Struggling for access in the global era: the cases of edamame and rice agriculture in rural Thailand

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent research has shown that adopting a cooperative approach in agricultural production and exchange can be an effective and sustainable method in agri-food supply chains (SCs). However, existing studies have primarily focused on treating institutions as organizational components of agricultural production and exchange, with little attention given to the power dynamics inherent in agri-food collaboration. To bridge this gap, this study has integrated perspectives from new institutional economics (NIE) and political ecology. In particular, this study has drawn on the concept of “a bundle of powers” introduced by Ribot and Peluso (2003) in the “theory of access” framework. In this paper, I investigate the power dimensions of collaboration within agri-food SCs, emphasizing the importance of understanding the political relationships of agri-food production. My findings demonstrate that, while the networking between farmers and the edamame SC tends to be more socially sustainable, interactions with the rice SC have occasionally led to adverse outcomes such as indebtedness and impeded rice farming. These findings underscore the significance of taking into account the political and power dimensions of the agri-SC to comprehend and tackle the challenges encountered by farmers in their cultivation decisions.