Food Science and Agriculture: Research Highlights Vol. 11

Short food supply chains are promoted as a means of improving agricultural livelihoods, strengthening local economies and reducing the vulnerabilities of food provision. These expectations are plausible but do not follow automatically from geographical proximity or fewer intermediaries. This critical narrative review examines how market configuration, labour organisation, collective infrastructure and public institutions mediate relationships between shortened chains and economic, social and environmental outcomes. Targeted scholarly searching and citation tracing covered literature published from 2000 to 1 August 2026, with particular attention to comparative farm studies, labour research, pandemic responses, environmental assessments and procurement interventions. The synthesis distinguishes prices and gross sales from net income, remuneration per working hour and household security; organisational capacities from demonstrated resilience; and local expenditure from additional territorial welfare. Evidence supports opportunities for improved value capture, meaningful work, customer relationships and adaptive marketing, but financial advantages are heterogeneous and may coexist with low labour productivity, unpaid work and constrained business growth. Pandemic studies identify benefits of flexible customer networks and diversified outlets without establishing that local chains are intrinsically resistant to other shocks. Environmental performance depends on production practices, seasonal availability, vehicle loading, consumer travel and assessment boundaries rather than distance alone. Collective distribution and public procurement can address coordination and demand constraints, although governance, operating finance and distributional safeguards remain essential. An integrated explanatory framework is proposed in which market configurations generate capabilities that must be converted into fairly distributed livelihood gains and sustained territorial benefits. This framework is an analytical synthesis, not a validated causal model. Research priorities include longitudinal farm accounts with time-use measurement, shock-specific comparisons, whole-chain environmental assessment and evaluation of inclusive procurement and shared infrastructure. Sustainable market development is therefore better understood as the construction of accountable, accessible and adequately remunerated market relationships than as the pursuit of the shortest possible chain.