The food system has become globalized and industrial. As a consequence, food travels long distances to reach consumers and its production is over-reliant on chemicals, leading to high levels of carbon emissions and soil degradation. Short food supply chains (SFSCs) have been advocated as more sustainable alternatives and have been explicitly mentioned by the Dutch government and the EU as a strategy towards achieving sustainability goals. While SFSCs are viable on a small scale, scaling and mainstreaming them has proven difficult due to low margins, high costs, and steep learning curves. Their economic underperformance is particularly glaring when compared to the highly cost-efficient - albeit energy and resource intensive - conventional commercial supply chains. In practice, SFSCs therefore remain isolated success stories, failing to contribute to systemic change in food systems. In efforts to enhance the performance of SFSCs, this paper introduces the GAIN transition model, a novel framework based on gamification which provides a holistic and actionable framework for SFSC actors to coalesce and strategize around a common vision. We illustrate the underlying principles of GAIN and its potential for institutionalizing SFSCs. We find that thus far, GAIN has helped to catalyze action and has proven a useful tool which provides a common language for actors to navigate this complex space. Future research and more dissemination are needed to conclude with more certainty on the quantitative impact of GAIN in terms of enabling and strengthening SFSCs.

The purpose of the study was to identify the motivations and the barriers that stakeholders face regarding Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC). Two focus groups with stakeholders of the agricultural sector and SFSC were conducted in the Netherlands and Switzerland. A first fundamental topic addressed by participants was the one related to the definition of SFSC, which is far from consensual,"short" being often associated and sometimes confused with local, direct, small, fair, ecological, fresh, healthy, etc. However, a series of positive and negative factors influencing SFSC development, and the involvement of agri-food stakeholders were identified. On the one hand, the unique relationship built through direct contact between producers and consumers, the fair distribution of value added in the chain that producers can find in engaging in SFSC, the increasing number of SFSC initiatives, the farm resilience, and territorial strategies that are being developed seem to be the most positive aspects, that can explain the trends moving towards these types of distribution channel. On the other hand, many hindering factors were also identified, such as weak communication and marketing capacity of producers, and a lack of efficiency and cooperation between peers. The fierce competition of conventional distribution, using green washing, together with a profusion of labels, price issues, and unsuitable standards were mentioned as the main threats faced by SFSC actors.