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Table 1 Summary characteristics of civic and industrial food subsystems

From: Potential environmental and population health impacts of local urban food systems under climate change: a life cycle analysis case study of lettuce and chicken

Criteria

Civic food chain

Industrial food chain

Scale of production

Small scale production with local distribution

Large scale, widespread, high volume production/processing/distribution

Business model

Independent decision making, production highly variable. Probably no business plan, do not make an income or pay tax

Large capital investment for production (hundreds of millions of Australian dollars)

Employees

Likely no paid labour, no workers compensation, no OHS plan or HACCP plan

Paid workforce, worker education, safety plans in place and managed

Value adding

Minimal value adding to food product

Value adding on some products. Use of cooking and freezers is likely

Motivation

Motivation likely to be highly diverse and may include desire for healthy food, preference for organic foods, food taste, saving money, environmental sustainability, enjoyable lifestyle, cultural acceptance

Motivation is primarily monetary profit but other values will also be present

Consumer access

Availability to consumers at same location as production/processing

Available at large retail supermarkets in addition to other food outlets

Location

Location co-exists with house garden or community plot. Urban or residential-rural location

Multiple production and growing sites are likely. Both rural and urban locations

  1. HACCP, hazard analysis and critical control point; OHS, occupational health and safety.