Conventionalization in the Australian organic industry: a case study of the Darling Downs Region.

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the debate over the "conventionalization" of the organic sector, and applies this to a study of large-scale Australian organic producers of grain and legume products, with reference to the influence of off-farm capital on this sector. A case study is included of a proprietary company, which, through contract farming, has been influential in establishing trends towards consolidation of production, processing and marketing of grain and legume products in the Australian organic sector. The case study indicates that non-farm capital is playing a large role in shaping the direction of the organic sector, at least as far as production of durable grains and legumes are concerned and that organic farmers in the sector are becoming 'more aligned to the activities and economic goals of corporate capital, via input industries, financial institutions and processing firms'.

Beyond bifurcation: Examining the conventions of organic agriculture in New Zealand

“…Campbell and Liepins (2001) utilised the former term to classify analyses positing a linear transition from smallscale (authentic) organic agriculture to a more industrialised form of capitalist production in which the key components of organic become 'conventionalised' (note similar usage in Michelsen, 2001;Hall and Mogyorody, 2001). The conventionalisation thesis is most commonly associated with the work of Julie Guthman (including: Buck et al, 1997;Guthman, 2004a,b) and others (Allen and Kovach, 2000;Jordan et al, 2006) and finds a more populist parallel in the current critique of 'Big Organic' mobilised, for example, in the work of Pollan (2006). Bifurcation, in contrast to conventionalisation, represents the commercialisation of organics as an emergent site of engagement between industry and social movement (or, alternatively, between small-scale and large-scale producers).…”

Conventionalisation of organic farming practices: from structural criteria towards an assessment based on organic principles. A review

“…They conclude that case studies from around the world, e.g. by Hall and Mogyorody, 2001;Lockie and Halpin, 2005;Jordan et al, 2006, show that concentration, de-localisation, institutionalisation and input substitution certainly are occurring to a significant extent (Lockie et al, 2006).…”

Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World

“…Some academic researchers of the organic industry in North America, Western Europe and Australia Lyons , 2001Jordan et al 2006) have argued that core organic values and practices have been compromised as government bureaucracies became involved in the regulation of organic methods and large industrial corporations influenced organic production 11 From the Ground Up? The Principles of Australian Organic Agriculture 223 which has encouraged organic farmers to be motivated by commercial rather than ideological principles.…”