Global decisions and local realities - priorities and producers' upgrading opportunities in agricultural global production networks

As certification is proving ever more popular as a particular manifestation
of economic, social and environmental upgrading activities, this paper seeks to explore the socio-economic, commercial and environmental priorities which shape stakeholder certification choices in global production networks (GPNs),
and the implications which upgrading intentions entail for smallholders’ development outcomes. The paper argues that there is a need to problematize firstly the diverging socio-economic, environmental and commercial priorities which different stakeholders associate with the implementation of sustainability
standards, and secondly to unpack the assumed automatism of upgrading activities entailing benefits for producers at the local level.

The paper introduces a malleable approach, the ‘constellation of priorities’, that enables systematic assessment of drivers across stakeholders, thus providing agency to all GPN participants. The paper presents two agricultural global production networks as case-studies, the production of fresh fruit and vegetables in Kenya and the cocoa sector in Nicaragua. The case-studies explore the complexities of the tensions between stakeholders’ socio-economic, commercial and environmental priorities, highlighting that priorities projected through stakeholders’ power and embeddedness relations affect how local outcomes, positive and negative, materialise for farmers.