a defined local scope and shortening the supply chains of food [4; 12; 13] could overcome the negative consequences of the global industrial food system. In developing countries, the local food system includes family farms, which are classified as smallholders [14]. It is estimated that local family farms produce 80 percent of the food consumed in developing countries [15; 16].  
Given the influence and power of the global food system and its threat to small-scale food production, our research sought to explore how small chicken layer farms, as smallholder productions, could sustain their farms and whether they could be sustainable long-term. Although there have been theoretical constructs for a sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) [14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20], the focus has been on capital assets, those controlled by the smallholder, rather than the services they provide. Our study extended the SLF to demonstrate the potential long-term viability of smallholders, and the viability was extended beyond both the SLF and efficiency based on an economy of scale. In particular, our study showed that the interactions between local food systems and industrial systems are complex, and some elements between the two systems could be complementary.  
Thailand is a good example to illustrate the viability and sustainability of the extensive roles of large agribusiness in the food system. On the one hand, smallholders and family farms are common in Thailand. The prevalence of smallholders has been confirmed by the high rate of employment in agriculture, currently more than 30 percent of the total labor force, of which 6.4 million are smallholder/family farms. In the northeast of Thailand, laborers employed in the agricultural sector accounted for approximately 58 percent [21] of the total labor force. On the other hand, the global industrial food system has a strong presence. Some agribusinesses are top multinational corporations, for instance, Charoen Pokphand Group (C.P. Group) and Mitr Phol Group. The coexistence of smallholder food producers and large agribusinesses, as well as a strong agricultural base [22], have promoted consecutive decades of economic growth [23; 24; 25]. In 2019, the total value of exported agricultural food products from Thailand was THB 1.1 trillion (approximately USD 34.46 billion), accounting for 14.45 percent of the country's total exports [26].  
A chicken layer farm was selected as eggs are a common food product across modern (global) and traditional (local) food production. The wide consumption of eggs has created a significant and consistent demand for egg production. However, the high demand also motivated large agribusinesses to invest in egg production. The local food system may not be sustainable when competing against industrial food systems. The objective of this study was to examine these issues within their local contexts to determine what challenges small shareholders must overcome to have substantial, long-term viability.  
The next section presents a literature review, followed by a description of methods employed to obtain the required data. The subsequent section presents the findings. The final section summarizes the research findings.