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Farmers’ reasons for deregistering from organic farming

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Abstract

Every year since 2002, 150 to 200 farmers in Norway have deregistered from certified organic production. The aim of this study was to get behind these figures and improve our understanding of the reasoning leading to decisions to opt out. Four cases of deregistered organic farmers with grain, sheep, dairy or vegetable production were selected for in-depth studies. The cases were analysed from the perspective of individual competencies and the competencies available in the networks of the selected organic farmers. Besides the conspicuous reasons to opt out of certified organic farming, such as regulations getting stricter over time and low income, personal reasons such as disappointment and need for acceptance were also important. This shows that hard mechanisms, such as economic support and premium prices, are not sufficient to motivate farmers for sustained organic management. Support and encouragement, for example from people in the local community, politicians and other spokespersons, would likely contribute to increase farmers’ motivation.

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Notes

  1. Statistics from Debio are available at http://www.debio.acos.no/. Debio supplied additional information by E-mail.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Brian Hardaker and the reviewers for their many relevant comments that greatly improved the quality of this article. Also, we want to thank Gudbrand Lien for his cooperation and discussing the results. The financial support from the Research Council of Norway and the Agricultural Agreement Research Fund is gratefully acknowledged. Last but not least, thanks to the participating Norwegian farmers for their openness, hospitability and interest to co-operate in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organic Food and Farming Division, Bioforsk-Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Bioforsk, Gunnars Veg 6, 6630, Tingvoll, Norway

    Matthias Koesling & Anne-Kristin Løes

  2. Institute of Organic Farming, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries vTI, Westerau, Germany

    Matthias Koesling

  3. Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute, Box 8024 Dep, 0030, Oslo, Norway

    Ola Flaten

  4. Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Lautrupvang 2, 2750, Ballerup, Denmark

    Niels Heine Kristensen & Mette Weinreich Hansen

Authors
  1. Matthias Koesling
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  2. Anne-Kristin Løes
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  3. Ola Flaten
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  4. Niels Heine Kristensen
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  5. Mette Weinreich Hansen
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Correspondence to Matthias Koesling.

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Koesling, M., Løes, AK., Flaten, O. et al. Farmers’ reasons for deregistering from organic farming. Org. Agr. 2, 103–116 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-012-0030-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-012-0030-y

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