The Centre for Food Policy
  1. PhD students
Food Policy

Jan Moorhouse

PhD work

Reconnection: marketing fresh produce in the post-Curry era

Education

  • BSc (Hons) Business and Administration
  • Certificate in Education (FE)
  • MA Marketing
  • PG Diploma in Research Methods

The study

Janice MoorhouseThis study explores the alignment of economic, social/health and environmental goals in the English fruit and vegetable supply chain. Using the metaphor of the chain and the mechanism of the market, the Curry report of 2002 sought to reshape agriculture to create a joined up food system, a system in which farmers were reconnected to their markets and to the natural environment. The conceptualisation of farming as a business has shaped the development of food policy in the decade since Curry. In what ways and to what extent do fresh produce growers reconnect and what impact does this have? What was the role of marketing in this process? Was the policy turn to the market effective in achieving policy goals for the sustainable production and consumption of fresh produce?

Why it matters for food policy

It seems likely that increasing the production and consumption of fruit and vegetables will be a key part of a sustainable food system. Marketing is the business function most closely associated with increasing consumption (and its dialectical counterpart production) and so somewhat ironically may have a role to play in the move towards more sustainable food systems. UK Governments have in recent years turned to the market for solutions to a range of policy issues as evidenced by the emergence of social marketing, the choice agenda and the re-shaping of the citizen as a consumer of public services. At the same time marketing has been transformed in recent years, with, inter alia, the development of relational approaches and the impact of critical theory on the development of marketing as an academic discipline. How are new perspectives emerging in the marketing discourse likely to impact on food policy?  

Publications

Dunnett, A, J Moorhouse, C Walsh and C Barry, Choosing a university: a conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012 (forthcoming)

Research interests

Marketing in society, critical marketing, sustainable marketing, marketing ethics and trading behaviour.

Jan is senior lecturer, marketing, University of West London, West London Business School, Room A312, St Marys Road, Ealing, W5 5RF, email: janice.moorhouse@uwl.ac.uk