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Organic Farming, Prototype for Sustainable Agricultures pp 325–344Cite as

Is Organic Farming Unsustainable? Analysis of the Debate About the Conventionalisation of the Organic Label

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Abstract

“Conventionalisation” hangs like the sword of Damocles over organic farming. Raised by certain agrobiologists, the threat has been examined by researchers who have attempted (with little success) to measure any shift in how organic standards are put into practice. This article takes up the issue, but instead of trying to make explicit what is meant by organic (a difficult task in light of the variety of interpretations) as earlier research has done, it attempts to enter into the controversy surrounding the development and sustainability of the movement. This investigation illustrates the opposition between two regimes of action, each based on very different visions of the acceptable use of the AB label: the first tends to reduce organics to a set of regulatory restrictions imposed by the label, while the other sees these restrictions as a reductive and insufficient framework. For this regime, organic production is more than just a set of restrictions. It is instead a “philosophy” or “spirit” guiding a broad examination of the production process and its result. Nevertheless, despite their disagreements, the two regimes are also in close and mutually-beneficial interaction. Two contradictory characteristics of organic production emerge, thus ensuring its sustainability: its capacity to spread through economic networks thanks to a more rigid framework, and its flexibility that enables it to continually redefine itself and adapt to new situations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    AB stands for Agriculture Biologique, or organic agriculture.

  2. 2.

    The 1991 European regulation (R CEE n° 2092/91) that provides the framework for certified European organic production also encourages biodiversity, pluriannual crop rotations and the association between agriculture and breeding.

  3. 3.

    The AB label is combined with the CCREPAB F, the French specifications that are stricter than the European organic label, especially with regard to livestock farming.

  4. 4.

    In order to be completely precise, we should say three, since the SIMPLES specifications that focus on gathering medicinal plants has also endured. In France, Nature & Progrès and Déméter are the two main organisations that defend organic production at this time. They offer private specifications independent of the public French AB label that became European after the abolition of European subsidiarity for organic certification. The two organisations bring together producers, distributors and consumers, while the FNAB (France’s National Federation of Organic Farming) is exclusively a union of certified AB producers.

  5. 5.

    Guthman’s argument is very similar to the fear of “market takeover” mentioned above.

  6. 6.

    We should also mention that like “organic-formula”, the article reduces organic farming to indicators of practices that alarmed adepts of organic farming have accused of being the very cause of the threat of the erosion of organics.

  7. 7.

    The ensuing problem is well known. It is impossible to predict which of the “objective” or “subjective” forces will lead to a conventionalisation of a given label and, therefore, impossible to decide on the correct preventative measures.

  8. 8.

    INAO: Institut National de la Qualité et de l’Origine, in charge of French policies regarding designations of origin.

  9. 9.

    This is a criticism of the AB label made by militants from organisations, especially Nature & Progrès, and organic producers who are often also militants within organisations. To avoid the text from becoming too cumbersome, we have not repeated this whenever possible.

  10. 10.

    The subsidiarity rule allowed each EU member state to adopt specifications stricter than the common EU regulation; the new one (CE) N°834/2007 prohibits this “overruling” and forces all EU countries to adopt the same EU organic regulation.

  11. 11.

    Figures indicate the page numbers of interviews, all transcribed in a standardised format.

  12. 12.

    This designation includes everything that comes within the “sphere of control” with its monitoring commissions, advisory councils, etc., and which actors often call “monitoring” or “control” without further precision.

  13. 13.

    The abolition of French specifications and their replacement by European specifications caused a similar reaction with the creation of the brand “Bio Cohérence” whose standards are stricter and attempt to incorporate socio-economic criteria to prevent the “hijacking” of the organic movement.

  14. 14.

    For a full discussion of the objectivity of engaged or disengaged monitoring, see Teil (2001).

  15. 15.

    In France, Nature & Progrès has around 350 producer-members, whereas 20,000 producers have the AB label certification.

  16. 16.

    For consumers, membership usually costs between 10 and 20 euros.

  17. 17.

    We borrow the very appropriate image here used by Callon to describe the succession of movements of pausing and questioning that guarantee the durability of action groups (Akrich et al. 2010).

  18. 18.

    This is the case in France with the new brand, Bio-Cohérence.

  19. 19.

    See Law and Williams (1982), Callon et al. (1983), and Latour (1984), and the anthology of Akrich, Callon, and Latour (2006) for a new edition of the founding texts.

  20. 20.

    The “label supporters” camp raises another, symmetrical line of inquiry that highlights the confinement of organics to the internal, collective critique of organisations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA-AgroParisTech, UMR1048 SADAPT, 16 Rue Claude Bernard, 75005, Paris, France

    Geneviève Teil

Authors
  1. Geneviève Teil
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geneviève Teil .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unité Ecodéveloppement, INRA, Avignon Cedex 09, France

    Stéphane Bellon

  2. Unité Ecodéveloppement, INRA, Avignon Cedex 09, France

    Servane Penvern

Appendix

Appendix

Detail of the distribution of the survey interviews of vintners

Type of farming unit

Type of environmental quality

Number

V de L

LR

Jura

Cooperative

Without

1

  

Cooperative

Industrial quality certification

1

2

 

Cooperative

Integrated viticulture

1

3

 

Cooperative

With part of the production certified as organic

 

2

 

Farm

Without

8

1

 

Farm

Industrial quality certification

 

4

 

Farm

Integrated viticulture

7

5

 

Farm

Non-certified integrated viticulture

5

5

 

Farm

Certified AB

26

14

 

Farm

Certified biodynamics

13

5

 

Farm

Uncertified biodynamics

4

  

Farm

“Natural wine” or “terroir wine”

2

4

2

 

Total

68

45

2

  1. Total number of survey interviews = 115
  2. Although also organic, biodynamic producers do not appear under the certified count
  3. V de L Val de Loire, LR Languedoc Roussillon

All samples

Activity

 

Nb

   

Producers

All

115

Technique and research

Technical training

6

 

AB organic certified

62

 

Organic technical training

3

 

AB “committed”

10

 

Research

4

Retail and sales

Superstores

9

 

Agronomy teaching

1

 

Wine trade

1

Farming syndicate

Farming syndicate

7

 

Wine seller

8

Quality certification

Integrated viticulture

4

 

Organic coop outlet

5

 

Industrial quality certification

1

 

Organic associative outlet

1

 

Organic certification

1

 

Franchised organic outlet

1

 

AOC certification

9

 

Wine retailer with mixed (organic and non-organic) products

11

Catering

Organic catering

3

Administration

Ministry of Agriculture

6

Media

Wine critic

4

 

Organic agency

2

 

Regional press

2

 

AOC administration

4

 

Organic critic

1

Agro-chemical industry

Agro-chemical firm

5

 

Natural wine critic

2

 

Agro-chemical product retailer

1

 

Economic press

1

 

Total

231

Consumers

Consumers

13

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Teil, G. (2014). Is Organic Farming Unsustainable? Analysis of the Debate About the Conventionalisation of the Organic Label. In: Bellon, S., Penvern, S. (eds) Organic Farming, Prototype for Sustainable Agricultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7927-3_18

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