Governing the Rule-Making of Organic Agriculture

In western societies, organic agriculture is highly institutionalised as an approach to sustainable farming. In this development, a vast number of standards and rules have been constructed by rather diverse rule-makers. Despite EU s attempt to harmonise rules and standards for organic agriculture, the diversity of rule-makers has resulted in differences in standards and problems of inefficient markets. This book addresses the issue by providing an increased understanding of how such rule-making activities are created nationally. The analysis is based on a comparative study of Denmark and Sweden. Although the cases illustrate two modes of governance: in the former, rule-making is formally internalized in the State and in the latter, in a private-interest organization, a similar set of stakeholders participate in the actual rule-making processes. The analysis provides an interesting avenue into understanding the relationship between local and supranational rule-makers, and how local rule-makers may act to secure local circumstances and demands of supranational legislators concurrently. Moreover, the analysis suggests possible consequences of striving for uniform standards.

Autorentext

The author holds a Ph.D. in international management from Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University. Presently she is an assistant professor at the Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University. She has participated in conferences as Academy of Management Annual Meeting and EASST, publisched in journals and co-written several book chapters.