Introduction: Food systems and resilience

The concept of resilience is increasingly being investigated in the context of food systems as the intensification of the ecological crisis exerts an ever more critical impact on the food supply. Extreme weather events and rainfall patterns, coupled with more frequent droughts, present a significant challenge to the ecological sustainability of agriculture and the security of the food supply for a growing global population. Several studies address this issue at the level of the food system as a whole, examining all the actors involved (Balázs 2020; Béné et al. 2019; Hendrickson 2015; Himanen et al. 2016; Hodbod – Eakin 2015; Meyer 2020; Meuwissen et al. 2019; Pingall et al. 2005; Rotz – Frazer 2015; Sinclair et al. 2014; Tendall et al. 2015; Toth et al. 2016), although the examination of increasingly fragile supply chains (Behzadi et al. 2017; Larsson et al. 2016; MacFadyen 2015; Ponis – Koronis 2012; Smith et al. 2016; Tukamuhabwa et al. 2015) is another key topic in this respect, within which the analysis of the concept of cross-sector “food hubs” deserves particular emphasis (Blay-Palmer et al. 2013).

The study of the resilience practices of individual farmers has also gained momentum in the context of the impacts of the ecological crisis, mostly addressing issues of adaptation to ecological changes (Abdul-Razak – Kruse 2017; Arslan et al. 2015; Eitzinger et al. 2018; Frank–Penrose 2012; Harvey et al. 2014; Himanen et al. 2016; Hoddinott 2006; Kangogo et al. 2020; Milestadt et al. 2022; Prosperi et al. 2023; Smith – Frankenberger 2018). The literature on the resilience practices of individual farmers follows a variety of models but emphasizes that in such cases a “window of opportunity” opens up — that is, farms can not only use their existing resources and capital to reestablish their practices after the crisis, but a successful strategy can even contribute to their development and to the sustainability of their economic practices in the long run. However, this also requires a combination of capital and resources, as well as the resulting capacities, among which social capital and market contacts play the most important role. In some of the literature, it is considered a negative coping practice for a farm to sell its productive assets, take out a loan, or cut expenditures related to food, health, and education (Ashkenazy et al. 2018; Darnhofer et al. 2010; Kodwo et al. 2019; d’Errico et al. 2018). The negativity of such moves is, of course, debatable if they contribute to the survival of the farm as part of judicious future planning. In the context of resilience and innovation, the literature draws attention to the role of local innovation in resilience (Karanja et al. 2017) and to the connection between openness to innovation and capacities for resilience (Milestadt et al. 2012; Slijper et al. 2020).

In what follows, based on a case study of a specific business sector comprising makers of Hungarian artisanal cheese, I examine the impact of radical changes in the external economic environment on individual economic practices. These changes are often experienced in the form of sudden shocks and crises over which individuals have little influence. In the past, small-scale cheese production in Hungary was practiced sporadically and was linked to a unique shepherding culture. Most contemporary small-scale cheesemakers are first-generation farmers who left other employment to take up farming as adults, although others belong to families that have been farming for several generations — as employees of cooperative dairy farms, for example.¹ In the following study, I present the complicated situations affecting this complex group of producers, their efforts to respond, and the possible paths of innovation that may emerge as a result.

What the various crises emerging in different locations across the globe have in common is that they represent a complex system of impacts — in other words, they trigger complex changes via global networks, making it difficult to summarize the overall social and economic impacts at the level of trends. Furthermore, the individual crises are already multilayered, reciprocal, and often mutually reinforcing, and together they create a situation of polycrisis, the complex effects of which are powerfully felt at the level of economies. Besides the complexity of the events, their very immediacy makes it difficult to conduct time- and energy-intensive social science research in a “rapid response” manner. The present study is thus more appropriate for offering “snapshots” and case studies of the complex responses to global crises implemented by small-scale farmers who supply “artisanal foods” and “local products,” a sector of the food industry that is based on a direct relationship between producers and consumers and on personal trust. The small number of cases related to each issue allows me to present typical responses from among the multiplicity of individual stories, using the methodological tools of ethnography and anthropology, while my task does not extend to the identification of national trends. These stories are nevertheless able to provide a bottom-up view of the complex and radically different changes triggered in a particular locality by similar global processes. Such complexity is an indication that, despite the similarity of global trends, it is far from evident exactly what kind of challenges an economic actor will have to face in their own environment.² Furthermore, the role of individual agency is also highlighted by the narratives that I have encountered thus far. The different crisis situations have prompted a wide range of responses, from the abandoning of farming to innovative strategies for “moving forward,” each solution being unique despite the existence of broad trends. However, the fact that my insights are essentially limited to those who have pursued successful survival practices is a significant methodological distortion in my research. Those who abandoned farming as a result of the crises were not the primary subject of the research and were only marginally included in the sample, while also being more difficult to reach and interview. As a result, I have considerably less information regarding them.

The paper first presents the general question of the relationship between farms and the external environment drawing on examples from my fieldwork. It then analyzes the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and finally discusses the complex effects of the 2022 inflation processes.

Methodology

The paper presents one of the subtopics of my forthcoming doctoral dissertation. To date, 65 interviews have been conducted in and around Budapest, the Balaton Highlands, and Baranya County, 18 of which were recorded after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and include responses to the virus-related crisis. Two of these interviews were conducted in the Balaton Highlands, three in Baranya County, 11 in the Budapest area, and two with prominent cheesemakers in Hajdú-Bihar and Nógrád counties. As the capital city, Budapest plays a pivotal role in the local food sector in Hungary, as all small producers in the country are entitled to sell their products there directly. It is the biggest market in the country and is open to all producers, thus producers from the Budapest region compete for customers with counterparts from all over the country. The Balaton Highlands represent the country's most significant tourist region outside the capital, where beach, active, and gastro tourism are equally dominant and exert a considerable influence over the economies of the surrounding villages. However, members of the local population experience the positive economic effects of tourism only marginally. The situation of cheesemakers can be examined in this context, within a specific rural economic environment dominated by tourism. Baranya County, by contrast, was selected for the study as one of the country's peripheral regions. During the socialist period, the county was characterized by significant mining and industrialization, which declined following the change of regime. The county is characterized by micro villages, which were adversely affected by the development policies of the socialist era, with the result that the county as a whole is now disadvantaged. Farmers are currently able to market their products in several smaller urban centers in the county and one large center — the university city of Pécs, which has a large population of foreign students — as well as at various tourist destinations (such as Siklós Castle, the Harkány spa, and the wine regions of Pécs and Villány). Here, it was possible to examine opportunities for local food producers to make a living in a disadvantaged area.

Types of contemporary cheesemakers

In what follows, I briefly describe the types of contemporary Hungarian cheesemakers that I identified, before examining the responses of the identified types to external crises.³

The group of professional agricultural entrepreneurs work on a relatively small number of large farms, typically comprising several hundred hectares and hundreds of animals. Farming has been practiced in their families for generations: their grandparents were of peasant origin, and their parents worked on cooperatives or state farms, some of them as middle managers; they were even involved in household farming, before acquiring the infrastructure that forms the basis of their present-day farming activities as a result of privatization. The farms are operated as family businesses but employ large numbers of people in the form of private enterprises or limited companies. The farm and the household are financially and physically separate from one another. The agricultural expertise of these farmers comes essentially from the family, although they also obtain knowledge via certain professional channels.

Family farms are likewise responsible for the entire spectrum of production, processing, and sales. These farms operate within a family framework, with a maximum of one or two part-time employees. Such farmers have limited financial capital, and their success can be attributed to their capacity to compensate for this by mobilizing other, more readily available alternative forms of capital (such as knowledge capital and social capital). Distinguishable within this group are post-peasant family farmers, who — often after a shorter or longer spell in the city — opted to become small-scale farmers during the period of privatization, or even later, as the descendants of former peasants and subsequently of workers on agricultural cooperatives and families with household farms. They generally began by selling fresh milk and simple dairy products, first in indoor markets or to acquaintances from their homes, and later at farmers' markets. Over time, the need to generate income, or shifts in consumer preferences, prompted them to expand their product range to include simple fresh cheeses, made with simple household utensils or in a cheese workshop set up in their home. Production generally takes place in the framework of the family and often provides a full-time equivalent salary for one family member. Besides the traditional distribution channels, these families also sell their products through new, alternative networks (farmers' markets, food-buying clubs), although they lack professional marketing skills. Their expertise is dominated by traditional, inherited family skills and experience acquired through cooperative work. In the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, a new generation, which I refer to as restarting family farmers, began to farm. There is no longer a strong farming tradition in their family background, and the farming-related knowledge they have comes from elsewhere. In many cases, they are newly entering the farming scene from another sector, after a generation of “urban diversion.” These cheesemakers typically have a high level of agricultural expertise, which they have acquired via professional avenues, although their initial financial capital for commencing agricultural operations is usually limited. They typically produce cheese in their kitchens, although some have already invested in dedicated cheesemaking workshops and the related equipment, including ripening rooms. The labor force comes from the family, and the farm and household function as one entity, usually with no physical or budgetary separation. They have stronger marketing skills and generally start selling from producers' stalls in indoor markets, at seasonal events, and at the new farmers' markets, while in addition making active use of new, alternative distribution networks. Among the new-generation family farmers, who started out in the second half of the 2000s, family farming exists only as a memory, and they have not inherited any active knowledge from this source. However, from their pre-farming employment they bring with them marketing skills and networking capital, which are becoming increasingly valuable in terms of successful farming. Their agricultural knowledge is mainly acquired informally and via contacts. They are also moving out of the kitchen towards professional cheesemaking workshops and ripening facilities. They have a more sophisticated understanding of marketing, present a professional image, and actively utilize social media. In their marketing strategies, they are aware of, and deliberately pursue, the new, alternative distribution networks.

Some cheesemaking plants have been established with a dedicated business plan, an extensive network of contacts with the world of elite gastronomy, and the objective to produce high-end, mature cheeses. In other cases, a family farm decides to leave the production sector and open a plant with sufficient capital, or a cheesemaker decides to create their own plant after leaving a professional agribusiness. Most launched operations or achieved plant status in the 2010s. However, family and household are separate; they function as businesses, in the form of a company, and even if the plant is staffed by members of the family, they work for a salary. They purchase the milk, generally have one or two employees, but often operate within a family framework, frequently with a dedicated person responsible for sales. Their knowledge is acquired through a combination of professional and informal channels. Since more of their time is dedicated to product development and production, and to expanding their knowledge, it is easier for them to create products with higher added value. Their technical equipment is of a high standard, and they work in professional cheese workshops that incorporate a dedicated professional ripening room or cellar. They have high-level marketing skills, often with a dedicated member of staff, cultivate a professional image, and actively make use of social media. They have a diverse distribution portfolio comprising numerous small shops, bakeries, and restaurants, in addition to emerging alternative sales networks.

In summary, in the case of professional agribusinesses and cheesemaking plants, the farm, the business, the family, and the household are generally separated both physically and financially, whereas in all forms of family farms, the two are physically and financially connected: family life and farming are both carried out on the same site and from one budget.

Cheesemakers and the outside world

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic presented a significant methodological challenge during the research process, as the lockdown made qualitative research virtually impossible for some time. At the same time, the pandemic and the other crisis phenomena during this period (the climate crisis and ensuing drought, and the complex crisis that emerged as a result of the Russian–Ukrainian war, especially inflation, which had a major impact on food prices) gave even greater emphasis to my central questions. The crises have severely tested “peacetime” economic practices, revealing the latent, unforeseen risks associated with several of them, and have even challenged economies, raising the question of whether long-term economic management strategies and principles are genuinely conducive to weathering a crisis situation. Many of the questions addressed by past research have now been manifested in real-life situations. Despite the many losses, the crises have also resulted in certain collateral gains, in the form of a far clearer understanding of many issues. The most important of these issues is in fact the farmers' creation of general strategies aimed at resilience, as well as the question of personal contact and trust as central sales factors.

Markets, food-buying clubs, and sales from home can all be regarded as distribution methods in which an economic relationship can be established, via an intermediary, with individual, decision-making customers, even in the long term, over several decades. An economic relationship with a large buyer or a restaurant is less time-consuming than selling the same volume of products to individual consumers, but the risk is greater, as the pandemic period amply demonstrated. This risk is something that many producers deliberately avoid, preferring safer, more complex distribution networks. “So, then I got to thinking about how this vulnerability, the fact that a chef can change his mind and leave, really bothers me; it actually means that I’m no different from an employee. I’m just as vulnerable. Only I’m not dependent on a boss, but on a particular hotel.” (Man, new-generation family farmer, Zala County, 2020)

Another aspect of this question is the fact that most farmers consider it an option to stop farming — either temporarily or permanently — if other reasons, such as “emotional sustainability,” family cohesion, or the need to ensure that work remains enjoyable dictate such a course of action. In the case of family farms in particular, the “economic unit” is not merely the space in which economic life takes place but is also the setting for family life, thus farmers do not act solely in accordance with economic goals but also take into account other, human points of view. The existence of the farm is not an end in itself; instead, it is subordinated to these aspects: “We've always talked about what might come of it in the end; when we started out, we said that if something goes wrong, we'll just eat them. In other words, you can't wait for your house to be taken, or your life to fall apart. You simply can't. However hard it might be, if it does come down to it, if you really need to let the whole thing go, then you have to make that decision. You certainly can't come out of it worse than you went in.” (Woman, restarting family farmer, Pest County, 2022) In such cases, resilience should not be understood at the level of the farm, but rather at the level of the family: to maintain it, farming is discontinued, or, in many cases, suspended. The successful maintenance of the family framework overwrites the failure of the farm. In this case, the generally available knowledge capital and skills acquired by various professional and informal means are a source of help that can be mobilized, if necessary, for making a living in sectors other than agriculture. In such cases, production equipment, animals, and land can be monetized. This does not always mean abandoning agriculture permanently. Some of the farmers I got to know had resumed their activities after a temporary break of several years, perhaps in a different location. In the same way that many people turned to agriculture because of a crisis, they are able to pursue another line of work in the event of another crisis in order to survive, even if this is emotionally demanding, since it means changing a specific lifestyle that they had chosen for themselves, as well as finding new ways to make a living.

These long-term strategies are tested on a daily basis in the ever-changing environment of daily life, although the impacts of recent global shocks have tested their viability more than ever before, clearly showing whether a particular farm has truly acquired the capacity for resilience. The recent crises presented in this study have had powerful yet very different impacts on individual locations. National-level consequences and regulatory responses have also varied widely, which in turn has led to markedly different reactions in local contexts, with individual economic agents compelled to adapt to many different situations. Moreover, the economic practices established by a given farm prior to the pandemic also largely determined the scope for action available to the individual cheesemaker in the new, changed situation. This has resulted in markedly different experiences and a huge variety of responses. The responses of cheesemakers include the most varied forms of resilience: in some cases, the system was so stable that no change was necessary; others developed a temporary solution that proved effective amidst the unusual circumstances, before reverting to their original strategy after the pandemic; while still others adopted innovations that subsequently became an integral part of their economic practice. However, many suspended all their agricultural activities in the interests of the family's survival.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic practices of cheesemakers

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on supply chains. According to the international literature, the impact on food systems was due primarily to the lockdowns and mobility restrictions implemented by national and local governments, which in turn affected consumption trends (reductions in consumers' incomes and purchasing power). Among the systemic impacts on producers, the literature highlights input-side disruptions and price increases, a decline in demand, and a reduction in available labor force (Béné 2020). At the same time, there was an erosion of confidence in food products coming from remote locations by means of lengthy supply chains (Nemes et al. 2020).

In Hungary, the hotels, restaurants, and cafés (HoReCa) sector ceased operation almost entirely, with only those establishments able to offer home deliveries or takeaways remaining in business. However, only a very few of these restaurants used ingredients provided by local producers. Some markets closed, others reopened following the announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture,⁵ while others switched to online operations, possibly even giving collection time slots, in the style of a food-buying club. Significant difficulties arose when, for several months, only elderly people were permitted to shop between 9 a.m. and noon. There was an upsurge in online shopping, although retail chains were unprepared for it and could offer delivery dates only with a delay of several weeks, while often restricting the quantities that could be ordered. As a result, interest in short supply chains rose dramatically (Benedek et al. 2020a:1402–1403; 2020b; Benedek et al. 2022; Nemes et al. 2021). A national survey of farmers found that 59% of respondents were negatively affected by the pandemic; 31% of those farmers who were able to maintain their previous level of production emphasized that they were able to do so only by significantly changing their marketing strategy, while 10% of respondents even managed to increase their sales. This last group emphasized the significance of personal relationships and direct contact with consumers as crucial to their success. They also stressed the significance of selling from home and making home deliveries, and they recognized the importance of using multiple marketing channels as a risk-sharing strategy. In the latter case, it was essential for one of these channels to be appropriate for building genuinely personal contacts (Benedek et al. 2020a:1406–1412; Benedek et al. 2021).

Besides economic impacts, the general impacts of the pandemic also affected producers at a personal level. In addition to economic considerations, the question of safety became a significant concern: some farmers chose not to go to the market so as to protect their own health and that of their families, or they closed their farms to outside visitors for reasons of hygiene. Lockdown placed a psychological strain on many of them, although there were also farmers who had scheduled the start-up of their farms for this period and who used the time that was freed up as a result for knowledge acquisition and capacity building. My interviewees did not report any major obstacles on the input side, even though sales operations were disrupted immediately by the regulations. In what follows, I describe the crisis situation in the individual distribution channels, then examine the efforts of the producers who were utilizing these channels to identify potential avenues for recovery. In general, professional agribusinesses and cheesemaking plants with greater capital and higher volumes of production can be said to have weathered the period better. Although they often reported losses, their capital enabled them to survive, while their distribution network — thanks, in many cases, to being managed by a dedicated member of staff within the company — comprises several, smaller-scale elements, thus the temporary or long-term closure of a few restaurants and hotels did not disrupt their entire system. Furthermore, a number of these enterprises continued to operate in the form of small shops and bakeries selling farm produce, some of them even observing an increase in sales, despite the fact that markets, which likewise restricted their operations in many locations, were generally out of the question for them in terms of sales.

Another, equally strong impact was the decline in tourism, which even prompted some farms to reevaluate their entire activities. In this respect, among the studied regions, the crisis caused a particularly big shock in the Balaton Highlands, although I also came across one farm in Baranya County which had been forced to recognize how much of its turnover depended on tourism: “…if it weren't for COVID, I'd never have said that 90% of our sales came from tourism. That was the biggest surprise for me, being made to realize that we depend largely on tourists. Even if it's only because the restaurants we deliver to also make a living off tourists.” (Woman, new-generation family farmer, Baranya County, 2020) The complete collapse of tourism-related sales sectors generally prompted these producers to develop their own home delivery systems, although many also turned towards markets in Budapest or the nearest county seat, which they had not previously targeted. One new-generation family farmer in the Balaton Highlands, whose business had largely been based on restaurants, compensated by rapidly establishing a weekly delivery system to Budapest, based on his circle of acquaintances. In other instances, farmers turned to their customers to help them sell surplus quantities and recruit new customers. Producers around Budapest were less affected by the collapse of tourism. Although they also depend on the experience economy, their sales are not based on such activities: these sales merely supplement their portfolio. It is no accident that when the crisis hit, many people in other parts of the country turned to Budapest as a market that could fill the gap left by the loss of tourism, where there was still a space into which they could expand, as well as potential to attract additional purchasing power. The decline in tourism and the closure of restaurants also affected professional agribusinesses and cheesemaking plants, although to a lesser extent than family farms.

Only one cheesemaker had to make home deliveries: their earlier practice had essentially been based on supplying several, smaller markets, some of which had decided to close.

The markets that remained open thus proved to be a resilient system, although this also required a government attitude,⁶ which, after the initial scare, encouraged organizers to keep marketplaces open and promoted a favorable public perception of markets. This underscores the vulnerability of alternative distribution networks to the authorities, while simultaneously emphasizing the room for maneuver, as well as the responsibility, of politicians, market operators, and other organizers of short supply chains in such circumstances. Their decisions can either secure or jeopardize the livelihoods of dozens of producers, especially in the case of family farms that rely on a single market for the bulk of their sales, since, for them, the question of whether a particular market remained open during the pandemic was of paramount importance. For post-peasant family farms with limited marketing expertise, such a decision might even determine the survival of the farm.

However, opinions about selling from home are highly subjective and extremely varied. Some regarded it as a fundamental expression of personal contact, a quasi-natural part of the selling process, and had been doing it even before the pandemic. For others, however, it represented an intrusion into their personal space; they preferred to keep their workplace separate from their private lives and were willing to show only a part of their farms to their curious customers. This was a significant consideration in the case of those who opted to make home deliveries. At the same time, the convenience factor, and the global popularity of home food deliveries, also steered producers towards this latter option. Not all producers would have been able to persuade their customers to make a trip to the site of production, which of course requires a higher level of commitment to a particular product.

Many organizers of food-buying clubs reported a sudden upswing in sales during the pandemic, which they often struggled to keep pace with, or which they regarded as an opportunity for expansion. However, despite their rapid growth, these clubs were not attractive to some of the cheesemakers I interviewed. Those who had already established their own sales system did not participate: “…it strikes me as a bit complicated, I didn't see the point of delivering two or three packets of cheese to Pécs (i.e. to the buying club there).” (Woman, new-generation family farmer, Baranya County, 2021) In Baranya, the entire history of the food-buying club, its founding and its rapid growth, was firmly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the products sold this way were an increasingly important and predictable revenue for producers, including several cheesemakers. This is a prime example of innovation prompted by a crisis in the local food supply system.

However, in a great many cases the changes introduced during the pandemic did not prove permanent, and once the pandemic was over, sales patterns reverted to their pre-pandemic state. This was often due to consumer demand, which, as soon as it became possible, shifted back to more personal sales formats in the case of local products: “…what was really interesting was that once the first three months of lockdown were over, it was like the trend suddenly came to an end.” (Man, restarting family farmer, Hajdú-Bihar County, 2023) In all cases, however, relationships with the restaurant sector were dealt a severe blow by the pandemic, and the situation has not returned to normal since. This is partly due to the ongoing crisis and restructuring in the restaurant sector, and to the fact that restaurants that use local products were particularly affected during the pandemic: “Then afterwards, when Covid ended, we weren't able to resume business with the restaurants, given the extent to which the chefs had been replaced.” (Man, new-generation family farmer, Pest County, 2022) On the other hand, a newfound caution has emerged on the part of cheesemakers: the pandemic pretty much confirmed the risks inherent in selling to restaurants, and, as a result, many producers have turned to other sales opportunities and are more cautious about trusting large volumes of sales to this channel. This means fresh challenges for rural development, in so far as it aims to foster cooperation between the two sectors and exploit its considerable potential.

Thus, as mentioned in the introduction, stopgap measures and innovations are not mutually exclusive concepts, since a successful response to persistent external pressure can also drive the process of innovation and development on farms. In this case, it is precisely the capacity for resilience that results in continuous innovation.

The economic crisis of 2022 and cheesemakers

The complex economic impacts triggered by the Russian–Ukrainian war led to a sharp rise in inflation in Hungary and a radical increase in energy prices, especially for gasoline and natural gas. At the same time, food prices, including the prices of some basic foodstuffs, also began to increase dramatically. This included milk and dairy products. The government imposed a price cap on some basic foodstuffs,⁷ regulating the maximum price that could be charged for them, including ultra-high temperature pasteurized cow's milk with a fat content of 2.8%. These measures also had a strong impact on the economic environment (Baráth – Fertő 2023).

All these narratives, however, are clearly significantly distorted by the fact that during my fieldwork I was essentially observing people whose economic practices had been successful, and who had been able to survive amidst the changing market conditions. However, my interviewees also mentioned producers who had closed their farms and sold off their livestock due to the loss of sales caused by consumers ceasing to purchase local products for financial reasons. The addition of yet another element to the polycrisis proved too much for many to bear.

Conclusion and future outlook

The two global crises have highlighted several of the characteristic features, specific challenges, and problems faced by cheesemakers as typical producers in the local food sector and the new, alternative food systems. One is the ambivalent role of tourism and hospitality, which play a crucial part in sales and are essential to development and often survival, but which are, at the same time, a potential source of risk in the event of decline. This was a particular problem for cheesemakers in the Balaton Highlands during the global pandemic, where COVID severely affected the region's markets, although it also made life difficult for producers in Baranya County. At the national level, the closure of markets depended on individual decisions by market organizers, and where a decision was made to close a market, it constituted a major challenge for producers. In the Budapest area, in particular, many turned to sales from home, either selling their products from their farms or setting up their own online ordering and delivery systems. During the lockdown, struggling cheesemakers in other parts of the country also turned towards the Budapest market. The impacts of inflation in 2022 were more uniform across the country, the biggest challenge then being the rise in consumer prices. In the study sample, it caused the biggest problems for producers in the vicinity of Budapest. The two crises also shed light on the ambiguous role of personal contact and trust in the context of sales. While, during the lockdown, this essential aspect of the producer–consumer relationship rather contributed to survival by means of farm-based sales and home deliveries, during the period of inflation such qualities make it very hard to manage pricing on a purely economic footing and to keep pace with market developments, and they thus become counterproductive. At the same time, the crises have not only tested the resilience of economic practices but have also, in many cases, been a source of innovation. There are several examples where elements introduced into economic practices at this time have persisted, while on other occasions they have proved to be temporary, merely serving to help the producer get through a period of acute crisis.

As the global polycrisis intensifies, interest in the question of food system resilience can be expected to increase. In this context, both systemic resilience and the adaptive capacities of family and small-scale farms, which play a pivotal role in the ecological transition of food systems, are of paramount importance, and there are numerous opportunities for the practical application of research results. The topic might also be of enormous interest to farmers and those involved in the coordination of short supply chains. During my research, I was regularly confronted with questions relating to the experiences of other farmers, such as “Are others struggling with this, or am I the only one finding it difficult?” The study of successful adaptation practices can not only contribute to planning at the level of individual farms but can also provide a valid starting point for the establishment of rural development and agrarian policies aimed at consciously building resilience. In a Hungarian context, it would be beneficial to conduct further fieldwork in other sectors using qualitative methods and comparative approaches, which would also provide a better understanding of the common characteristics and differences in adaptation practices in various sectors and geographical areas.

Pál Géza Balogh is an ethnographer and cultural anthropologist and a PhD candidate in the Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology Program of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Pécs. He is an assistant professor at the Department of Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Pécs. He earned his master's degree at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in 2018. He is a student on the master's program in regional and environmental economics at Corvinus University, Budapest. His main fields of research are agrarian ethnography, rural development and cultural anthropology, participatory action research, contemporary agriculture, and anthropological studies of the practices of small-scale producers.