Moving Away from Rural Marginality Through Food.

This chapter explores some of the most successful grassroots initiatives undertaken by small farms to counter rural marginalization’s impact. In particular, it explains how small farmers redesign the space between the farm and the fork by exploring new channels of commerce, new forms of relationship with consumers, and a structural entanglement with food tourism. In so doing, the chapter outlines a new and emerging business model that can open a way forward for the development of small farms and rural development. After clarifying what a “from farm to fork” strategy means in the context of this discussion, the chapter presents the functioning of different types of initiatives. Specifically, it looks at farmers’ markets, e-commerce, community-supported agriculture, adoption programs, ethical purchase groups, business visits, agrirestaurants, and alliances with local restaurants used to disintermediate the market and create new relationships with the final consumers. It emerges that small farms are moving away from the entrepreneurial paradigm based on intensification and specialization to embrace a model based on disintermediation and diversification.