99th ESA Annual Meeting (August 10 -- 15, 2014)

PL 3

ESA Recent Advances Lecture

Back to the land? On the paradoxes of certified organics for agricultural transformations Julie Guthman will discuss recent trends in the growth of certified organics and what they indicate for transforming agriculture. While believing that organic agriculture is a better way to farm, she will show how the political economy of certified organic has begun to thwart growth in the sector and is thus working against widespread transitions to more ecologically sound production practices. Her talk may thus cast doubt on the idea of getting the standard right and suggest other roads to ecological agriculture besides voluntary labels and standards.