Resilience and transformation : lessons from the UK local food sector in the COVID‐19 pandemic

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic there is a renewed interest in the role of local food systems from policy, academic, and third sector actors, who see those systems as a source of “bounce-back” resilience, supporting existing structures, but also as sources of “bounce forward” transformative resilience. The capacity of the local food sector to provide either form of resilience depends on the resilience of the local food actors themselves, which has been little investigated to date. Drawing on 31 in-depth interviews and analysis of 26 key policy and third sector reports, this article concluded that while strong bonding and bridging capitals support the local food sector's persistence and adaptability, a lack of linking social capital, most visible as a “middle class image problem”, is preventing it from achieving a transformative role.