Markets and Consumers - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 101

about milk and its attributes. This research was motivated by earlier studies showing
that many farmers lack effective promotional messages for milk products, thus
creating a significant barrier to marketing.
This study focused on Michigan consumers and what they value most about
milk products. The three most valued attributes of milk products were identified
as: organic, local, and grass-fed, which were linked primarily to beliefs in improved
human health; animal welfare; and, environmental benefit. These values are clearly
connected to the IFOAM Principles, even though the authors did not discuss the
relationship.
Getter et al. provide an example of how self-interested reasoning prevails over
altruism in the profile of consumers. This could also be described as a model
of hybrid consumer-citizenship. Beyond individual consumer perceptions of, and
interests in organic, local, and grass-fed dairy for personal health, consumers also
valued the positive impact on animal welfare as well as the environmental benefits
of pasturing. This strengthens the observation that self-interested behavior does
not necessarily preclude a collective ecological or social benefit. In other words,
consumers share values with the farmers that are fundamental in the IFOAM
Principles (see Schösler et al. 2012 ).
Both chapters beg questions about the societal influence of the organic ethical
principles. Finding a way to present the principles as an ethical framework for
consumers and producers alike could unite otherwise fragmented discussions such
as these.
Rafi Grosglik's 'Post-National Organic and the Field of Organic Food in Israel'
acknowledges the centrality of globalization, not consumer values, in organic
marketing in Israel. He describes the evolution of organic food in Israel to reveal
the global, cultural and economic conditions that define the organic marketplace
in this country. Two trends characterize this process. The first involves the 'com-
modification of organic food' and is expressed through the widespread export of
organic products, as well as the appearance of upscale organic supermarkets. The
second includes the acceptance of anti-global practices, many of which are also
global phenomenal, such as the spread of community-supported agriculture.
Grosglik's differentiation does not offer a complete picture of current market
trends. But we feel that distinguishing between four existing market types helps
illustrate how diverse types link differently to the IFOAM principles. In the
regionally oriented market type, values play an important role in the relations
between farmers and consumers; in contrast, the national market is characterized
by anonymous farmer consumer relationships. The global organic market is divided
into food chains that follow conventional market approaches and that are character-
ized by fair trade related value-based relationships between farmers and consumers.
The national and international conventionally oriented market type excludes the
IFOAM principles of fairness and care, but might meet the principles of health
and ecology principles, with some limitations (e.g., food miles). The regional and
international fair trade oriented approaches promise to meet the principle of fairness
and care in addition to health and ecology. However, the dynamics of globalization
also foster possibilities for broadening the organic social movement by means