ABSTRACT
This closing chapter includes final conclusions, reflections and recommendations for further research. It starts by discussing the implications that the research presented has for the agricultural cooperative sector and wider alternative food initiatives. When promoting cooperatives as a way to achieve more sustainable and fairer food systems, we need to be specific about the types of cooperative and cooperation we want to see, and this comes with associated policy implications. Attention must be paid to subsidy systems offering financial support to any type of cooperative form. This book has unravelled the challenge of defining and the risk of quantifying sustainable diets and cooperative practices. Cooperatives, especially open multi-stakeholder cooperatives, are well placed to empower producers and consumers to deal with the complexity of profit imbalances, as well as sustainable diets, in a more democratic and equalitarian way. The chapter ends by highlighting opportunities for further research into strategies that protect the alterity of alternative food initiatives.
