Territoriality, environment and hybrid governance tensions in alternative food networks: Cases of small-scale viticulture in Chile (original) (raw)

Viticulture and wine making are a key part of the socio-ecological landscape of central and south-central Chile. The sector is comprised of both dominant export-oriented companies (oriented to monoculture and agribusiness) and traditional small-scale production (more-or-less locally embedded and community oriented). Since the 1990s, different small-scale viticulture organizations emerged to deal with different challenges imposed by globalisation in a neoliberal institutional setting which favours extractive forms of productions (environmental resource intensive). In this article, we use the Alternative Food Network (AFN) theoretical framework and hybrid gover-nance approach to analyse the governance tensions in five small-scale viticulture organisations from Marga-Marga, Lontué and Itata valleys. Using interviews and social cartography as methods, the study shows how the territorial strategies of AFNs shape governance tensions on three dimensions: geographic space, environmental resources and human relations. Finally, the article proposes a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between scalar dynamics and the socio-environmental core values, strategic objectives and societal missions of AFNs. K E Y W O R D S alternative food networks, hybrid governance, territoriality, viticulture, wine making