The convergence of alternative food networks within “rural development” initiatives: the case of the New Rural Reconstruction Movement in China^†

† Readers who are interested in further details of the larger research project from which this paper emerged can refer to our project website at http://env-blogs.uwaterloo.ca/ecoagchina/.

Abstract

Rural sociologists and geographers have conceptualised different rural development trajectories including “the agri-industrial model”, “the post-productivist model” and “the rural development model”. Alternative food networks (AFNs) are increasingly recognised as a “forerunner” and a critical component of the emerging “rural development model” in the West. Meanwhile, Marsden and Franklin [2013. Replacing neoliberalism: theoretical implications of the rise of local food movements. Local Environment, 18 (5), 636–641] pointed out that there is a “local trap” in the current conceptualisation of AFNs that overemphasises their local embeddedness and heterogeneity. This “local trap” marginalises AFNs and, therefore, hinders their potential for transforming the industrialised conventional food system. The convergence and scaling-up of fragmented AFNs have been recognised as important ways to address this marginalisation issue and thus have attracted considerable attention. However, current studies of the convergence of AFNs focus mainly on the role of food-centred organisations without recognising the role of the emerging “rural development” initiatives in the convergence of AFNs. Based on in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of secondary data, this paper uses the New Rural Reconstruction Movement (NRRM), an emerging alternative rural development movement in China, as an example to illustrate how the NRRM opens up a novel space for the convergence of AFNs. We argue that the interrelationship between AFNs and rural development is indeed reciprocal. The NRRM, following the “rural development” trajectory, functions as a hub for the convergence and scaling-up of various alternative food initiatives. Strategies for achieving convergence include constructing a “common ground” for these initiatives, establishing national alliances and organisations, sharing knowledge and exchanging personnel among them.

Keywords:

• alternative food networks
• scale-up
• convergence
• rural development
• local trap
• China

Notes

† Readers who are interested in further details of the larger research project from which this paper emerged can refer to our project website at http://env-blogs.uwaterloo.ca/ecoagchina/.

1. CSA farms enable a customer to pay the farmer before the growing season to become a “shareholder” of the farm. The farmer commits to farming ecologically and typically delivers a share of the harvest to the shareholder on a regular basis during the growing season. In this way, the consumer reconnects with the farmer by sharing both the risk and the harvest.

2. These organisations had various backgrounds which included social groups, entities from the private sector, governmental agencies and educational institutes.

3. Since the enactment of the Law on Specialised Farmer Cooperatives in 2007, the Chinese government has been proactively promoting the development of farmers’ cooperatives. However, the various policy supports and subsidies mainly benefited big households, “dragon-head enterprises” (longtou qiye) and other agro-enterprises rather than small peasant farmers, and fostered the expansion of capital in the countryside (Yan and Chen 2013). In this sense, these policies do not constitute a meaningful part of the “new policy support structure” for the “rural development” trajectory.

4. Hazard-free (wu gonghai) is a Chinese food quality standard alongside two other major standards – green food and organic food. See Scott et al. (2014) for more details.

5. Pan Jia'en is one of the key leaders of the NRRM in academia. He served as the executive director of the James Yen Rural Reconstruction College, a key base for the NRRM and has been greatly involved in the operation of the Little Donkey Farm and also facilitated various conferences organised by the NRRM.

6. Interviews with CSA farmers in Changzhou, Jiangsu province on 15 April 2012, Chongqing on 4 May 2012 and Fuzhou, Fujian province on 2 June 2012.

7. Translated from the proclamation of the establishment of the National Ecological Agriculture Mutual-Aid Network. We obtained this document from the 4th National CSA Symposium in 2012.

8. The idea of NSCC was derived from theories of a group of mainstream Chinese economists including Lin Yifu who formed China's economic think tank. It was employed as an approach to stimulate rural consumption to cope with overproduction in the Chinese economy (see Lin 1999, Yan and Chen 2013).

9. Interview with a CSA farmer, Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, 13 May 2012.

Additional information

Funding

The fieldwork on which this paper is based was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.