Public agricultural researchers: Reactions to organic,low input and sustainable agriculture

This paper offers a preliminary assessment of the reactions of public agricultural researchers to three terms used currently in the debate surrounding reduced input farming systems: organic, alternative, and sustainable agriculture. It is argued that these terms have been appropriated by the land grant system and their critical content removed to make them palatable to more mainstream agricultural researchers. A national sample of agricultural production researchers is explored, and disciplinary differences in attitudes toward the three terms are assessed. We conclude that sustainable and alternative agriculture do appear acceptable to the mainstream of production researchers, consistent with the hypothesis that they have been appropriated by the land grant system. Moreover, reasons why organic agriculture remains unacceptable are suggested.Aaron Harp is an Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho. His research focuses on issues of adoption in sustainable agriculture, and rural development.     

For the public good: weaving a multifunctional landscape in the Corn Belt

Critics of modern agriculture decry the dominance of monocultural landscapes and look to multifunctionality as a desirable alternative that facilitates the production of public goods. In this study, we explored opportunities for multifunctional Midwestern agriculture through participatory research led by farmers, landowners, and other local actors. We suggest that agriculture typically fosters some degree of multifunctionality that arises from the divergent intentions of actors. The result is a scattered arrangement of what we term patchwork multifunctionality, a ubiquitous status quo in which individuals provide public goods without coordination. In contrast, interwoven multifunctionality describes deliberate collaboration to provide public goods, especially those cases where landowners work across fence lines to weave a synergistic landscape. Using examples from two case studies, we demonstrate the spectrum of patchwork and interwoven multifunctionality that currently exists in the Corn Belt, and present underutilized opportunities for public good creation.     

20世纪上半叶河南芝麻生产及其运销格局初探

20世纪上半叶,芝麻是河南经济作物的一大特色。在此期间,河南芝麻生产得到了迅速发展,其种植面积不断扩大,形成了芝麻种植的区域化和专业化,这在一定程度上改变了河南农业单一的种植结构;同时,芝麻生产的商品化程度也在不断增强,这不仅提高了河南农民的生活水平,而且还满足了国内外芝麻油加工业的市场需求;在此基础之上,产生了一批重要的芝麻集散市场,河南芝麻运销格局也因铁路运输的出现发生了重大的变化,芝麻贸易开始从区域贸易向对外贸易转型;更为重要的是,芝麻的集散不但拓展了近代河南农村市场的发展空间,而且也推动了豫南近代城镇化的步伐,这些都对河南乃至华北农村的近代社会转型产生了较为深远的影响。     

Can organic farmers be ‘good farmers’? Adding the ‘taste of necessity’ to the conventionalization debate

Recent decades have seen a rapid increase in the rate of conversion from conventional to organic farming, as organic farming shifted from an alternative production approach practiced by a small number of idealists, to the de facto alternative to mainstream conventional production. Although there has been considerable academic debate as to the role of agri-business penetration into the production and marketing chains of organic farming (‘conventionalization’), less is known about how the economic drivers of conventionalization are negotiated into practices at the farm level. Drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualization of economic and cultural capitals, the direct connection between symbols of ‘good farming’ and the economic requirements of maintaining a viable farming business (i.e., the ‘taste of necessity’) is demonstrated. Findings indicate that conventional and organic farmers in the study sites identified a similar range of cultural symbols, but organic farmers emphasized different symbols within this range. This diversity and selectivity demonstrates the fragmentation and contestation of ideals resulting from economic challenges at the time of the study. Economic capital is important to the decision to consider conversion to organic farming, but formal conversion reflects re-weighting of forms of cultural capital. The author argues that recognition of the impact of economic pressures on conventional farming, which in the study sites often led to reduced input use rather than intensification, is missing from the conventionalization debate. The mainstreaming of organic farming production has presented conventional farmers with a set of alternative or re-weighted symbols and a crucible for reflexive consideration of their own standards and practices of farming.     

Foundations of production and consumption of organic food in Norway: Common attitudes among farmers and consumers?

In Norway, the production andconsumption of organic food is still small-scale. Research on attitudes towards organic farming in Norway has shown that most consumers find conventionally produced food to be good enough. The level of industrialization of agriculture and the existence of food scandals in a country will affect consumer demand for organically produced foods. Norway is an interesting case because of its small-scale agriculture, few problems with food-borne diseases, and low market share for organic food. Similarities between groups of consumers and producers of food, organic and conventional, when it comes to attitudes concerning environment, use of gene technology, and animal welfare have implications for understanding market conditions for organically produced food. The results of our study indicate that organic farmers and organic consumers in Norway have common attitudes towards environmental questions and animal welfare in Norwegian agriculture. Conventional farmers have a higher degree of agreement with the way agriculture is carried out today. Unlike organic farmers and consumers, conventional farmers do not see major environmental problems and problems with animal welfare in today's farming system. But like the organic farmers and consumers, and to a stronger degree than conventional consumers, conventional farmers renounce gene technology as a solution to environmental problems in agriculture. These results are discussed in relation to their importance for the market situation for organically produced foods.     

基于农业生态补偿的农产品质量安全问题研究

在介绍我国农产品质量安全状况的基础上,阐述了导致农产品生产成本上升的表现：一是禁止生产区划造成生产成本上升;二是使用环境友好型农业投入品造成生产成本上升;三是产品质量控制造成生产成本上升;四是产品认证造成生产成本上升。按照＂谁受益谁补偿＂的原则,构建了有利于农产品质量安全的生态补偿机制：一是积极完善农业生产补偿法律法规;二是充分借鉴发达国家经验,建立生产补偿财政转移支付制度;三是发展生态农业,生产安全优质农产品。由于农业生态补偿可弥补农产品生产者为保护农业生态环境及生产安全农产品而多支付的成本,有利于调动生产者的积极性,为此,尝试从农产品质量安全补偿对象、补偿范围和补偿机制3个方面对农业生产者进行补偿,以期提高农产品质量安全水平。     

Corporate cooptation of organic and fair trade standards

Recent years have seen a substantial increase in alternative agrifood initiatives that attempt to use the market to curtail the negative social and environmental effects of production and trade in a globalized food system. These alternatives pose a challenge to capital accumulation and the externalization of environmental costs by large agribusiness, trading and retail firms. Yet the success of these alternatives also makes them an inviting target for corporate participation. This article examines these dynamics through a case study of the two most significant such food system alternatives—organics and fair trade—focusing on corporate involvement in establishing and renegotiating the standards undergirding these initiatives. We compare the development of and contestation over the standards for both certified organic and certified fair trade, with particular attention to the U.S. context. We provide a brief history of their parallel processes of rapid growth and market mainstreaming. We examine claims of cooptation by movement participants, as well as the divergences and similarities between the organic and fair trade cases. Analyzing these two cases provides useful insights into the strategic approaches that corporate firms have deployed to further capital accumulation and to defuse threats to their profit margins and to status quo production, pricing, labor, trading and retailing practices. It can also offer valuable lessons regarding the most effective means of responding to such counter-reforms and of protecting or reasserting the more transformative elements at the heart of these alternative systems.     

绿色发展下中国有机农业认证中心的区域格局与核心区影响力评价

为了解现代有机农业日益复杂的网络结构及生产组织下有机农业认证中心空间区域格局与核心区(即北京市)综合影响力的类型特征,采用ArcGIS空间分析法、自然间断点分级法和综合评价法,基于有机农业企业的认证数据,对中国有机农业认证中心的发展演化、区域格局及北京市有机农业认证中心的综合影响力进行了研究。结果表明:1)近10年来有机农业认证中心发展呈现初期平缓后期持续不断增长的态势,其空间分布具有不均衡性、地域极化特征显著性、区域集聚性和市场腹地渐次地域扩大化特征与趋势。2)有机农业认证中心三大片区内部分布格局分为高—高型、中—中型和低—低型等10种类型。3)核心区北京市各市辖区有机认证产品产量和有机生产企业数量空间分布同样存在着内部不均衡性特征。4)北京市有机农业认证中心影响力评价主要可分为综合性、均衡性、成长性和起步性有机农业认证中心四类,具有不同的功能特征与市场结构。针对中国有机农业认证中心的空间布局与空间联系及组织有效性问题,政府应建立有效的有机认证财政补助体系,培育起中西部的区域性有机农业认证中心,并推进起步性和成长性有机农业认证中心应学习均衡性和综合性有机农业认证中心的发展经验,发挥自身优势,打造起自主品牌;综合性有机农业认证中心应开拓国外市场,推动中国有机认证产业与国际市场接轨,从而推动中国有机认证产品的扩大出口和提高其竞争力。     

Confronting coexistence in the United States: organic agriculture, genetic engineering, and the case of Roundup Ready® alfalfa

In agriculture, the principle of coexistence refers to a condition where different primary production systems can exist in the vicinity of each other, and can be managed in such a way that they affect each other as little as possible. Coexistence policies aim to ensure that farmers are able to freely grow the crops they choose—be they genetically engineered (GE), non-GE conventional, or organic. In the United States (US), the issue of coexistence has very recently come into sharp relief with the introduction of Roundup Ready^® (RR) alfalfa, a landmark court decision in 2007 (Geertson v. Johanns), and subsequent governmental actions, including the first Environmental Impact Statement on a GE crop. By contrast, in 2003 the European Union (EU) created a policy to manage coexistence and to address economic harms that may be caused by contamination. We briefly review the EU framework as an instructive resource. This policy analysis then looks at the US organic industry and its standards with respect to GE before turning to the case of RR alfalfa. With a focus on the field trial stage and on environmental assessments prior to market approval, the case reveals numerous problems in the existing regulatory framework as it pertains to coexistence and prevention of contamination of organic products with GE material. The paper concludes with specific policy recommendations for creating a more robust coexistence policy in the US.     

农产品质量安全监控信息化的思考与实践

基于对当前农产品质量安全问题的分析,提出了农产品质量安全监控信息化的特点和发展方向;介绍了农产品安全信息快速获取、农产品安全信息综合管理、农产品质量追溯系统、农产品安全生产管理监控和远程检测共享网络等农产品质量安全监控信息技术;并探讨了信息技术在农产品质量安全监控领域的应用前景。     

Re-embedding global agriculture: The international organic and fair trade movements

The international organic agricultureand fair trade movements represent importantchallenges to the ecologically and sociallydestructive relations that characterize the globalagro-food system. Both movements critique conventionalagricultural production and consumption patterns andseek to create a more sustainable world agro-foodsystem. The international organic movement focuses onre-embedding crop and livestock production in ``naturalprocesses,' encouraging trade in agriculturalcommodities produced under certified organicconditions and processed goods derived from thesecommodities. For its part, the fair trade movementfosters the re-embedding of international commodityproduction and distribution in ``equitable socialrelations,' developing a more stable and advantageoussystem of trade for agricultural and non-agriculturalgoods produced under favorable social andenvironmental conditions. The international market forboth organic and fair trade products has grownimpressively in recent years. Yet the success of thesemovements is perhaps better judged by their ability tochallenge the abstract capitalist relations that fuelexploitation in the global agro-food system. While theorganic movement currently goes further in revealingthe ecological conditions of production and the fairtrade movement goes further in revealing the socialconditions of production, there are signs that the twomovements are forging a common ground in definingminimum social and environmental requirements. I arguefrom a theoretical and empirical basis that what makesfair trade a more effective oppositional movement isits focus on the relations of agro-food trade anddistribution. By demystifying global relations ofexchange and challenging market competitiveness basedsolely on price, the fair trade movement creates aprogressive opening for bridging the wideningNorth/South divide and for wresting control of theagro-food system away from oligopolistic transnationalcorporations infamous for their socially andenvironmentally destructive business practices. This revised version was published online in May 2006 with corrected author information     

常规茶与有机茶比较的经济分析

有机茶的生产已成为目前茶叶市场需求的趋势.本文从产量、成本、价格和利润方面对常规茶和有机茶的生产进行了经济比较,并分析生产有机茶的潜在社会效益.提出了有机茶的生产是可持续农业发展的重要组成部分,是未来茶叶发展的方向.     

Governance in the Global Agro-food System: Backlighting the Role of Transnational Supermarket Chains

With the proliferation of private standards many significant decisions regarding public health risks, food safety, and environmental impacts are increasingly taking place in the backstage of the global agro-food system. Using an analytical framework grounded in political economy, we explain the rise of private standards and specific actors – notably supermarkets – in the restructuring of agro-food networks. We argue that the global, political-economic, capitalist transformation – globalization – is a transition from a Fordist regime to a regime of flexible accumulation (Harvey, 1989). We also argue that the standard making process of this new regulatory regime is increasingly moving from the front stage – where it is open to public debate and democratic decision-making bodies – to the backstage – where it is dominated by large supermarket procurement offices. We assert that transnational supermarket chains are increasingly controlling what food is grown where, how, and by whom. We also contend that the decision-making processes of transnational supermarket chains are typically “black-boxed.” The Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group (EUREP) is presented as a case of private governance by transnational supermarket chains. We conclude by examining the limitations and long-term efficacy of a system of private governance in the global agro-food system. Jason Konefal is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. His interests include environmental sociology, food and agriculture, social movements, and science and technology studies. His dissertation research examines the political economic restructuring of the global agrifood system and the implications for social and environmental movements. Michael Mascarenhas is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. His interests include political economy, the sociology of science and technology, environmental and rural sociology, and globalization and development. His current research involves a critical analysis of neoliberal water policy reform and indigenous inequalities. As of September 2005, Michael has taken a position in the Department of Sociology at Kwantlen University College in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Maki Hatanaka is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. Her interests include food and agriculture, development, and gender. Much of her recent research focuses on standards and thirdparty certification and their social and environmental implications.     

Alternative modes of governance: organic as civic engagement

A major strategy in the creation of sustainable economies is the establishment of alternative market institutions, such as fair trade and local market systems. However, the dynamics of these alternative markets are poorly understood. What are the rules of behavior by which these markets function? How do these markets maintain their separate identity as “alternative”: apart from the conventional (“free”) market system? Building on Lyson’s notion of civic agriculture, we argue that alternative markets maintain themselves through civic engagement. However, we argue that the civically-engaged practices of alternative markets are poorly understood. We seek, therefore, to begin a conversation about the everyday forms of civic engagement in alternative practice and to do this we introduce a few useful conceptual tools. Building upon ideas in science studies about the collaboration of scientists (Hess, Alternative pathways in science and industry, 2007) we argue that civic markets have their own “market fields” and “modes of governance” (Bulkeley et al., Environment and Planning A 39:2733–2753, 2007), their own fields of social interaction in which rules of behavior become stabilized and determine how the market works. The creation of a social field also requires the demarcation of boundaries, referred to in the science studies literature as “boundary work” (Gieryn, Cultural boundaries of science: Credibility on the line, 1999). We apply the idea of boundary work to understand how alternative market actors maintain boundaries between alternative and conventional markets. Finally, studies of collaboration in science have often centered on the object created through these interactions, an object that is partially material and partially a product of knowledge, what (Rheinberger, Toward a history of epistemic things: Synthesizing proteins in the test tube, 1997) calls an “epistemic object.” We use this idea to understand that the creation of alternative objects of exchange, such as organic food, are epistemic objects in that they combine both particular materialities and particular ways of knowing. Using these concepts, we will carry out a close analysis of the mode of governance in the national organic market, looking specifically a recent governance crisis in organic agriculture known as the Harvey lawsuit.     

Social and environmental attributes of food products in an emerging mass market: Challenges of signaling and consumer perception, with European illustrations

This paper focuses on the environmental and ethical attributes of food products and their production processes. These two aspects have been recently recognized and are becoming increasingly important in terms of signaling and of consumer perception. There are two relevant thematic domains: environmental and social. Within each domain there are two movements. Hence the paper first presents the four movements that have brought to the fore new aspects of food product quality, to wit: (1) aspects of environmental ethics (organic agriculture and integrated agriculture), and (2) social ethics (fair trade and ethical trade). Next, it describes how the actors in the movements (producers, retailers, NGOs, and governments) are organized and how consumers perceive each of the movements. From the perspective of the actors in the movements themselves, the movements are grouped into two “actors’ philosophies.” The first is a “radical” philosophy (the organic production and fair trade movements that arose in radical opposition to conventional agriculture or unfair trade relations), and the second is a “reformist” philosophy (the integrated agriculture and ethical trade movements that arose as efforts to modify but not radically change conventional agriculture). From the point of view of consumers, the classification of the movements is based on perceptions of the “domain” of the movements. That is, consumers tend to perceive the organic production movement and the integrated agricultural movement as a single group because they both deal with the environment. By contrast, consumers tend to group the fair trade movement and the ethical trade movement together because they both deal essentially with social ethics. Recently, key players such as large retailers and agribusinesses have adopted as part of their overall quality assurance programs both environmental and ethical attributes. Their involvement in and adoption of the goals of the movements have, however, generated tensions and conflicts. This is particularly true within the radical movements, because of concerns of cooptation. Finally, the paper identifies challenges faced by those promoting food products with environmental and social/ethical attributes as they attempt to communicate coherent signals to consumers at this crucial moment in the emergence of a mass market for these products. Jean -Marie Codron is a Senior Researcher at INRA and co-director of MOISA, a public joint research laboratory involved in the social sciences. His research interests focus on three main lines of research: economics of contracts, economics of the firm, and economics of market institutions, with applications to “complex” food sectors, where product quality is difficult to measure and/or to signal to the consumer. Lucie Sirieix is Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour at SupAgro Montpellier, France, a national higher education establishment under the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Within the MOISA research unit, her main research topics are variety seeking, risk and trust, environmental and ethical consumer concerns, and sustainable consumption. Her specific research areas include organic products, fair trade, and regional products. Thomas Reardon is Professor of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University. His work focuses on globalization, consolidation in the retail and processing sectors, and their effects on agrifood systems and trade as well as on the economics of private quality and safety standards.     

中国低碳农业发展机制选择

低碳农业是指在生产中及受生产影响的相关领域内单位碳排放所带来的效益(或效用)较高的农业。促进低碳农业发展的清洁发展机制(CDM)存在着交易成本高、政策风险大、市场地位低、与他业比较无优势和碳汇交易规模过小等问题。低碳农业发展更需要依靠庇古机制。庇古机制可以细分为补贴机制、税费机制和补贴与税费相结合机制三种。对林业项目主要应采取奖励机制;对粮食产业中的正常碳排放给予免责待遇,并对其低碳生产方式进行奖励;对蔬菜水果花卉业采取税收和补贴相结合的机制;对畜牧业主要采取税收机制。     

Resistance,redistribution, and power in the Fair Trade banana initiative

The Fair Trade movement seeks to alter conventional trade relations through a system of social and environmental standards, certification, and labels designed to help shorten the social distance between consumers in the North and producers in the South. The strategy is based on working both in and against the same global capitalist market that it hopes to alter, raising questions about if and how Fair Trade initiatives exhibit counter-hegemonic potential to transform the conventional agro-food system. This paper considers the multiple levels at which Fair Trade alternatives operate to identify the different forms of social action that the movement engages with, and to clarify where the movements counter-hegemonic potentials are being realized. I suggest the Fair Trade movement is most successful in encouraging consumers and producers to commit acts of resistance and in supporting redistributive action that shifts resources from North to South. Up to now, however, Fair Trade alternatives appear to hold only a theoretical potential to provoke transformative change in the agro-food system. A reconceptualization of the Fair Trade model and how it is implemented could allow it to manifest more of its implicit, oppositional promise.Aimee Shreckis a sociologist and the Research Specialist for the California Faculty Association. Her previous work as a postdoctoral researcher with the University of California, Berkeley and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program focused on social justice, sustainable agriculture, and fair trade.     

加快推进我国农业信息化进程的思考

农业信息化是指把现代信息技术应用于农业生产、交换、分配和消费的过程，它包括农业基础设施装备信息化、农业技术操作全面自动化、农业经营管理网络化等内容。农业信息化对提高农业资源利用率、农业生产经营管理水平、农业市场流动效率、农民生活素质都起着重要作用，它在解决当前农业发展中突出问题、建立现代农业、走新型工业化道路、加快农村小康建设、提高农业生产经营效益等方面都具有重要意义。我国农业信息建设取得了阶段性成效，也面临许多困难，必须要在加强农民教育培训、强化政府职能、建立健全农业信息网络、完善农村信息市场等方面继续努力，加快推进农业信息化进程。     

发展环水有机农业控制农业面源污染的政策与建议

当前农业面源污染问题依旧是水污染控制与水环境改善的重点和难点,通过对发展环水有机农业控制农业面源污染的可行性分析,结合国内外发展环水有机农业控制农业面源污染的实践以及我国有机农业发展现状,提出了发展环水有机农业控制农业面源污染的政策建议,包括:制订环水有机农业发展国家行动计划;建立环水有机农业试点;开展技术研究和推广;提高公众参与度和培育国内有机产品市场等。