Values and volume in sustainable organic markets chains – a multiperspectival analysis

Summary

Organic sectors and markets differ throughout Europe, but common to all is that local organic market initiatives have inherent problems in moving from niche to volume (both in terms of management and logistics or course, but also in terms of maintaining their core values) and often , while mainstream large-scale market chains have inherent problems in securing and advancing organic values. This has been amply studied within agrifood studies and especially within the conventionalisation debate. However, beyond these often dichotomized views, an assessment of the diversity of organic chains in diverse European countries has showed the existence a diversity of intermediary cases which can be considered as midscale “Values Based food chains” (Kvam and Bjørkhaug 2014). These chains are based on forms of organisations and partnerships between farmers, businesses and consumers that often combine “conventional” (or mainstream”) and alternative principles and sometimes actors, in order to better mediate values between producers and producers despite or along the growth process. These midscale VBFC’s differ from direct marketing initiatives in the sense that they aim for growth in volume and scale and often include intermediaries, and from the mainstream globalised food chains in that they aim to reconnect producers and consumers (although often not through direct relationships). These forms of marketing initiatives have been less studied in the literature, especially in relation to how these chains are organised and the role of the interactions