Domestic Fair Trade in the European Union: Three case studies

Abstract

While agroecology is moving up on the global agenda as a unifying approach to guide the systemic redesign of current food systems necessary to address their alarming environmental and socioeconomic impacts, face to the upstream and downstream corporate consolidation in agri-food supply chains and the inadequacy of institutional responses, alternative food initiatives have known a remarkable expansion. Through a qualitative analysis of three case studies building at the crossroad of the sociology of organized action and that of market agencements, this study characterizes the concerns, goals and sociotechnical innovations of the emerging domestic fair trade initiatives developed in the EU territory by actors historically engaged with a North-South approach, as well as their alignment with the 13 HLPE principles of agroecology. The study highlights how “EU Domestic fair trade initiatives”, while oriented by multiple environmental and inclusion concerns, consistently with their background, exhibit a focus on ensuring fair and stable prices and access to the market to EU disadvantaged producers. As a consequence of that, their alignment with agroecology is particularly strong in the socioeconomic principles.