Engaging the Organic Conventionalization Debate - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 161

Because of these barriers, the U.S. lags behind Europe in organics research,
education and production (Padel and Lampkin 1994 ; Lohr and Salomonsson 2000 ;
Thilmany 2006 ). In response to the growing concern over the demand/supply
gap and to growing criticism about the lack of government support for organics,
the 2008 Farm Bill included $78 M in research, education, and extension for
organics subsidized conversion. The Farm Bill also overtly acknowledges the
environmental benefits of organics farming (Thilmany 2006 ; Organic Farming
Research Foundation 2008 ; Greene et al. 2009 ). The organic movement applauded
the increased government support for organics. The failure of the 2012 Farm Bill
to pass threatens the continued government support for organics due to a lack of
funding (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 2012 ).
During the 1990s, the optimistic view of the transformative potential of organics
was called into question. Research suggested that the institutionalization of organics
via the creation of organic certification standards and other government policies to
support adoption was diluting the social movement components and replacing them
with an industrial approach (Clunies-Ross 1990 ; Buck et al. 1997 ; Tovey 1997 ;
Guthman 1998 ). Researchers also predicted that the adoption of the NOP standards
in the US would accelerate conventionalization as many large firms were waiting for
a system of national standards before moving into the organic market (Buck et al.
1997 ; Guthman 1998 ;DeLind 2000 ; Klonsky 2000 ;Vos 2000 ).
The research from California (Buck et al. 1997 ; Guthman 1998 ) introduced the
concepts of conventionalization and bifurcation to interpret these trends. Conven-
tionalization refers to the process by which organic agriculture increasingly takes
on the characteristics of mainstream industrial agriculture. Bifurcation refers to
the process by which the organic agriculture adopts a dual-structure of smaller,
lifestyle-oriented producers and larger, industrial-scale producers. In response to
the Guthman thesis, researchers criticized the conventionalization thesis as being
overly deterministic and not well supported empirically (Coombes and Campbell
1998 ; Campbell and Coombes 1999 ; Campbell and Liepins 2001 ; Lynggaard 2001 ;
Michelsen 2001 ; Hall and Mogyorody 2002 ; Kaltoft 2002 ). Some early research
supported conventionalization (Lyons 1999 ; Lockie et al. 2000 ), but later research
produced mixed results (Lockie and Halpin 2005 ;Best 2008 ; Constance et al.
2008 ; Guptill 2009 ). Guthman's later research and responses to the critiques of
conventionalization ( 1998 , 2000 , 2004a , b , c ) has extended the discourse and
literature that critically evaluates the conventionalization thesis.

9.3 Conventionalization and Bifurcation

Buck et al. ( 1997 ) introduced the concept of conventionalization to analyze the
changes in organic food production in California. They operationalized conven-
tionalization through the concepts appropriation and substitutionism (Goodman
et al. 1987 ; Goodman 2000 ). Firms practice appropriation when they reduce the
risks of investing in agriculture by relocating processes and practices off the farm