To what extent can direct selling of farm produce offer a more environmentally friendly type of farming? Some evidence from France

The globalised agri-industrial food system has become the dominant force shaping the context in which farming operates. The system has a number of harmful environmental side-effects, which have caused concern both among food producers and consumers, and there is evidence that some producers and consumers would like an alternative to the system. Direct selling by producers offers an alternative in which producers and consumers can form a symbiotic relationship depending on their individual desires. This may include a desire for a more environmentally friendly form of farming. This paper explores the potential for direct selling to offer a substantial alternative to the agri-industrial food system and the degree to which direct selling may or may not be more environmentally friendly than the agri-industrial model. The first part of the paper engages with the existing literature to provide four key questions. These four questions are then partially answered by evidence from a case-study of direct selling in France in the second part of the paper. The paper concludes with a discussion about how contemporary developments, notably, e-commerce may lead to radical changes in how farming environments are managed in the next decade.