Mercato agroalimentare e disintermediazione: la dimensione giuridica della filiera corta

Short food supply chains (SFSC) are production-consumption systems that have few or no intermediaries between farmers and consumers. They are a growing alternative to the mainstream agri-food system, which is dominated by large corporations operating in the global market that mass produce and distribute food. The continued rapid spread of SFSCs in the western hemisphere is a direct consequence of the farmers and consumers’ will to regain control over their production and consumption choices, and so to reach coherence between their actions and social and environmental values. Lawmakers are now paying more attention to the regulation and promotion of the various types of SFSCs, as they recognized their role in the achievement of social, economic and environmental goals. In this regard, the research will first present the progressive loss of bargaining power that producers are suffering due to the increase in both the use of vertical integration contracts and the market concentration of the food-processing and distribution industries. It will then analyze how evolving regulations in the EU and the USA are incentivizing the adoption of SFSCs and if the food legislation of both countries, which are based primarily on conventional long supply chain issues, are suitable for these types of food chains. Finally, the study will focus on the Italian legal system by describing the evolution of the direct marketing discipline and identifying the main legislative actions designed to promote some particular types of SFSCs. Then, it will analyze a case study on the farmers markets located in the City of Bologna. It will be compared the municipal by-laws regulating farmers markets with the results of interviews conducted with stakeholders in order to identify any barriers to the presence of this specific marketing channel. The outcomes of the research highlight that while SFSCs have the potential to mitigate the negative side effects of the mainstream food system, they must be properly regulated and promoted. The rising success of these alternative food systems, in particular, may require an additional regulatory effort at various levels of legislations, in order to prevent an uncontrolled and chaotic growth of the phenomenon.