Protected designations of origin (PDO) and Protected geographical indications (PGI) in the European Union have been recognized through a sound legal framework for more than three decades. We are recently witnessing an increased number of amendments to the product specifications of registered PDO/PGI. This paper aims to understand how PDO/PGI for the fruit and vegetables product class have evolved. Until 31 December 2018, there were 379 PDO/PGI registered under the fruit and vegetables product class and 81 amendments approved. We designed a coding guideline to: (i) analyze all the amendments to the product specifications; (ii) identify the type of rules that were modified; (iii) find out whether the amendments resulted in more flexible or more restrictive rules, and (iv) the respective justifications given by producers. We designed a database to manage all the information. Overall, amendments brought more flexible rules (particularly in Italy and Spain), while France showed a more diversified situation. Concerning the justifications stated by producers for amending the product specification, market changes, available new technology, and strengthening product quality were the most important, while environmental concerns were less relevant. Then, we in-depth analyzed the amendments that were explicitly justified with environmental reasons. The analysis showed only a light movement towards more environment-friendly rules, although environmental justifications were often used “indirectly”, as a means to achieve better marketing competitiveness, meeting new market demand and reducing production costs. These results seem consistent with previous studies, which indicated market forces as a primary motivation to amend product specifications.
In conventional food systems, there are often large social and geographical distances between production and consumption. Alternative food networks (AFNs) like relationship coffee models aim to shorten these distances through direct contacts, communication, trust, transparency or commitment to improve farmers' livelihoods. These relationship coffee models appear in diverse shapes with various implications for producers. Therefore, we deductively develop a framework to conceptualise proximity in four dimensions (organisational, institutional, cognitive and social) with subdimensions and three transversal dimensions ((temporary) geographical proximity, power, and communication). The analytic framework is complemented by an illustrative case to empirically test it, showing high geographical, organisational, institutional and cognitive proximity but low social proximity between coffee producer and restaurant owner. For future research, the framework can help to conceptualise proximity or to distinguish different types of relationship coffee models and to unpack conditions under which relationship coffees can increase proximity between coffee producers and buyers, often located far apart.
Food producers can define collective quality standards and legally protect the origin, characteristics, traditions and the reputation of a place-based product through geographical indications (GIs). Producers, processors and other relevant actors in the GI production system codify and adapt their production rules via the GI Product Specification and possible amendments. Based on the Management and Transition Framework (Pahl-Wostl et al. 2010), we developed a framework to analyze the role of social learning in food quality governance and adaptation. We analyzed as case studies two cheeses protected by a Protected Designation of Origin, Laguiole (France) and Bitto (Italy). They were selected according to diverse institutional contexts, existing amendments of the Product Specification, and access to documents and interviewees willing and capable to recall the amendment processes. A comparative case study approach served to analyze the amendment processes embedded in different arenas for social learning. Actors amended their Product Specification due to both system-internal (e.g., locally generated knowledge, negotiation processes) and external (e.g., market evolution, new breeds/varieties) pressures. In the two cases, there have been social learning processes among local producers, with diverging outcomes. The results shed light on the dynamic interactions of the drivers for amendments, knowledge generation and integration processes, social learning and negotiation, learning outcomes as well as re-evaluation and re-negotiation. The design of multi-level social learning arenas can help protecting the product identity of evolving social-ecological systems and may contribute to a consistent and long-term strategy going beyond short-term local pressures.
In contrast to harmonised international food quality standards, local producers of food that is protected as geographical indication can adapt production rules. In a comparative multi-method case study approach, we analyse how constitutional and collective choice rules affect the negotiation of diverse interests and the adaptability of food quality standards in France, Italy and Austria. In France, a national organisation with a plurality of technical expertise guarantees the coherence of geographical indications based on notions of terroir and heritage. Italy's rural development approach secures very elaborated voting rules for producer groups and broader interaction on the regional level to accomplish broadly legitimated decisions. In the Austrian intellectual property rights approach, producers self-define the constitutional and collective choice rules and have the fullest autonomy and responsibility in standard setting. We conclude that polycentric interlinkages across scales and sectorsthough delaying adaptationsupport the long-term conservation of the products' identity via broad legitimisation. Both, the autonomy of local producers to innovatively adapt to change as well as a strong product identity are key for the long-term viability of geographical indications.
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