Producers' platforms are wholesale sales outlets for 'local' foods developed in the French organic sector to reclaim the success of mainstream organic distribution for its founders. This article examines four platforms in southeastern France (akin to 'food hubs' in North America) to understand the sociological stakes for the establishment of a local organic intermediary sales structure. The two-year study used semi-directive interviews and participant-observation of platform and institutional actors, who widely consider platforms to be 'short food supply chains' (circuits courts). The question of direct interaction between farmers and buyers was touchy for platform participants, manifesting itself in a discomfort with 'intermediaries' and in a debate over who should assure deliveries. By evoking the 'short chain' label platforms assimilate themselves with direct sales, distinguishing themselves as the 'real' organic, as opposed to newcomers profiting from the organic 'trend'. In the process, actors frame and adapt to organic sector evolutions in a way that is consistent with their awkward position as activists making a living off their cause.Actually, there is an ideological aspect, but what people don't get is that this ideology can be associated with practical things. Really practical and economic things -but not 'economic' in the usual meaning; a somewhat alternative economy where you talk, and where the purely economic operators who buy and sell for a profit integrate sociological and technical datawhich conventional [agriculture] doesn't do. You can't say it never does it, but less and less, saying 'if you can't [sell at that price], it's not a big deal, now [that we can buy products from] China, Chile, Morocco, etc.' (organic vegetable farmer, selling predominantly through long sales chains) At the beginning, we really wanted to stay in very short supply chains and not go through intermediaries. But after, we saw that there were kids who had the right to eat organic. (Lucien, organic farmer and president of a producers' platform)
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.