Framework for Re-thinking Ethics in the Organic Movement - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 279

arise in the practices of local, urban, or regional organic agrofood chains, interpreted
and formulated for specific cases, regions or issues of collaboration.
New governance structures (Padel et al. 2010 , p. 73), accompanied by partic-
ipatory learning processes (cf. International Institute for Environment and Devel-
opment 2009 ) and based on self-responsibility (e.g., Schmid 2010 ) could help to
develop these local, regional as well as cultural specific approaches. The cultural
role of these collaborations is significant because these partnerships provide value
based, socially supportive economic features. These include work on farm or in a
food co-op, offering lowers prices for low-income customers or for large families,
while providing more security for farmers through direct financial support by
consumers or the security that consumers will regularly by their products. All these
initiatives build on what Alrøe and Kristensen ( 2004 ) call “nearness” as a key
precondition for building trust between stakeholders.
These forms, not specifically, but generally, are linked with organic farming in
which consumers seek a deeper relationship with farming and the land, and that
are indicative of new lifestyles and life politics (Ravenscroft and Taylor 2009 ,
p. 215) what is termed “food citizenship.” Consumers participate and actively
contribute to the agrofood system (ibid., p. 216). It is about de-commodifying food,
and the reintegration of people and land (ibid., p. 217). Other approaches include
community supported agriculture, farming that shares the risk and rewards of the
farming process. These versions of community farming can be classified in terms
of three foundations (ibid., p. 222): (1) Co-operations, where non- hierarchical
networks are central; (2) New forms of non-profit risk sharing economies; (3) New
forms of property ownership. But we have to keep in mind that those collaborations
require intellectual and time commitments by the consumer—a commitment that is
often difficult to make solely for the purpose of buying food.
There are other wholesaler and retailer systems in between direct marketing
formats and corporate market chains. Nationally oriented collaborative relationships
between retailer and farmers always raise the issue of how to fulfill consumer
demand for products that are grown or processed “outside” the region. As Clarke
et al. ( 2008 ) describe, some entrepreneurs may bundle and share products, or sell
products 'from the region-for-the-region'. When organized on a regional scale, and
in order to handle regionally produced and processed food, regionalized businesses
can reduce the food miles and follow the principles of nearness (see Byrne et al.
2006 ). Those models also combine global trade and an eco-localism approach
(Curtis 2003 ; Ritzer 2003 ). Nationwide and global marketing arrangement of
course, does not include direct relationships between farmers and consumers.
In contrast, partnerships between farmers, consumers and large retail firms offer
only limited potential for participatory approaches or the significant application
of the specific values of the IFOAM Principles related to social and economic
justice (Principles of Fairness and Care). That is explained by the unbalanced
power distribution between the partners. This raises the question: is the application
of the IFOAM Principles limited to specific business models? Currently, we lack
innovative ideas on adequate approaches with large retailers that are sensitive to
power relationships, or to social and economic justice. The Fair Trade approach