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This paper is based on three social scientific studies of animal welfare and local food products in Norway, of which two focussed on sheep in particular. It addresses the widespread belief that Norwegian sheep farming is “the best” but is confronted with a meat industry that emphasises economic efficiency. A few years after a new Norwegian law on animal welfare acknowledged animals as sentient beings came into force in 2010 (LOVdata, 2009), the purpose of this paper is to better understand ongoing debates on the welfare of sheep by exploring how sheep welfare is understood and regulated in Norway.

The theoretical framework draws on convention theory, especially referring to the four “possible worlds of production” (Salais and Storper, 1993). The authors argue that animal welfare may be analysed in parallel to product quality, focussing on three major perspectives of sheep welfare: animal treatment, product quality, and an abstract conceptualisation in public discourse. The empirical analysis is based on interviews with key players in the sector and central documents.

Convention theory points to several general difficulties in reaching an agreement on what is “good quality” and welfare. First, the authors find difficulty in how to implement new regulatory conceptualisations with dominant ways of understanding welfare within the industry. Second, the idealised images of sheep welfare of an immaterial possible world dominating public discourse have very little interaction with the real world of farms and abattoirs.

This paper suggests that rather than addressing and handling the potential tension between the legal recognition of animal as sentient being and the economic demands of the industry, key actors keep the potentially conflicting understandings apart in different “worlds of production” (Salais and Storper, 1993). Nevertheless, the authors observe that interactions between possible worlds, as well as translation from one possible world to another, not only could be promising but would be fundamental to concretise improvements in the real world.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and evaluate the role of hybrid forums as tools to address specific controversies related to sustainable practices in localized agro-food systems (LAFS).

In contrast with other conventional public engagement methods, such as citizen juries, consensus conferences, focus groups or deliberative processes, hybrid forums entail a more dynamic and democratic mechanism to reflect and act together, with the aim of constructing a common project around a defined challenge (Callon et al., 2001, 2009). They can offer an enriching and challenging methodological approach in the context of LAFS, especially in the discussion of controversial issues around food chain sustainability. The authors present here a new generation of hybrid forums: HF 2.0.

HF 2.0. represent both a methodological tool and a real experience of dialogic democracy, two interactive aspects which are closely interlinked and rest upon each other. The authors argue that the attractiveness of HF 2.0. is notable in at least two ways: first, they provide a solid democratic and reflective mechanism to stimulate effective dialogue and knowledge-exchange among different stakeholders; second, they contribute as an important methodological evidence-based tool, which can be used as a launching pad for shaping local action groups and community partnerships’ strategies aimed at fostering local development.

This paper attempts to provide a methodological discussion over the experimental use of HF 2.0. in the context of LAFS and assesses their effectiveness in the co-construction of knowledge. The authors explore their pragmatic validity in addressing controversies over local and sustainable seafood via empirical applications in Norway and the UK.

In line with various scientific papers warning against an inconsistent use of this adjective for food qualification, the purpose of this paper is to point out the sweeping assertion that “local” equates to “ecological”.

Looking beyond the measurement of carbon emissions to assess impacts on the environment, this paper addresses ecological issues in terms of interactions with the environment. To this end, it enhances an under-the-skin approach that goes through “local” fruit and vegetables to look into seed management and plant breeding practices.

This method, tested with 2 vegetative species – apple and potato – on 12 case studies in Europe, allows to build a typology that discriminates between: producing food without reproducing plants, grafting trees and storing tubers for maintaining landraces, and sowing seeds to restart the breeding process from the early beginning, trying in this way to enhance the capacity of plants to better fit with their environment. The typology matches a gradient that describes various degrees of intensity of environment–society relationships, from disconnection to adaptation – conceived on the one hand as already stabilized and on the other hand as still evolving.

This analytical framework sheds light on contradictions that many local food networks have to face while yearning for a recognition by a geographical indication.

The paper argues that vegetal material might be a fruitful research object for tracking the controversies that unfold along the construction of local food products. It discusses social constructivist approaches of terroir while advocating for a materialist approach.