In this paper we explore the development and incidence of alternative food networks within a European-wide context. By developing a consistent definition of short food supply chains, we address both the morphology and the dynamics of these, and then examine empirical evidence concerning their incidence and rural development impact across seven EU member states. These developments need to be seen as one significant contribution to the current transitions in rural Europe concerning the crisis of conventional intensive and productivist agriculture and the public consumer pressure for a larger variety of distinctive`quality' food products.

T he creation, operation and evolution of food supply chains are one key dimension in the new patterns of rural development now emerging (see Marsden 1998). As a result this dimension -the food chain dimension -becomes a significant building block for a new theory of rural development. This paper explores some of the key aspects of the food supply chain approach, making a direct link between theory and practice. To more fully understand the role and potential of food supply chains in the process of rural development we contend that they need to be seen in tandem with greater, empirically rich, conceptualizations which move beyond description of product flows, examining how supply chains are built, shaped and reproduced over time and space. The focus here will be upon using theoretical and conceptual parameters to understand the diverse nature of 'alternative' or 'short' supply chains and, in turn, to comment upon what these bring to a more generalized theory of rural development. Reference is made to one case study, within a broader analysis of European cases. These help to build a more rigorous theoretical framework, which places food, supply chains as a significant element in broader rural development debates.Given that under existing market conditions there is likely to be a continued and steady withdrawal of capital from the farm and rural areas, two questions need to be addressed by rural development theory. Firstly, what are the mechanisms needed to capture new forms of value added? And secondly, how relevant is the development of short food supply chains in delivering these?The emergence of 'short food supply chains': re-valuing foodsThe development of 'alternative food chains,' or networks has attracted much attention in recent years, with a new food politics beginning to fill gaps left by conventional government regulation and with the growing public concern over the provenance and manipulation of foods. From a rural development point of view, this new resurgence of interest in 'more natural' or 'more local' (also viewed as more healthy, see Nygard and Storstad 1998) types of food comes at a critical time for the land-based production sector. It offers potential for shifting the production of food commodities out of their 'industrial mode' and to develop supply chains that

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In this paper we analyze a turn to "quality" in both food production and consumption. We argue that quality in the food sector, as it is being asserted at the present time, is closely linked to nature and the local embeddedness of supply chains. We thus outline the broad contours of this shift and discuss the most appropriate theoretical approaches. We consider political economy, actor-network theory, and conventions theory and argue that, whereas political economy has proved useful in the analysis of globalization, it may prove less so in the examination of quality. We concentrate, therefore, upon actor-network theory and conventions theory and show that the former allows nature to be brought to the center of analytical attention but provides few tools for the analysis of quality, especially in the context of the food sector. Conventions theory, on the other hand, links together a range of aspects found in food supply chains and allows us to consider the establishment of quality as a system of negotiation between specific qualities. We illustrate possible uses of the approach through a brief consideration of food supply chains in Wales.

In this paper we analyze a turn to “quality” in both food production and consumption. We argue that quality in the food sector, as it is being asserted at the present time, is closely linked to nature and the local embeddedness of supply chains. We thus outline the broad contours of this shift and discuss the most appropriate theoretical approaches. We consider political economy, actor‐network theory, and conventions theory and argue that, whereas political economy has proved useful in the analysis of globalization, it may prove less so in the examination of quality. We concentrate, therefore, upon actor‐network theory and conventions theory and show that the former allows nature to be brought to the center of analytical attention but provides few tools for the analysis of quality, especially in the context of the food sector. Conventions theory, on the other hand, links together a range of aspects found in food supply chains and allows us to consider the establishment of quality as a system of negotiation between specific qualities. We illustrate possible uses of the approach through a brief consideration of food supply chains in Wales.

IntroductionThe governance and regulation of rural nature are reaching a point not just of crisis (associated with health issues, environmental loss, the control of epidemics, overproduction of low-quality products, and the failure of producers to manage to cut their costs and prices) but of entrenched divergence of purpose. There is a slowly developing failure of policymaking, and of the expertise (not least social science expertise) relevant to that policymaking. In studying these issues, we have to consider the contradictory ways in which rural nature is currently`socially managed'. That is, how the actions of the state, market, and civil society are grouped together in seemingly legitimate ways to create particular exploitation patterns of rural nature. This social management lies at the heart of sustainable development debates in that it demonstrates how the dominant approaches to rural nature can remain unsustainable for such long periods of time.In recent papers (Marsden, 1998; we have identified and counterpoised three differing but coexisting rural development models which have relevance in understanding this current crisis. Each of them has its own internal logic, ideology, scientific rationality, and regulatory arrangement. First and by far the most dominant is the agro-industrial logic. This model still defines rural nature largely as intensive productive space, and places the emphasis upon the continued rationalisation of production, for the purposes of generating food commodities which can compete on world markets. This is, we argue, essentially a`race to the bottom' logic in both economic and environmental terms for large sections of the farming population of most advanced nation-states. Major efforts by the state through the use of public funds, and by private capital, through the use of new technologies (not least genetic modification), are made to restrict the most harmful effects of this system. But, as Buttel (1997) and Drummond and Marsden (1999) have argued, these attempts, despite their massive public and private costs, are only palliative over time. Second, of growing ascendancy during the 1980s and 1990s has been the postproductivist dynamic. This has largely turned its back on agricultural justification and has celebrated the growth of the consumption countryside. The third dynamic örural developmentöis much more fledgling in that it emerges very much in opposition to the agro-industrial dynamic by trying to create Abstract. There is a growing realisation that agriculture is a central mechanism for delivering sustainable rural development in Europe. However, agro-industrial and postproductivist logics and dynamics have largely tended to marginalise its significance. In this paper we explore some of the conceptual parameters needed to develop the rural development dynamic. This is one which recentralises agriculture and farm-based activities and provides a basis for countering the growing crisis in rural and agricultural policymaking. In order to further embed the rural development dyna...

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International research into educational decision-making has been extensive, focusing on the way in which young people and their families assess the different options open to them. However, to what extent can we assume that different groups of young people have equal access to the information needed to make such an assessment? And what role, if any, do schools play in this process? Using in-depth qualitative interviews from two schools with very different student intakes, this paper examines the key influences which shape young people's choices. Decisions about whether to go on to higher education are found to reflect three sets of processes: individual habitus; the institutional habitus of the school, as reflected in the amount and type of guidance provided; and young people's own agency, namely, the conscious process whereby students seek out information on different options and evaluate these alternatives.