The Rise of the Organic Foods Movement as a Transnational Phenomenon - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 744

Second, initiatives by state allies have contributed to the growth of the organic foods
movement in a number of ways. Most important, states have provided heavy direct
and indirect subsidies to farmers for converting from conventional to organic meth-
odsoffoodproduction.Denmarkwasapioneerinthisregard.In1987,theminority
center-right government headed by conservative Prime Minister Poul Schlüter passed
alandmarkActonOrganicFarming(theirstofitskind),whichhasprovidedinan-
cial subsidies for conversion to organic farming, research and development, certifi-
cation, and more. The law also created an Organic Farming Council, today known as
the Organic Food Council ( Det Økologiske Fødevareråd ),inwhichrepresentativesof
environmental and organic movements, farmers, consumers, industry, and govern-
ment agencies have cooperated in the development of governance mechanisms in sup-
portofthecountry'sorganicfoodssector.13Inessence,theDanishstatehasapproached
the organic foods industry as one would expect when a “developmental state” identi-
iesastrategicallyimportant“infantindustry,”utilizingavarietyofsupply-sideand
demand-side policy instruments to spur the industry's growth and development
(DaugbjergandHalpin2010).
Overthepast30 yearsorso,itisprobablysafetosaythatitistheEuropeanUnion(EU)
thathasprovidedthegreatestinstitutionalopportunitiesforthetransnationalizationof
theorganicfoodsmovement.Since1993,EUlegislationestablishing“alegallyenforce-
ableandoiciallyrecognizedcommonstandardfororganiccropproduction,certiication
and labelling” has facilitated the emergence not only of an EU-wide common market in
organicfoods,butalsoaglobalmarket(PadelandLampkin2007,p. 97).OnceEUlawpro-
vided a definition of organic agriculture, it became possible for the EU to provide finan-
cial support to organic agriculture within the framework of the Common Agricultural
Policy(CAP).EUgrantsforagri-environmentalandruraldevelopmentschemeshave
provided a significant support for the conversion of land from conventional to organic
foodsproductionandformarketingandprocessingoforganicfoods.Inaddition,theEU
has also supported the development of transnational research projects focusing on various
aspectsoforganicfoodandfarmingthroughschemesknownasCORE-OrganicsI and
II.14 European commitment to the promotion of organic food is further evidenced by the
developmentofandpublication,in2004,ofaEuropeanActionPlanforOrganicFoodand
Farming ( http://www.orgap.org) .15 Finally, it might be noted that the enlargement of the
EU has provided a powerful impetus for the development of organic farming in the post-
communiststatesofCentralandEasternEurope(Stracansky2010).AttheEuropeanlevel,
policy development and implementation involves extensive consultation with so-called
stakeholders.Asrecognizedstakeholders,representativesoftheorganicfoodsmovement
havebeenabletoexerciseconsiderableinluenceoverthedevelopmentofEUpolicyrelat-
ing to organic food and farming. The organic foods movement has successfully portrayed
itself not only as a repository of professional expertise, but also, and more significantly, as
“ownersoftheideasoforganicagriculture”(IFOAMEUGroup 2006,p. 5).Becauseofthe
latter,thecredibilityandlegitimacyofgovernmentregulationoftheorganicield—par-
ticularlyasthisrelatestostandardsandcertiication—iscriticallydependentonoicial
initiatives receiving the blessing of the movement.