Differentiated Standardization, Standardized Differentiation: The Complexity of the Global Agrifood System

Maki Hatanaka; Carmen Bain; Lawrence Busch

doi:10.1016/S1057-1922(06)12003-X

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Research in Rural Sociology and Development

ISSN: 1057-1922
Series editor(s): Professor Terry Marsden

Subject Area: Sociology and Public Policy

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Differentiated Standardization, Standardized Differentiation: The Complexity of the Global Agrifood System

Document Information:
Title:	Differentiated Standardization, Standardized Differentiation: The Complexity of the Global Agrifood System
Author(s):	Maki Hatanaka, Carmen Bain, Lawrence Busch
Volume:	12 Editor(s): Terry Marsden, Jonathan Murdoch† ISBN: 978-0-76231-317-4 eISBN: 978-1-84950-417-1
Citation:	Maki Hatanaka, Carmen Bain, Lawrence Busch (2006), Differentiated Standardization, Standardized Differentiation: The Complexity of the Global Agrifood System, in Terry Marsden, Jonathan Murdoch† (ed.) Between the Local and the Global (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Volume 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.39-68
DOI:	10.1016/S1057-1922(06)12003-X (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	In recent years the production and consumption of food have become both more transnational and diversified. Concurrent with these transformations has been the increasing use of standards to differentiate both agricultural products and processes. Historically standards were understood as “natural market lubricants,” but today they are increasingly viewed as tools for competitive advantage. As the use of standards has proliferated, the need to ensure compliance has also increased. Third-party certification (TPC) is one way to ensure compliance and it is becoming increasingly prominent in the global agrifood system. This chapter examines the complex effects that the widespread implementation of standards and TPC is having on the global agrifood system. What is occurring is not simple standardization and differentiation, but rather differentiated standardization and standardized differentiation. In the first instance, whereas we have standardization, it is differentiated, as multiple options remain. For example, while TPC for food safety and quality is becoming increasingly common, what such certification means continues to have considerable diversity. In the latter case, different kinds of agricultural practices are becoming standardized (i.e., organic). That is, difference (e.g., alternative agriculture) is becoming standardized, so that it is increasingly becoming the same globally. In concluding, we argue that standardization and differentiation are both taking place simultaneously in the global agrifood system, and that analyses of the globalization of food and agriculture must begin to recognize this.