Introduction to symposium on private agrifood governance: values, shortcomings and strategies

Abstract

IntroductionThe governance of global food and agriculture is beingtransformed as the food system has become more global-ized and as corporate control of that system has becomemore concentrated. Traditionally the domain of govern-mental and intergovernmental actors, the governance offood and agriculture is increasingly becoming not justinfluenced, but also ‘‘created’’ by corporate actors viaprivate governance mechanisms. These mechanismsinclude industry-set quality and safety standards, privatecodes of conduct, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)initiatives. While the literature has paid considerableattention to the globalization of the agrifood system morebroadly (Bonanno et al. 1994) and has begun to look at therole of corporations in the system (Clapp and Fuchs 2009),empirical research on private governance mechanisms inglobal food and agriculture governance is only just startingto emerge. We still require considerably more insight onthe nature of the private governance mechanisms and theirimpact on fundamental values and core objectives of foodgovernance.The rise of private governance mechanisms in theagrifood system poses challenges for several fundamentalvalues and core objectives of food governance. In partic-ular, the privatization of key aspects of the agrifood gov-ernance system raises questions about their ability touphold democratic legitimacy and to promote sustainabil-ity. How do democratic ideals fit with private actors gen-erating rules and regulations that transcend nationalborders moving to spaces previously occupied by states(Schaller 2007)?