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Abstract
One of the critical success factors for the future development of the agri-food sector is the
increased integration of enterprises and other stakeholders in horizontal and vertical ‘communities’.
Tracking and tracing, agreements on quality policy, improvements in logistics, dissemination
of innovations, cooperation in quality planning and market orientation, access to
knowledge bases, etc. are all examples which build on an increased horizontal or vertical integration
in information and communication activities. The paper will discuss ongoing research
on the conceptualization, design and testing of online communities that provide the functionalities
that might improve cooperation in the different (horizontal and vertical) dimensions. It
builds on initiatives from the area of ‘collaborative working environments’, sometimes captured
under the heading ‘electronic community house’. First prototypes utilize freely available software
modules and demonstrate the capability of today’s level of development if one has a clear
conceptual base.