Dependent Reproduction of Alternative Modes of Agriculture: Organic Farming in New Zealand

Abstract

Recent studies of organic agriculture are characterized by an assumption that it is relatively easy for agribusiness to transform the meaning of organic food and marginalize the position of small‐scale organic producers. In this paper, it is argued that such studies pay insufficient attention to the contradictions and limitations of capitalist agriculture as established in recent and classical formulations of the agrarian question. Attempts to liberate international trade and globalize the food system, which are particularly evident in New Zealand, result in disruption of food security and quality, so the agrarian question remains central in contemporary agri‐food research. Tempered by biological conditions and associated with alternative social groups, organic production is strongly influenced by those forces which comprise the agrarian question, so attempts by agribusiness to manipulate the organic industry are fraught with contradiction. Research findings from four regional case studies in New Zealand show that small‐scale organic producers are persistent, despite the increasing involvement of agribusiness in organic agriculture.

How organic farmers view their own practice: results from the Czech Republic

“…Recent scholarship on the organic sector has developed a series of cautionary tales that critically reflect upon recent changes within the sector and its eventual conventionalization (Lockie et al 2005, p. 284). The framework of this lengthy debate is well known due to the works of many authors engaged in this discussion (e.g., Coombes et al 1998;Hall et al 2001;Lockie et al 2005;Tomlinson 2008). …”

“…These authors were the first to point out that the growing organic sector could turn out to be similar to the industrial agriculture that it has traditionally opposed, therefore undermining the intrinsic values of organic ideology. The main arguments for these theories were later elaborated as part of the conventionalization thesis, which has become a focus of other researchers in different countries, such as New Zealand (Coombes et al 1998), Canada (Hall et al 2001) and Germany (Best 2008). The empirical description of the conventionalization process generally refers to the concentration of capital among larger organic producers, the codification and standardization of organic practice, the erosion of organic rules, the substitution of allowable inputs, and the increasing specialization of producers (Lockie et al 2005, p. 285-286).…”

The 'Conventionalisation' Thesis Reconsidered: Structural and Ideological Transformation of Australian Organic Agriculture

“…It is tempting also to speculate that smallholder horticulture may be more appealing to those committed to the pursuit of non-material goals such as self-sufficiency, intentional communities or social movement building. Taken together with the dominance of growth in exports by broadacre crops this would appear, at face value, to mirror the early trends towards bifurcation between large, recently converted and export-oriented growers and smaller, movement-based and domestically-oriented farmers identified by Coombes and Campbell (1998) in New Zealand. That is, it appears to support the broad claims of the conventionalisation thesis.…”

“…• Bifurcation between a 'conventional' organic sector dominated by capital intensive, specialised, vertically-integrated and export oriented growers and a residual artisanal organic sector comprising smaller scale and more diverse enterprises often catering to more localised markets and operating in different production spaces (Buck et al 1997;Coombes and Campbell 1998;Campbell and Coombes 1999;Campbell and Liepens 2001;Guthman 2004c;Lockie et al 2002).…”

Localisation de l’agriculture biologique et accès aux marches

“…Ainsi l'article initiateur du débat, celui de Buck et al (1997), fait le lien entre l'arrivée des acteurs conventionnels de l'agroalimentaire dans le secteur biologique californien et la modification des pratiques agricoles. Coombes et Campbell (1998) relativisent l'effet de ces acteurs et parlent d'une superposition de deux modèles d'AB (petites exploitations pour marchés locaux versus grandes exploitations pour exportation), plus ou moins complémentaires et indépendants. Cette analyse faite pour le cas néo-zélandais est reprise par Hall et Mogyorody (2001) pour le Canada ; il y aurait en fait des différences selon les secteurs de production, avec, dans ce cas, le secteur des grandes cultures plus enclin à la conventionnalisation (choix des variétés, techniques, mise en marché,…) que par exemple le secteur des légumes.…”