ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to better understand the extent to which current practices appear to transgress inherited food production and consumption norms. The chapter explores how an emerging new paradigm of production and regime regulating consumption impact market access. One of the key characteristics that has somewhat eased these transitions is that, in contrast to the large-scale agri-businesses that characterise the agro-food sector in many parts of England, the small family farm remains the dominant social unit of Welsh agriculture. However, we must review the UK agro-food context before we are able to anatomise the Welsh transition in terms of players, institutions and governance systems. Agro-food regions such as Wales showed themselves adept at transitioning from a productivist to an organicist model and many agro-food innovations occurred accordingly. This highlights how Welsh firms are now becoming more self-confident and less conservative in the imagery and regional cultural references that they use to brand and promote their own products.
