Marketing of agricultural products: strengthening of regional and socio-cultural values in the Netherlands and of bulk production values in Greece
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3Wageningen University, Dept. of Social Sciences, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Traditional food products of regional specificity hardly exist in the Netherlands. The economical, political and physical production environment resulted in a homogeneous development of farms and products. Relatively similar intensive production systems are found everywhere, and farm products are delivered to centralised processing industries which export the major part as bulk products. However, international competition and national environmental regulations force part of the farmers to explore innovation pathways differing from continuous intensification and scale increase. One of such new pathways is production of special products with a high added value. Organic farming linked to short chains to market is one example, regional products are another. Since regional products were relatively non‑existent, they were either created or reinvented based on traditional recipes. The major consumer group consists of relatively wealthy, urban Europeans who perceive food and recreation as contributing to their self-realisation. Regional products represent values of a wide variety, from regional, farm-related, to processing-related. In turn, regional processes benefit from regional products. Regional products are associated with co-operation, either in the chain or in networks. Moreover, regional products activate essential values for rural development like involvement of farmers, processors, shopkeepers and tourists in the region, transparency of food production and processing to urban people and regional multifunctionality. A complementary development is seen in Greece, where a diversity of regional products with a long tradition of craftsmanship exists, but international marketing potentials are insufficiently exploited. Important values of bulk production could be incorporated here: co-operation at level of producers and processors for economics of scale and centralisation of power, uniformity of quality and product presentation. Potential Greek bulk exports should still encompass regional values. It is hypothesised that for the sustainable development of agricultural activity, bulk production and regional production should be balanced to meet economic and socio-cultural demands.