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Short abstract:

The paper shares process&results of a transdisciplinary governance analysis of local food systems in Thailand, Taiwan, Sweden, Turkey and Germany of the Belmont Forum project "CO-SFSC: Co-Creating Sustainable Transformations of Food Supply Chains through Cooperative Business Models and Governance".

Long abstract:

This paper is based on the project "CO-SFSC: Co-Creating Sustainable Transformations of Food Supply Chains through Cooperative Business Models and Governance", funded in the frame of the Belmont Forum CRA Sustainable Systems of Consumption and Production (SSCP) (2023-2026). Co-SFSC realizes transdisciplinary research on five country cases that allows for cross-case comparison and learning on sustainability and governance of agri-food eco-systems while supporting and strengthening cooperative models. This paper aims to share the process of co-creating a framework for analyzing and assessing governance models of agri-food ecosystems in Taiwan, Thailand, Sweden, Germany and Turkey. The presentation shares both the process and the outcome of a series of meetings with hub teams on how to operationalize a conception of governance that helps us compare and contrast different cases and to support knowledge exchange and learning. The presentation will first focus on a conceptual framework of “hybrid forms of cooperative governance” that integrates state-led, market-led and network-led governance schemes depending on each social, political, and economic circumstances along with different institutional arrangements. “Hybrid forms of cooperative governance schemes” provides a theoretical framework that can account for the variegated-ness of agri-food governance models. Comparing and contrasting different contexts also requires a common ground of principle on which different governance mechanisms can be assessed. The presentation will share the assessment criteria that came out from repeated meetings with the hub researchers and practice partners as well as the collected insights across different hubs on transforming agri-food systems towards more sustainable production and consumption.