Embedding Quality in the Agro-food System: The Dynamics and Implications of Place-Making Strategies in the Olive Oil Sector of Alto Palancia, Spain

Although agro-food researchers have been calling for studies that uncover the tensions inherent in the process of construction of alternative food networks, the literature has mostly focused on individual initiatives, which make it difficult to address the implications of these processes in the wider territorial context where they operate. To overcome this fragmentation and begin to draw theoretical generalizations, we compare the different strategies used by three cooperatives of olive oil producers in the Alto Palancia County (Spain). Based on a set of in-depth interviews with key food chain actors, the analysis uses the concept of embeddedness to examine the interplay between the social (trust and collective action) and the spatial (relationship with place) dimensions that characterise the olive oil networks. As we argue, this interplay plays a crucial role in shaping governance arrangements that are in turn responsible for constructing the quality attributes of the product. In addition to generating new insights into the nature of the relationship between food quality, power and place, the paper highlights the potential of both embeddedness and dis-embeddedness processes in delivering rural development benefits, as well as the importance of supporting collective place-making strategies that contribute to the creation of regional economic spaces.