Control, exploitation and exclusion: Experiences of small farmer e-tailers in agricultural e-commerce in China

Abstract

Digital technologies are reshaping the landscape of agriculture. In 2021, around 10% of agricultural products in China were distributed through the Internet. As small farmers are traditionally subsumed by commercial capital in the sphere of circulation, this article investigates what difference online marketing has made to this relationship. Using qualitative data collected from a county in China, we examine the experiences of small farmer e-tailers. We find that agricultural e-commerce provides them with an alternative marketing channel and a larger customer base, increases the efficiency of product distribution and allows them to retain a greater share of the value they produce. However, while extant literature suggests that agricultural e-commerce has increased farmers' autonomy and income, we find that small farmers' vertical expansion into e-commerce by becoming agricultural e-tailers fails to alleviate their subsumption by commercial capital and subjects them to more oppressive forms of commercial capital in three ways. First, small farmer e-tailers are controlled by agricultural e-commerce platforms, as their transactions rely on these platforms that are quasi-monopolies in China. Second, these e-tailers are increasingly exploited by platforms and other cybermediaries whom they are forced to pay for Internet traffic. Finally, small farmers are being excluded from being e-tailers as platforms are becoming e-tailers and they cannot compete with corporate e-tailers.