The ambivalence of geographic origin effects: evidence from the globalizing pork industry

Klein Oliver and Tamásy Christine
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Klein Oliver: Oliver Klein, Institut für Strukturforschung und Planung in agrarischen Intensivgebieten, Universität Vechta, Universitätsstraße 5, 49377 Vechta, Germany, e-mail: oliver.klein@uni-vechta.de
Tamásy Christine: Christine Tamásy, Institut für Strukturforschung und Planung in agrarischen Intensivgebieten, Universität Vechta, Universitätsstraße 5, 49377 Vechta, Germany

ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, 2016, vol. 60, issue 3, 134-148

Abstract: Current discourses on the agrifood sector indicate that issues like provenance, regionality or traceability are becoming more and more relevant. This also applies to the globalizing pork industry which is the focus of this paper. On the basis of a case study on the Oldenburger Münsterland, Northwest Germany, the impact of geographic origin effects on multiscalar networks of pork production is examined from the perspective of three conceptual frameworks (global production networks, commodity cultures, and imaginative geographies). The empirical findings based on expert interviews show that key actors of the pork industry (e.g. slaughterers, manufacturers, retailers) adopt specific strategies that are related to changing (and partly delusive) meanings of provenance and regionality. In this respect, several export-oriented firms emphasize a guaranteed German origin primarily in order to develop markets (particularly in East Asian countries). Regional and small-scale strategies, however, are obviously not of such a great importance as media-dominated discourses on geographic origins of foods would have us believe.

Keywords: areas of intensive agriculture; commodity cultures; global production networks; imaginative geographies; Northwest Germany; pork industry. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:zfwige:v:60:y:2016:i:3:p:134-148:n:2

DOI: 10.1515/zfw-2016-0009

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