From commoditisation to de-commoditisation... and back again. Discussing the role of sustainability standards for agricultural products

Sustainability standards are flooding global agricultural markets. Standards however, are not recent: standards for the exchange of grain and tropical products emerged in the 19th century. The objective of this article is to analyze, in a historical perspective, the implications of the transition from traditional standards to sustainability standards on the commoditization/de-commoditization process. We show how early standards and grades contributed to the construction of the category of products called primary commodities and how, after a short attempt at de-commoditization (with the early fair trade and organic standards), sustainability standards tend towards re-commoditization. ...French Abstract : Dans de nombreux secteurs, les standards durables de produits agricoles envahissent le marché : café respectueux des oiseaux, coton biologique, produits forestiers extraits de forêts gérées de manière durable, huile de palme durable, ananas issus du commerce équitable, bananes éthiques, etc. Dans cette course à la respectabilité environnementale et sociale, les acteurs du secteur privé supplantent progressivement les autorités publiques dans la " qualification " des produits, notamment via la promotion d'écolabels volontaires ou la communication sur les conséquences sociales et environnementales de leurs activités économiques. Cet article se propose d'analyser, dans une perspective historique, la transition observée de standards traditionnels aux standards durables, et de montrer comment cette transition a modifié le statut des produits primaires exportés par de nombreux pays du Sud. Nous défendons l'idée selon laquelle la prolifération actuelle de standards durables risque de se mener à terme à la banalisation des enjeux environnementaux et sociaux et à la dilution de leurs exigences dans une version édulcorée des standards durables qui ne donnerait lieu à aucune prime de prix pour les producteurs tout en restreignant leur accès au marché.GRADES; TRADITIONAL STANDARDS; SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS; COMMODITIES; FAIR TRADE; ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

Dynamique des systèmes agraires : la dimension économique

Le 4e séminaire "Dynamique des systèmes agraires" qui s'est déroulé pendant l'année 1987/1988, vise à éclairer le rôle des déterminants économiques et les mécanismes de fonctionnement d'ensemble de la dynamique des systèmes agraires. Les auteurs, économistes et géographes, appuient leurs réflexions sur des études de cas qui ont pour cadre, l'Afrique de l'Ouest, Madagascar et le Mexique

China and the changing economic geography of coffee value chains

For the past three centuries, the economic geography of the global coffee sector has been characterized by the supply of beans from tropical countries for consumption in North America and Europe, with various modes of value chain coordination enacted by lead firms to ensure reliable and affordable supply. This pattern is now fundamentally changing, with growth in coffee consumption in emerging markets, including China, exceeding that in established markets. But China is not only a growing consumer market, it is less well known that rapidly increasing agricultural production in Yunnan province of southwest China has also inserted the country as an important source region for coffee, and this has been pivotal in facilitating the emergence of Chinese lead firms in the sector. This article presents the emergence of China, and Chinese firms, at a critical juncture for the structure and governance of the global value chain for coffee. The processes through which this is occurring are outlined, and the implications for regional development prospects across Southeast Asia are discussed. We argue that the changing economic geography of coffee value chains, and their increasing driven-ness by Chinese actors, is starting to reshape the regional coffee industry in profoundly new ways

Who decides what is fair in fair trade? The agri-environmental governance of standards, access, and price

The agri-environmental governance of value chains can favour a Polanyian double movement seeking social protection and control over price setting markets or it can advance a neoliberal logic that strives to overcome the few remaining civic and ecologic obstacles to full market dominance. Coupled with a typology that contrasts corporate social responsibility and social economy Fair Trade models, this theoretical framework elucidates positions in the current policy debates about the minimum coffee price standard. Many Southern smallholders consider Fair Trade's standards, which for coffee include direct market accesses for smallholder cooperatives, minimum prices, and environmental criteria, among the best deals available. The smallholder empowerment benefits are often better than competing eco-labels. However, this study finds that Fair Trade minimum prices lost 41 percent of their real value from 1988 to 2008. Despite objections from several 'market driven' firms and national labelling initiatives, smallholders' collective advocacy and this research contributed to the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International's (FLO) decision to mandate a 7-11 percent minimum price increase. The price debates demonstrate that Fair Trade governance is neither purely neoliberal nor social movement led - it is a highly contested socially embedded practice. Voices without votes, North-South inequalities, and dwindling prices paid to its stated protagonists indicate the need for governance reform, cost of living price adjustments, and additional investment in the innovative alternative trade and hybrid models

USA-Europe: les freres ennemis

National audienceLe consensus qui, depuis 1930, s'etait construit sur la necessite de soutenir le revenu des producteurs via la protection de l'agriculture ou d'un systeme de subventions et de transferts a vole en eclats. On percoit maintenant des mouvements favorables a une liberalisation du commerce agricole mondial dans les annees a venir

Dossier: CNUCED, commerce ou developpement?

National audienceCreee en 1964 pour defendre les interets commerciaux des pays du tiers monde dans une optique de developpement, la Conference des Nations Unies pour le commerce et le developpement se veut clairement une alternative a l'Accord general sur les tarifs douaniers et le commerce. Contrairement au GATT qui prone le libre-echangisme et combat toute forme de protectionnisme, la CNUCED oppose une approche volontariste de l'organisation des echanges internationaux qui garantisse la stabilite des cours et des produits d'exportation. Malgre les menaces qui pesent sur l'economie mondiale l'objectif principal de la 7eme reunion de la CNUCED est la "revitalisation du developpement, de la croissance et du commerce international", objectif qui devra se traduire en projets et actions concretes. Il en va de la credibilite et de la survie de la CNUCED et des ONG qui soutiennent ses theses