Conventions, commodity chains and local food systems: Olive oil production in “Sierra De Segura” (Spain)

The object of the current article is to discuss the role of conventions in the normalisation of the governance of the olive oil commodity chain. The Theory of Conventions (TCs) gives some tools for a better understanding of the complexity of quality dynamics in which Local Food Systems (LFSs) play an essential role. It particularly emphasises the possibilities offered by the existence of distinct values, modes of representation and repertoires of justification, such diversity being related to the relevance of compromises and clashes among conventions. Compromises are intrinsically temporal, unstable and partially contradictory. Clashes are strongly associated with the development of differentiated strands, which are supported by sets of conventions interrelated among each other. This article is focused on the way in which agents are coordinated in one LFS, Sierra de Segura, through a complex interaction of conventions, compromises and clashes. The academic literature has traditionally focused on the effect of quality conventions on commodity chain organisation. However, other relevant conventions as the set of practices that define the systems of agrarian handling or the prevailing conventions in the management of farmers' productive organisations (cooperatives), are analysed in this article. Agency, innovation and, generally, the performance of the LFS of Sierra de Segura inside the olive oil commodity chain and, particularly, the extension and success of quality initiatives cannot be understood without considering the opportunities related to the temporality and instability of compromises and competition between different normative principles and, simultaneously, commodity chain strands which are implicit in clashes.