Small is unsustainable?: Alternative food movement in the Low Countries, 1972-1990

Abstract

This article analyses how the alternative food movement in the Low Countries successfully promoted the ideal of small-scale production and consumption since the 1970s. This history highlights an interpretation of sustainability which addressed global problems by a return to the local. Operating on a small scale enabled the alternative food movement to bridge the gap between social and environmental concerns. Although alternative food remained marginal within the quickly expanding agricultural sector of both Belgium and the Netherlands, the movement enlarged its reach through eco-labels and cooperation with large retail chains. As a result, small-scale practices could not be maintained. In the Netherlands, the alternative food movement subsequently emphasised the environment, whereas the social dimension was more pronounced in Belgium. Small-scale production and consumption became firmly entrenched as ideals, but, in practice, the balance between social, environmental, and economic concerns that activists had hoped for, moved out of reach.