Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

We introduce and critically engage Specialized Agrarian Industrial Districts (SAIDs), geographically bounded zones that produce distinctive agricultural products, with localized-producer networks and regional inter-firm relations. We define characteristics that animate these zones, and their social/ecological opportunities and pitfalls. We examine the role that public actors—specifically nation-states—and local institutional arrangements play in supporting and enabling SAIDs as counters to global agro-industrial consolidation. Moreover, we consider SAIDs as new spatial sites, or geographical arenas for critical study. Our investigation examines cheese in the Franche-Comté, France and in Minas-Gerais, Brazil; and alcohol in South Africa’s Western Cape (wine) and Jalisco, Mexico (mezcal). Cheese and alcohol often require artisanal, centuries-old production and storage techniques; their biophysical properties and longstanding cultural traditions explain why SAIDs produce these commodities. Regulations and specific “denominations of origin” bound SAIDs, protecting them from pernicious, “race-to-the-bottom” globalization. SAIDs relate to land and property systems with long histories (agrarian reform, collective ownership, natural protection, and cultural/touristic heritage) and distinctive “terroir” (physical geographies with climate, topography, and soil central to production). SAIDs offer regional-development opportunities, negotiated relationships between workers and producers, and quality food. SAIDs cannot be created, but can be fostered where nascent. Yet concerns abound: exclusionary divisions that privilege “insiders” over “outsiders”; informal and exploited labor; nation-states that promote SAIDs at the expense of long-marginalized communities and social justice; and mass producers who deceive consumers by imitating SAIDs’ appeals. Nevertheless, if done right, SAIDs represent an urgently necessary alternative to “cheap food” and a just, sustainable regional-development strategy.