Redes agroalimentarias alternativas: convergencias y diferencias en la evolución de los mercados

Abstract

Over the last decades, we have witnessing a huge growth in the search for alternative ways of buying food in several countries. The Alternative Agri-Food Networks (AAFN), or Alternative food markets, are built on a turn by consumers away from industrial food provisioning towards quality. This article aims to compare three of the most important alternative food markets (organic food, local food and fair trade), stressing the convergences and divergences among these markets, especially the role exerted by diverse actors, the agency mechanisms, market devices and different modes of exchange and qualification processes. The analysis was based on secondary data from British markets, especially on websites, and fieldwork observation of products, packaging and advertising material on several food points of sale (supermarkets, small shops, farmers markets, etc.) on Lancaster, Northwest England. The analysis of alternative food markets focusing on their evolution shows that the complex process of development involves a multiplicity of actors, making use of a set of market devices to format transactions and qualify the goods. Two special set of actors stand out as the most powerful ones, at least for fair trade and organic markets: certification bodies and retailers. Through two fundamental market devices, standardization and discourse, they aim to qualify food products mainly because of their credence attributes, especially the ethical trade and sustainable production dimensions. Local food markets, on the other hand, constitute a much unstable market construction, locally variable and with no clear leading actor, even though the power of retailers is growing in the last years. Despite convergences on the discourse, a unified strategic approach for the several alternative food chains does not seem feasible due to the multiplicity of actors and interests involved.