Whatever Happened to Organic? Food, Nature and the Market for “Sustainable” Food

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Rigby's Henry Schapper Fellowship and comments from Karen Charman, Pat Devine, Matthew Grenier, Phil Woodhouse and participants at Ecological Economics conferences and seminars.

Notes

This is a quote from Roger Blobaum who has a long history in the organic sector. He sits on the board of the Organic Farming Research Foundation and represented the World Sustainable Agriculture Association at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

²Matthew Reed, “Fight the Future! How the Contemporary Campaigns of the U.K. Organic Movement Have Arisen from their Composting of the Past,” Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 41, No. 1, January 2001, pp. 131–145.

³One of the ten Approved U.K. certification bodies.

⁴BBC, Newsnight, October 4, 2006.

⁶BBC, op. cit.

⁵S. Laville and J. Vidal, “Supermarkets Accused over Organic Foods,” The Guardian, October 5, 2006.

⁷For more on these approaches, see Dan Rigby and Daniel Càceres, “The Sustainability of Agricultural Systems,” Working Paper 10, Rural Resources/Rural Livelihoods Working Paper Series, Institute for Development and Policy Management, University of Manchester & Department of Rural Development at the National University of Cordoba, Argentina, July 1997; Dan Rigby and Daniel Càceres, “Organic Farming and the Sustainability of Agricultural Systems,” Agricultural Systems, Vol. 68, No. 1, April 2001, pp. 21–40; and Mary V. Gold, Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms, Special Reference Briefs Series, No. SRB 94–05, USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL), Beltsville, MD, 1994.

⁸I. Hodge, “Sustainability: Putting Principles into Practice: An Application to Agricultural Systems,” paper presented to the Rural Economy and Society Study Group, Royal Holloway College, December 1993.

¹⁰John Ikerd, “Two Related but Distinctly Different Concepts: Organic Farming and Sustainable Agriculture,” Small Farm Today, Vol. 10, No. 1, February 1993, pp. 30–31.

⁹A.M. Scofield, “Organic Farming: The Origin of the Name,” Biological Agriculture and Horticulture, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1986, pp. 1–5.

¹¹Nic Lampkin, “Organic Farming: Sustainable Agriculture in Practice,” in Lampkin and Padel (eds.), The Economics of Organic Farming: An International Perspective (Oxford: CABI, 1994), p. 5.

¹²IFOAM, Norms For Organic Production And Processing, 2002.

¹³M. Stolze, A. Piorr, A Häring, and S. Dabbert, Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe, Vol. 6 of the series “Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy” (Stuttgart-Hohenheim: Universität Hohenheim, 2000), p. ii.

¹⁴M. Stolze, A. Piorr, A Häring, and S. Dabbert, Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe, Vol. 6 of the series “Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy” (Stuttgart-Hohenheim: Universität Hohenheim, 2000), p. ii.

¹⁵M. Stolze, A. Piorr, A Häring, and S. Dabbert, Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe, Vol. 6 of the series “Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy” (Stuttgart-Hohenheim: Universität Hohenheim, 2000), p. iii.

¹⁶M. Stolze, A. Piorr, A Häring, and S. Dabbert, Environmental Impacts of Organic Farming in Europe, Vol. 6 of the series “Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy” (Stuttgart-Hohenheim: Universität Hohenheim, 2000)., p. iv.

¹⁷Hodge, op. cit., p. 4.

²⁰B. Hall, “Posting to the Sanet-Mg Sustainable Agriculture Internet Discussion List,” February 6, 1996.

¹⁸Vernon Gill Carter and Tom Dale, Topsoil and Civilization (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974).

¹⁹B. Hall, “Posting to the Sanet-Mg Sustainable Agriculture Internet Discussion List,” February 6, 1996.

²¹Reed, op. cit.

²²IFOAM, “Nearly 31 Million Certified Organic Hectares Worldwide,” IFOAM press release, 2007.

²³Soil Association, “Organic Market Report—Executive Summary,” Soil Association, U.K., 2006.

²⁴Michael Pollan, “How Organic Is Corporate/Industrial Organic?” New York Times Magazine, May 13, 2001.

²⁵Laville and Vidal, op. cit.

²⁶Timothy Vos, “Visions of the Middle Landscape: Organic Farming and the Politics of Nature,” Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 2000, pp. 245–256.

²⁷Timothy Vos, “Visions of the Middle Landscape: Organic Farming and the Politics of Nature,” Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 2000, pp. 245–256.

²⁸Note that this interpretation is disputed. Guthman talks about the initial proposals as being mistaken as the evisceration of organic standards by the conventional transnational corporations. See Julie Guthman, “The Trouble with ‘Organic Lite’ in California: a Rejoinder to the ‘Conventionalization’ Debate,” Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 44, No. 3, July 2004, pp. 301–316.

²⁹Pollan, op. cit.

³⁰Pollan, op. cit.

³¹William Duesing, “Is Organic Enough?” The Natural Farmer, 2, 27, Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), Winter 1995–1996.

³²Patrick Madden, “Posting to the Sanet-Mg Sustainable Agriculture Internet Discussion List,” December 14, 1996.

³³Duesing, op. cit.

³⁴Andy Jones, Vicky Hird, Jeanette Longfield, and Merav Shub, “Eating Oil—Food in a Changing Climate,” Sustain: the Alliance for Better Food and Farming, London, 2001.

³⁵SAFE Alliance, “The Food Miles Report: The Dangers of Long Distance Food Transport,” SAFE, London, 1994.

³⁶Caroline Lucas, “Stopping the Great Food Swap: Relocalizing Europe's Food Supply,” Green Party report to the European Parliament, 2001.

³⁷AEA, “The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development,” report to DEFRA, U.K., 2005.

³⁸Vicky Hird, “Food Miles: Still on the Road to Ruin,” Sustain, London, 1999.

³⁹Nick Robins and Sarah Roberts (eds.), “Changing Consumption and Production Patterns: Unlocking Trade Opportunities,” International Institute for Environment and Development, New York, 1997; M. Blowfield, “Ethical Trade: A Review of Developments and Issues,” unpublished report for NRI, University of Greenwich, U.K., 1999; N. Robins, S. Roberts, and J. Abbot, “Who Benefits? A Social Assessment of Environmentally Driven Trade,” International Institute for Environment and Development, London, 2000; H.R. Barrett, A.W. Browne, P.J.C. Harris, and K. Cadoret, “Organic Certification and the U.K. Market: Organic Imports from Developing Countries,” Food Policy, Vol. 27, No. 4, August 2002, pp. 301–318.

⁴⁰Helga Willer and Minou Yussefi (eds.), Organic Agriculture Worldwide (Bad Durkheim, Germany: Stiftung Okologie & Landbau, 2001).

⁴¹FAO, ITC and CTA World Markets for Organic Fruit and Vegetables: Opportunities for Developing Countries in the Production and Export of Organic Horticultural Products, FAO, Rome, 2001.

⁴²Soil Association, “The Organic Food and Farming Report,” Bristol, U.K., 1999.

⁴³Barrett, Browne, Harris, and Cadoret, op. cit.

⁴⁴Hazel R. Barrett, Brian W. Ilbery, Angela W. Browne, and Tony Binns, ”Globalization and the Changing Networks of Food Supply: the Importation of Fresh Horticultural Produce from Kenya into the U.K.,” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 24, No. 2, June 1999, pp. 159–174.

⁴⁵Laura Raynolds, “Re-embedding Global Agriculture: The International Organic and Fair Trade Movements,” Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 2000, pp. 297–309.

⁴⁶Laura Raynolds, “Re-embedding Global Agriculture: The International Organic and Fair Trade Movements,” Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 2000, pp. 297–309.

⁴⁷Laura Raynolds, “Re-embedding Global Agriculture: The International Organic and Fair Trade Movements,” Agriculture and Human Values, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 2000, pp. 297–309.

⁴⁸Tim Lang, Hugh Raven, and Carolyn Dumonteil, Off our Trolleys? Food Retailing and the Hypermarket Economy (London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 1995).

⁴⁹Hird, op. cit.

⁵⁰Becky Mansfield, “Organic Views of Nature: the Debate over Organic Certification for Aquatic Animals,” Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 44, No. 2, April 2004, pp. 216–232, p. 221.

⁵¹Rigby et al., identify this flawed expectation as being behind the abandonment of organic systems among several ex-organic farmers interviewed. D. Rigby, T. Young, and M. Burton, “The Development of and Prospects for Organic Farming in the U.K.,” Food Policy, Vol. 26, No. 6, December 2001, pp. 51–65.

⁵²F. Accum, A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons (London: Longman, 1820).

⁵³Alan Booth, “Food Riots in the North-West of England 1790–1801,” Past and Present, No. 77, November 1977, pp. 84–107.

⁵⁴J. Stevenson, “Food Riots in England, 1792–1818,” in J. Stevenson and R. Quinault (eds.), Popular Protest and Public Order (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1974).

⁵⁵E.P. Thompson, “The Moral Economy Of The English Crowd In The Eighteenth Century,” Past & Present, Vol. 50, No. 1, 1971, pp. 76–136.

⁵⁶Lynn Taylor, “Food Riots Revisited,” Journal of Social History, Vol. 30, No. 2, 1996, pp. 483–497.

⁵⁷ The Economist, December 2006. Voting with Your Trolley, online at: http://www.economist.com/world/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id = 8380592.

⁵⁸Yiannis Gabriel and Tim Lang, The Unmanageable Consumer: Contemporary Consumption and Its Fragmentations (London: Sage, 1995).

⁵⁹Caroline Saunders, Andrew Berber, and Greg Taylor, “Food Miles—Comparative Energy/Emissions Performance of New Zealand's Agriculture Industry,” Research Report No. 285, Agribusiness & Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University, New Zealand, 2006.

⁶⁰C. Kjeldsen and H. Alr⊘e, “Localness as the New Orthodoxy? Critical Reflections on Localization of Food Systems,” paper presented at the Joint Organic Congress, Odense, Denmark, May 30–31, 2006.

⁶¹C. Foster, K. Green, M. Bleda, P. Dewick, B. Evans, A. Flynn, and J. Mylan, “Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption: A research report completed for the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs by Manchester Business School,” University of Manchester, December 2006.

⁶²Rich Pirog, Timothy Van Pelt, Kamyar Enshayan, and Ellen Cook, “Food, Fuel, and Freeways: An Iowa Perspective on How Far Food Travels, Fuel Usage, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, Ames, June 2001.

⁶³See Richard Kuper's contribution in this issue, Richard Kuper, “European Agriculture in the Crucible of the WTO,” Capitalism Nature Socialism, Vol. 18, No. 3, September 2007, pp. 68–80.

⁶⁴See Ted Benton's contribution this issue, Ted Benton, “The Rural-Urban Division in U.K. Politics,” Capitalism Nature Socialism, Vol. 18, No. 3, September 2007, pp. 20–43.

⁶⁶Michael Sligh, “Toward Organic Integrity: A Guide to the Development of U.S. Organic Standards,” Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), Pittsboro, NC, 1997.

⁶⁵See, for example, Dennis T. Avery, Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming (Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute, 1995). For an exposé of Avery's campaign against organics and his connections to agribusiness corporations, see Karen Charman, “Saving the Planet With Pestilent Statistics,” PR Watch, Vol. 6, No. 4, Fourth Quarter, 1999, online at: http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1999Q4/avery.html.