Bread in the Economy of Qualities: The Creative Reconstitution of the Canada‐UK Commodity Chain for Wheat

Abstract

This article traces the creative reconstitution of the Canada‐UK wheat‐bread commodity chain since the 1990s. In the mid‐1990s, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and a British bakery, Warburtons, pioneered an innovative identity‐preserved sourcing relationship that ties contracted prairie wheat growers to consumers of premium bread in the United Kingdom. The CWB‐Warburtons contract is emblematic of the increasing importance of quality claims, traceability, and private standards in the reorganization of agrifood supply chains. Yet the case is unique in two important ways. First, in the context of supermarket leadership in the coordination of quality chains, the program was established by two unlikely actors—a state marketing agency and a branded food manufacturer. Second, the quality chain centers on a semifresh, manufactured food staple (bread), whereas most quality chains are organized around fresh produce, meat, and dairy products. The CWB‐Warburtons story thus provides evidence of diversity and complexity in the shift toward the supermarket‐driven “economy of qualities.” I interpret these changes by locating them in broader processes of historical change. Led by the CWB and Warburtons, the shift toward quality in commodity chains for wheat bread is reconfiguring relations among key social actors in the prairie wheat economy as well as the UK bread market.

Local Foods Go Downstream: Exploring the Spatial Factors Driving U.S. Food Manufacturing

“…Demand for low‐cost food products is not new to the U.S. food system, while interest in values‐based foods only emerged in recent decades (Lusk and McCluskey 2018), following similar trends from Europe (Magnan 2011). Commonly, specific “values” are translated through well‐formulated and managed labeling systems across the agri‐food supply chain, including provenance (local, origin‐specified), production practices (animal welfare, organic), and health and safety (traceability, free‐from dietary restrictions) (Costanigro et al 2011; Onozaka and Thilmany 2011).…”

Agri-fresh food supply chain quality (AFSCQ): a literature review

“…, Van Hoi et al (2009),Barling et al (2009),Narrod et al (2009),Thakur and Donnelly (2010),Amador and Emond (2010),Canavari et al (2010),Thakur et al (2011),Magnan (2011),Bao et al (2012),Santa et al (2012),Zhang and Li (2012), Louw et al (2013), Manning (2013a), Hu et al (2013), Kirezieva et al (2013), Liang et al (2013), Roggeveen (2014), Zhong et al (2015), Fountas et al (2015), Wang et al (2015) Logistic managementTaylor (1994),Calza and Passaro (1997),Vorst et al (1998),Collins et al (1999),Larson and Gammelgaard (2001),Henson and Reardon (2005),Bourlakis and Bourlakis (2005),Custódio and Oliveira (2006), Mergenthaler et al (2009), Manikas and Terry (2009), Paksoy et al (2012), Demirtaş and Tuzkaya (2012), Cai et al (2013), Morganti and Gonzalez-Feliu (2015), Handayati et al (2015), La Scalia et al (2015), Lee et al (2015), Cai and Ma (2015) Collaboration and coordination management Folkerts and Koehorst (1997), Kennett et al (1998), Hobbs and Young (2000), Heiman et al (2001), Cadilhon et al (2003), Cadilhon et al (2005), Matopoulos et al (2007), Mikkola (2008), Vermeulen et al (2008), Petit et al (2011), NicolaasBezuidenhout et al (2012), Aggarwal and Srivastava (2016) Strategic management Hughes and Merton (1996), Rademakers and McKnight (1998), Beverland (2001), Salin and Nayga (2003), Cante et al (2004), Hingley et al (2008), Srimanee and Routray (2012), Iliopoulos et al (2012), Zanoni and Zavanella (2012) Inventory management Maertens and swinnen (2009), Moustier et al (2010), Nganje et al (2010), Sivakumar and Wall (2013), Zhang and Pan (2013), Aubry and Kebir (2013) Demand management Taylor (2006), Pingali (2007), Stringer et al (2009), Baghalian et al (2013), Clasadonte et al (2013) Food safety management Escanciano and Santos-Vijande (2014), Zhou et al (2015), Ding et al (2015), Hou et al (2015) Performance management Aramyan et al (2007), Trienekens et al (2008), Aramyan et al (2009), Akhtar and Khan (2015) Integration management Louw et al (2008), Reardon and Timmer (2014), Kusumastuti et al (2016) Supplier management Blundel and Hingley (2001), Jan Hofstede et al (2010), Suryaningrat (2016) Quality management Li et al (2015), Siddh et al (2015) Comprehensive construct Jan Hofstede et al (2010), Demirtaş and Tuzkaya (2012), Shukla and Jharkharia (2013), Ji et al (2013), Jraisat and Sawalha (2013), Tsolakis et al (2014), Macfadyen et al (2015)…”

L’agriculture sous contrat : quelles perspectives sociologiques ?

“…Lorsque la production et la mise en marché sont fortement organisées, les producteurs sont davantage en mesure d'imposer à l'aval leurs propres standards de qualité, ce qui se reflète dans des relations contractuelles plus équilibrées. Ceci a été illustré dans une étude des producteurs de blé des Grandes Plaines de l'ouest du Canada (Magnan, 2011). Le système de mise en marché collective du blé qui existait alors a procuré aux producteurs les ressources nécessaires à la signature d'un contrat avec un transformateur britannique portant sur la livraison d'un blé spécial destiné à la fabrication de pain de mie premium.…”