Letting Go of ‘Conventionalisation’: Family Labour on New Zealand Organic Dairy Farms

Abstract

In contrast to arguments about the conventionalisation of organic agriculture, this study of organic dairy labour relations in New Zealand finds that many organic producers have reverted to a heavy reliance on family labour even while conventional New Zealand dairy farms are increasingly dependent on paid non‐family and immigrant labour. I argue that a return to classic rural sociological literature on the persistence of family farming and the agrarian question explains this seeming anomaly, and that the narrative of conventionalisation oversimplifies the complexity of labour relations specifically and organic agricultural production more broadly. Labour relations in both conventional and organic agriculture are complex and contradictory, further demonstrating the importance of specificity and historicity in analysis of the organic agrifood system.

Sustainability transformations in the balance: exploring Swedish initiatives challenging the corporate food regime

“…Others report a bifurcation of the organic movement, with the part that remains non-conventionalised still celebrating artisanal production, local markets and deeply-held values (Goldberger, 2011). However, the validity of these claims and the usefulness of binary thinking have been questioned (Rosin & Campbell, 2009;Schewe, 2014). Instead, Rosin & Campbell (2009) call for more complex theoretical frameworks to analyse the worlds of organic agriculture, as attempted in this study.…”

“…However, organics exists mainly within the reformist strand of the corporate food regime, where its transformational capacity is debatable (Holt Giménez & Shattuck, 2011). The heated discussion about conventionalisation of organic agriculture is a case in point (see Goldberger, 2011;Schewe, 2014, for reviews). The 'conventionalisation hypothesis' states that organic farming is moving away from ecological integrity, progressive values and transformational potential.…”

Making a difference. Constructing relations between organic and conventional agriculture in Finland in the emergence of organic agriculture

“…Conventionalisation is seen to affect only a part of the organic sector, which focuses on a capital intensive and export oriented organic production, whereas an artisanal form of organics remains more dedicated to the original organic principles (Lockie and Halpin ). As Schewe (, p. 87) notes, ‘[T]his binary conceptualisation of organics is an extension of the conventionalisation argument, building on the assumption that growth is fundamentally transforming the organic sector’.…”

“…Both perspectives therefore tend to start out from a normative perspective (Lockie and Halpin , p. 304; Rosin and Campbell , p. 45; Schewe , p. 87). They either posit principles and motives as primary or see a firm connection between principles and actual differences between the agricultural systems.…”

“…; Guthman ; Lockie and Halpin ; Rosin and Campbell ; Darnhofer et al . ; Campbell and Rosin ; Schewe ). An overall tendency in these studies has been to conceptualise the difference between organic and conventional as a diminishing one, arguing that organic is gradually becoming like conventional.…”