Abstract:
The motivation for the thesis at hand is an interest in The European Commissions schemes for geographical indications and traditional specialities. In 1992 the European Commission founded a scheme with the purpose to protect certain foods, in a way so no other growers were allowed to give their products the same name. At the same time the schemes are meant to give the consumer a quality assurance and furthermore increase the competitive position of the growers who succeed in having their products licensed.
It is possible to apply for three different types of schemes: PDO (protected designation of origin), PGI (protected geographical indication) and TSG (traditional specialty guaranteed).

In their approval of products the European Commission promises that the licensed products possess a certain amount of authenticity. This made me wonder to what degree the natural environments and human factors at the place of growth affects the European Commissions licence to a given product, which led me to my thesis statement:

What is the link between the natural environment and the human factors at Lammefjorden - that are embodied in the concept of terroir – and the approval of Lammefjordsgulerødder (carrots from the area of Lammefjorden) as a product with geographical indications and traditional specialities?

In attempt to search for an answer to this thesis statement I have chosen to compose a case study. I make use of Lammefjorden as my case. I do so because Lammefjordsgulerødder (carrots from the area of Lammefjorden) is one of the five Danish products that have accomplished being licensed with one of the three EU schemes - PGI (protected geographical indication). Futhermore I interview a grower of Lammefjordsgulerødder and an employee at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration to learn more about the demands that growers, who wish to get their products licensed, are met with.

Additionally, in relation to the thesis statement, it becomes relevant to take a closer look at the fresh concept “terroir”. Terroir can roughly be translated to “the taste of place” indicating that a given product gets part of its taste from its place of origin. Therefore part of this thesis gives attention to this concept and how it gives meaning to this thesis.

Throughout my discussion/analysis I reach a number of sub-conclusions:
• The European Commission’s purpose of the schemes - giving the consumer a quality assurance and furthermore increase the competitive position of the growers who succeed in having their products licensed – does not quite add up with the findings from Auchmann and Grunerts study’s on the schemes, seeing that they reach the conclusion that very few Danish consumers actually know of the schemes.
• I take a closer look at two Danish applications approved by the European Commission - Lammefjordsgulerødder (carrots from the area of Lammefjorden) and Danablu ost (Danablu cheese). In doing so I found the two applications to be very different – while acknowledging the fact that we are dealing with two very different products. Still some sort of standard regarding the design of the application and the demands you meet as an applicant was to be expected. But while the application for the carrots held certain aspects of the natural environment surrounding Lammefjorden (but none as to how those affected on the product) the application for the cheese emphasised more subjective, variables such as the products taste or texture. To sum up: nor here did I gather much knowledge of what the European Commission emphasise in their approval of products.
• Through my empirical data - my interviews with a licensed grower and an employee at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration – I found that both respondents not only indicated but actually stated that the main aspect of getting a product approved is to be found in the rhetoric of the application. Therefore the grower I interviewed has hired a journalist to help him frame his next application to the European Commission where he hopes to have his potatoes approved. And the employee at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration directly states that the link between the natural environment and the human factors at the place of growth and the European Commissions license of products are close to none-existing – its all about how you put your application into words.

On the basis of the sub-conclusions above I have reached a conclusion to my thesis statement. I have realized that my hypothesis, that the natural environments and human factors at Lammefjorden was a vital part of the European Commissions foundation to give licence to Lammefjordsgulerødder as a product with geographical indications and traditional specialities, was let down. In fact I have reached the conclusion that the link between the two is very limited. It seems that there is attached more importance to a number of other variables than the natural environments and human factors at the place of growth. I find that that is why subjects like rhetoric, food quality, competitive position etc. have become keywords in this thesis even though it actually had a thesis statement at the core of physical geography to start with.