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This paper sets out to engage with current debate over local foods and the emergence of what has been called an alternative food economy and to examine the distribution of local food activity in the South West and West Midlands regions of England.

Databases on local food activity were constructed for each region from secondary sources. The data were mapped by means of choropleth mapping at postcode district level.

Although local food activity is flourishing in the South West and, to a lesser extent, the West Midlands, it is unevenly distributed. Concentrations occur in both regions. These may relate to a variety of factors, including: proximity to urban centres and particular trunk roads, landscape designations and the geography of farming types. The products that tend to predominate – horticulture, dairy, meat and poultry – can either be sold directly to consumers with little or no processing, or remain readily identifiable and defining ingredients after being processed.

The findings require testing through a larger‐scale survey using primary data. Many local food producers also supply conventional markets. Further research is required into their reasons for doing so and into whether the local food sector can become a significant alternative to conventional food supply chains.

The paper maps local food activity in England on a larger scale than attempted hitherto. It contributes to debate over the alternative food economy and provides a basis for further empirical research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the proportion and distribution of organic produce sold through different marketing channels by a sample of organic farmers in three “core” areas of organic farming in England and Wales. More specifically, it conducts a quantitative analysis of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion within different travel time zones.

A quantitative database was constructed on the marketing channels and travel time zones used by 61 organic farmers to sell their produce and purchase necessary inputs. Indices of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion (outputs and inputs) were then calculated for each farm and region.

Results indicate a high level of marketing concentration, dominated by marketing cooperatives, direct marketing and abattoir/processors. Similar levels of concentration are recorded for the indices of geographical dispersion (especially outputs). Results vary significantly between the three regions, but it is clear that organic farmers in each region make use of different combinations of marketing channels, both local and national, in increasingly hybridised and individualised supply chains.

Many organic farmers are developing hybridised supply chains, including both local and more conventional marketing channels, and further research is needed into the identified regional differences and the reasons for developing what are often very individualised marketing chains.

This is the first attempt to calculate indices of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion for organic farms in different regions of England and Wales. The paper also contributes to debates on the potential impact of organic farming on rural development and the local economy.

Outlines the UK Hops Marketing Board's marketing arrangements prior to, and since, entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) as a case study of changing marketing techniques in the agricultural sector. Examines the views and attitudes of hop growers in the West Midlands towards the changing structures. Concludes that the UK hop grower is unhappy over his future role, with a considerable resentment of both the EEC and new marketing practices.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

This paper aims to analyse through a bibliometric study the academic literature that relates entrepreneurship to foods.

A database of 1,300 papers published in the ISI Web of Science was generated. The bibliometric techniques allowed us to describe scientific literature evolution, most productive authors, institutions and countries, most relevant sources and documents, trend topics and social structure.

The results illustrate an upward trend, more accentuated in the last four years, in publishing papers relating entrepreneurship to the food industry.

This research is novel because although numerous articles relate the food industry to entrepreneurship, no bibliometric articles that analyse the scientific production that relates both terms have been found in the literature.

By examining the role of farming attitudes and motivations, the aim of this paper is to provide a framework for better understanding farmers' behaviour in relation to the decision to obtain credit.

Using a nationally representative survey of farm operators in Ireland, this paper derives explanatory variables (based on a factor analysis of respondents mean ratings of 13 attitudinal statements) representing three different farming motivations. An ordered logit model is then formulated to examine the effect of farming attitudes as well as personal characteristics and farm structural variables on the degree of indebtedness.

Personal characteristics of the farmer such as age and education as well as farm structural variables such as farm size and farm system were all found to strongly affect decisions in relation to credit use. The study identified how farmers are not just driven by business related goals such as maximising profits but are also strongly motivated by productivist tendencies and perceived lifestyle benefits associated with farm work. These underlying farming motivations were, in turn, found to have a differential impact on credit use. Specifically, business orientated attitudes were found to provide a prime incentive for farmers to borrow funds. On the other hand, farmers who strongly value the benefits associated with the farming lifestyle were less likely to look for credit.

Past research has focused on the effect of socio‐demographic characteristics and farm structural variables in examining differences in farm indebtedness. This study extends this literature by specifically examining the role of farming attitudes. Obtaining a deeper understanding of the factors that affect the level of farming debt will be important as the degree of indebtedness has been found to affect farmers' management decisions. Outside of explaining farm credit use, farming attitudes and motivations may have an important impact on farmers' behaviour in relation to a variety of farm activities.

Towns and cities across Canada face rapidly changing economic circumstances and many are turning to a variety of strategies, including tourism, to provide stability in their communities. Community Economic Development (CED) has become an accepted form of economic development, with recognition that such planning benefits from a more holistic approach and community participation. However, much of why particular strategies are chosen, what process the community undertakes to implement those choices and how success is measured is not fully understood. Furthermore, CED lacks a developed theoretical basis from which to examine these questions. By investigating communities that have chosen to develop their tourism potential through the use of murals, these various themes can be explored. There are three purposes to this research: (1) to acquire an understanding of the “how” and the “why” behind the adoption and diffusion of mural-based tourism as a CED strategy in rural communities; (2) to contribute to the emerging theory of CED by linking together theories of rural geography, rural change and sustainability, and rural tourism; and (3) to contribute to the development of a framework for evaluating the potential and success of tourism development within a CED process.

Two levels of data collection and analysis were employed in this research. Initially, a survey of Canadian provincial tourism guides was conducted to determine the number of communities in Canada that market themselves as having a mural-based tourism attraction (N=32). A survey was sent to these communities, resulting in 31 responses suitable for descriptive statistical analysis, using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). A case study analysis of the 6 Saskatchewan communities was conducted through in-depth, in person interviews with 40 participants. These interviews were subsequently analyzed utilizing a combined Grounded Theory (GT) and Content Analysis approach.

The surveys indicated that mural development spread within a relatively short time period across Canada from Chemainus, British Columbia. Although tourism is often the reason behind mural development, increasing community spirit and beautification were also cited. This research demonstrates that the reasons this choice is made and the successful outcome of that choice is often dependent upon factors related to community size, proximity to larger populations and the economic (re)stability of existing industry. Analysis also determined that theories of institutional thickness, governance, embeddedness and conceptualizations of leadership provide a body of literature that offers an opportunity to theorize the process and outcomes of CED in rural places while at the same time aiding our understanding of the relationship between tourism and its possible contribution to rural sustainability within a Canadian context. Finally, this research revealed that both the CED process undertaken and the measurement of success are dependent upon the desired outcomes of mural development. Furthermore, particular attributes of rural places play a critical role in how CED is understood, defined and carried out, and how successes, both tangible and intangible, are measured.