The Farm Fresh Healthcare Project: Analysis of a Hybrid Values-based Supply Chain

An emerging literature on values-based supply chains offers models for meeting both the scalebased requirements and values-based goals of farm-to-institution initiatives. These models seek to incorporate conventional supply chain norms of efficiency, standardization, and affordability while meeting the diverse social and environmental values motivating the local food movement. Values-based supply chain models to date have been derived largely from cases of farmer cooperatives and food hubs that have purposefully designed their operations to incorporate alternative agrifood movement values. A model that deserves more attention is hybrid values-based supply chains that incorporate both conventional and alternative resources, infrastructure, and markets. Of the few studies examining hybrid models, some point to benefits such as established supply chain relationships, expertise, and infrastructure that match the needs of institutional purchasers, while others argue that conventional intermediaries reproduce marginalizing structures of mainstream supply chains. This paper explores these tensions through analysis of the Farm Fresh Healthcare Project (FFHP), a farm-to-hospital initiative in the * a Corresponding author: Kendra Klein, Senior Program Associate, San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility; 2288 Fulton Street, Suite 307; Berkeley, California 94704 USA; +1-415-350-5957; [email protected] b Ariane Michas, Bay Area Regional Food Systems Manager, Community Alliance with Family Farmers; 405 14th Street, Suite 209; Oakland, California 94612 USA; [email protected]