The prevalence of diverse and embedded social- and trade relationships connecting producers to consumers has been widely recognized across fisheries and agricultural small-scale food systems (SSFS). How this embeddedness influences the ability of smallholders to deal with environmental change is still largely unknown. This is particularly troublesome in the context of global change which is threatening the production and livelihoods of millions of smallholders around the world. In this study, we characterize SSFSs trade networks concerning their social embeddedness across different contexts and then explore how SSFSs’ actors at different scales could respond to environmental changes. We apply a comparative research design based on four different case studies of small-scale fisheries and agriculture in Mexico and South Africa. Building from embeddedness theory, we find key similarities in the level of social embeddedness of trade relationships across cases. For example, stable socially impregnated trade prevails, including horizontal relationships amongst actors connected to smallholders, as opposed to solely spot market-based relationships connecting producers with consumers through vertical relationships. Still, there are differences across cases, such as the higher formalization of business relationships in the agriculture cases and the influence of institutional and country-specific factors on the trade structures. In responding to environmental change, actors mostly respond based on their existing trade relationships, although these relationships are also subject to change. These findings allowed us to propose four hypotheses outlining how social embeddedness in trade networks plays a role in responding to environmental changes and, in particular, how socially embedded trade relationships can be both beneficial and burdensome.

Local and regional trade networks in small-scale fisheries are important for food security and livelihoods across the world. Such networks consist of both economic flows and social relationships, which connect different production regions to different types of fish demand. The structure of such trade networks, and the actions that take place within them (e.g., people fishing, buying, selling), can influence the capacity of small-scale fisheries to provide sufficient fish in a changing social and ecological context. In this study, we aim to understand the importance of networks between different types of traders that access spatially-distinct fish stocks for the availability and variability of fish provision. We deployed a mixed-methods approach, combining agent-based modelling, network analysis and qualitative data from a small-scale fishery in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The empirical data allowed us to investigate the trade processes that occur within trade networks; and the generation of distinct, empirically-informed network structures. Formalized in an agent-based model, these network structures enable analysis of how different trade networks affect the dynamics of fish provision and the exploitation level of fish stocks. Model results reveal how trade strategies based on social relationships and species diversification can lead to spillover effects between fish species and fishing regions. We found that the proportion of different trader types and their spatial connectivity have the potential to increase fish provision. However, they can also increase overexploitation depending on the specific connectivity patterns and trader types. Moreover, increasing connectivity generally leads to positive outcomes for some individual traders, but this does not necessarily imply better outcomes at the system level. Overall, our model provides an empirically-grounded, stylized representation of a fisheries trading system, and reveals important trade-offs that should be considered when evaluating the potential effect of future changes in regional trade networks.

Agricultural systems are important for the livelihoods and food security of millions of people. At the same time, these systems are increasingly interconnected across scales and face the challenge of responding to multiple, and coalescing types of environmental, social, and economic changes. Previous studies investigated such responses to changes placing the focus on farmers and farming communities. In this study, we investigate the connectivity of farming systems to markets with the aim to understand the role of social relationships across the supply chain to influence responses to multiple types of changes. To this end, we conducted interviews with actors across a fruit supply chain in the Western Cape, South Africa, connected to global and national markets, using a participatory network mapping method. The most important changes mentioned affecting the production and trade of fruit in this region included: droughts, climatic changes, changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and other social changes. We identified three types of responses to these changes: i) responses concerning the dynamics of trade relationships (e.g., changing or maintaining trade relationships); ii) responses based on changes at the individual level (e.g., changes in farm management); and iii) responses based on social relationships (collaboration, knowledge transfer, financial assistance, and marketing coordination). Building on these four types of social relationships, we found that different social networks mediate responses to changes. These social networks include actors internal and external to the supply chains operating within and across scales. Networks of collaboration, knowledge exchange, and financial assistance show a positive correlation, where actors with an export orientation engage in multiple social relationships that enable responding to changes. However, we found limited participation of local market actors in these networks, besides their role in responses based on marketing coordination. Exploring these social networks and the actors participating in them could be essential to better understand and anticipate how and why agricultural systems respond to multiple types of changes, ultimately influencing their trajectory in an increasingly changing context.

Small-scale fisheries’ actors increasingly face new challenges, including climate driven shifts in marine resource distribution and productivity. Diversification of target species and fishing locations is a key mechanism to adapt to such changes and maintain fisheries livelihoods. Here we explore environmental and institutional factors mediating how patterns of spatial diversification (i.e., utilization of alternative fishing grounds) and target species diversification change over time. Using small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur (Mexico) as a case study, we adopt a social-ecological network approach to conduct a spatially explicit analysis of fisheries landings data (2008–2016). This approach quantifies relative patterns of diversification, and when combined with a qualitative analysis of existing literature, enables us to illuminate institutional and environmental factors that may influence diversification strategies. Our results indicate that interannual changes in spatial diversification are correlated with regional oceanographic change, while illustrating the heterogeneity and dynamism of diversification strategies. Rather than acting in isolation, we hypothesize that environmental drivers likely operate in combination with existing fisheries regulations and local socioeconomic context to mediate spatial diversification. We argue that small-scale fisheries policies need to better account such linkages as we move towards an increasingly variable environment. Overall, our results highlight spatial diversification as a dynamic process and constitute an important step towards understanding and managing the complex mechanisms through which environmental changes affect small-scale fisheries.