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Presented by
August 2006.
Quod cibus est aliis, aliis est
venenum.
Organic food is of growing importance to the agro-alimentary industry. It is promoted and marketed as having significant health benefits while being less harmful to the local environment than conventional agriculture. Its success is often attributed to its ability to represent different things for different people. This research, making use of unstructured interviews, aims to investigate the nature of the meanings that consumers attach to organic food products and their implications.
It argues that the meaning of organic food is constructed in opposition to that of conventional food products, and that indeed it is different for different people. It shows that for those who choose to consume it, organic food is what food should be and that the motivations for this consumption continue be wide ranging. Furthermore, it goes on to argue that the nature of the motivation is directly responsible for the contradictions the consumer may encounter along the consumption process.
Over the past few years, the rise of ethical consumption, whether it is organic, local or fair trade food products, has brought a whole new set of dilemmas. This work concludes by exploring some of the most significant issues that consumers have to address when considering organic food as part of the ethical consumption.
Firstly, I would like to thank Dr Kath Browne who supervised this research and has provided guidance, inspiration and reassurance in equal measure. I also want to thank Dr Kirsty Smallbone for taking the time to read and comment on my work. In moments of doubts, she always restored my belief in my ability and in my choice of topic. My friend and fellow student Steve Newman must be thanked for the engrossing conversations we have had on the topic and for his honesty with regard to my work.
I am obviously indebted to the people who have generously given of their time to answer my questions. It sometimes felt as if they were doing the work for me.
I must thank my partner, Jeanette Thyrsson for her general help through hours of discussion, unlimited inspiration and intelligent criticism. Her ability to genuinely engage in my work has been a source of fascination in our time at university. Finally, I must thank the people who have taken of their time to come and entertain our children while we were both hard at work. It would not have been possible without them.
c. The role of the Soil Association
a. Food scares, GM food and food
production awareness
2.4 The
consequences of these concerns.
a. Investigating meanings: the case
for qualitative research
d. Consent, anonymity and the Data
Protection Act (1998).
a. The position of the researcher
b. The continuous evolution of the
means of research
Chapter 4: Understandings of the term organic
4.1 Organic Food as natural and pure
4.2 Organic food as opposed to non-organic food
4.3 Organic food as what food used to be and/or how food
should be
4.4 Organic food as similar to home-grown food
Chapter 5: motivations behind organic food consumption
5.3 Health and Children’s health
5.6 The comparison to non-organic food
Chapter 6: ambiguities raised by organic food consumption
d. Local food: food miles and
farmers’ markets
6.2 Organic food consumption as a process
Appendix A: participant information sheet
“I think ideally it
would be really great if that was all that you could buy, everything could be
organic and (…) I just think I could make a small difference by buying that
kind of stuff and not buying non organic stuff.” (Holly, personal interview,
5/07/06)
At the heart of Environmental Assessment and Management (EAM), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and every other practices, regulated or not, whose aim is to improve our environmental performance is the concept of sustainability (see among others, Reed, 1996, Glasson, Therivel, and Chadwick, 1999 and, Morris and Therivel, 2001).
The Worldwatch Institute (2004) argues that while the private sector remains mostly responsible for environmental degradation, resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions, consumers have an increasingly important role to play.
Indeed, individuals are more and more invited – and pressurised – to reflect upon their own activities and their environmental impacts. Daily newspapers run extras on ethical consumption choices and magazines such as Permaculture – Solutions for Sustainable Living or Ethical Consumer are slowly creeping out of the niche in which they have remained for so long and extending their sphere of influence. These publications tackle a range of topics that would fit within the scope of interests of what Browne et al. (2000) recognise as the concerned consumer. This concerned consumer is clearly summed up by the magazine Ethical Consumer, which represents the most dedicated end of a media spectrum ready to advise their readers on green matters and that exists to “promote universal human rights, environmental sustainability and animal welfare through ethical purchasing” (Ethical Consumer, 2006).
If this definition appears fairly clear, it nonetheless raises a certain amount of practical challenges when it comes to accommodating these different priorities. Indeed, if The Ethical Consumer still has a fairly low circulation, its messages are being relayed by the more mainstream part of the media and even though most consumers are ready, and indeed eager to take ethical decisions in their consumption choices, only few are likely to radicalise completely their shopping processes. As a result the meaning of ethical consumption is highly contested and its application, very complex since it implies for the less dedicated ethical consumers to balance out one ethical option with another, i.e. organic food versus local food.
Without benefiting from the same exposition and endorsement as the fair trade label, the organic label is at the core of ethical consumption. Yet, its meaning and understanding too remain vague. Rather than “not all that shines is gold”, a more appropriate proverb for organic food production would be “gold not always shines”. Indeed, if an organic food product can be stamped by the label of a recognised certification agency, it needs not to be the case and shrewd consumers will source organic food beyond the realm of labels and stamps.
The reality is that on the one hand, is a definition of organic food that is regulated by certification agencies. On the other hand, and from the perspective of the consumer, is a more volatile and fluctuating meaning that is essentially defined by attitudes, beliefs and assumptions. It is the existence of these dual and often unrelated meanings that makes worth this research. Indeed, the organic label remains complex and often little understood; yet more and more people choose to consume organic food. In addition, the geographical scale of the retail supply realm is now global and environmental impacts are at best tackled from the perspective of life cycles. This way, it is down to the consumer to make the assumptions necessary to make the relevant consumption choices.
To consider agricultural organic production