In this paper I focus on the emergence of discrete food policy approaches throughout the UK over the last decade. I review key developments and argue that greater awareness of, and engagement with, policy making is crucial to understandings of contemporary food debates and adds to understandings of the changing alternative and mainstream food systems. The development of food policies by the UK government and the administrations of Wales and Scotland are explored through convention theory. The analysis suggests that the creation and existence of a food policy, expressing what is effectively a common good, are of more strategic value than the actual policy content. The challenge to existing food ‘policy competency’ (the power to legislate) can be identified as a strategic disruption to existing food governance practices. This is particularly the case when the multiple roles adopted by policy makers are considered in relation to the justification and evaluation of policy approaches.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BanksJBristowG, 1999, “Developing quality in agro-food supply chains: A Welsh perspective”International Planning Studies4317–331
2.
BoltanskiLThévenotL, 1991 [2006] On Justification: Economies of Worth (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)
3.
BoltanskiLThévenotL, 1999, “The sociology of critical capacity”European Journal of Social Theory2359–377
4.
BristowG, 2000, “Structure, strategy and space: Issues of progressing integrated rural development in Wales”European Urban and Regional Studies719–33
5.
BullerHMorrisC, 2004, “Growing goods: The market, the state, and sustainable food production”Environment and Planning A361065–1084
6.
ClarkeJ, 2005, “Performing for the public: Doubt, desire, and the evaluation of public services”, in Values of Bureaucracy Ed. GayP D (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 211–232
DwyerJBaldockDBeaufoyGBennettHLowePWardN, 2002Europe's Rural Futures: The Nature of Rural Development, Rural Developing in an Enlarging European Union (Institute for European Environmental Policy, London)
12.
Eymard-DuvernayFFavereauOOrléanASalaisRThévenotL, 2005, “Pluralist integration in the economic and social sciences: The economy of conventions”Post-Autistic Economics Review3422–40
FSG, 2004Fit for MarketFood Strategy Group, Belfast
15.
GoodmanD, 2003, “The quality ‘turn’ and alternative food practices: Reflections and agenda”Journal of Rural Studies191–7
16.
GoodmanD, 2004, “Rural Europe redux? Reflections on alternative agro-food networks and paradigm change”Sociologia Ruralis443–16
17.
GortonMTregearA, 2008, “Government support to regional food producers: An assessment of England's Regional Food Strategy”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy261047–1060
18.
GuthmanJ, 2004, “The trouble with ‘organic lite’ in California: A Rejoinder to the ‘conventionalisation’ debate”Sociologia Ruralis44301–316
19.
HarveyMMcMeekinAWardeA, 2004, “Conclusion: Quality and processes of qualification”, in Qualities of Food Eds HarveyMMcMeekinAWardeA (Manchester University Press, Manchester) pp 192–207
20.
IlberyBKneafseyM, 2000, “Producer constructions of quality in regional speciality food production: A Case study from South West England”Journal of Rural Studies16217–230
21.
JacksonPWardNRussellP, 2006, “Mobilising the commodity chain concept in the politics of food and farming”Journal of Rural Studies22129–141
22.
KirwanJ, 2006, “The impersonal world of direct marketing: Examining conventions of quality at UK farmers' markets”Journal of Rural Studies22301–312
LockieSHalpinD, 2005, “The ‘conventionalisation’ thesis reconsidered: Structural and ideological transformation of Australian organic agriculture”Sociologia Ruralis45284–307
25.
MarsdenT, 2004, “Theorising food quality: Some key issues in understanding its competitive production and regulation”, in Qualities of Food Eds HarveyMMcMeekinAWardeA (Manchester University Press, Manchester) pp 129–155
26.
MidgleyJ, 2007, “The food state: public policy and its relationship to the food we eat”, unpublished working paper presented at the Institute for Public Policy Research Seminar, December; copy available from author on request
27.
MillerD, 2005, “What is best ‘value’? Bureaucracy, virtualism, and local governance”, in Values of Bureaucracy Ed. du GayP (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 233–254
MoodyMThévenotL, 2000, “Composing models of strategy, interests and the public good in French and American environmental disputes”, in Rethinking Comparative Cultural Sociology: Repertoires of Evaluation in France and the United States Eds LamontMThévenotL (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 273–306
30.
MorganKMarsdenTMurdochJ, 2006Worlds of Food: Place, Power and Provenance in the Food Chain (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
31.
MorrisCYoungC, 2000, “‘Seed to shelf, ‘teat to table’, ‘barley to beer’, and ‘womb to tomb’: Discourses of food quality and quality assurance schemes in the UK”Journal of Rural Studies16103–115
32.
MurdochJMarsdenTBanksJ, 2000, “Quality, nature, and embeddedness: Some theoretical considerations in the context of the food sector”Economic Geography76107–125
SonninoR, 2009, “Quality food, public procurement, and sustainable development: The school meal revolution in Rome”Environment and Planning A41425–440
45.
StorperMSalaisR, 1997Worlds of Production: The Action Frameworks of the Economy (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
46.
ThévenotL, 2001, “Pragmatic regimes governing the engagement with the world”, in The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory Eds Knorr-CeritinaKSchatzkiTSavignyE (Routledge, London) pp 56–73
47.
ThévenotLMoodyMLafayeC, 2000, “Forms of valuing nature: Arguments and modes of justification in French and American environmental disputes”, in Rethinking Comparative Cultural Sociology: Repertoires of Evaluation in France and the United States Eds LamontMThévenotL (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 229–272
48.
WAG, Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff1999a, “Lamb and beef action plan”
