FAMILY FARMERS, REAL REGULATION, AND THE EXPERIENCE OF FOOD REGIMES

The literature on food regimes gives insufficient attention to the nat ional and regional variability in the experience of food regimes. Two analytical frameworks are integrated for this purpose in this paper. R ecent debates on the nature of family farming as a form of production and its relationships to the capitalist economy and further developmen t of the concept of 'real' regulation enable us better to understand p ast food regimes and the processes of uneven development in western ec onomies. Social and political movements in the countryside, often supp orted by legislation, are suggested as neglected elements in understan ding the experience of individual nations within historical and emergi ng global food systems. By their association in communities, in cooper atives, and in more politically-oriented organizations, farmers are ab le to influence the form of agro-commodity chains and legislation gove rning the rural sector, key factors which influence the variability of the experience of food regimes. Our examples are France and the settl er economy of New Zealand. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.