hal-05699234 Standards at work : looking for labour in a diversity of agri-food quality schemes

Context, research problem, practical and theoretical background Over the past few decades, the issue of labour in agriculture has become increasingly visible in debates on supply chain sustainability, decent work, and corporate social responsibility. Yet, despite coinciding with the “quality turn” in agri-food systems (Goodman, 2003), and the multiplication of quality initiatives as “promises of difference” (Le Velly, 2019), labour remains largely invisible in most quality schemes, except in fair-trade standards. This paradox raises a question central to our research: how do agri-food standards frame, represent or ignore agricultural labour and workers in the process of defining product quality? Purposes and questions We assume that agri-food standards implicitly convey different conceptions of work and of those who perform it. We hypothesise that these standards project an idealised image of labour, resulting from negotiations among diverse stakeholders and their interests. Rather than addressing the direct impacts of these standards, we will examine the way in which they 97 formalise certain visions of labour and exclude others through their rules, norms and definitions. Design, methodology, approach T his exploratory study focuses on a sample of French food quality schemes reflecting a diversity of legal forms (public labels, private certifications, collective brands, technical norms) and objectives (geographical origin, traceability of the information, environmental performance, ethical commitments, organoleptic characteristics). Each scheme was analysed through systematic keyword identification and interpretive reading to detect implicit or explicit references to work and workers. An analytical grid was progressively built to compare how these schemes define, supervise and prescribe agricultural labour. Findings The analysis reveals contrasting ways of addressing work in quality standards. Some schemes implicitly refer to labour through product traceability or environmental management, while others explicitly regulate working conditions or skills. Beyond these differences, the resulting analytical framework highlights how standards contribute to the normalisation of work, shaping what counts as “qualified labour” and which types of workers are made visible—or remain absent—from the quality narrative. Practical implications This exploratory framework offers a basis for discussion among stakeholders involved in designing and implementing quality initiatives. It may help identify entry points to integrate decent work and labour justice more explicitly into agri-food standards. Theoretical implications The study contributes to understanding how standards, as hybrid objects of public and private action, participate in the social qualification of agricultural work. It also opens new perspectives for analysing how these regulatory devices interact with the emergence of new forms of farm labour (Hostiou et al. 2026) and the broader transitions of agri-food systems.