Based on the evidence found in two case studies of intensive agriculture in Southern Spain, this article analyses the impact of business strategies aimed at devaluing packaging plant work in the competitive integration processes currently taking place in the global agri-food value chain. The article explores three business strategies: the feminisation, segmentation and deskilling of labour, along with ethnic substitution and labour recruitment outsourcing mechanisms. Although it acknowledges the importance of the dynamics of global competition, the article focuses mainly on how firms articulate their strategies in packaging plants within the political, family and sociocultural frameworks of specific local contexts. The analysis uses a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews and participant observations.
This article examines how health is constructed as an emerging value of quality standards in intensive agriculture in the province of Huelva (Spain) with a specific focus on the health and welfare of female seasonal migrant workers. Based on an ethnographic approach, the research draws on two sources: an analysis of Global G.A.P. quality standards documentation and qualitative in-depth interviews with four key social actors, including local producers, social and professional organisations, healthcare professionals and migrant women working on seasonal contracts. Drawing on theoretical contributions from convention theory and the socio-anthropological approach of political economy, the study identified imbalances between the meanings and practices around health and safety. Principally, the study concludes that norms established by quality standards focus almost exclusively on consumers’ health while neglecting the health costs and inequalities experienced by female agricultural workers.
En un contexto marcado por el aumento de la competitividad a nivel internacional y el poder de la gran distribución, el sistema de producción de frutos rojos de Huelva ha tenido que llevar a cabo diferentes ajustes con el fin de mantenerse en las cadenas agrícolas globales. Este artículo examina cómo se moviliza y configura un concepto de calidad, asociado a las ideas de innovación y distinción, en el marco de dos estrategias desarrolladas por el sector productivo en el último periodo: la especialización en productos únicos y saludables y la investigación varietal impulsada desde el ámbito local. El análisis se apoya en una metodología cualitativa basada en la técnica de la entrevista en profundidad.
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