Rendering quality technical: modern quinoa, modern farmers, and the moral politics of quality standards

The quinoa export boom generated a rapid standardization project that sought to transform a heteroglot local grain into a uniform global commodity that could flow smoothly through global markets. All agricultural commodities come into being through different standardization processes that materializ...

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Published in:Agriculture and human values 2023-03, Vol.40 (1), p.305-315
Main Author: McDonell, Emma
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agrarian structures
Agricultural commodities
Agricultural Economics
Agricultural Ethics
Agricultural production
Commodities
Development Studies
Education
Environmental Sociology
Exports
Farmers
Farming systems
Global marketing
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Philosophy
Politics
Quality standards
Quinoa
Resilience
Science
Standardization
Sustainable Development
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description The quinoa export boom generated a rapid standardization project that sought to transform a heteroglot local grain into a uniform global commodity that could flow smoothly through global markets. All agricultural commodities come into being through different standardization processes that materialize specific concepts of quality. Yet the sudden rise in export demand for quinoa, massive price surge, and the biodiverse nature and local orientation of existing quinoa production made quinoa’s standardization particularly dramatic. This article traces the enforcement of quality standards for quinoa export ethnographically, focusing on the interactions between farmers and técnicos, a category of actors tasked with training farmers in “quality” quinoa production and enforcing quality at the moment of sale. I argue that standards moralize agricultural production practices, redefining “good quinoa” and “good farmers.” At the same time, they serve as powerful tools to render technical the reorientation of Andean agricultural systems toward quinoa export. Advocates for more just and ecologically sustainable global commodity chains should pay attention to quality standards as a key site of politics with major ramifications for inclusion/exclusion and resilience.
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subjects Agrarian structures
Agricultural commodities
Agricultural Economics
Agricultural Ethics
Agricultural production
Commodities
Development Studies
Education
Environmental Sociology
Exports
Farmers
Farming systems
Global marketing
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Philosophy
Politics
Quality standards
Quinoa
Resilience
Science
Standardization
Sustainable Development
title Rendering quality technical: modern quinoa, modern farmers, and the moral politics of quality standards
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