IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v23y2006i3p313-323.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capturing the Sustainability Agenda: Organic Foods and Media Discourses on Food Scares, Environment, Genetic Engineering, and Health

Author

Listed:
  • Stewart Lockie

Abstract

This paper undertakes a content analysis of newspaper articles from Australia, the UK, and the US concerned with a variety of issues relevant to sustainable food and agriculture from 1996 to 2002. It then goes on to identify the various ways in which sustainability, organic food and agriculture, genetic engineering, genetically modified foods, and food safety are framed both in their own terms and in relation to each other. It finds that despite the many competing approaches to sustainability found in scientific and agricultural production discourses, media discourses tend to reduce this complexity to a straightforward conflict between organic and conventional foods. Despite regular reporting of viewpoints highly critical of organic food and agriculture, this binary opposition produces discourses in which organic foods are seen as more-or-less synonymous with safety, naturalness and nutrition, and their alternatives as artificial, threatening, and untrustworthy. Particularly controversial food-related issues such as genetic engineering, food scares, chemical residues, and regulatory failure are treated as part of the same problem to which organic food offers a trustworthy and easily understood solution. Copyright Springer 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Stewart Lockie, 2006. "Capturing the Sustainability Agenda: Organic Foods and Media Discourses on Food Scares, Environment, Genetic Engineering, and Health," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(3), pages 313-323, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:23:y:2006:i:3:p:313-323
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-006-9007-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-006-9007-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-006-9007-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julie Guthman, 2000. "Raising organic: An agro-ecological assessment of grower practices in California," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 17(3), pages 257-266, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Diana Stuart & Michelle Worosz, 2012. "Risk, anti-reflexivity, and ethical neutralization in industrial food processing," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(3), pages 287-301, September.
    2. Stewart Lockie, 2009. "Responsibility and agency within alternative food networks: assembling the “citizen consumer”," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 193-201, September.
    3. Kristie O’Neill, 2018. "Traditional beneficiaries: trade bans, exemptions, and morality embodied in diets," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 515-527, June.
    4. Robert Chiles, 2013. "If they come, we will build it: in vitro meat and the discursive struggle over future agrofood expectations," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(4), pages 511-523, December.
    5. Valentina Marinescu & Bianca Fox & Darie Cristea & Daniela Roventa-Frumusani & Ramona Marinache & Silvia Branea, 2021. "Talking about Sustainability: How the Media Construct the Public’s Understanding of Sustainable Food in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-28, April.
    6. Padfield, Rory & Varkkey, Helena & Manzo, Kate & Ganesan, Vignaa, 2023. "Time bomb or gold mine? Policy, sustainability and media representations of tropical peatlands in Malaysia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    7. Douglas H. Constance, 2023. "The doctors of agrifood studies," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 31-43, March.
    8. Gregor Wolbring & Theresa Rybchinski, 2013. "Social Sustainability and Its Indicators through a Disability Studies and an Ability Studies Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Philip Leat & Cesar Revoredo-Giha & Chrysa Lamprinopoulou, 2011. "Scotland’s Food and Drink Policy Discussion: Sustainability Issues in the Food Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-27, March.
    10. Jennifer Hayden & Sarah Rocker & Hannah Phillips & Bradley Heins & Andrew Smith & Kathleen Delate, 2018. "The Importance of Social Support and Communities of Practice: Farmer Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities of Integrated Crop–Livestock Systems on Organically Managed Farms in the Northern U," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Islam, Shahidul, 2013. "Marketing organic foods through conventional retail outlets," MPRA Paper 107275, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2013.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hugh Campbell, 2009. "Breaking new ground in food regime theory: corporate environmentalism, ecological feedbacks and the ‘food from somewhere’ regime?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(4), pages 309-319, December.
    2. Wheeler, Sarah Ann, 2006. "The Influence of Market and Agricultural Policy Signals on the Level of Organic Farming," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25333, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Muhammad, Safdar & Fathelrahman, Eihab & Ullah, Rafi Ullah Tasbih, 2015. "Factors Affecting Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Certififed Organic Food Products in United Arab Emirates," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 46(1), pages 1-9, March.
    4. Władysława Łuczka & Sławomir Kalinowski & Nadiia Shmygol, 2021. "Organic Farming Support Policy in a Sustainable Development Context: A Polish Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Lauren C. Ponisio & Paul R. Ehrlich, 2016. "Diversification, Yield and a New Agricultural Revolution: Problems and Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Ryan E. Galt, 2013. "The Moral Economy Is a Double-edged Sword: Explaining Farmers’ Earnings and Self-exploitation in Community-Supported Agriculture," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 341-365, October.
    7. Vanloqueren, Gaëtan & Baret, Philippe V., 2009. "How agricultural research systems shape a technological regime that develops genetic engineering but locks out agroecological innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 971-983, July.
    8. Douglas H. Constance, 2023. "The doctors of agrifood studies," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 31-43, March.
    9. Cortner, O. & Garrett, R.D. & Valentim, J.F. & Ferreira, J. & Niles, M.T. & Reis, J. & Gil, J., 2019. "Perceptions of integrated crop-livestock systems for sustainable intensification in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 841-853.
    10. Nadine Würriehausen & Rico Ihle & Sebastian Lakner, 2015. "Price relationships between qualitatively differentiated agricultural products: organic and conventional wheat in Germany," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 195-209, March.
    11. Krisnawati Suryanata & Karen N Umemoto, 2003. "Tension at the Nexus of the Global and Local: Culture, Property, and Marine Aquaculture in Hawai'i," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(2), pages 199-213, February.
    12. Tessier, Louis & Bijttebier, Jo & Marchand, Fleur & Baret, Philippe V., 2021. "Identifying the farming models underlying Flemish beef farmers' practices from an agroecological perspective with archetypal analysis," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    13. Petit, Caroline & Aubry, Christine, 2014. "Collecte de grandes cultures biologiques en Île-de-France. Quels modes d’organisation et dynamiques d’intégration au sein de structures conventionnelles ?," Économie rurale, French Society of Rural Economics (SFER Société Française d'Economie Rurale), vol. 339(January-M).
    14. P.M. Stassart & Ph. Baret & T. Hance & Marc Mormont & D. Reheul & D. Stilmant & G. Vanloqueren & Marjolein Visser, 2012. "Trajectoire et potentiel de l'agroécologie, pour une transition vers des systèmes alimentaires durables, papier de positionnement du GIRAF," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/115080, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Pantelis Zoiopoulos & Ioannis Hadjigeorgiou, 2013. "Critical Overview on Organic Legislation for Animal Production: Towards Conventionalization of the System?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(7), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Rosa-Schleich, Julia & Loos, Jacqueline & Mußhoff, Oliver & Tscharntke, Teja, 2019. "Ecological-economic trade-offs of Diversified Farming Systems – A review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 251-263.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:23:y:2006:i:3:p:313-323. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.