The role of cross-scale social relationships for responding to changes in agricultural systems

• Agricultural systems are important for the livelihoods and food security of millions of people. At the same time, these systems are increasingly interconnected across scales and face the challenge of responding to multiple, and coalescing types of environmental, social, and economic changes. Previous studies investigated such responses to changes placing the focus on farmers and farming communities. In this study, we investigate the connectivity of farming systems to markets with the aim to understand the role of social relationships across the supply chain to influence responses to multiple types of changes. To this end, we conducted interviews with actors across a fruit supply chain in the Western Cape, South Africa, connected to global and national markets, using a participatory network mapping method. The most important changes mentioned affecting the production and trade of fruit in this region included: droughts, climatic changes, changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and other social changes. We identified three types of responses to these changes: i) responses concerning the dynamics of trade relationships (e.g., changing or maintaining trade relationships); ii) responses based on changes at the individual level (e.g., changes in farm management); and iii) responses based on social relationships (collaboration, knowledge transfer, financial assistance, and marketing coordination). Building on these four types of social relationships, we found that different social networks mediate responses to changes. These social networks include actors internal and external to the supply chains operating within and across scales. Networks of collaboration, knowledge exchange, and financial assistance show a positive correlation, where actors with an export orientation engage in multiple social relationships that enable responding to changes. However, we found limited participation of local market actors in these networks, besides their role in responses based on marketing coordination. Exploring these social networks and the actors participating in them could be essential to better understand and anticipate how and why agricultural systems respond to multiple types of changes, ultimately influencing their trajectory in an increasingly changing context.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (hsv//eng)

Keyword

supply chains

networks

trade

agriculture

resilience

adaptation

responses

Net-map

vetenskap om hållbar utveckling

Sustainability Science

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)