Craft beer is the fastest growing network of enterprises in the craft food and beverage sector of Manitoba, Canada. Craft breweries are emerging as a space that potentially links urban consumers to rural producers through ingredient sourcing chains. Our research considers whether craft breweries are resulting in small, local, open and connected (SLOC) craft food and beverage systems.

Through a series of interviews with craft brewers we found that there is a desire to source ingredients locally but that barriers exist. Challenges include a lack of consistent supply of regionally produced quality ingredients and the industrial scale of malting barley, which makes it difficult to preserve the identity of barley produced by small farmers. While craft brewers are supportive of a sourcing network linked to farmers in the region, this transition requires attention to adequately scaled malting enterprises and increased production by farmers of hops and barley in the region.

Authors: Iain Davidson-Hunt, Kurtis Ulrich, Hannah Muhajarine