Framework for Re-thinking Ethics in the Organic Movement - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 268

wholesalers and retailers benefit more from uniform, globalized standards than
do organic farmers. These corporately oriented control or regulatory policies also
constrain efforts to promote production that is adapted to local conditions.
Guthman ( 2004 , p. 307) point out that large corporations both influence the
guidelines and seek to sell the most profitable products. As she notes, since the
guidelines deal primarily with production inputs, and less with processing, this
favors larger, corporate players at the expense of small and economically weaker
partners in the organic system. This results in a loss of social and economic values
and ecological qualities (Guthman 2004 , p. 307). This leads to regulations that
create advantages for large corporations in the organic market while suppressing
opportunities for small farmers in niche markets (see Hall and Mogyorody 2002 )
(see Constance et al., Chap. 9 ) .
Rigby and Cáceres ( 2001 , p. 28) also critically review the social dimension
of control and certification. They state: “objectives such as the sustainability of
farm families, farm workers and rural communities, which are frequently espoused
by organic groups, are simply not amenable to this type of regulation. Individual
producers may be committed to such goals, but most standards do not include them,
and it is difficult to see how they could.” The broader, underlying question concerns
whether current certification standards and processes encourage farming based
on standardized, contract-like approaches to production and more standardized
industrially processed products.
We argue that without a clear statement and a broader expression of social and
economic core values in the organic standards, organic risks becoming a weak
version of sustainability or of being branded as “green washing” (see Freyer et al.,
Chap. 5 ; Constance et al., Chap. 9 ) . Such a development would negatively affect
consumer trust and would risk undermining the organic movement. Therefore, we
suggest that the integration of social and economic justice and fairness into the
IFOAM Standards and related instruments is essential for the future development
of the IFOAM Norms (Raynolds 2000 ; Alrøe et al. 2006 ;Jaffeeetal. 2009 ;IFOAM
2012 ). In contrast, alternative regulatory systems that adhere to the IFOAM Norms
(IFOAM 2012 ) offer another way to integrate social, economic and traditional
values (Padel et al. 2010 , p. 66), and could lead to a broader integration of social
values (Padel and Gössinger 2008 ). However, it should be recognized that farmers
are often look at ethics as ideological (Kaltoft 1999 ). Consequently many leave or
are uninterested in joining such an “ideological” movement.

13.2.1.2 Ethical Challenges in the Certification Process

Compared with the early history of the organic movement (see Chap. 2 ) , the current
discourse on ethics has been replaced by bureaucratic procedures for documenting
the technical conformity of a farmer's practices with the organic standards or
regulations. It is significant to note that even the certifiers feel overburdened by
the inflation of standards, regulations and inspection requirements (Schmid and
Lockeretz 2007 ).