Year: 2013
Type: other
Abstract: Over the last decades, we have witnessing a huge growth in the search for alternative ways of buying food\nin several countries. The Alternative Agri-Food Networks (AAFN), or Alternative food markets, are\nbuilt on a turn by consumers away from industrial food provisioning towards quality. This article aims to\ncompare three of the most important alternative food markets (organic food, local food and fair trade),\nstressing the convergences and divergences among these markets, especially the role exerted by diverse\nactors, the agency mechanisms, market devices and different modes of exchange and qualification processes.\nThe analysis was based on secondary data from British markets, especially on websites, and fieldwork\nobservation of products, packaging and advertising material on several food points of sale (supermarkets,\nsmall shops, farmers markets, etc.) on Lancaster, Northwest England. The analysis of alternative food\nmarkets focusing on their evolution shows that the complex process of development involves a multiplicity\nof actors, making use of a set of market devices to format transactions and qualify the goods. Two special\nset of actors stand out as the most powerful ones, at least for fair trade and organic markets: certification\nbodies and retailers. Through two fundamental market devices, standardization and discourse, they aim to\nqualify food products mainly because of their credence attributes, especially the ethical trade and sustainable\nproduction dimensions. Local food markets, on the other hand, constitute a much unstable market\nconstruction, locally variable and with no clear leading actor, even though the power of retailers is growing\nin the last years. Despite convergences on the discourse, a unified strategic approach for the several\nalternative food chains does not seem feasible due to the multiplicity of actors and interests involved.
Source: Actualidad Contable FACES
Author: Daniel Carvalho de Rezende
Institution: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
Language: English
Topic: Organic Food and Agriculture
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W404652197