Introduction - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 9

Chapter 11 : Drawing on a larger study of the history of organic farming and
gardening in Australia, Rebecca Jones examines whether the values that inspired
the foundation of organic agriculture remain relevant in contemporary society.
Following a discussion of the principles upon which Australian organic agricultural
societies were founded in the 1940s and 1950s, she examines whether these princi-
ples still resonate with, and are relevant to, Australian organic agriculture today. She
concludes that the original key principles remain fundamental to organic agriculture
today: the production of humus-rich fertile soil, chemical free production and the
maintenance and development of ecological wellbeing. While Australian organic
farmers grapple with many contemporary concerns such as genetic modification,
climate change, and a plethora of commercially manufactured organic products and
certification, she concludes that indeed a founder of the early organic societies
would still recognize the key principles of organic farming and gardening in
contemporary Australia. But similar to other countries, there are also tendencies
toward conventionalization.
Chapter 12 : Caroline Brock and Bradford Barham use an Oikonomia-bounded
rationality framework to explore how values shape farming choices among two
Old Order Amish communities when full and complete information is not always
available and/or utilized according to the standard assumptions of microeconomic
decision-making models. Despite economic, legal, and organizational challenges,
Amish farmers in these Wisconsin communities use many farming methods and
technologies similar to those used decades ago by non-Amish farmers. Based on
interviews with Amish farmers in these settlements, Brock and Barham discuss the
complex interplay of sustaining traditional religious values, bounded rationality, and
decisions to adopt “new” systems-based practices such as organic dairy farming
methods. They find diversity across the settlements with respect to the likelihood of
going organic which reflects how values and bounded rationality may shape farming
choices not only for the Amish but also for other farmers facing diverse management
and technological choices.
Part V Re-thinking Ethics in the Organic Movement
In this part, the authors refer to current and future perspectives of an ethically
driven organic movement. The central questions are: What are the ethics in the
organic practice in the last two decades and today? How are these ethics framed
and accompanied by organizations and institutions? And what are steps forward an
ethical driven organic movement?
Chapter 13 : Based on current scientific discussions and the findings in the
different parts of this volume, Bernhard Freyer, Jim Bingen and Milena Klimek
look at the role of ethics in the organic movement in more recent decades covered
by the chapters in Part II-IV, and offer additional insights on the broad range of
international research done over the last two decades. Consistent with the objective
of this volume to stimulate a rethinking of the role of ethics in the organic agrofood
chain, this chapter uses a value-based typology to discuss the contemporary values
of farmers, consumers and other actors along the organic supply chain. The authors
introduce a broad range of ethical contributions and challenges that are critical for an