Date of Award

Fall 2024

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Agricultural Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Analena Bruce

Second Advisor

Thomas Safford

Third Advisor

Michelle Miller

Abstract

The industrialization and commodification of grains has had major environmental, health, and economic implications. Pushing back against this commodity system, alternative grain networks are emerging in the form of collaborations between farmers, millers, bakers, maltsters, and brewers creating localized grain supply chains. These grain chains are part of a broader movement toward the development of values-based supply chains in the food system, in which business partners form long-term, strategic partnerships based on shared extra-economic values like sustainability and equity and deliver value-added and differentiated products that allow farmers to capture a price premium. Despite the presence of localized grain chains throughout the country, little research exists on the structure and development of grain value chains in particular, and on the governance mechanisms and risk-sharing strategies employed in values-based food supply chains more broadly. This research aims to understand the persistence of regional grain value chains in the U.S. Northeast, where food-grade grain production is particularly challenging but nonetheless present. In-depth interviews with 41 grain growers, processors, end-users, and other key informants within three established Northeast grain chains—Maine Grains, Farmer Ground Flour, and Valley Malt—resulted in a multiple-case study highlighting their partnership formation, organization and structure, and the partnership strategies they employ to navigate value chain challenges like grain production and quality, post-harvest handling, supply planning, contracts and agreements, and pricing. The findings from this study build on previous research to further demonstrate that the motivation for the formation of a values-based supply chain, who initiates it, and who controls it are key factors in influencing how the supply chain is organized and structured, and, in turn, the kinds of strategies it employs to coordinate and govern the value chain. Overall, developing committed, trusting, and interdependent partnerships that value one another’s success is key to the functioning of these challenging grain value chains.

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