Dimensions of the organic food market making

Abstract

Marketing shaping has been described from different theoretical perspectives, recognizing that this process involves a dynamic system of multiple agents, social, technical, and cultural elements. We connect these different perspectives
to explore a specific agri-food market – organic food – aiming to understand the different dimensions involved in the construction of alternative agri-food markets. To this end, we build a theoretical-epistemological framework that brings together practices and meanings performed by distinct actors around dimensions. In empirical terms, we run an interpretative study using 43 interviews with three groups of agents linked to the arrangement of production and
consumption of organic grape juice: a) rural producers (agroecologist winegrowers), b) manufacturing company
(winegrowers’ cooperative), and c) consumers of organic food. The integrated analysis of organic food production and
consumption of organic foods allows identifying practices and meanings that build markets orbited around cultural, sociotechnical, and strategic dimensions. Our results allow theorizing that market building, especially those that require the reconfiguration of practices and meanings like the case of organic foods, involves a multidimensional process.