Ruminations on the Chain

I've been ruminating for some time on the issue of equity/justice along the value chains. I serve as chair of the Southern Region SARE and am constantly trying to interject into our conversations and grant CFP rural sociologically informed frames on what might be more or less sustainable (ecol/econ/soc). I'm consistently the voice that there is a relationship between scale and sustainablity, larger the scale.. less likely sustainable. This leads to: shorter the chain, more possibility for equity/transparency/self governance along the chain. These thoughts have led me to be interested in the Ag in the Middle initiatives (ala Steve Stevenson at UW - the book on Ag in the Middle is out). The value chain is not so short as to be "relegated" to direct sales but not so long as to be "coopted" by global players. Organics fits here; global organics is not sustainable (just import subsitition controlled by same players - see Phil Howard)on this blog; also see some of the work being done by Kristen Lyons in Africa on state-driven organics mobilization for export to Europe). Local organics (certified or not certified - as Bill notes, I also know some "organic pioneers" that have build up their customer base and now dropped certication to sell "on trust")is wonderful but is it too small scale to have broad impact. That takes me to the Ag in the Middle - those moderate-sized operations that might impact rural land use more broadly and provide food for a larger percentage of the population. As Stevenson notes, what we need is moderate-sized, regionally-based, Fair Trade value chains that accomodate justice/equity along the entire chain. Of course, this does not guarantee equity, but does structurally allow the greater possiblity. From a Weberian view, we need substantive instead of instrumental value chains - where the means/ends relationship for all actors along the chain is as equitable/transparent/Fair as possible. THese are most possible at the medium to small end of the "scale" scale. I think we need to be very clear that it is a very precarious situation indeed to encourage producers to link their lives/operations to the global food system - to the long and exploitive value chains.