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Crossing Conventions in Localized Food Networks: Insights from Southern Italy

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  • Ferruccio Trabalzi

    (146 College of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA)

Abstract

In this paper I demonstrate the analytical potential of the concept of hybridity for understanding localized agrofood networks, that is, production systems whose products are embedded in the history, geography, and culture of a particular place and community. I use the notion of hybridity as a way of describing how local producers do not necessarily follow one specific production logic, whether of scale or variety. The research shows that they exchange, borrow, absorb, and appropriate practices, technologies, knowledge, and conventions from all available models of production. The nature and the extent of the exchange, and thus of hybridization, vary according to the nature of the product, to the position a particular firm occupies within the network, and ultimately, to individual and collective conceptions of how production can and should be organized. The specific ways that firms coordinate transactions between one another and how they develop relations with markets also reflect the producers' choices among different models of organization. Hybridity matters in relation to rural development policies. The entry of local food products into modern marketplaces through a series of intermediate steps, some modern, some traditional, opens up an opportunity to rethink the alleged opposition between industrial and artisan production within localized food networks. As I will show, between industrial and artisan producers, objectives may diverge, but there can also be strong positive exchange. Although industrial producers link up with buyers by serving increasingly wide, even global, markets, artisan producers help retain expertise within the territory of production, anchoring the product deeper into the culture, history, and geography of the area. Institutional actors should recognize and enhance such synergies apart and beyond the technical aspects of production.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferruccio Trabalzi, 2007. "Crossing Conventions in Localized Food Networks: Insights from Southern Italy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(2), pages 283-300, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:39:y:2007:i:2:p:283-300
    DOI: 10.1068/a37247
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olivier Favereau & Emmanuel Lazega (ed.), 2002. "Conventions and Structures in Economic Organization," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2235, March.
    2. Salais, Robert & Storper, Michael, 1992. "The Four 'Worlds' of Contemporary Industry," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(2), pages 169-193, June.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5180 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Tracy D. Johnson-Hall & David C. Hall, 2022. "Redefining Quality in Food Supply Chains via the Natural Resource Based View and Convention Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-26, August.
    2. Phil Mount, 2012. "Growing local food: scale and local food systems governance," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(1), pages 107-121, March.
    3. Emmanuelle Cheyns & Ponte Stefano, 2016. "Convention Theory In The Anglophone Litterature Of Agri Food Studies [L'Economie Des Conventions Dans La Litterature Anglophone Des Etudes Agro Alimentaires]," Working Papers hal-01393304, HAL.
    4. Michaela Trippl, 2011. "Regional Innovation Systems and Knowledge-Sourcing Activities in Traditional Industries—Evidence from the Vienna Food Sector," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(7), pages 1599-1616, July.
    5. Borsatto, Ricardo Serra & Macedo, André de Camargo & Santos, Leandro de Lima & Antunes Junior, Wolney Felippe & Souza-Esquerdo, Vanilde Ferreira, 2021. "Food Procurement as an Instrument to Promote Local Food Systems: Exploring a Brazilian Experience," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 12(02), June.
    6. Aintzira Oñederra-Aramendi & Mirene Begiristain-Zubillaga & Mamen Cuellar-Padilla, 2023. "Characterisation of food governance for alternative and sustainable food systems: a systematic review," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-32, December.
    7. Paolo Prosperi & Daniele Vergamini & Fabio Bartolini, 2020. "Exploring institutional arrangements for local fish product labelling in Tuscany (Italy): a convention theory perspective," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-16, December.

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