Supporting local and regional food systems through intermediated markets: introduction to themed issues

Intermediated markets account for two-thirds of local sales and are slowly gaining more attention. These marketing channels generally include all opportunities in the local supply chain that are not direct-to-consumer transactions, including sales to grocery stores, restaurants, regional aggregators such as food hubs, as well as schools, universities, hospitals and other institutions. The marketing chains are often regionally based and are shorter than the typical conventional food supply chain. These markets, like all other marketing opportunities, have their advantages and challenges for farmers. A set of nine papers in this themed issue explores a range of aspects of intermediated market channels, with some papers taking a broad view and others examining how farmers navigate specific markets. Together, the papers point to the potential that intermediated markets offer farmers interested in marketing their products locally and regionally, as well as reveal the entrepreneurial spirit that some of these market channels embody. While growth has been substantial and some successes evident, the papers also point to the challenges facing farmers who are trying to improve the economic situation of their farms.