‘The missing actor’: alternative agri-food networks and the resistance of key regime actors - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 146

food via large retail chains (supermarkets and hypermarkets). In Santorini the tourism
regime has played an important role in the transition and will be included in our analysis.
The niches and their general trajectories
An interesting, and specific, characteristic of the three initiatives is that each of the niches
was initiated within one of the sub-regimes, different in each case but with comparable
consequences in terms of the development of the alternative agri-food network. This
challenging observation regarding transition processes within connected sub -regimes
merits further discussion.
In Rennes, the niche was initiated by farmers within the production sub-regime. In the
beginning of the 1980s, the main market in Rennes (which is one of the oldest in France,
initiated during the 15 th century) was maintained through an alliance between consumers
and farmers. The alliance raised a movement against a local authority project to close the
large market square and dedicate it to other purposes. A few years later, a group of local
farmers opened two farm shops in the suburbs of Rennes. During the 1990s and
particularly the early and mid-2000s, an ever larger number of diverse local marketing
initiatives developed, such as box schemes, open air markets for local products, farm
shops and on-farm marketing. Most of these pioneer initiatives were coordinated by an
association of farmers (the 'Regional Federation of the Initiative Centers to Valorize
Farming and Rural Areas' (FDCIVAM)) which was dedicated to developing a localized
economy based on autonomous farming systems (low inputs, added value retained on the
farm) and included ethical values related to environmental protection and social equity.
The organization was followed by other producers initiating various forms of AAFNs, and
maintaining and reinforcing open air markets. Some indicators therefore show the
existence of a long-term transition in the governance of food production. For example, the
number of AAFNs registered by the 'Local Observatory of Short Food Supply Chains',
managed by the FRDIVAM and the Chamber of Agriculture, continued to increase during
the 2000s and by 2011, 77 initiatives were registered. These initiatives share an objective
to only market products originating less than 80 km from Rennes and involving only one
or no intermediaries between producer and consumer. Based on the limited scale of each
initiative, the niche increased its activities and progressively initiated larger and more
institutionalized solutions, such as a coordinated system offering organic and local
products to restaurants in and around Rennes. This initiative, called 'Manger bio 35' ('eat
organic 35' - 35 being the number of the political district) is one of the many AAFNs
which can be seen around Rennes. Manger bio 35 was initiated in 2000 by FRDIVAM, in
partnership with Rennes City Council and the Regional Council. From an initial group of
14 farmers, the initiative has grown to include 24 farmers.
In Pilsen, farmers' markets are an example of a recent and emerging transition.
Farmers' markets are one of the oldest and most widespread forms of direct food
marketing (Gale, 1997). However, in the Czech Republic this form of marketing has been
significantly challenged since 1989, when the new industrial system of production and
consumption was becoming established in Eastern and Central European countries. In
2009, the niche was initiated by consumers in opposition to the marketing sub-regime: the
initiators of the farmers' markets developed a critical stance towards food produced on an
industrial basis within the 'hygienic-bureaucratic mode' with its specific quality standards