Rural identity in organic food processing - a sensemaking approach

The main focus in this paper is to analyze identified different relations and interpretations of 'the rural' in three organic processing companies situated in rural areas in Denmark. In order to look at the differences, Weick's (1995) sensemaking perspectives are introduced. The main results show that the three companies are enacting their rural identity in slightly different ways. Besides the differences, similar aspects in the three companies' markets are identified. All three companies are mainly dependent on urban markets. They all use branding strategies oriented towards urban consumers. It is concluded that the rural identity can have many expressions and that the companies are not comparable with the organic rural farming identities in all aspects. The future focus of developing values in organic companies might need a more independent focus.