Introduction - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 4

America. Some of these that affect both organic and non-organic farmers (albeit
somewhat differently), include: increasing land prices; increasing extreme weather
events; energy costs; international trade regulations; genetically modified crops;
the power of large retailers; and, the creation of consumer demand for new food
products.
In response, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
(IFOAM 2012 ), representing over 100 country member organizations around the
world, undertook far reaching revisions to the IFOAM Norms. These norms provide
the foundation for the organic movement, and they include: the IFOAM Principles,
the Standards and guidelines for certification agencies and firms.
The IFOAM Principles (Health, Ecology, Fairness and Care) represent the
cornerstone of the organic movement (Luttikholt 2007 ). They offer the normative,
ethical framework on which all the IFOAM regulatory instruments practice along
the organic agrofood chain.
However, over the last two decades many in the organic movement have started
to raise critical questions and concerns about the apparent loss of influence,
and popular awareness of the IFOAM Principles on organic practices (IFOAM
2009 ). Instead of discussions related to the ethical ideas of the IFOAM Principles,
more popular discussions of organic tend to focus on a different set of largely
sociological or business-related features of organic such as: “professionalization,
industrialization, conventionalization, bifurcation, competition, internationaliza-
tion” and other socio-organizational features of organic. At the same time, many
“pragmatic” organic actors, driven by ideas of a healthy and environmental friendly
future, seek to keep alive ethically oriented organic practices through numerous
forms of localisms and farmer-consumer relationships that embody the IFOAM
Principles.
Confronted by these developments, we felt that it would be important to rethink
the role of the IFOAM Principles and their potential to orient the future development
of the organic idea. Three guiding questions helped us to select and organize the
chapters in this volume: What was, is and could be the future role of an ethically
based organic agriculture? What are the challenges of an ethically driven organic
future? And what are the conditions for establishing an ethically driven organic
agriculture for the future?
Our underlying premise is: solving the social, environmental and economic
challenges of the future cannot be served only with a techno-economic approach
or procedural, technical or social regulations. The absence of a more ethical
orientation in future decision making, for food, feed, fiber and energy production
and consumption will jeopardize future sustainable and resilient problem solving.
We are aware that this volume only addresses a selected number of the issues
raised above. Nevertheless, we hope that we have assembled thoughtful and
insightful reflections on several of the critical issues and ethical concerns in the
organic movement. As such, we hope this volume offers a solid starting point
for a reinvigorated debate on the development of an ethically centered organic
future.