As new food networks are emerging the question about their possibilities to contribute in changing the current unsustainable global food system arises. This case study explores a project of an alternative business model within the coffee sector and its possibility to shorten the food chain and at the same time re distribute margins among the involved actors, for a more democratic and sustainable food chain. We examined in what way the studied business model challenge and/or reproduce the current global food system, focusing on the coffee producer and the economic, social and ecologic sustainability. The study emphasizes several risk factors that are of importance to the outcome of the project. Our findings show that it is possible for alternative food networks to influence on a microlevel, but to change the system on a macro level requires a higher level of governance and cooperation between sectors. The study also points out the importance of control management and documentation as a key activity to make sure that the right actions are performed to stay true to the mission. / I takt med att nya livsmedelsnätverk utvecklas växer frågorna kring vilka möjligheter de har att bidra till förändring av dagens globala och till synes ohållbara livsmedelsystem. Denna fallstudie utforskar ett projekt tillhörande en alternativ affärsmodell inom kaffesektorn, dess möjligheter att korta ned livsmedelskedjan och samtidigt omfördela marginalerna mellan de ingående aktörerna, för att uppnå en mer hållbar och demokratisk kedja. Vi undersökte på vilka sätt projektet och den studerade affärsmodellen utmanar och/eller reproducerar det rådande livsmedelsystemet med fokus på kaffeproducentens ekonomiska, sociala och ekologiska hållbarhet. Studien lägger betoning på ett antal riskfaktorer som är av vikt för ett lyckat utfall av projektet. Våra resultat visar att det finns möjlighet för alternativa modeller att påverka systemet på mikronivå, men att större systemförändringar kräver en högre nivå av styrning och samarbete mellan nivåer och sektorer. Studien pekar också på vikten av dokumentation, kontroll och uppföljning som nyckelaktiviteter i projektet för att kunna säkerställa dess validitet.

This thesis examines how food sovereignty has been conceptualized by the Indonesian peasant union, Serikat Petani Indonesia, and how this framing has been affected by the transnational food sovereignty movement and national ideology of food self-sufficiency in Indonesia. This thesis will analyze how food sovereignty is conceptualized in the document Vision for Food Sovereignty 2014-2024 released by Serikat Petani Indonesia. The analysis will be conducted through a critical discourse analysis. Critical discourse analysis will account for both the theory and method, however the theory will be synthesized through FRT. The analysis will look at the food sovereignty discourse in its larger historical context. This thesis finds that while food sovereignty has traveled transnationally through the food sovereignty movement as a counter-hegemonic concept that propagate support for peasant farmers and their control for land and resources, in the Vision for Food Sovereignty 2014-2024 document, food sovereignty is framed as food sovereignty for Indonesia, the country. This means that the ability for peasants to mobilize food sovereignty in Indonesia for the purpose of supporting the control of land and recourses is diminished. Thus, food sovereignty has been co-opted and reproduced in the hegemonic relations between farmers, corporations and the state.

At my thesis’s core is the transformation of the agricultural industry based on the framework of food regimes established by Philip McMichael and Harriet Friedmann. The framework of food regimes will guide the analysis of recent agricultural developments towards sustainability. Due to the local nature of the food production system, I focused my thesis on one county in the South of Germany, Schwäbisch Hall, which allows me to look at local developments and how they affect our broader global food system. I will begin the thesis by analysing the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on agricultural actors in Schwäbisch Hall. After that, I will thoroughly examine the term “sustainable agriculture” within the context of sustainability and how the term is perceived by agricultural actors in Schwäbisch Hall. I will then explore three crucial global sustainability issues in the agricultural sector and how these global issues are influencing and transforming the agricultural industry on a local level. The sustainability issues include Food Security, Environmental Issues and Climate Change, and Consumption Issues. The analysis will explore how these issues, along with the recent CAP reform, can shape and advance the agricultural industry in the future. To analyse the CAP and sustainable agriculture, the study will employ the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which will provide insights into the operational dynamics and interplay of networks within the industry as they mutually influence each other. I also use interviews with agricultural actors and news articles to get a more profound knowledge of opinions on the developments within the agricultural sector. After analysing current sustainability issues and the most recent CAP reform, I will discuss the agricultural sector's future in Germany and how the agricultural industry could develop further in the upcoming years. I will also look more into the possibilities of organic farming and its importance in establishing a more sustainable agricultural sector. At the end of my thesis, I will examine if, with the recent developments in the agricultural industry, there is a chance that a new fourth food regime can be established soon in the broader prospect of our global food system.