This research has investigated local fair trade in Kitchener-Waterloo, seeking to determine its extent, the supports and obstacles it experiences, and the reasons people engage in it. Local fair trade combines localism with the ethical principles of fair trade, and is defined as 'any business for which profit-making is a means to achievement of social goals through local action'. Twenty-eight key informant interviews were conducted with local practitioners of fair trade, and with experts knowledgeable about fair trade, business, and Kitchener-Waterloo. Five follow-up interviews with practitioners added to the data on people's motivations for working in local fair trade businesses and organizations. The research revealed that many local fair trade businesses exist in Kitchener-Waterloo, but these businesses do not see themselves as connected with one another in the practice of local fair trade. No formal or informal network exists among them. The research findings indicated numerous major supports for local fair trade including: funding, volunteers, public awareness, a focus on business management, connections between producers and consumers, support from community and individuals, and action for change on multiple levels. Interestingly, the major obstacles to local fair trade were all associated with major supports. Obstacles included financial issues (high costs, low income), need for funding, difficulties with business operations, and a lack of public support, awareness, and understanding. People were motivated to work in local fair trade by a sense that what they did was 'good' or 'right', by a desire to work towards increasing people's economic security and human development, and because they wanted to promote sustainability, human health, and a healthy environment. The findings suggested that business issues are an ongoing source of challenge for many local fair trade businesses and organizations. They also suggested that local fair trade involves a difficult balancing act between business goals and social goals. The research highlighted a perceived need for greater public awareness and support for the goals of local fair trade, as well as, contradictorily, a sense that local fair trade would be more successful if it could reach 'mainstream' consumers through good business practice (rather than shared values). The research concluded that local fair trade, while present in Kitchener-Waterloo, needs better support and promotion for existing businesses to represent a serious alternative to conventional economics. Promotion must occur on various levels, from the education of individuals to advocacy at the international level, in order to promote fair trading rules and the rights of localities to make decisions in favour of localization and of environmental protection. Promotion should also include making information on local fair trade available to prospective and current business-people, investigating a long-term solution to the problem of funding, and developing a network for local fair trade business and organizations.

This research has investigated local fair trade in Kitchener-Waterloo, seeking to determine its extent, the supports and obstacles it experiences, and the reasons people engage in it. Local fair trade combines localism with the ethical principles of fair trade, and is defined as 'any business for which profit-making is a means to achievement of social goals through local action'. Twenty-eight key informant interviews were conducted with local practitioners of fair trade, and with experts knowledgeable about fair trade, business, and Kitchener-Waterloo. Five follow-up interviews with practitioners added to the data on people's motivations for working in local fair trade businesses and organizations. The research revealed that many local fair trade businesses exist in Kitchener-Waterloo, but these businesses do not see themselves as connected with one another in the practice of local fair trade. No formal or informal network exists among them. The research findings indicated numerous major supports for local fair trade including: funding, volunteers, public awareness, a focus on business management, connections between producers and consumers, support from community and individuals, and action for change on multiple levels. Interestingly, the major obstacles to local fair trade were all associated with major supports. Obstacles included financial issues (high costs, low income), need for funding, difficulties with business operations, and a lack of public support, awareness, and understanding. People were motivated to work in local fair trade by a sense that what they did was 'good' or 'right', by a desire to work towards increasing people's economic security and human development, and because they wanted to promote sustainability, human health, and a healthy environment. The findings suggested that business issues are an ongoing source of challenge for many local fair trade businesses and organizations. They also suggested that local fair trade involves a difficult balancing act between business goals and social goals. The research highlighted a perceived need for greater public awareness and support for the goals of local fair trade, as well as, contradictorily, a sense that local fair trade would be more successful if it could reach 'mainstream' consumers through good business practice (rather than shared values). The research concluded that local fair trade, while present in Kitchener-Waterloo, needs better support and promotion for existing businesses to represent a serious alternative to conventional economics. Promotion must occur on various levels, from the education of individuals to advocacy at the international level, in order to promote fair trading rules and the rights of localities to make decisions in favour of localization and of environmental protection. Promotion should also include making information on local fair trade available to prospective and current business-people, investigating a long-term solution to the problem of funding, and developing a network for local fair trade business and organizations.

Le modèle de production, consommation et distribution agro-industriel fait l’objet depuis les années 1970 de critiques portant sur son impact environnemental, économique et sociétal. En réponse à ces critiques, s'est développé depuis les années 60 au Japon, 80 aux États- Unis, et plus récemment en France, une diversité d’initiatives et d’expérimentations socio-économiques visant à soutenir une agriculture plus respectueuse de l’homme et de la planète, basée sur de nouvelles formes d’organisation et orientée vers des échange économiques plus justes. Ces initiatives, qualifiées de systèmes agro-alimentaires alternatifs, associent de manière variée des modes production respectueux de la planète (agriculture raisonnée et biologique, agro-écologie, permaculture. Ils s’appuient par ailleurs sur des formes organisationnelles ancrées dans des dynamiques d’économie sociale et solidaire : Amaps, circuits-courts, coopératives, initiatives de commerce équitable local. Ils développent ainsi des modèles de gouvernance et d'organisation qui reconsidèrent les finalités et les modalités de l’activité économique et sont animés par une volonté de s’engager dans une « autre économie ». La question de la justice dans l’échange, incarnée par la cherche d'un prix juste, est centrale pour ces initiatives.Dans ce contexte, la thèse propose d’analyser la construction d’un prix juste au sein d’un système agro-alimentaire alternatif, engagé dans une démarche de commerce équitable local et s’appuyant sur une forme organisationnelle innovante. Il s’appuie sur le suivi, pendant trois ans, de la Société Coopérative d’Intérêt Collectif Alter-Conso, engagée dans la distribution hebdomadaire de paniers issus de l’agriculture biologique, locale et paysanne dans 14 lieux de distribution de l’agglomération lyonnaise. Cette SCIC se caractérise par un projet d’entreprise orienté vers une transformation des modes de production et de consommation alimentaire, et s'appuie sur une démarche ancrée dans les principes et valeurs coopératives. Elle réunit autour d'un même projet quatre catégories d'acteurs : salariés, producteurs, consommateurs, et sympathisants. Au sein de la coopérative, l’activité marchande est le support d’un projet avant tout sociétal et politique, orienté vers une transformation des pratiques agricoles et des modalités de gestion de l’activité économique. La thèse propose d’analyser comment les acteurs de la coopérative construisent un prix juste, au regard du projet d’entreprise et de ses modalités d’organisation.La thèse permet de montrer que la construction du prix juste au sein de cette organisation reflète une exigence de justice à la fois procédurale, commutative, et distributive. Ce travail met par ailleurs en évidence un processus de fixation du prix alternatif au prix de marché, et qui incarne les spécificités d’une organisation coopérative à finalité sociale. La construction du prix juste intègre par les finalités et les valeurs de la coopérative, à la fois dans les critères de définition et dans le choix des procédures de fixation du prix. Le prix juste est ainsi construit sur la base d’une discussion et indépendamment des variations de l’offre et de la demande. Il est défini sur la base d’une relation tripartite, durable et compréhensive entre producteurs, salariés et consommateurs de la coopérative, caractérisée par une reconnaissance des besoins réciproques des acteurs concernés par l'échange. / The industrial model of food production, consumption and distribution has been criticised since the seventies in reference to its environmental, social and economical impacts. These critics led to the emergence of a diversity of socio-economic initiatives, engaged in the promotion of a model of agriculture that is more respectful of the planet and its inhabitants, based on new organizational forms and oriented towards fair economic exchange. These alternative food systems refer to a diversity of production methods, including responsible and organic farming, agroecology, permaculture. Alternative food systems generally rely on organisations engaged in a social or solidarity economy : Community supported agriculture, short food supply channels, cooperatives, local fair trade. They reconsider the purpose and terms of economic activity and are driven by a desire to engage in an alternative economy. The question of fairness in exchange, embodied by the will to define a fair price, is of central matter for these initiatives.In this context, this thesis aims at analysing the construction of a fair price within an alternative food system. This system is engaged in a dynamic of local fair trade, and is based on an innovative organizational form. An empirical study has been conducted during three years within the cooperative Alter-Conso. This social cooperative proposes a weekly distribution of local and organic food products, in 14 delivery points in and around the city of Lyon. It puts forward the values and principle of a social and solidarity economy, and brings together into cooperation four categories of members : employees, producers, consumers, supporters. In this sense, economic activity aims primarily at achieving a social and political goal, oriented towards a transformation of agricultural practices and questioning the dominant management practices of economic life. The thesis aims at analysing how the members of the cooperative construct a fair price, considering its social project and its organizational form.The thesis shows that the construction of a fair price articulates three forms of justice : distributive , commutative, and procedural. It shows how the cooperative defines a price definition process that is an alternative to the market price. Indeed, the price construction takes into account the values and social goals of the cooperative, both in the criteria that define a fair price and in the price fixation process. The price construction is based on a discussion among the cooperative’s stakeholders, regardless of the variations of supply and demand. It is constructed on the basis of a lasting, comprehensive and tripartite relationship between the producers, the consumers, and the cooperative employees. The relationship is based on reciprocity and on the recognition of the needs of all the people affected by the exchange.