Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes
Global change is threatening the production and livelihoods of millions of smallholders. The capacity of smallholders to deal with such changes is influenced by the increasingly complex trade networks that connect them to local and global markets. Moreover, the social relationships (e.g., trust, rec...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art9 |
| _version_ | 1797661172727545856 |
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| author | Blanca González-Mon Örjan Bodin Maja Schlüter |
| author_facet | Blanca González-Mon Örjan Bodin Maja Schlüter |
| author_sort | Blanca González-Mon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Global change is threatening the production and livelihoods of millions of smallholders. The capacity of smallholders to deal with such changes is influenced by the increasingly complex trade networks that connect them to local and global markets. Moreover, the social relationships (e.g., trust, reciprocity) in which these trade networks are embedded likely influence smallholders’ capacity to respond to change. However, the prevalence and influence of such “social embeddedness” of trading across different fisheries and agricultural small-scale food systems is still largely unknown. Here, we characterize the social embeddedness of trade networks in small-scale food systems across different production and institutional contexts. We then explore how actors in small-scale food systems could respond to environmental changes in relation to their existing trade networks. We used a methodology based on the qualitative comparison of three different case studies of small-scale fisheries and agriculture in Mexico and South Africa. We analyzed and compared expert interviews among case studies and against the backdrop of embeddedness theory and a previous empirical study. We found key similarities in the level of social embeddedness of trade networks across cases. For example, business relationships characterized by stability and trust prevailed, whereby smallholders are often interdependent through networks of connected traders. There were also differences across cases, such as the higher formalization of business relationships in the agricultural cases, and the influence of institutional and country-specific factors on trade structures. Actors mostly responded to environmental change based on their existing trade networks, although these networks were also subject to change. The findings allowed us to propose more detailed hypotheses outlining how social embeddedness in trade networks play different roles in responding to environmental changes. These hypotheses aim to inspire future research toward the improved understanding of trade networks’ influence on small-scale food systems’ resilience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:40:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-39e3188f6b5c4182a35adfa6b0a91683 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:40:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-39e3188f6b5c4182a35adfa6b0a916832023-10-12T13:07:46ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872023-09-01283910.5751/ES-14265-28030914265Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changesBlanca González-Mon0Örjan Bodin1Maja Schlüter2Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SwedenStockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SwedenStockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SwedenGlobal change is threatening the production and livelihoods of millions of smallholders. The capacity of smallholders to deal with such changes is influenced by the increasingly complex trade networks that connect them to local and global markets. Moreover, the social relationships (e.g., trust, reciprocity) in which these trade networks are embedded likely influence smallholders’ capacity to respond to change. However, the prevalence and influence of such “social embeddedness” of trading across different fisheries and agricultural small-scale food systems is still largely unknown. Here, we characterize the social embeddedness of trade networks in small-scale food systems across different production and institutional contexts. We then explore how actors in small-scale food systems could respond to environmental changes in relation to their existing trade networks. We used a methodology based on the qualitative comparison of three different case studies of small-scale fisheries and agriculture in Mexico and South Africa. We analyzed and compared expert interviews among case studies and against the backdrop of embeddedness theory and a previous empirical study. We found key similarities in the level of social embeddedness of trade networks across cases. For example, business relationships characterized by stability and trust prevailed, whereby smallholders are often interdependent through networks of connected traders. There were also differences across cases, such as the higher formalization of business relationships in the agricultural cases, and the influence of institutional and country-specific factors on trade structures. Actors mostly responded to environmental change based on their existing trade networks, although these networks were also subject to change. The findings allowed us to propose more detailed hypotheses outlining how social embeddedness in trade networks play different roles in responding to environmental changes. These hypotheses aim to inspire future research toward the improved understanding of trade networks’ influence on small-scale food systems’ resilience.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art9agricultureembeddednessfisheriesfood securitynetworksresilience |
| spellingShingle | Blanca González-Mon Örjan Bodin Maja Schlüter Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes Ecology and Society agriculture embeddedness fisheries food security networks resilience |
| title | Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes |
| title_full | Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes |
| title_fullStr | Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes |
| title_short | Small-scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded: emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes |
| title_sort | small scale fisheries and agricultural trade networks are socially embedded emerging hypotheses about responses to environmental changes |
| topic | agriculture embeddedness fisheries food security networks resilience |
| url | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art9 |
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