The basic ethical values of organic agriculture

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The basic ethical values of organic agriculture
Organic Revision Project
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The context

• Organic agriculture is by tradition value based
• All stakeholders including consumers have value
  expectations
• Concerns in the organic sector
• lack of grounding in core values
  (conventionalisation)
• discrepancy between expectations and practise
• Ongoing process of the revision of the EU
  regulation 2092/91

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Basic aims in WP2

• Identify core values of organic agriculture
• Compare with standards and current practise
• Which values are realised/not realised?
• What is the role of ethical values in standards
  and regulations?
• What procedures should be used for
  decision-making about values?

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Identify value base

• Sources
• Literature (textbooks, historical documents)
• Empirical research of motives and values
• Important values to stakeholders
• Market research
• Publications that identify principles (since
  2000)
• 4 IFOAM principles (consultation, movement)

Increasing ethical or normative Guiding
practise, formulating ethical, respect for a
range of fundamental values, coherence
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Principles of Organic Agriculture

• 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.

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Values in IFOAM principles
SoilsSystems reliance self regulation
EOCLOGY Ecological systems Closing cycles Site
specific Reduced input use Self regulationBio-
diversity Environment protection
HEALTH System healthSoil plant health Animal
health Integrity Resilience Food
qualityNon-polluting
Naturalness Sustainability System thinking
Animals People (food)
EnvironmentPeople
Equity Respect Justice Food
sovereignty Animal welfareStewardship
Transparency FAIRNESS
Precaution prevention Responsibility Excluding
GMO Future generations Tacid knowledge CARE
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Comparison of value elements

• Literature 6 publications identifying core
  values
• Producer and consumer attitudes Focus groups as
  part of the project
• EU regulation 2092/91 Text of preamble and
  articles
• Practise Limited to intensification (high use of
  external and non-organic inputs) using selected
  indicators and case descriptions of pigs and
  poultry in NL and specialist arable farms.

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Principle of health

• Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance
  the health of soil, plant, animal and human as
  one and indivisible.

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Principle of ecology

• Organic Agriculture should be based on living
  ecological systems and cycles, work with them,
  emulate them and help sustain them.

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Principle of fairness

• Organic Agriculture should build on
  relationships that ensure fairness with regard to
  the common environment and life opportunities.

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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.

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Main integrative values
Other values important to producers
Professional skills, independence and
responsibility
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Conclusions

• Most values of the IFOAM principles are well
  founded in the literature and stakeholder focus
  groups
• IFOAM principles have further legitimacy through
  consultation and democratic process
• Adopt as the basis for developing future
  direction of organic farming
• However, values are per se ambiguous
• Conflicting interpretations are likely

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How to implement values

• Organic standards dont state values clearly
• Many focus on some values, ignore others
• Not well represented are ecological systems,
  system thinking, fairness, transparency, social
  values
• Reflected in problem cases (intensification?)
• Aim for value harmonisation building on
  principles of health, ecology, fairness and care
• Need for ethical dialogue about values and their
  interpretation
• How to implement difficult values in the
  rules?
• Can we implement values outside the rules?

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• Thank you for your attention

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Practise compared with values
EOCLOGY Ecological systems Closing cycles Site
specific Reduced input use Self regulationBio-
diversity Environment protection
HEALTH System healthSoil plant health Animal
health Integrity Resilience Food
qualityNon-polluting
conflicts
conflicts
Equity Respect Justice Food
sovereignty Animal welfareStewardship
Transparency FAIRNESS
Precaution prevention Responsibility Excluding
GMO Future generations Tacid knowledge CARE
conflicts
?
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Specialisation of 550 organic farms
Source Nieberg et al., (2005)
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Livestock concentration EU 15

• Higher uptake among livestock producing farms,
• 2.3 of total livestock in EU certified in 2003
• IT, SE, DE gt 0.4 m LU
• UK and FR gt 0.3 m LU
• AT, ES gt 0.2 m LU
• Dairy 40 of organic herd in UK and DE
• Other cattle 25 in AT, IT, DK
• Pigs only 0.4 of all pigs DE, FR, IT,UK
• Poultry France and UK

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Intensity / dependency cases

• Pigs and poultry in NL
• No limit on use of external organic feed
• Non-organic feeds are still in use
• Organic concentrate feed demand higher then
  supply (also in the UK) feed is transport over
  long distances or further requests for
  derogations.
• Arable production (NL,DK)
• Up 75 of N from non-organic sources
• Non-organic manure limited by 170 kg/ha (140 kg
  in DK)
• Other N input (e.g. vinasse) not covered
• Other animal producers in DK
• Reliance (dependency) on non-organic straw
• All descriptions comply with EU regulation
  2091/91
• Reducing non-organic inputs (e.g. feed) does not
  reduce reliance on external inputs

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Standards and values

• Most standards dont state values.
• Many (incl. 2092/91) reflect only some values
• Sector has implemented values easy to audit
• European standard setting bodies should aim for
  harmonising the values behind the rules
• Build on four principles of organic agriculture
• Basis for harmonising rules and flexibility
• Strengthen consumer trust in organic labels
• Communication about values and interpretation

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Procedure for integrating values

• Integrating values brings uncertainty
• Values are per se in need of interpretation
• There is no unambiguous, clear interpretation of
  the core organic values
• Process (how to make decisions) and content (what
  values) matter
• Procedural ethics talks about ideal process to
  arrive at the morally right answer
• Other experiences of ethical dialogue
• Organic could act as example

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Where are procedures relevant?

• General rules for decisionmaking in relation to
  ethical values
• Consolidation of value base
• Implementing values in the rules

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1. Rules for decision-making

• Dealing with discrepancies heterogeneity
• Different models of democratic processes
• Election/voting by majority
• Participation by involvement
• Democracy by deliberation
• Involve relevant stakeholders
• Procedural ethics The right decision or moral
  justification can be best be developed among
  those involved
• Connects well with traditions in the organic
  sector

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5 elements of ethical dialogue

• Respect for the discussion partners
• Respect for arguments and emotions
• Context sensitivity
• Developing common understanding or shared picture
• Relating the theory (values) to practise
• Guidelines for decision-making in relation to
  values in organic regulation and standards

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2. Consolidating values
Aims (Art 1) Objectives (Art 3) General
principles (Art 4) Specific principles (Art 5
6) General rules Specific rules Implementation
rules (Commission level)
Ethical Values / Principles
How?
Why?
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Decision-making main regulation
European Commission First draft (Dec 2005)
European Parliament Agricultural
Committee Judicial Committee Full Vote
(Expected March 07)
consults
negotiates
Council of Ministers Working party Chaired by EU
Presidency
New Council Regulation on Organic Food
adopts
Implementation rules
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Decision-making implementation rules
New Council Regulation on Organic Food
European Commission
Non Papers
Legal drafts for rules Production, labelling,
control system, imports
New regulatory committee (Art 31)

• Implementation Rules

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Decision-making implementation rules
New Council Regulation on Organic Food
European Commission
Expert Panel
Involves ?
Non Papers
StakeholderCommittee
Legal drafts for rules Production, labelling,
control system, imports
Member states
Regulatory committee (Art 31)

• Implementation Rules

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Value elements EU Revision
HEALTH (?) System health ? Soil plant health
? Animal health ? Integrity (?) Resilience
(?) Food quality ? Non-polluting ?
ECOLOGY ? Ecological systems ? Closing cycles ?
Site specific ? Reduced input use ? Self
regulation(?) Bio- diversity ? Environment
protection ?
Sustainability ? Naturalness ? System thinking ?
Equity Respect Justice Food sovereignty
(?) Animal welfare ? Stewardship Transparency
? FAIRNESS ?
Precaution prevention ? Responsibility Excludin
g GMO ? Future generations ? Tacid knowledge CARE
?
COM Text Dec 06
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3. Important remaining decision

• Implement values in the rules
• Taking values seriously implies implementing them
  in the rules
• EU revision implementation rules (Annexes)
• Interpretation of core values
• How to deal with conflicting interpretations
• Consider impact on organic values in input
  approval
• Self-regulation of the organic sector

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Conclusions

• Regulators should (and are) recognising the value
  tradition of organic farming
• Current practise and many existing standards do
  not consider all values (no ecol. systems,
  social)
• Aim for EU value harmonisation building on
  health, ecology, fairness and care
• Requires communication about values and their
  interpretation
• The challenge is to implement in rules
• Systems thinking, Fairness

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Integrating values requires procedures

• Values (also organic ones) are ambiguous
• Working with uncertainty, different perspectives
  potential conflicts (culture, language)
• Representation of relevant stakeholders
  (deliberative democratic process)
• Open and transparent
• The rules of stakeholder participation should be
  clearly and widely communicated
• Examples from/for ethical dialogue