Designer Grapes: The Socio‐Technical Construction of the Seedless Table Grapes. A Case Study of Quality Control

This article focuses on agro‐food production in Murcia, Spain, and analyses the socio‐technical production processes of the seedless table grape. In the agro‐food industry, a focus on quality has driven an unstoppable process of bio‐technological innovation, which is also evident in the object of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociologia ruralis 2018-04, Vol.58 (2), p.453-469
Main Authors: de Castro, Carlos, Torres‐Albero, Cristóbal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actor-network theory
Case studies
Cultivation
Food industry
Food processing industry
Food production
Fruits
Fungi
Grapes
Human technology relationship
Innovations
Insects
Quality control
Taste
Technological change
Technology
Water supply
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Summary:This article focuses on agro‐food production in Murcia, Spain, and analyses the socio‐technical production processes of the seedless table grape. In the agro‐food industry, a focus on quality has driven an unstoppable process of bio‐technological innovation, which is also evident in the object of this study. Before these technological innovations, taste, colour and calibre as specific qualities of the grape were not considered a determinable characteristic. They had only emerged in the context of certain productive, technological and institutional conditions of possibility and the establishment of particular relationships between the agents implicated in its cultivation. By using Callon´s contribution to Actor Network Theory, the article examines how the different qualities of the seedless table grape are constructed through quality control procedures that try to stabilise the relationship between human (labour) and non‐human (technology, insects, fungi, water, sun) actors.
ISSN:0038-0199
1467-9523
DOI:10.1111/soru.12186