OBSTACLES TO AND CHALLENGES FOR A SUSTAINABLE AGRO-FOOD SYSTEM IN THE BABIA GÓRA REGION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOCIAL PARTICIPATION ISSUES

Olga JANIKOWSKA

Abstract

An agro-food system can be described as a “food consumption model” from different perspectives: economic, social, cultural and environmental. This refers to a process with different stages, comprising of: how and where food is acąuired, what is acąuired, how food is prepared, how and where it is eaten, and how waste is disposed of. Provisioning of food is strictly linked to foodstuff availability and exchange capacity which, in  turn, are linked to the food production system. This consumption model describes the demand side, while the agro-industry is the supply side of the food system. The agro-food system is defined as the set of interdependent elements that work together towards the end of satisfying the
demand for food of a given population in a given space and time. This is illustrated by Table 1. According to Fonseca [2002] the central elements of the dynamics of a food consumption model depend on technical and organizational changes (computer science, biotechnology, ąuality control of food production and circulation); changes in the International context (formation of regional blocks); changes in consumers’ habits (new food consumption patterns, new purchase habits and consumption time); new actors and strategie sectors in these Systems (large scalę retail food distribution, logistics as a competitive strategy); the dynamics of an expanding system (dynamics stimulated by demand and supply, inereasing concentration and centralization of production and retail); changes in legał regulation (deregulation of economic activities, new conditions of entrepreneurial competitiveness after economic liberalization). In this article a local agro-food system will be understood, as a part of local sustainable development, which reąuires social participation and partnership between local communities and local authorities.