Ruritage > Resilience Actions > Local food Action > Home delivery of local products

Home delivery of local products

May 29, 2020 Local food Action, Resilience Actions

Home delivery of local products

Campania, Italy; Machynlleth, UK; Harghita, Romania; Koroška, Slovenia

Encourage and ensure local entrepreneurship and food producers by adopting new business models.

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Beneficiaries

Anyone within the community and in particularly vulnerable groups

Main promoter

Local cooperation, privately initiated or by authorities

Overall aim

In rural areas from the UK, Italy to Romania, initiatives for distributing food directly from the producers to the customers’ homes are taking place. The initial aim has often been to maintain an active production in order to adapt to current challenges. By receiving deliveries to the door, inhabitants are less exposed to risk. This is both a way to ensure the health of vulnerable inhabitants but also an action to strengthen local production and entrepreneurs. For elderly and vulnerable groups this action can be a local lifesaver.

Brief description

The action of food delivery has taken different shapes depending on where it has been initiated and the kind of local entrepreneurs, producers, and farmers.

In the community of Machynlleth in Wales, the question of adapting has been focused on finding ways for local businesses to cooperate to jointly reach and maintain their customers. This covers all kinds of local entrepreneurs from bookstores to bakeries. Most businesses have made their usual products possible to order via their homepages.

On the other hand, in the region of Campania, the aim has been to create a network mainly for dairy producers. In some areas, the initiative has come from networks of local farmers, where the customer can place an order via the farmer’s Facebook pages, while in others this was achieved in cooperation with regional authorities.

In Romania and the county of Harghita, the initiative came from the County Council and is executing by its subordinated institution, the Development Agency of Harghita County. The result has been a platform named ‘Szekler products’ where the customer can order directly from local farmers and entrepreneurs. In other areas and depending on the promoter, lists of the orders are received either online or via mail.

A similar action is taking place in the Koroška region, the regional development agency (RRA Koroška, d.o.o.) is supporting local food and crafts producers by establishing a strong local network. By listing all local producers, the inhabitants can easily reach and buy local food/products directly from the manufacturer.

  • Harghita County Local Food & Craft Platform
  • Screenshot 2020-05-21 at 15.21.36

Hargitha County Platform                                                     A local bakery in Machynlleth

  • Rzen_ajdov_koruzni_kruh_Tomo_Jesenicnik 4
  • Pohorski_pisker_Tomo_Jesenicnik 1

In the Koroška region, traditional food can be bought directly from the producers.

Photos by Tomo Jeseničnik.

Replicability

The replicability aspect is rural businesses' adaptation and cooperation through the crises and new ways to reach customers. It can be seen as either as joint action to strengthen local networking but also for individual entrepreneurs to continue their work.

Cross-cutting themes

Mobility & Accessibility   Business models & investment strategies

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