Local Food Activity in Scotland: Empirical Evidence and Research Agenda

This paper examines the geographyof local food activity in Scotland and combines its datawith published figures for England and Wales to calculate an index of food relocalization for Great Britain. It finds that non-farm-based local food enterprises tend to concentrate in Scotland’s remotest and least densely populated areas. Farm-based enterprises cluster around the central belt,with cattle and sheep meat, horticultural and diary produce strongly represented. In the British regional context, Scotland emerges as a ‘middling’ performer. The paper discusses some possible influences on these results and reflects on their research and policy implications.