Douglas H. Constance

The Tuna-Dolphin Controversy

This study uses the case of the tuna-dolphin controversy to inform discussions in the sociology of agriculture regarding global post-Fordism in general and the new mode of regulation in particular. Global post-Fordism is defined as the global economic restructuring in progress and the associated emergence of transnational corporations (TNCs) and transnational-States. Mode of regulation is the historically specific set of social norms that are institutionalized within civil society—primarily by the State—whose regularity underpins continued accumulation.

The Problems with Poultry Production and Processing

This chapter employs a commodity systems analysis combined with a sociology of agrifood studies conceptual framework to investigate ethical issues in the poultry industry. The poultry industry was the first livestock sector to industrialize. While it emerged in the Northeast in the 1930s, by the 1950s the locus of activity had shifted to the South, where the vertically-integrated commodity model based on contract production and non-union labor became the norm for the industry that persists today. By the 1980s mergers and acquisitions had increased horizontal integration, often leading to regional monopsonies. This organizational innovation, vertically-integrated poultry firms anchoring agro-industrial districts, is diffusing into other commodity sectors and globally. It has been argued that the poultry industry system developed in the US South is the model of agricultural globalization based on flexible accumulation forms of commodity-chain organization. Although the modern poultry industry efficiently produces low-priced chicken for consumers, this Southern Model has been criticized as a system of asymmetrical power relationships that marginalize contract producers, processing plant workers, and rural communities. This chapter focuses on the ethical dimensions of the Southern Model for contract growers and processing plant workers. We conclude that the Southern Model of poultry production developed in the US South under specific historical circumstance is the original model of flexible accumulation that is now the basis of agrifood globalization. The problems with poultry raise critical questions regarding the ethical implications of the diffusion of this innovation globally and into other commodities.

The Discourse on Alternative Agrifood Movements

Abstract This introduction provides an overview of the discourse on alternative agrifood movements (AAMs) to (1) ascertain the degree of convergence and divergence around a common ethos of alterity and (2) context the chapters of the book. AAMs have increased in recent years in response to the growing legitimation crisis of the conventional agrifood system. Some agrifood researchers argue that AAMs represent the vanguard movement of our time, a formidable counter movement to global capitalism. Other authors note a pattern of blunting of the transformative qualities of AAMs due to conventionalization and mainstreaming in the market. The literature on AAMs is organized following a Four Questions in Agrifood Studies (Constance, 2008) framework. The section for each Question ends with a case study to better illustrate the historical dynamics of an AAM. The literature review ends with a summary of the discourse applied to the research question of the book: Are AAMs the vanguard social movement of our time? The last section of this introduction provides a short description of each contributing chapter of the book, which is divided into five sections: Introduction; Theoretical and Conceptual Framings; Food Sovereignty Movements; Alternative Movements in the Global North; and Conclusions.

Mega hog farms in the Texas Panhandle region

This paper illustrates the resistance of environmentally concerned groups and citizens against the establishment and growth of corporate-operated confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the Panhandle region of Texas. We contend that local resistance was partially successful as locally based groups were able to create a contested terrain of political discourse and defend pro-quality of the environment, pro-quality of life and pro-personal property stands against corporate actions. Additionally, we maintain that this success is limited as corporations are powerful. This power is expressed through strategies which present a pro-environment and pro-community based corporate image and are complemented by the corporate capacity to control political processes and economically affect the actions of local communities. The paper concludes with some brief reflections on the primary analytical aspects of the case and avenues which would engender improved social relations in the region.

Alternative Agrifood Movements: Patterns of Convergence and Divergence

This volume explores the issues of convergence and divergence in alternative agrifood movements through a theoretical and empirical engagement of the topic by notable agrifood researchers from Europe, North America and South America. It probes the degree to which the numerous alternative agrifood movements that have emerged in recent years in response to the legitimation crisis of conventional agriculture have converged around a central alternative thesis or pursued divergent paths of development. Some alternative agrifood movements represent radical critiques of conventional agriculture that challenge the existing system while other movements engage in reformist and accommodative approaches that are viewed as complimentary. The book begins with chapters that enhance the theoretical discussions on the pathways and obstacles to convergence followed by empirical case studies on organics, food sovereignty, landless workers, alternative food systems, and food policy councils.

Convergence and Divergence in Alternative Agrifood Movements

Abstract Through a categorisation of the convergence/divergence frame of this book into conceptual, organisational and analytical, and following a ‘corporate environmental’ and ‘corporate food’ regimes theoretical basis, in this chapter we sum up the findings of this collective work and develop some future research needs. The results presented show that at the conceptual level we can outline two different trends regarding alternative agrifood movements and their social transformation potential. In the global South the movements have a more radical/oppositional focus while in the global North the focus is more alternative/progressive. The context in the latter, where the movements are generally consumers leaded and political consumerism plays an important role, is a serious threat for the movements, leading to a loss of the transformative ideal as mainstreaming and conventionalisation occurs. We wonder if it is possible to build a common fighting strategy with a model perspective that allows global North movements to stay radical/oppositional. At the organisational level we conclude that novel tools are required to build common views promoting oppositional strategies. Experiences from the Dialogo de Saberes suggest that this tool built on different principles and values such as horizontalisation, learning, respect or gender perspective, among others, can be useful in this matter. In this regard, further research is needed to look at how alternative agrifood movements deal with gender and whether ecofeminist theories can help in the process of building a common global oppositional strategy. Finally, the analytical level centred in the production system shows that even at this very pragmatic level the food regime applies and that it is the values underlying each production system what defines the options for convergence and divergence.