Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks

Within the international agri-food community at least four theoretical targets are attracting increasing attention. They are: (1) the established notions of network and commodity chain that are being revisited by way of critical engagement informed by the insights of in depth empirical work, (2) the metrics of calculation and institutional embedding that underpin the rise and functionality of governance technologies, (3) the place of regional networking in creating conditions that make possible agri-food producer participation in local provisioning and supply, and (4) the geo-historical dimensions of interconnection and interdependency in the agri-food sphere. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, economists, buinsess and management academics and geographers to examine a wide range of case studies illustrating various agri-food commodity chains and networks around the world and to discuss how these link globally. Contents: Introduction: mapping the concept of globalising networks, Christina Stringer and Richard Le Heron; Upgrading in South Africa's squid value chain, Charles Mather; Agribusiness and poverty reduction: what can be learned from the value chain approach?, Andreas Stamm; Big is not always better: global value chain restructuring and the crisis in South Indian tea estates, Jeffrey Neilson and Bill Pritchard; Contesting the rules of exchange: changing conventions of procurement in the MERCOSOUR Yerba mate commodity chain, Christopher Rosin; Audit me this Kiwifruit producer uptake of the EurepGAP audit system in New Zealand, Christopher Rosin, Hugh Campbell and Lesley Hunt; Maintaining the 'clean green' image: governance of on-farm environmental practices in the New Zealand dairy industry, Paula Blackett and Richard Le Heron; A sustainable fisheries oasis? Strategy and performance in the New Zealand seafood sector, Eugene Rees; Constructing economic objects of governance: the New Zealand wine industry, Nicolas Lewis; Placing local food in a cross-border setting, Brian Ilbery and Damien Maye; Agrarian clusters and chains in rural areas of Germany and Poland, Elmar Kulke; Farmer innovations in environmental management: new approaches to agricultural sustainability?, Mairi Jay; The region as organisation: differentiation and collectivity in Bordeaux, Napa, and Chianti Classico, Jerry Patchell; Creating trust through branding: the case of Northwest Ohio's greenhouse cluster, Neil Reid and Michael C. Carroll; Growing a global resource-based company from New Zealand: the case of dairy giant Fonterra, Christina Stringer, Christine Tamásy, Richard Le Heron and Stuart A. Gray; The commodity chain at the periphery: the spar trade of Northern New Zealand in the early 19th century, Michael Roche; Akaroa cocksfoot: examining the supply chain of a defunct New Zealand agricultural export, Vaughan Wood; Biotic exchange in an imperial world: developments in the grass seed trade, Eric Pawson; Index. About the Author: Dr Christina Stringer is a lecturer in the Department of International Business, University of Auckland, and Richard Le Heron is a Professor in the School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand.