ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the Bulgarian agriculture in the socialist and post-socialist periods. It examines the changing situation of South African women of colour working on export fruit farms, in a highly labour-intensive industry stratified by race and gender. The book also examines how organic production is becoming integrated into the conventional food system in Australia and New Zealand, and how this is creating a new rift among organic growers themselves. It looks at the nature and effect of consumer trust in food, or more specifically at how high levels of Norwegian trust in Norwegian food creates something of a cultural barrier to trade in imported food. The book takes up a theme which has been central to much general sociological debate on late modern society but has perhaps been rather underdiscussed in rural sociology, that of rurality and civil society.
