Mediation of values from production to consumption - a relational analysis of values based organic food chains

Summary

A sustainable agriculture is dependent on how we care for and cultivate our soil. Not only in terms of producing food of good quality, but also in terms of maintaining the quality of the soil to feed future generations, nature of the farm land, of the surrounding landscape, and not least the quality of rural livelihood.
From a neoclassic perspective the market is seen as driver of a sustainable development, depending on will of the political consumer. This argument though is self-contradictory because in a neoliberal food regime the only relation consumers have to how the soil is cultivated is through decoupled global food chains, and most people only know little about the actual agriculture and the cultivation of the soil. However, emerging food-chains are trying to (re-)establish “values-based” couplings between man and soil, emphasizing a broad range of values, promising for a market based sustainable development.
The aim of this report is to analyse to what extent different values-based food-chains offer quality couplings between production and consumption, and thereby supports a more sustainable food production.
The analysis is based on studies of 18 organic values-based food chains from the HealthyGrowth project, which are distinguished by a broad range of values. We ask: What kind of value relations are these chains able to support? What role do the different agents of the chains play in this? To what extent do these chains facilitate sustainability in agricultural production?