Engaging the Organic Conventionalization Debate - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 175

approach that goes beyond environmental fixes to conventional agriculture to
incorporate the economic and social dimensions of sustainability.
Both the theory and evidence presented in this chapter indicate that the trend
in organics is problematic regarding both the quality of life for rural communities
and the overall sustainability of agriculture. Organics contributes positively to
environmental quality, including food quality but the compromise that became
the NOP purged much of the agro-ecological dimensions, as well as any scale or
structure preferences towards “deep organics.” The NOP does address the ecological
leg of the sustainability stool, but does little to improve the negative economic
and social dimensions of industrial agriculture. As conventionalization advances,
organics loses more of its transformative ability and becomes less sustainable (Allen
2004 ; Constance 2010 ; National Research Council 2010 ). If conventionalization
follows the California model as predicted, and not all researchers agree, then the
vast majority of the organic foods sold in the major supermarkets will be sourced
globally. This organic agrifood system based on global commodity chains becomes
increasingly similar to the conventional system, criticized as a race to bottom facing
a growing legitimation crisis (McMichael 2005 ). The early hopes for organics
as a source of transformative change grounded in agrarian values gives way to
incremental improvements in the ecological externalities of conventional agriculture
grounded in industrial values (National Research Council 2010 ; Thompson 2010 ).
It is not that organic conventionalization and the California model are inevitable.
In fact, we should expect the rationalized organic model to be perfected in
California, the center of industrial agriculture in the US. While not inevitable,
conventionalization is supported by the current global political economic regime
dominated by neoliberal restructuring and state support for accumulation instead of
protections for small-scale producers from global forces (Harvey 2005 ; McMichael
2005 ). The 2002 NOP set the organic bar to sell in the US and countries in the South
mobilized to service the lucrative US market. The problem was that the US organic
policies did not provide direct supports for conversion for domestic producers,
which hindered production increases in the US and supported the growth of imports.
The 2008 Farm Bill is an attempt to correct the mistake. The recent failure to pass
the 2012 Farm Bill calls into question the continued political support for this course
correction regarding organics in the US. The Cali model is not inevitable, but it
is the preferred model of the agrifood TNCs constructing the global organic value
chains, as well as the global regulatory organizations such as the WTO. Fred Buttel
( 2006 ) warned us of the uncanny ability of conventional agricultural to sustain the
unsustainable. This chapter provides evidence in support of Fred's warning.
Deeper reflection regarding the externalities of the conventional agrifood systems
combined with visioning a truly sustainable alternative agrifood system is needed
to bring about transformative change grounded in agrarian values (Beck 1992 ;
Thompson 2010 ). The alternative agrifood system made up of CSAs, farmers'
markets, farm to institution, food sheds, food circles, Ag in the Middle, organics,
food policy councils, urban agriculture, community gardens, and cooperatives are
notable examples of “beyond organics” initiatives with transformative potential.
Many of these alternative agrifood movements are more likely to create horizontal