Worlds of Food Place, Power, and Provenance in the Food Chain

by Morgan, Kevin; Marsden, Terry; Murdoch, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780199271580
• ISBN10: 0199271585
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Three leading scholars in the field explain why place and provenance are assuming more importance in the food chain to producers, consumers, and regulators. They examine how these concerns influence debates on the future of food and farming, exploring the implications for three very different regions: California, Tuscany, and Wales.

Author Biography

Kevin Morgan has taught at Cardiff University since 1989, prior to which he was a research fellow in the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University. His main research interests revolve around three core themes: regional innovation strategies, multi-level governance systems and sustainable food chains. He is the author of a number of articles and books, including The Associational Economy: Firms, Regions and Innovation, which was co-authored with Philip Cooke and published by Oxford University Press in 1998 (h/b) and 2000 (p/b). His current projects include an ESRC-funded research project called Delivering Sustainability: The Creative Procurement of School Meals in Italy and the UK and a Joseph Rowntree project on Regenerating Coalfield Communities.
Terry Marsden has taught at Cardiff University since 1995 and has been a co-director of the ESRC Centre BRASS at Cardiff since 2003. He also holds visiting posts at the University of Helsinki and the University of Rome. His research interests include rural development, environmental policy and agri-food studies.
Jonathan Murdoch has taught at Cardiff University since 1995. His main research interests include actor network theory, agri-food studies and environmental policy and planning. His most recent book is entitled Post-Structuralist Geography: A Guide to Relational Space (Sage, 2005). He is also part of the research team on a EU-funded research project on animal welfare in the European Union.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	x
List of Tables	xi
List of Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction	1	(6)
1. Networks, Conventions, and Regions: Theorizing 'Worlds of Food'	7	(19)
2. The Regulatory World of Agri-food: Politics, Power, and Conventions	26	(27)
3. Geographies of Agri-food	53	(36)
4. Localized Quality in Tuscany	89	(20)
5. California: The Parallel Worlds of Rival Agri-food Paradigms	109	(34)
6. The Commodity World in Wales	143	(23)
7. Beyond the Placeless Foodscape: Place, Power, and Provenance	166	(32)
References	198	(19)
Index	217