International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food
Published by Michigan State University
Official publication of the Research Committee on Sociology of Agriculture and Food (RC-40)
of the International Sociological Association (ISA)
Editors: Raymond Jussaume, Claire Marris and Katerina Psarikidou
Frequency: 3 issues per year
ISSN: 0798-1759
Volume 22 Issue 2 (2015)
Download entire Issue as one PDF
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Value Chains or Social Capital? Producer Organizations in the Citrus Fruit Sector 85-103
Mihai Varga
Abstract PDF
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The article studies institutional performance and specifically the effectiveness of producer organizations in agriculture in areas with low levels of social capital. It finds within the same region (Sicily) one case supporting an institutionalist reading (linking low performance levels to low levels of social capital), and one success case in which, despite the burden of low social capital, producer organizations united small farmers and developed a unitary brand for their products. The article finds that the difference in institutional outcomes is due to differences between value chains, and specifically due the extent to which the interests and power of wholesalers and producers in such institutions diverge.