De-commoditisation of Food: How Organic Farmers from the Madrid Region Reconnect Products and Places through Web Marketing

The growth of organic farming practices in the last few decades is continuing to stimulate the international debate about this alternative food market. As a p art of a PhD project r esearch about embeddedness in Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), this paper focuses on the promotional aspects of organic farms websites from the Madrid region. As a theoretical tool, some knowledge categories drawn on the geographic studies liter ature are used to classify the m any ideas expressed in the web pages. By analysing texts and pictures of 30 websites, the study aims to question how and to what extent actors from organic world communicate to the potential customers their pers onal beliefs abo ut farming practices, products qualities, and ecological and social benefits. Moreover, the paper raises the question of whether organ ic farming laws and regulations lack of completeness about the social and cultural aspects of food. Keywords—Alternative food networks, de -commoditisation, organic farming, Madrid, reconnection of food.