Ethics in the Organic Movement - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 12

of the organic movement from the 1920s until the 1990s provides insights into the
relevance of different ethical concepts that have arisen in the organic movement
over the last century. 3 Our review does not claim to be exhaustive. Instead, we
seek to integrate our understanding of the socio-political, cultural and agricultural
background of the organic movement with the development of its values and ethics.

2.1 Implementation of the IFOAM Principles

In 1980, IFOAM formulated the first series of principles to serve as the ethical
guidelines for organic practices (e.g., Lockeretz 2007 , p. 117). The latest IFOAM
Principles arose from an international consultative process established by the
IFOAM World Board 4 from 2003 to 2005 (Luttikholt and Vijayalaksmi 2004 ).
This worldwide stakeholder-based discourse embodied IFOAM's specific ethical
commitment to develop the principles through a bottom-up participatory process.
The initiative to reformulate the principles stemmed from the decline of
IFOAM's role in the organic movement and the need to assure the application of its
Basic Standards in an increasingly globalized organic market. “The [consultative]
process aimed to bridge the values from the pioneers of organic agriculture to the
present time of globalization and to extend growth of the organic sector” (Luttikholt
2007 , p. 347).
As a result of this process, the four IFOAM Principles—Health, Ecology,
Fairness and Care—were established as the pillars of the ethical framework to
support and guide organic agriculture and the global organic movement (long
version see annex) (IFOAM 2012 ):

￿ Principle of Health: Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance the health

of soil, plant, animal and human as one and indivisible.

￿ Principle of Ecology: Organic Agriculture should be based on living ecological

systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.

￿ Principle of Fairness: Organic Agriculture should build on relationships that

ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

￿ Principle of Care: Organic Agriculture should be managed in a precautionary

and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future
generations and the environment.

As the IFOAM Norms state, these principles are the foundation for writing
separate national standards and regulations (IFOAM 2012 ). 5 The Principles:

3 An overview of the latest development is discussed in the Chap. 13 .
4 http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/principles/history_of_principles.html
5 The IFOAM Norms (IFOAM 2012 ) are composed of three documents, which are the Common
Objectives and Requirements of Organic Standards (COROS) - IFOAM Standards Requirements;