Social impact and sustainability in short food supply chains: An experimental assessment tool

In recent years, as global food chains have expanded, a wide range of terms has been used in the academic, political, technical or social debate to illustrate innovative re-organisation of food supply chains aiming at re-connecting producers and consumers and re-localising agricultural and food production. These include short supply chains, alternative food networks, local farming systems and direct sales. This paper presents a research carried out during the SMARTCHAIN project (Horizon project within the research line "Innovative agro-food chains: unlocking the potential for competitiveness and sustainability"). The research aims at identifying an assessment model for grasping the level of social innovation in Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) taking into consideration the social and sustainability indicators. A specific tool, the Social Innovation Assessment Template (SIAT) was created for this purpose. The SIAT investigates five dimensions of SFSC: economic, environmental, socio-cultural, governance and influence (positive impact on other sectors & stakeholders) dimensions. The assessment has been tested in 9 European countries and 16th case studies. The findings show both managerial implications for the SFSC and policy implications for strengthening the SFSC ecosystem.