Examining the mythologies of organics: Moving beyond the organic/conventional binary?

Abstract

The turn of the 21st century marked a crossroads for organic agriculture. By 2002, when the research project detailed in this chapter was being designed, organic agriculture had emerged as a commercial force that incorporated many producers and retailers on a global scale. It was also a time when the new visibility of organic agriculture, coupled with a global debate over the role of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in conventional agriculture, resulted in a high-profile public debate between promoters and detractors of organic agriculture. This chapter reflects on this public debate, using data produced by the Agriculture Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) project. The ARGOS project is a longitudinal social-ecological study of over 100 farms and orchards in New Zealand using organic, conventional or an environmentally oriented management system (usually an integrated management system that is designed to eliminate chemical residues from the final product and/or adheres to sets of ‘best practice’ guidelines around nutrients, water and energy). This chapter provides the first opportunity for a group of scholars working on the project to consider the broad pattern emerging out of the preliminary research results.