Food production standards and the Chinese local state: exploring new patterns of environmental governance in the bamboo shoot industry in Lin'an

Chan, Kin and Flynn, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5728-1569 2018. Food production standards and the Chinese local state: exploring new patterns of environmental governance in the bamboo shoot industry in Lin'an. China Quarterly 235 , pp. 849-875. 10.1017/S0305741018000802

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Abstract

Although current studies into Chinese food supply and quality provide explanations for the causality of food problems there is limited inquiry into the role of county government. This is a serious omission. Firstly, because county government performs a key role in providing support for farmers through agricultural extension services and farmers’ co-operatives; and secondly because county level administrative divisions are central to developing novel instruments to manage supply chain relationships, such as food production standards. We investigate who are the key players involved in standard making and delivery at the county level. We also analyse how and why county government engages in standard setting activities. We use Lin’an’s bamboo shoot production industry as a case study to understand how the local state implements hazard-free, green and forest food production standards. The paper concludes that traditional conceptualisations of the local state do not sufficiently address how nature, knowledge of standards and state authority co-produce institutional capacity to control food supply and quality in China. In practice, the local state engages with non-state actors to achieve superficial environmental efforts, such as developing food production standards to throw a ‘green cloak’ over a productivist model.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISSN:	0305-7410
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2017
Date of Acceptance:	27 March 2017
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2023 10:33
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99498

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