Geographical indications: Promoting local products in a global market.

摘要

This research examines the creation of geographical indications (GIs) for agricultural products as a means of "localizing production" within the framework of globalization. GIs are place-based names (e.g., Champagne, Colombian coffee, Darjeeling tea) that convey the geographical origin, as well as the cultural and historical identity, of agricultural products. In this study, I examine GIs as a potential tool used by local actors to counter many of the negative effects of globalization. GIs are unique, in that they provide a means of ensuring that control over production and sales of a product stays within a local area, but at the same time make use of extralocal markets. Although control over GIs largely rests with local actors, GIs are nested in wider regional, national, and international networks; and the passage from local to extralocal markets introduces new costs and benefits and new relations of power into the supply chain. The degree to which GI protection spurs development and protects local environmental and cultural resources depends in large part on the structure of the GI legislation and the political-economic context in which protection is embedded. I compare two GI production systems, tequila in Mexico and Comte cheese in France, in order to develop a theory of the factors that contribute to more sustainable, equitable GI production systems. I argue that three key differences in the design of the GI schemes help to explain the varying effects of the two cases: (1) supply chain actors' definitions of quality; (2) the way that the GI valorizes the terroir of the region; and (3) the strength and cohesion of the collective organization that governs the supply chain.