Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
organic trade, mostly by creating systems by which certification standards in the exporting
country were shown to be equivalent to those of the importing country, a system that parallels
and duplicates IFOAM's Organic Guarantee System. Significant political traction was also
being made in international/intergovernmental agencies such as the European Union (EU)
and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Public concerns about food and
its production systems continued with further 'food scares' such as bovine spongiform enceph-
alopathy (BSE) in the UK and the emergence into public awareness of 'genetic engineering'that
in parts of Asia, Australasia and particularly Europe became a highly charged political issue.
Science increasingly became a tool to demonstrate the benefits of organic agriculture and
the problems with industrial agriculture (Pretty
et al.
2000). This helped organic organisa-
tions make the case for much closer cooperation between themselves and other environmen-
tally aligned organisations, for example nature conservation groups. It also showed that useful
research could be carried out on organic farms. Since the 1980s, numerous organic research
centres and associations have been established internationally; taken active roles in conduct-
ing new research in the agronomic, environmental and social sciences; have documented and
published findings to fill the strong demand for information; and provided extension and
training to farmers and advisers. Several NGOs and companies began to perform an auxiliary
function to the certifying agencies by carrying out independent reviews of products intended
for use in certified organic production, handling and processing. The Organic Materials
Review Institute (www.omri.org) and Pesticide Action Network North America (www.panna.
org) are examples of such organisations.
By the late 1990s increasing concerns were being raised about organic agriculture following
in the footsteps of industrial agriculture and losing its vision (e.g. Woodward
et al.
1996).
Examples of this are the huge growth in sales though supermarkets and increasing amounts of
organic produce being transported large distances to satisfy demand in aff luent countries.
This concern is explored further in Ikerd (see
Special topic 3
). These concerns have resulted in
a refocusing on the neglected issue of social equity (e.g. ensuring that farmers are paid a fair
price for their produce). One outcome of this is the linkages formed between the Fair Trade
and the organic movement (Browne
et al.
2000). There is active debate on introducing Fair
Trade requirements for European organic producers that have, to date, only been used by
farmers in the third world. A practical example of reforming the links that existed between
organic producers and consumers in the 1960s and 1970s are the rapid increase in 'farmers
markets' in the USA and UK where traditional produce markets have been resurrected by
requiring stall holders to be both local and only sell goods they have produced (Vanzetti and
Wynen 2002).
In 2004, 80% of organically managed land is located in only ten countries, with more than
50% in two countries, Australia and Argentina (Yussefi 2004). However, the most intensive
adoption of organic agriculture has occurred in western Europe, especially in the German-
speaking countries and Scandinavia, with three countries achieving at least 10% of organic
agriculture and five more countries with over 5% organic agriculture (Table 1.2). The highest
numbers of organic farms are reported to be in many non-European countries, although some
European countries also have over 15,000 organic farms (Table 1.3).
Most consumption takes place in aff luent countries. The global organic market is esti-
mated to be worth about US$23 billion from organic food and drinks, of which North America
collects about half, Europe gets nearly half also, while only 3% of revenues are shared between
all other countries (Sahota 2004). Traditional staple food products such as grains, fruit, vege-
tables, meat and diary products are most commonly grown, although demand for cash crops
such as sugar, coffee and wine is also increasing.
