[en] In a context of multiple crises, dairy farmers struggle to receive a fair remuneration for their work. This situation led to the creation of fair milk projects in Europe. But fair trade projects often suffer from ambiguous interpretations that place them simultaneously in and against the market. This study focuses on a Belgian milk label in order to analyse how dairy farmers developed a particular strategy to create their own fair milk. Based on semi-structured interviews and using the multi-level perspective, we propose that articulating the concepts of lock-ins, bricolage and ambiguity enables us to analyse the potential of this innovation for the transition of the Belgian dairy system. The study shows that fairness is often a matter of divergent interpretations, and its final actualisation is the product of emergent and negotiated relations. By using bricolage practices, the stakeholders reinforced their capacity to gain market power and act within the system they want to change.
Research center :
SEED équipe de recherche
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences
Author, co-author :
Feyereisen, Marlène ; Université de Liège > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.) > Gouvernance de l'environnement
Stassart, Pierre M ; Université de Liège > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.) > Gouvernance de l'environnement
Melard, François ; Université de Liège > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.) > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.)
Language :
English
Title :
Fair Trade Milk Initiative in Belgium: Bricolage as an Empowering Strategy for Change
Barley, W.C., P.M. Leonardi and D.E. Bailey (2012) Engineering objects for collaboration: strategies of ambiguity and clarity at knowledge boundaries. Human Communication Research 38 pp. 280–308
Benzerafa, M., L. Garcin and P. Gibert et al. (2011) Le management par objectifs met-il fin à l'ambiguïté dans la gestion publique?. Politiques et Management Public 28 (3) pp. 353–389
Cowan, R. and P. Gunby (1996) Sprayed to death: path dependence, lock-in and pest control strategies. The Economic Journal 106 pp. 521–542
Dannevoye, B. and M. Mormont (2014) Ambiguïté et politique publique: les compléments alimentaires (working paper). Working Paper SEED 1 (Arlon, Belgium: SEED, University of Liège)
Darnhofer, I. (2015) Socio-technical transitions in farming: key concepts. Pp. 17–31 in L.-A. Sutherland, I. Darnhofer, G. Wilson et al. eds, Transition pathways towards sustainability in agriculture. Case studies from Europe (Wallingford, CT: CABI)
Diaz, M., I. Darnhofer and C. Darrot et al. (2013) Green tides in Brittany: what can we learn about niche-regime interactions?. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 8 pp. 62–74
Dubuisson-Quellier, S. (2006) Different types of consumer's involvements within fair trade in France. Study day Les nouvelles figures des marchés agroalimentaires : apports croisés de l'économie, de la sociologie et de la gestion, March 2006 (Montpellier, France: GDR Economie & Sociologie)
Elzen, B., M. Barbier and M. Cerf et al. (2012a) Stimulating transitions towards sustainable farming systems. Pp. 431–455 in I. Darnhofer, D. Gibbon and B. Dedieu eds., Farming systems research into the 21st century: The new dynamic (Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer)
Elzen, B., B. van Mierlo and C. Leeuwis (2012b) Anchoring of innovations: assessing Dutch efforts to harvest energy from glasshouses. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 5 pp. 1–18
European Court of Auditors (2009) Have the management instruments applied to the market in milk and milk products achieved their main objectives? Special report 14/2009
European Milk Board (EMB) (2012) Coopératives, entre mythe et réalité (Hamm, Germany: EMB publication)
Feyereisen, M. and F. Mélard (2014) From fair milk to fair enterprise: the consequences of an unexpected “bricolage”. Outlook on Agriculture 43 (3) pp. 207–211
Foray, D. (1997) The dynamic implications of increasing returns: technological change and path dependent inefficiency. International Journal of Industrial Organization 15 pp. 733–752
Fridell, G. (2003) Fair trade and the international moral economy: within and against the market (working paper). CERLAC Working Paper Series, January 2003 (Toronto, Canada: CERLAC, York University)
Garud, R. and P. Karnøe (2003) Bricolage versus breakthrough: distributed and embedded agency in technology entrepreneurship. Research Policy 32 (2) pp. 277–300
Geels, F.W. (2005) Processes and patterns in transitions and system innovations: refining the co-evolutionary multi-level perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 72 pp. 681–696
Geels, F.W. (2011) The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: responses to seven criticism. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 1 (1) pp. 24–40
Geels, F.W. and J. Schot (2007) Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Research Policy 36 (3) pp. 399–417
Goffman, E. (1974) Frame analysis an essay on the organization of experience (Cambridge: Harvard University Press)
Grin, J. and A. van Staveren (2007) Werken aan systeeminnovaties. Lessen uit de ervaringen van InnovatieNetwerk (Assen: Van Gorcum)
Hahn, R. (1984) Market power and transferable property rights. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 99 (4) pp. 753–765
Haynes, I. (2006) Défis et tensions dans le commerce équitable: une approche bibliographique. Pp. 111–134 in C. Auroi and I. Yepez del Castillo eds., Economie solidaire et commerce équitable: acteurs et actrices d'Europe et d'Amérique Latine (Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain)
Huybrechts, B. (2010) Les organisations de commerce équitable face aux tensions entre solidarité et marché. Pp. 53–61 in M.-F. Turcotte and C. Hervieux eds., Mettre en marché pour une cause: enjeux commerciaux et impacts du commerce équitable (Montréal, QC: Presses de l'Université du Québec)
Huybrechts, B. (2012) Fair trade organizations and social enterprise (New York: Routledge)
Journe, B. and N. Raulet-Croset (2008) Le concept de situation: contribution à l'analyse de l'activité managériale dans un contexte d'ambiguïté et d'incertitude. M@n@gement 11 (1) pp. 27–55
Karpik, L. (1996) Dispositifs de confiance et engagements crédibles. Sociologie Du Travail 38 (4) pp. 527–550
Lamine, C., M. Barbier, J. Blanc et al. (2010) Reducing the dependence on pesticides: a matter of transitions within the whole agri-food system. 9th European IFSA Symposium, July 2010 (Vienna, Austria: IFSA)
Law, J. and A. Mol (2002) Local entanglements or utopian moves: an inquiry into train accidents. The Sociological Review 50 pp. 82–105
Le Velly, R. (2004) Sociologie du marché. Le commerce équitable: des échanges marchands contre le marché et dans le marché. Thesis (Nantes, France: Université de Nantes)
Leach, M., I. Scoones and A. Stirling (2010) Dynamic sustainabilities: technology, environment, social justice (London: Earthscan)
Lebacq, T. (2015) La durabilité des exploitations laitières en Wallonie: analyse de la diversité et voies de transition. Thesis (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Université de Louvain-la-Neuve)
Leherte, O. (2015) Fairebel: devenir actionnaire d'une coopérative agricole belge? RTBF Available online at https://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/detail_devenir-actionnaire-d-une-cooperative-agricole-belge?id=9115687 Accessed 4 April 2016
Levi-Strauss, C. (1967) The savage mind (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press)
Magrini, M.B., M. Anton, C. Cholez et al. (2016) Why are grain-legumes rarely present in cropping systems despite their environmental and nutritional benefits? Analyzing lock-in in the French agrifood system. Ecological Economics 126 pp. 152–162
March, J.G. (1978) Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal of Economics 9 (2) pp. 587–608
Mol, J.-J. van (2005) Le lait et ses dérivés. Origine et essor d'une industrie (Bruxelles, Belgium: Université Libre de Bruxelles Press)
Nelissen, T. (2013) CAP sur 2015. Le Jeudi Available online at http://jeudi.lu/cap-sur-2015-2/ Acessed 2 April 2016
Özçağlar-Toulouse, N., A. Béji-Bécheur and P. Robert-Demontrond (2010) Demystifying fair trade in France: the history of an ambiguous project. Journal of Business Ethics 92 pp. 205–216
Raynolds, L. and M. Long (2007) Fair/alternative trade: historical and empirical dimensions. Pp. 15–32 in L. Raynolds, D. Murray and J. Wilkinson eds., Fair trade: the challenges of transforming globalization (London: Taylor & Francis)
RICCO – Research and Information Center of Consumer Organisations (2012) Consumer behavior monitor: le baromètre des consommateurs Available online at http://www.crioc.be/files/fr/6742fr.pdf Accessed 5 December 2013
Roep, D. and J.S.C. Wiskerke (2012) Reshaping the foodscape. Pp. 207–228 in G. Spaargaren, P. Oosterveer and A. Loeber eds., Food practices in transition: changing food consumption, retail and production in the age of reflexive modernity (New York: Routledge)
Simmel, G. (1908 [1984]) Digressions sur l’étranger. Pp. 53–59 in Y. Grafmeyer and I. Joseph eds., L’école de Chicago. Naissance de l’écologie urbaine (Paris, France: Flammarion)
Siweck, J.-L. (2000) Le beurre et l'argent du beurre. d'Land Available online at http://www.land.lu/2000/2006/2008/le-beurre-et-largent-du-beurre/ Accesed 2 April 2016
Smith, A. (2007) Translating sustainabilities between green niches and socio-technical regimes. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 19 (4) pp. 427–450
Smith, A. and R. Raven (2012) What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability. Research Policy 41 (6) pp. 1025–1036
Stassart, P. and D. Jamar (2008) Steak up to the horns! The conventionalization of organic stock farming: knowledge lock-in in the agrifood chain. GeoJournal 73 pp. 31–44
Vankeerberghen, A. and P.M. Stassart (2016) The transition to conservation agriculture: an insularization process towards sustainability. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 14 (4) pp. 392–407
Vanloqueren, G. and P. Baret (2009) How agricultural research systems shape a technological regime that develops genetic engineering but locks out agroecological innovations. Research Policy 38 pp. 971–983
Vatin, F. (1990) L'industrie du Lait. Essai d'histoire économique (Paris, France: L'Harmattan)
Verbong, G. and F. Geels (2010) Exploring sustainability transitions in the electricity sector with socio-technical pathways. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 77 pp. 1214–1221
