Compare methods

	Foodshed Analysis	Agrifood Value Chain Analysis
Field	Food Agriculture Studies	Food Agriculture Studies
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2009	2001
Originator	Christian J. Peters, Nelson L. Bills, Jennifer L. Wilkins, Gary W. Fick & Arthur J. Lembo	Raphael Kaplinsky & Mike Morris
Type	Spatial modelling pipeline for food-source areas and localization capacity	Field-based value-chain mapping and analysis pipeline
Seminal source	Peters, C. J., Bills, N. L., Lembo, A. J., Wilkins, J. L., & Fick, G. W. (2009). Mapping potential foodsheds in New York State: A spatial model for evaluating the capacity to localize food production. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 24(1), 72-84.	Kaplinsky, R., & Morris, M. (2001). A Handbook for Value Chain Research. Prepared for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
Aliases	Foodshed Modelling, Foodshed Mapping, Food Self-Sufficiency Analysis, Localization Capacity Analysis	Agricultural Value Chain Analysis, Food Value Chain Mapping, Commodity Chain Analysis (Agrifood), Value Chain Governance Analysis
Related	4	3
Summary	Foodshed analysis is a spatial method for understanding where a population's food comes from, or could come from, by analogy with a watershed: just as a watershed delineates the land that drains to a river, a foodshed delineates the land area capable of feeding a given population centre. Christian Peters, Nelson Bills, Jennifer Wilkins, Gary Fick and Arthur Lembo formalised the modern, spatially explicit version in 2009, mapping potential foodsheds in New York State by matching geographically distributed agricultural production capacity to the food demand of population centres and allocating supply by proximity. The result quantifies how much of a region's food needs could be met locally — its localization capacity and self-sufficiency — and which land areas would supply which cities. Foodshed analysis has become a core tool for assessing the feasibility and sustainability of regional and local food systems.	Agrifood value chain analysis traces a food product through the full sequence of value-adding activities — from input supply and farming through processing, trade, and retail to the final consumer — and asks how value, costs, and power are distributed along that chain and where smallholders and processors can capture more. The method follows Kaplinsky and Morris's influential Handbook for Value Chain Research, which provides the practical apparatus for mapping a chain, quantifying flows and margins, and analysing governance and upgrading. Gereffi, Humphrey, and Sturgeon's theory of global value chain governance supplies the lens for understanding who coordinates the chain and how that coordination shapes the prospects for upgrading.