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The Impact of Geographical Indications on the Power Relations between Producers and Agri-Food Corporations: A Case of Powdered Green Tea "Matcha" in Japan
... Three Japanese government agencies with different rules and institutional arrangements hold relevant jurisdictions regarding GI and similar systems: the National Tax Agency (NTA), the Japan Patent Office, and the MAFF. These systems were developed in response to agrifood trade globalization caused by WTO rules, GI and intellectual property trends in the United States (US) and the EU, and competing and overlapping ministerial interests and boundaries (Sekine, 2019). This could mean that GIs in general are a result of the "awkward embrace of European heritage agricultural protections" by Japan (Feuer, 2019). ...
... Eligible traditional characteristics must date back at least 25 years (Kohsaka and Kajima, 2019). Sekine (2019) claims that the MAFF's GI resembles the European system partially because the MAFF intends to increase exports to EU countries by implementing the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement in 2019. The MAFF generally promotes the GI system to differentiate a product for sale and to protect traditional products based on local environments, cultures, and histories. ...
This study examines how quality is defined, re-defined and dynamically formulated amongst stakeholders under political and global market pressures while registering geographical indications (GIs) for non-edible non-timber forestry products (NTFPs)—namely, Iwate Charcoal and Joboji Urushi—in Japan. To that end, Convention Theory is used as a framework for the two NTFPs as traditionally applied to manufacturing or edible products. This study investigates the following related factors: 1) the transition of convention types between NTFPs and its impact on registrations and 2) the impact of the convention types and values on the sales and sustainable use of forest resources. The study applies Convention Theory, inter alia Worlds of Production (and associated categories) coined by Storper and Salais (1997), because of its central focus on the formation of product qualities and the resulting consumption and materialistic relations. Historically, both products have been under pressure because of lower-priced imports and the substitution of the traditional energy source charcoal and material source urushi with petroleum products including oil and chemical lacuquer, respectively. Thus, the two GI registrations of NTFPs in this study were an attempt, among other options, to counter the influx of imports that results from economies of scale and technological development in scientific standardization. We observed changes in the conventions and analyzed dynamism with relevant concepts of “orders of worth,” propounded by Boltanski and Thévenot (2006), behind the four categories of Possible Worlds of Production (Market, Industrial, Interpersonal, and Intellectual Resources) proposed by Storper and Salais (1997).
Our question is as follows, “Did the GI process related to quality strengthen the existing convention or did it rather cause confrontation between conventions?” The two NTFPs provide us with unique and contrasting pathways. Through the GI process, there were negotiations, not necessarily verbal discussions, but ceremony-like events, involving nonverbal communications and technical testing, at sites to assure members and reach agreements on quality. Moreover, there are certain challenges for NTFP GIs when compared with agricultural products; obviously, there is no taste element (as both are non-edible) and the associations with consumers are possibly weaker than those with foods are. Even among NTFP products, the methods of setting standards (to compete, or to differentiate themselves, as “dedicated” products from imports of “generic” products in the Industrial World) differed. Iwate Charcoal developed as an industrial commodity and set a stricter scientific standard. Alternatively, in establishing its standard, Joboji Urushi appealed to its historical embeddedness emphasizing differences in quality resulting from variations by individual producer, local environment, and season. Participation in negotiations of quality, thus, makes producers sensitive to the needs of certain customers, such as personalized products or relationships with producers. As both are forestry products, conservation efforts (identifying individual urushi trees and replanting and coppicing after harvesting for charcoal) are practiced, which loosely resonates with consumers’ sustainability discourses. Yet, rather than green and environmental discourses, subtle associations between a nostalgic sense of “homeland,” pride in artisanship and tradition are strong factors in the promotion of domestic urushi products vis-à-vis imported competition. The comparisons are more technical in the case of charcoal with a degree of carbonization. Noteworthy registrations of non-edible NTFPs are rare in Japan (and absent in the European system). However, the producers were able to learn from, and surmount, the challenges of GI product quality agreed upon, while they achieved a new sense of solidarity.
... Geographical and climatological factors required for the cultivation of green tea As per the report, large scale production of tea tree mainly concentrates in the plateau areas of Kyushu and Honshu Islands of Japan situated in a height of 2,000 m, despite this high altitude this region is warm ad rich in rainfall due to its prevalent monsoon [11] . For the cultivation of tea tree in the areas which is close to the Northern boundary and beyond, frosting can be a severe issue [12] . To avoid this issue in the tea producing area, farmers uses water sprinklers, when water freezes, it emits a large amount of heat. ...
... Because of its traditional technique of cultivation, plants are able to produce higher amounts of bioactive compounds and amino acids, including theanine and chlorophyll which is responsible for the unique non bitter taste and soothing colour of matcha [7]. Camellia sinensis (tea tree) is considered to have originated in evergreen forest of the Tibetan plateau on its eastern flank in the present day Guighou and Yunna province of China [8] . Mountain tea tree (Yamacha) is widely distributed in mountains of Western japan. ...
... The conventionalization of organic farming has imposed small-scale family farmers to compete with large-scale business farms that propelled them to specialize on few crops, increase their farm size, or leave the sector (Guthman, 2004). The traditional agri-food products registered under the geographical indication systems are also under threat due to modernization and corporate domination (Sekine, 2018(Sekine, , 2019. When these alternative agrifood initiatives are molded in the context of Neoliberalism or the market economy, they are involved in the logics of higher competitiveness and cost containment, and eventually lose their original significance. ...
The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems – established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2002 – is a certification expected to conserve traditional agro-ecosystems and associated biodiversity, natural resources, outstanding landscapes, and cultural heritages that are at risk of extinction in the current market system. Employing the Nishi-Awa Steep Slope Land Agriculture System in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, designated as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2018, as the case study, this research explores the potential and contradictions of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System to incorporate alternative values such as traditional knowledge, biodiversity, landscape, healthy diets, and cultural heritages into the dominant hierarchy of values that favor market competitiveness. Based on original field surveys, literature review, and qualitative analyses, the study demonstrates that while the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System certification is expected to bring considerable economic opportunity through an increase in international tourists and price appreciation of the local agri-food products certified by a local agri-food labeling system (established by the public and private actors in the designated area), this system does not explicitly guarantee the values claimed in Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System certification. Therefore, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System scheme to conserve the claimed values in designated areas is faced with a contradictory situation in a market economy.
... Sin embargo, estos beneficios no se reparten necesariamente igual a lo largo de la cadena productiva y las DO pueden brindar la oportunidad a los actores dominantes de este mercado de ampliar su poder ya existente, entrar y reposicionarse en ella (Bonanno, 2019;Sekine, 2019). La situación puede dinamizar la distribución del poder político y la reorganización de los territorios en favor de los grandes competidores y en detrimento de las pequeñas producciones, en las realidades rurales, las relaciones de poder asimétricas "entre los actores de IG coexisten con la competencia, las tensiones y los conflictos ocasionales. ...
Objetivo:
Analizar las dinámicas sociales que determinaron el diseño e implementación de la Denominación de Origen Bacanora (DO), destacando la historia de la producción en la que no se han logrado construir organizaciones sociales como resultado de los años de prohibición de la bebida.
Metodología:
Se realizó investigación documental y trabajo de campo durante el segundo semestre del año 2019 en la ciudad de Hermosillo y en tres municipios de la Sierra sonorense: Suaqui Grande, Ures y La Colorada. Se realizaron un total de 35 entrevistas.
Resultados:
Se identificaron los efectos que ha tenido la Denominación de Origen Bacanora (DOB); se encontraron las causas y las consecuencias de la falta de acción colectiva entre los productores de la bebida y se lograron identificar dos estratos de productores: grandes y pequeños.
Limitaciones:
No se cuenta con una base de datos oficial en cuanto a la cantidad de productores y fábricas de bacanora en la región.
Conclusiones:
La DO es resultado de un esfuerzo exógeno a la Región de la Sierra, sin embargo, los actores locales comienzan a apropiarse de ella, lo que está detonando los recursos sociales necesarios para el desarrollo regional, aunque no necesariamente de manera igualitaria.
... with the possibility to protect the geographical name alone, making trademarks attractive (Marie-Vivien,Pick, & Dao The Anh, 2015). Similarly, in 2006, Japan introduced Regionally Based Collective trademarks, with 646 food and nonfoods certified as of 2019(Sekine, 2020). Nevertheless, this article only focuses on the sui generis GI system.In all ASEAN countries, GIs are handled by the entity in charge of intellectual property, which may be under the umbrella of the Ministry of Commerce (Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, India), the Ministry of Justice and Human rights (Indonesia), or the Ministry of Science and Technology (Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar). ...
Geographical indications (GIs) that identify products of origin were born in Southern Europe and extensively internationalized thanks to the World Trade Organization 1994 Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. This paper investigates how GIs have developed in ASEAN and Asia, the most active new area for GIs worldwide. We explore the different legislations and their practical implementation in eight out of 10 ASEAN countries with a sui generis system (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Myanmar); and in India and Japan, two Asian countries with active GI policies. Building on a comparative analysis of these countries and the EU regulations on GIs, this paper focuses on the following aspects of the GI system: the sui generis institutional system and the kind of goods protected by GIs, the scope of protection against misuses, the nature of the applicants, and the nature of control of the GI before and after registration. The paper then identifies convergences and shared challenges and recommends some strategies to ensure the success of GIs in Asia. The main challenges shared by Asian countries concern the numerous registered GIs that are not used on the market, that is, they are Sleeping Beauties waiting to be awakened. This is explained by the convergence among ASEAN and Asian countries to a top‐down state‐driven approach. To move forward, we recommend more involvement of collective organizations to bring together value chain stakeholders who should play a central role in drawing up and managing GIs.
En la medida en que se mercantiliza el mezcal, las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas (MIPYMES) pro-ductoras de este producto artesanal, vinculadas con prácticas diversas y heterogéneas que resultan más susten-tables, son sistemática y legítimamente excluidas del manejo en las plantaciones, así como de los agaves y del conocimiento para la elaboración del producto bajo la Denominación de Origen del Mezcal (DOM). Esto, con miras a favorecer a la producción industrial enfocada en la acumulación de capital y que responde a la demanda sobre todo del mercado internacional. En dicha denominación de origen, se reflejan los esquemas políticos y legales que el Estado mexicano utiliza para legitimar la exclusión y la transición de una producción artesanal a un proceso industrializado de producción. El objetivo de este ensayo, es aportar a la discusión acer-ca de los alcances y limitaciones del distintivo Denominación de Origen (DO), si realmente es un beneficio o perjuicio, ya que a pesar de que existen estados y regiones que pertenecen a dicha denominación, estos no cuentan con un crecimiento, mucho menos un desarrollo local. En todo caso, los beneficios los obtienen los intermediarios e impulsores de dicha denominación, con la, cual adquieren el producto a un bajo precio y lo comercializan en el mercado internacional a un precio mayor, y trasladan los beneficios económicos a otras regiones del país.
Geographical indications (GIs) have recently become an important tool for Japanese agricultural policy, particularly after the adoption of a “sui generis” certification system in 2015. In the same year, the United Nations proposed a common agenda with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The present paper addresses the potential of GIs to enhance SDGs in Japan. First, we examine existing knowledge on GI inception, which consists in both government reports and research surveys. We show that these studies mostly focus on SDGs related to economic growth, and on social issues raised by the registration process. Then, as an exploration of potential impacts of GIs on the full set of SDGs, we study the case of Mishima Bareisho Potato GI, on the basis of interviews and participatory observation. From local stakeholders’ point of view, Mishima Potato GI can contribute to at least nine SDGs at all the production, transformation and commercialization stages. The SDG framework is useful to reveal some contributions seldomly considered in GI studies but which matter for local people, for example, the employment of disabled people or nutritional education. Finally, we discuss how these new insights can contribute to the debate on the potential role and limits of GIs for sustainable development in Japan.
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