home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

Creating value(s) by integrating local and extra-local resources in cereal production in the Swiss Alps

Moschitz, Heidrun and Oehen, Bernadette (2020) Creating value(s) by integrating local and extra-local resources in cereal production in the Swiss Alps. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 26 (1), pp. 48-68.

[thumbnail of MoschitzOehen_LocalExtra-localValues_20.pdf] PDF - English
535kB

Document available online at: http://www.ijsaf.org/index.php/ijsaf/article/view/62


Summary

This paper explores the long-term prospect of alternative, local food initiatives, taking a particular interest in the development of the embedded local values, understood as economic as well as cultural values. Analysing the case of a cooperative of mountain cereal farmers in Switzerland, we show that sustaining local values-based quality is a dynamic process of linking local and extra-local resources. Our results first show the importance of both proximity and place in constructing the ‘local’ by the cooperative. Second, product flow, knowledge and information exchange, quality control, and innovation are governed by both horizontal and vertical relationships between local and extra-local resources, and these multiple relationships build trust in the network and beyond. This, thirdly, enables the cooperative to continuously reproduce its values by weaving them into a cycle of quality creation. We conclude that we need to understand the characteristic values-based quality of the cooperative’s products as the result of a recurring cycle of local and extra-local knowledge creation and resource exchange.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:local, extra-local, value chains, values, proximity, place, rural development, urban areas, Abacus, FiBL3510008, FiBL3510010, FiBL3510011
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
urban areas
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_8085
Subjects: Food systems > Markets and trade
Food systems > Policy environments and social economy
Food systems > Produce chain management
Research affiliation: Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Society > Rural sociology
ISSN:0798-1759
Deposited By: Moschitz, Heidrun
ID Code:37950
Deposited On:02 Jun 2020 10:43
Last Modified:09 Nov 2021 15:33
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics