Conversion to Organic Agriculture: Opportunities and Constraints

Abstract

This dissertation aims to attribute to the debate on how to achieve a more sustainable agriculture in the Netherlands. Two options are often mentioned: make current agricultural practices more sustainable through slow and deliberate changes. This option might be successful but can lead to further deterioration of the environment. The other option is immediate conversion to organic agriculture. Despite a growing market for organic agricultural products, there is however no large scale conversion to organic production in the Netherlands. We address this topic with the research question: What determines the conversion towards organic agriculture and how might the change towards sustainable agriculture be accelerated? We introduce two explanatory perspectives on conversion to organic agriculture. The first is that farmers, primary producers, are reluctant to change their modes of production. To investigate this we conducted a survey on agricultural sustainability in general and on adoption of conservation agriculture techniques in Dutch arable farming. Our results indicate that adoption of the techniques depends mainly on the fit of the technique with their farming philosophy, the availability of relevant information and on assessment of the risks associated with the technique. Moreover, farmers are aware of the call for more sustainable production and are, in general, willing to work on achieving this. Furthermore, our findings show that farmers are probably not reluctant to change per se. The second explanatory perspective we investigate is the way agriculture is organized. As a starting point of our analysis we assume that the explanation can be found in the fact that the primary producer is embedded in a chain-network that limits the individual freedom of choice. A theoretical framework was constructed of agricultural production chains and the networks that surround them. To identify opportunities for and constraints to conversion to organic agriculture we analysed the potato chain-network, the dairy chain-network, and hard fruit chain-network. Our findings show that while there are opportunities, these opportunities are not balanced out by constraints to conversion. Important constraints are to be found in the way the markets for products and produce function and are structured, and in the organization of the chains that result from this market structure. These structures make it difficult or unattractive for actors - especially farmers - to switch between suppliers and purchasers. Furthermore, the power balance between different actors in the chain makes conversion more difficult that it would seem at first. In conclusion our analysis shows that there are few opportunities and many constraints when it comes to conversion. To accommodate further conversion towards organic agriculture the barriers put up by the constraints need to be lifted. Our analysis shows that achieving sustainable agriculture rises above the issue of individual farmers and consumers. To overcome the constraints for converting to organic production, and to be able to address all issues that need to be addressed to improve the performance of conventional agriculture, all parties within the food production chain-network should be involved. Sustainable agriculture therefore requires coordinated actions of all actors within a chain-network.