The "Quality Turn" Agenda in Agribusiness: Challenging the hegemonial status of the standard quality convention in the Norwegian grocery market

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis has been to produce insights on the agendas on sustainability that are empowered by social actors as a result of a “quality turn” in food practices in the Norwegian context. I described the quality turn process consisting in a shift towards more sustainable food practices where food products embody traditional values, ecological worth, and animal welfare standards. The food qualities resulting from a quality turn are framed as “novel” food qualities and discussed in opposition to the “standardised” food qualities concerned with efficiency and low price. Norwegian authorities have invested considerable economic resources in the last 30 years to promote niche products in the domestic market with little success of seeing their market share increasing through the years. I argued that one of the reasons for such a slow development was attributed to the hegemonic status that standard quality convention covers in the Norwegian grocery market which frames conventionally produced food as “good enough” and Norwegian agriculture as almost organic. Nevertheless, I pointed out that the quality turn in agribusiness carries great relevance for the rural development, environmental sustainability and the sustainment of local food economies. Hence, the idea to look at actors that are trying to implement the quality turn in their business provided insights about more concrete constraints derived from establishing quality production as a successful practice of food production and food consumption. Therefore, I focused on organic farmers and some of their strategic partners who are subject of this study, such as food retailers and chefs, to see how they have tried to varying degrees to challenge the hegemonic status of the standard quality convention. I used Social Practice Theory and Convention Theory for developing an actor-sensitive analytical framework where actors aim to challenge social structures. The insights provided from this formwork led to argue for major policy interventions that aim at improving the market infrastructure for innovation to take place that will make more feasible for non-standard products to effectively challenge the hegemonic status of the standard quality convention in the Norwegian food market.