Plural pathways to food systems change

A comparative analysis of Alberta’s Alternative Food Networks

Abstract

This research contributes to ongoing, multi-faceted, and much-needed discussions about food systems change amidst rising rates of food insecurity in Canada (and globally). It does so by providing a comparative content analysis of 141 alternative food networks (AFNs) in Alberta. AFN is an umbrella term for food systems that differ from conventional food distributions like grocery stores and emerge in response to the many problems associated with industrialized food systems (Allaire, 2025; Misleh, 2022; Tregear, 2011). AFNs can include but are not limited to farmers’ markets, community gardens, seed libraries, community supported agriculture (CSAs), food forests, and co-ops. AFNs were selected because they continue to persist alongside globalized food systems and aim to operationalize key principles of food sovereignty. AFNs are tangible expressions of food sovereignty movements, even if they are partial and incomplete. There are extensive debates in the literature about the degree to which AFNs can instil food systems change. This research contributes to those debates by examining specific programming and initiatives of Alberta AFNs and analysing the degree to which they provide narrow versus more holistic food systems change. Following Misleh (2022), we argue that AFNs are not a single social phenomenon and should be analyzed in terms of “hybridity, complexity, and diversity” (p. 1029). Moving beyond binary understandings of AFNs as “alternative” or “not” (i.e., the dominant framing in food studies literature), our analysis offers a “more open-ended, nuanced and plural understanding of AFNs and their transformational potential” (Misleh, 2022, p. 1041) by offering comparative content analysis of specific programming taking place.