Alternative Food Systems and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Milan, Italy.

Sumario: The turn towards quality in consumption and lifestyles has in recent years been matched by a profound shift in farming models. New social, environmental, and landscape functions have been included in the sustainable farming strategies of organic and multifunctional agriculture, short chains, direct selling, and farmers’ markets. In metropolitan regions and their peri-urban areas demand by local inhabitants and a reorganization of food production are driving a territorial transition towards sustainability. Consumers and producers are cooperating in food networks not only to regain control over the ways food is produced and to shape local alternative markets but also to establish true food sovereignty. This article presents the case of the Rural Solidarity Economy District of the South Milan Agricultural Park, where a reorganization of peri-urban agriculture and new forms of producer-consumer cooperation are promoting the transition towards alternative food systems. The analysis highlights the aspects of change related primarily to the reorganization of the model of a farming enterprise and to the subjectivities emerging as “new peasants”, using a critical approach with respect to their social role, to agricultural practices, and to food, with new cognitive and relational skills developed in the practical and shared construction of territorial sustainability and food sovereignty.