Barriers to local food initiatives in Southern Alberta : an intensive case study of the Cottonwood Co-op

Although there are many local food initiatives budding across the globe to support localization of the food system, they face major barriers operating in the mainstream food system. There is an existing literature highlighting barriers with suggested policies to overcome them. However there is little literature on unique barriers in Southern Alberta. This thesis explores characteristics of Southern Alberta that might inhibit operations of local food initiatives in this region through an intensive case study of a local food cooperative operating in Fort Macleod, Alberta. A comparison is then made with barriers in different cities of Alberta, Canada, and USA as discussed in literature. Policy implications, actionable by governments and local food initiatives’ management, are drawn from the findings.

Authors

• Jafri, Komal
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management

• local food system
• Alberta
• short supply chains
• social justice
• sustainable food systems
• local food
• food systems
• Cottonwood

Identifier

hdl:10133/4913

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/4913