Chapter 10: Effects of the division of labor on the distribution of fresh produce: The case of Argentina

The aim of this chapter is to explore the effects of the division of labor on the emerging organizational forms of agri-food distribution in Argentina. These effects imply crucial new social dimensions, which are difficult to separate from the context of global modernity and modernization processes. The actors involved in fresh produce distribution are currently coping with the impact of “contemporary” modernity and modernization processes. Recognizing the actors’ reflexive knowledge and the expression of globalization through the division of labor may help to understand the organizational changes in the fresh produce distribution in Argentina.

Historically, any important change in the social organization of the fresh fruit and vegetable distribution has undermined local market spaces. The Buenos Aires Wholesale Market is the outcome of such modernization process (Viteri & Arce, 2010). This marketplace has been threatened by different public policy interventions and the expansion of transnational retailers that entered Argentina’s distribution scene in the 1980s. This situation has eroded certain forms of fresh produce distribution, generating actors’ responses that does not sufficiently correspond to the standard features of global food distribution chains (Viteri & Arce, 2013). While resistance to modernization policies is part of the story, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this process is how local entrepreneurs and the new populations (Bolivians, Koreans, and Chinese) have interacted with each other and how global fresh produce distribution has further influenced this interaction. This is the context where individuals and collective actors are subject to self-organizing processes and intervention.