Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

Oliver Meixner, Siegfried Pöchtrager, Rainer Haas, Maria Koppelstätter:

Food supply in rural areas – A decision based analysis using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Summary

Many communities in rural areas are facing the problem not to have a local food store any longer, mainly because of the increasing concentration tendencies of trade organizations and changing consumer behaviour. As a result, both, economic and social consequences have to be taken into account. The following article presents exemplarily the situation of an Austrian small village. The evaluation of the local residents will be analyzed; furthermore, it will be examined if the relevant food supply alternatives are adequate to solve this problem. Key words:  Food supply, rural areas, food, decision making, analytic hierarchy process, Weilbach in Upper Austria.