Cultivating Seeds to Bread: An Historical and Ethnographic Study of the Alternative Grain Chain in Australia

Abstract

It has long been recognised that the industrialisation of agriculture and food processing from the nineteenth century radically changed societies. Today, the negative impacts of the global industrial food system – defined as resource intensive farming and standardised food processing aimed at productivity maximisation – have given rise to what is broadly called the alternative food movement. This is made up of diverse production practices, food organisations, and networks. It also includes groups of farmers, millers and bakers in Australia supplying the artisanal food and beverage market. This has presented unique challenges and opportunities for producers in a country where export-oriented, productivist grain farming and processing has been significant for national development. I approach these enterprises through an integrated ethnographic and critical historical perspective. This will highlight the interdependent relationship between alternative and conventional food supply. An historical perspective demonstrates that alternative food businesses have primarily developed in the context of neoliberal changes in the Australian food system. From an ethnographic perspective focused on the work of producers, I examine intersections in industrial and artisanal food, the values negotiated around cereal biodiversity, and varying determinations of quality. This thesis shows that ethnographic studies of alternative food production are vital for understanding how producers are navigating different possibilities for the future of food, while critical historical analysis enables deeper understanding of the present circumstance and challenges underlying these efforts.