Positioning Organic Ethics - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 301

Chapter 14
Positioning Organic Ethics

Bernhard Freyer and Jim Bingen

14.1 Summary Overview: Ethics in the Organic Agrofood

Chain

14.1.1 Our Entry Point into the Debate

Olivier De Schutters provides the starting point for our final reflections on ethics in
the organic agrofood chain. In his report for the Human Rights Council (De Schutter
2010 , p. 1) he writes: “The reinvestment in agriculture, [ ], is essential to the

concrete realization of the right to food. However, in a context of ecological, food
and energy crises, the most pressing issue regarding reinvestment is not how much,
but how. This how should contribute to the progressive realization of the human right
to adequate food.” The report itself highlights the significance of agro-ecology and
similar agricultural approaches such as organic farming to fulfill the human right to
food.
For us, “the how” is also central, but not primarily with respect to the techno-
logical, economic or socio-cultural arrangements for carrying out organic farming.
Our intention has been to understand better the underlying ethical dimensions
that would lead to ecological, social and economic justice and sustainable organic
agrofood practices. To study this issue we took into account insightful discourses

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