Consumer tastes are reshaping food industries faster than policy can adapt
A eight-year study of Sweden's food sector reveals that shifting consumer demand—from plant-based products back to traditional foods—drives regional industrial change more powerfully than policy or investment alone. For food companies and regional planners, the finding suggests that betting on sustainability transitions requires constant recalibration as geopolitics and consumer preferences swing unpredictably.
Originaltitel: Shifting demand conditions and green regional industrial path development: the food industry in Southern Sweden
Recent literature on green regional industrial path development discusses knowledge dynamics between actors, the roles of agency, institutions, policy, and regional assets. However, the role of demand remains underexplored, despite its potential influence on sustainability transitions in regions. This paper conceptualises demand as a driver of change within regional innovation systems (RIS), integrating insights from socio-technical transitions into regional path development. Empirically, the paper focuses on the food industry in southern Sweden. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted over an eight-year period, the paper examines how (and whether) changes in demand, driven by societal challenges, can support long-term sustainability transitions in regions. The findings show that the industry first experienced a growing shift towards plant-based food products, driven by increasing environmental awareness and consumer demand for sustainable alternatives to meat and dairy products. However, recent developments, such as an altered geopolitical context, have led to changes in consumer behaviour, with a renewed preference for traditional foodstuffs. Shifts in consumer demand can hence be volatile to external pressures, constituting a potential source of instability in green regional industrial path development.