The Rise of the Organic Foods Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 738

varietyofinterestsandintentionsandwithaccesstoadiversesetoforganizationaland
institutional resources.
Inorganizationalterms,thebirthoftheorganicfoodsmovementasatransnational
phenomenoncanbedatedratherprecisely.OnNovember5,1972,nationalorganiza-
tions from France ( Nature et Progrès ),theUnitedKingdom(SoilAssociation),Sweden
( Biodynamiska Föreningen ),SouthAfrica(SoilAssociationofSouthAfrica),andthe
UnitedStates(RodalePress)metinVersaillestofoundtheInternationalFederation
ofOrganicAgricultureMovements(IFOAM).Sincethen,theumbrellaorganization
hasgrowntoencompassmorethan750memberorganizationsfrom116countries.2
Through its involvement in “organic” standard setting, accreditation, and certification,
IFOAMhas,sincethe1980s,beenadrivingforceinthedevelopmentofatransnational
regulatoryregimegoverningtheorganicsector,anditisrecognizedbytheInternational
OrganizationforStandardizationasanoicialstandard-settingbody(Colemanand
Reed2007).
Inparallelwiththeexpansionofthisorganicagriculturenetwork,themarketfor
organic foods has grown dramatically. According to one recent survey, the land area
underorganicallymanagedcropshastopped30 millionhectares,withthegreatestareas
found in Oceania, with 42 percent of the worldwide total, and in Europe, with 24 per-
centofthetotal(Willer,Yussei-Menzler,andSorensen2008,p. 28).hefast-growing
marketfororganicproductswasestimatedtobevaluedatmorethan$38billionin2006,
double its value six years earlier. On a per capita basis, consumption of organic foods
isgreatestinSwitzerland,Denmark,Sweden,andAustria(Willeret al.,2008,p. 54).
Although the overwhelming majority of organic food products are consumed in Europe
and North America, the rapid expansion of market demand and support activities by aid
organizationshasledtothedifusionofexport-orientedorganicfoodsproductionto
developing countries. Developing countries already account for more than a quarter of
thelandareaunderorganicmanagement.Inabsoluteterms,ChinaandArgentinahave
the largest organic land areas among the developing countries, but, in relative terms,
tinyTimor-Lestehasemergedasaleaderinthedevelopingworld,withorganicland
accounting for 7 percent of all agricultural land, a level comparable to that of Sweden
(Willeret al.2008,pp. 29,40).
“Organic Foods” as a Mobilizing Frame
How can we account for the readily apparent success of “organic” as a mobilizing
frame for a social movement concerned with what we eat? A fundamental strength
of the “organic” frame lies in its ability to bring together principled issue groups with
agents pursuing more narrowly defined economic interests. Thus, the organic frame is
embracedby,forinstance,contemporaryfollowersofRudolfSteiner'sspiritualphiloso-
phy,aswellasbywhatwouldappeartobeclosetotheirantithesisinwhatPollan(2001)
calls the “organic-industrial complex.” An odd “coalition” between family farmers