Cover image: Grazing Sheep in Highlands at Sunset © Hougaard Malan/istockphoto.com © Hougaard at Sunset in Highlands Sheep image: Grazing Cover ‘Written in an engaging and accessible style, for the Soil Rebels this book presents a revealing and highly original account Matthew Reed of the historical evolution of the organic farming and food movement. It is a welcome counterpoint to the many political economic analyses of organic farming and food that are now available.’ Carol Morris, University of Nottingham, UK his book investigates the emergence of organic food and Tfarming as a social movement. Using the tools of political sociology it analyses and explains how both people and ideas have shaped a movement that from its inception aimed to change global agriculture. Starting from the British Empire in the 1930s, where the first trans-national roots of organic farming took hold, through to the internet-mediated social protests against genetically modified crops at the end of the twentieth century, the author traces the rise to prominence of the movement. As well as providing a historical account, the book explains the movement’s on-going role in fostering and organising alternatives to the dominant intensive and industrial forms of agriculture, such as promoting local food Rebels for the Soil produce and animal welfare. By considering it as a trans-national movement from its inception, The Rise of the Global Organic aiming at cultural and social change, the book highlights what is unique about the organic movement and why it has risen only Reed Matthew Food and Farming Movement relatively recently to public attention. The author reports original research findings, focusing largely on the English-speaking world. The work is grounded in academic enquiry and theory, but also provides a narrative through which the movement can be understood by the more general interested reader. Matt Reed is a Senior Research Fellow at the Countryside and Community Research Institute based at the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK. publishing for a sustainable future www.earthscan.co.uk Earthscan strives to minimize its impact on the environment Agriculture and Food / Geography / Sociology Rebels for the Soil Rebels for the Soil The Rise of the Global Organic Food and Farming Movement Matthew Reed publishing for a sustainable future London • Washington, DC First published in 2010 by Earthscan Copyright © Matthew Reed, 2010 The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy- ing, recording or otherwise, except as expressly permitted by law, without the prior, writ- ten permission of the publisher. Earthscan Ltd, Dunstan House, 14a St Cross Street, London EC1N 8XA, UK Earthscan LLC,1616 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA Earthscan publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development For more information on Earthscan publications, see www.earthscan.co.uk or write to [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-84407-597-3 hardback Typeset by Safehouse Creative Cover design by Susanne Harris A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Reed, David, 1948- Escaping poverty’s grasp : the environmental foundations of poverty alleviation / David Reed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-371-9 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-84407-371-8 (pbk.) ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-372-6 (hardback) ISBN-10: 1-84407-372-6 (hardback) 1. Poverty--Case studies. 2. Conservation of natural resources--Case studies. I. Title. HC79.P6R44 2006 339.4’6--dc22 2006009672 At Earthscan we strive to minimize our environmental impacts and carbon footprint through reducing waste, recycling and offsetting our CO2 emissions, including those created through publication of this book. For more details of our environmental policy, see www.earthscan.co.uk. Printed and bound in the UK by TJ International, an ISO 14001 accredited company. The paper used is FSC certified and the inks are vegetable based. Contents Preface vi List ofTables,FiguresandBoxes xiii ListofAcronymsandAbbreviations ix 1. Introduction 1 2. Social Movements 15 3. Saving the Soil 33 4. Poisonous Elixirs 51 5. Small, Beautiful and Reorganized, 1960s and 1970s 71 6. The Rise of Organic Food Retailing, 1980s 91 7. Fighting the Future – against GM Crops 111 8. Peak Organics? 129 Bibliography 149 Index 159 Preface I have worked with food for most of my life, firstly in kitchens preparing and serv- ing food and later as a sociologist who has specialised in researching rural areas. This book springs from that encounter of having been involved in feeding a mass of people and the need for a food system that takes into account the effects it has on people’s health, the surrounding community and the environment. I have been fortunate to discuss this with chefs, farmers, growers, food processors, those who run supermarkets, scientists, activists, policy makers and consumers. All of them have shown an interest in the challenge that organic food and farming presents. Some of them react aggressively against it, decrying it as elitist, romantic and wasteful or as one farmer said pithily ‘a bunch of wasters’. Others have been enthusiastic, looking to organics to produce healthier bodies, a more natural relationship between them- selves and the planet, as well as tastier food. The response I never get is indifference; the debates sparked by the organic movement generate opinions and debate. In this book I wanted to counter the common opinion that organic farming and food is inherently interesting or has only come to prominence because of geo- politics, a decline in rationality in our society or an increasing self-interestedness by consumers or the greed of supermarkets. Organic food and farming are part of our societal discussions because an assembly of people have put it there through their own actions. By understanding the way in which the organic movement operates as a movement operates, the history of its ideas and the networks through it has developed it becomes clearer that the prominence of the organic movement is a considerable achievement. It also begs the questions as to why is has not been more successful, and how it might be so. In making this argument I present evidence that will be uncomfortable for some in the movement, particularly around the history of the early years. Yet for those opposed to the organic movement it also poses the question of having to explain why the organic movement persists. Many groups and people criticise the status quo, few have a working replacement waiting in the wings to be introduced. The organic movement may not have all the answers, but it is pos- ing important questions and has an alternative to hand. In a time looking toward a crisis in the continuity and supply of food, that must command our attention. PREFACE vii The research and thinking on which this book draws spans a decade so the thanks are wide ranging, but I would like to thank Peter Jowers, Harry Rothman, Dave Green and Alan Greer who were, or are still, at the University of West of England. At Exeter University Matt Lobley, Allan Butler and Mike Winter. For my brief but important time at the Open University special thanks are to due to Guy Cook for his encouragement and example. All of my colleagues at the Countryside and Community Research Institute have been, as they always are, an unfailingly support- ive team, but particular thanks to Nigel Curry, James Kirwan and Paul Courtney. Thanks as well to Tim Hardwick and all the team at Earthscan for all their guidance, I’m still marvelling that I am an Earthscan author and many thanks to Carol Morris and the two anonymous referees for their constructive comments. I am blessed with a family who stand behind me without whom none of this would be possible and who have never shirked from encouraging me during the decade of research that stands behind this book. They inspired all that follows which is right all that errs belongs solely to me. Tables and Boxes Tables 2.1 Two arenas of movement activity after Rochon 20 2.2 The first three waves of the global organic movement 24 4.1 The first elected council of theoil S Association 58 8.1 The fourth phase of the organic movement 143 Boxes 1.1 Agri-culture 3 1.2 Organic vs conventional 8 1.3 The key arguments of this book 10 2.1 Eve Balfour the protestor 22 4.1 Rolf Gardiner’s War 54 8.1 Beyond organic 141 8.2 Fair trade and organics 144 Acronyms and Abbreviations BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy CAP Common Agricultural Policy CCOF Californian Certified Organic Farmers CSA community supported agriculture DDT Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane EDAP Energy Descent Action Plan FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN) FDA Food and Drug Administration (US) FIAN Food First Information and Action FSEs field scale evaluations FYM farm yard manure GAO Organic Farming Group GE genetically engineered GM genetically modified HDRA Henry Doubleday Research Association IARI Imperial Agricultural Research Institute (India) IFOAM International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IMF International Monetary Fund MST Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Brazil) NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NOP National Organic Programme (US) NPK Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium OCA Organic Consumers Association (US) OTA Organic Trade Association (US) SCIMAC Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crop SMOs Social Movement Organizations UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme USDA US Department of Agriculture WTO World Trade Organisation 1 Introduction Quietly humanity has entered a new epoch; for the first time in history more people live in cities and towns than in the countryside.