Fresh Fruit and Vegetables: A World of Multiple Interactions The Case of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM) María Laura Viteri Thesis committee Thesis supervisor Prof. dr. ir. Johanness S.C. Wiskerke Professor of Rural Sociology Wageningen University (The Netherlands) Thesis co-supervisor Dr. Alberto M. G. Arce Associate Professor, Rural Development Sociology Group Wageningen University (The Netherlands) Other members Prof. Lawrence Busch Michigan State University (United States) / Lancaster University (United Kingdom) Prof. Michiel J.J.A.A. Korthals Wageningen University (The Netherlands) Prof. Terry Marsden Cardiff University (United Kingdom) Prof. John Wilkinson Rural Federal University, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) This research was conducted under the auspices of the CERES Graduate School Fresh Fruit and Vegetables: A World of Multiple Interactions The Case of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM) María Laura Viteri Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. dr. M.J. Kropff, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Wednesday 8 December 2010 at 11 a.m. in the Aula. Viteri, María Laura Fresh Fruit and Vegetables: A World of Multiple Interactions The Case of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM) Thesis Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2010) With references, with summaries in English, Dutch and Spanish ISBN 978-90-8585-814-0 To my friends here, and in other heterotopias Table of contents Acknowledgements ................................................................... xiii 1 Approaching a Fresh Produce Market Introduction to the Research Theme ............................................ 1 - Marketplaces in Food Studies .................................................... 1 - Food studies approaches .......................................................... 4 The Conceptual Framework: The Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM) Study ............................................................. 8 - Introduction ......................................................................... 8 - Setting the significance of the BACWM ....................................... 10 - The Main Conceptual Orientation of the Thesis ............................. 13 - Social Interactions ............................................................... 13 - Interface: The Outcome of Social Interactions .............................. 15 - Two Categorisations used in the Study: social space and marketplace .. 16 Issues of methodology and social interactions ............................... 19 - Fieldwork ........................................................................... 21 - Conflicts Arisen while Writing the Thesis ..................................... 24 Structure of the thesis ............................................................ 25 2 The Social Construction of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM) Introduction ......................................................................... 29 Before the BACWM’s .............................................................. 31 - Main wholesale Markets in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area ........... 31 Organisation of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Distribution .................... 39 Constructing a Marketplace ...................................................... 41 - The White Elephant Starts Operating ......................................... 44 The 1990’s: Dreadful Decade for Wholesaling .............................. 49 Conclusions ......................................................................... 55 3 Constructing Social Life at the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM) Introduction ........................................................................ 57 The Buenos Aires Wholesale Market (BACWM): Characteristics .......... 58 Following Social Groups at the BACWM ........................................ 96 - A Civil Servant at the BACWM Corporation .................................... 74 - A Vendor ........................................................................... 78 - The Daily Routine of peones and changarines at the BACWM .............. 83 Conclusions ......................................................................... 90 4 Seven Wholesalers, One Marketplace, Multiple Realities Introduction ......................................................................... 93 Wholesalers ........................................................................ 94 Multiple Origins of Wholesalers ................................................ 98 - Life Histories ..................................................................... 106 Family business: an obstacle to innovate? ................................... 111 Diverse Ways and Strategies of Supplying and Selling ...................... 113 Interactions between Wholesalers ............................................ 118 Conclusions ......................................................................... 121 The Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market as an 5 emergent property of social relations Introduction ....................................................................... 123 Corporation Chairmen and Civil Servants: The Hierarchical Coordination ................................................. 124 Different Interests and Conflicts: Interactions between Wholesalers, Civil Servants and Chairmen ..................................................... 130 - Social Interactions Transgressing Boundaries between ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ ............................................................................. 131 - Circulation of Gossip and the Visibility of Conflicts ........................ 133 Small Wholesale Markets at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ...... 136 Public Intervention .............................................................. 141 Conclusion ......................................................................... 145 6 Expression of the Global in Local Social Practices: The Interface between Wholesalers and Supermarkets Introduction ....................................................................... 149 Supermarkets in Argentina ..................................................... 151 Few Wholesalers Became Specialised-Wholesalers ........................ 154 - The Story of a Specialised-Wholesaler ........................................ 156 Supermarket Procurement Offices’ Perspective ............................ 161 Conclusions ........................................................................ 164 7 Quality as an Expression of Social Interactions Introduction ....................................................................... 167 Situating the Issue of Quality .................................................. 168 Setting the Scene of Social Interactions: The context of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables in Argentina ............... 172 Consumption of Fresh Products ................................................. 176 Controlling the Quality or Controlling the Market? ........................ 178 Buyers at the BACWM ........................................................... 181 Quality as a social organization: Greengrocers and wholesalers ....... 184 Greengrocer’s: Case-Study 1 .................................................... 186 Greengrocer’s: Case-Study 2 .................................................... 189 Greengrocer’s: Case-Study 3 .................................................... 191 Greengrocer’s: Case-Study 4 .................................................... 193 Quality Construction and the Contradictory Ensemble between Wholesalers and Supermarkets ................................................ 197 Conclusions ........................................................................ 204 8 Conclusions and Discussion The Relevance of Enacting the Social Practices in Food Studies ....... 207 The Market as a Space of Social Interactions ............................... 210 The Construction of the BACWM .............................................. 211 The Functions and the Body of the Wholesale Market ..................... 212 The BACWM as a Place of Hierarchy and Horizontal Networks .......... 213 Global/Local Interactions at the BACWM ..................................... 216 Social Interactions and the Construction of Quality ....................... 217 Annex I ............................................................................................................................ 221 References .................................................................................................................... 225 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 247 Resumen ......................................................................................................................... 253 Samenvatting ............................................................................................................... 259 About the author ....................................................................................................... 267 List of maps, figures, tables and pictures Maps 2.1. Argentina and the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ............................. 32 3.1. Geographical Location of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale ............... 59 3.2. Different accesses to the BACWM ................................................