Abstract: Proximity cultivation is an important way to build food trust. Existing researches focus on the proximity of producers to consumers, but this one-way proximity model can hardly explains the trust construction process under the dynamic change of trust propensity. This study explores the process of food trust co-construction from the perspective of moderate proximity between producers and consumers. The study finds that: (1) food trust construction under moderate proximity is characterized by the co-variation of s producers and consumers. Through the behavioral strategies of integration, restructuring and cooperative innovation, adjusted trustworthy behavior and balanced trust propensity are achieved. (2) External market pressure drives the establishment, breaking and re-creation of moderate proximity, and this spiral process of moderate proximity reveals the path of food trust construction. (3) The moderate proximity cultivation explains the evolutionary mechanism of trust construction under dynamic trust propensity, with the adjustment and re-construction of producers and consumers. The findings of the study have enlightening value for the construction of food trust that is at a low level.

Key words: proximity cultivation, food trust, trust propensity, trustworthy behavior, case study