remarked on age and education; however, even these findings cannot be generalized. Therefore, some consumers of non-global food supply chains could be characterized very well, but these observations could differ in diverse cases because of local factors.

Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Environment, Economy, Society, and Policy

Agri-food systems (AFS) have been central in the debate on sustainable development. Despite this growing interest in AFS, comprehensive analyses of the scholarly literature are hard to find. Therefore, the present systematic review delineated the contours of this growing research strand and analyzed how it relates to sustainability. A search performed on the Web of Science in January 2020 yielded 1389 documents, and 1289 were selected and underwent bibliometric and topical analyses. The topical analysis was informed by the SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems) approach of FAO and structured along four dimensions viz. environment, economy, society and culture, and policy and governance. The review shows an increasing interest in AFS with an exponential increase in publications number. However, the study field is north-biased and dominated by researchers and organizations from developed countries. Moreover, the analysis suggests that while environmental aspects are sufficiently addressed, social, economic, and political ones are generally overlooked. The paper ends by providing directions for future research and listing some topics to be integrated into a comprehensive, multidisciplinary agenda addressing the multifaceted (un)sustainability of AFS. It makes the case for adopting a holistic, 4-P (planet, people, profit, policy) approach in agri-food system studies.

Explanatory Analysis of Factors Influencing the Support for Sustainable Food Production and Distribution Systems: Results from a Rural Canadian Community

Investigating the viability of alternative food networks (AFNs) is more important than before because of the disruptions in global supply chains and evolving resident composition in different regions. In this regard, this paper reports on findings of a project aimed at identifying factors influencing support for local, sustainable food production, and distribution systems. In the first phase, local residents and international students in Cape Breton, Canada, were surveyed prior to the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to assess their attitudes and values relative to shopping at farmers markets and buying local. In the second phase, mid-pandemic, text mining of Twitter data was used to gauge sentiments related to these same activities. The results of our explanatory analysis suggest that the top two factors influencing decisions to buy local farm products were food attributes and supporting community economic development. In contrast to previous studies, we included an alternate sample group, namely, international students, and explored the relevance of the social aspect of buying local, e.g., meeting the farmer. Among our findings from the application of a logistics regression model to our survey data (N = 125) is the suggestion that the senior non-international student residents of the Cape Breton Island were more probable to be in the category of consumers whose perception of an authentic buy-local experience was limited to distribution channels that allowed for the social aspect of buying local, e.g., meeting the farmer.

Ethically Minded Consumer Behavior, Retailers’ Commitment to Sustainable Development, and Store Equity in Hypermarkets

The present paper analyzed the influence of ethically minded consumer behavior on retailer’s commitment to sustainable development as perceived by the consumer, and their contribution to the chain of relationships “store equity–loyalty–word of mouth communication”, in the context of retailing. Responses from 317 hypermarket customers in Ecuador were analyzed. The model was estimated using the partial least squares technique. The results show the sustainable development actions implemented by retailers, together with perceived value, contribute significantly to store equity creation, which explains customer loyalty and, ultimately, positive word-of-mouth communication. However, the most concerned consumers of ethical aspects value the retailer’s efforts towards sustainability to a lesser extent. The findings of this research allow developing a series of implications for the managers of these establishments.