Mobile market and changing food governance: the world of non-certified organic food in Beijing

By engaging the frameworks of boundary organizations and social worlds, this article examines the emergence of non-certified organic agri-food in China by studying its pioneer organization - the Beijing Farmers' Market (BFM). Based on tri-angulated analysis of texts, semi-structured interviews and on-site observations, we show that BFM allows diverse organic agri-food actors to cooperate by constructing a market configuration that accommodates elements of their diverse social worlds. This study contributes to studies that explore the expanding 'civic' spaces in China by explaining how civic actors mediate a public problem under the radar of State regulation. It sheds light on how some seemingly 'ungoverned' objects are indeed regulated through social interactions in margins of the mainstream food system.