The idea of a sustainable agriculture has gained prominence since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987. Yet, the concept of sustainable agriculture is very vague and ambiguous in its meaning, which renders its use and implementation extremely difficult. In this systematic review paper, we aim to advance understandings of sustainable agriculture from a social science and governance perspective by identifying areas of complementarity and concern between emerging definitions of sustainable agriculture. For this purpose, we conducted a structured literature review in combination with a cluster analysis in order to (1) identify the overall ideas and aspects associated with sustainable agriculture; (2) detect patterns and differences in how these ideas and aspects are adopted or applied; (3) evaluate how the different ideas and aspects of sustainable agriculture are combined in the scientific debate, and assess whether these different conceptions match with those that have been claimed to exist in the debate. There are two valuable outcomes from this research. The first is a framework for understanding the components of sustainable agriculture. The second outcome is in highlighting ways for actors involved with sustainable agriculture to deal with the complexity and multiplicity of this concept in a constructive manner.

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What Is Sustainable Agriculture? A Systematic Review

Being Close: The Quality of Social Relationships in a Local Organic Cereal and Bread Network in Lower Austria.

> Qualified authors involved in organic research (projects), from various disciplines and countries
> Wide range of topics addressed, relevant for the development of organic and sustainable agricultures
> Updated results and references, thematic index

Various stakeholders have shown a growing interest in organic food and farming (OF&F), which has become a widespread issue at all levels of society. However, much debate still arises about the value of OF&F as a model for sustainable agriculture. Rather than questioning whether organic farming performs better or not than conventional farming, the main question addressed in this book is how and under what conditions OF&F may contribute to sustainable agricultures. Multiple forms are emerging today, among which OF&F represents a prototype, evolving in strong interaction with them and tackling the multiple challenges facing sustainable agriculture.

This book presents 25 papers divided into three main sections. The first section investigates OF&F production processes and the capacity of OF&F to benefit from ecological regulations and system functioning to achieve a greater degree of self-sufficiency. The second one proposes an overview of organic performances that provide commodities and public goods in response to societal demands. The third focuses on how to mainstream different forms of organic agriculture, including development pathways for organic farming and up-scaling within agri-food systems and territories.

In addition to a strong theoretical component, this book provides an overview of the current challenges facing OF&F. It questions the successes and limitations of organics, with particular emphasis on bottlenecks and lock-in effects at various levels, highlighting recent innovations and presenting a critical appraisal of the state of the art of existing knowledge. It contributes to our understanding of the perspectives and future challenges for research in organic farming in France and in Europe.

Each area of OF&F is examined, with papers from leading experts who have been involved in organic research projects and partnerships for many years and who provide complementary insights into the key issues facing organic agriculture and research worldwide.

https://orgprints.org/26015/1/Preface_Contents_Contributors.pdf

Organic Farming, Prototype for Sustainable Agricultures

After the ‘Organic Industrial Complex’: An ontological expedition through commercial organic agriculture in New Zealand

Lobley M., Butler A. and Winter M. Local organic food for local people? Organic marketing strategies in England and Wales, Regional Studies. Organic agriculture has a totemic role in debates about farming. Domestic organic production is thought to play a role in relocalized food networks. However, little is known about the market orientation of organic producers in England and Wales. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, this paper characterizes national, regional and local markets for organic food from a supply perspective. It identifies local, regional and national market orientations and considers the concentration of marketing channels using the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index. The analysis demonstrates the heterogeneity of the sector and an uneven geography of organic marketing in England and Wales. Lobley M., Butler A. and Winter M. 为地方居民提供的本地有机食物？英格兰与威尔士地区有机食物的市场策略，区域研究。有机农业已经成为有关农业讨论中的标志性议题。有观点指出，国内有机食物的生产扮演了食品网络再地方化的作用。然而，对于英格兰以及威尔士地区有机农物生产商的市场导向我们却知之甚少。本文采用整合的研究方法，从供给的角度对国家、地区以及地方性有机食物市场进行了分类。研究明确了地方、...

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Local Organic Food for Local People? Organic Marketing Strategies in England and Wales

Up to now, several scientific works have noted that the organic sector resembles more and more conventional farming’s structures, what is widely known as the “conventionalization” thesis. This phenomenon constitutes an area of conflict between organic farming’s original vision and its current reality and raises ethical and social questions concerning the structure of agricultural systems of production and their interactions with the socio-economic and natural environment. The main issue of this dialogue is the concept of sustainable agriculture, which for scientists and policymakers is a means to express their vision of a better agriculture. In this article we focus on agricultural sustainability in the context of capitalist production as conducted by the two subsystems of agro-industrial system. As we have proposed in this article, the relationship between organic agriculture, defined by two essential components (prevention and direct marketing), and the agro-industrial complex, defined by two subsystems, indicates the degree of agricultural sustainability. The investigation of this relationship can be extremely useful as it may lead those involved in the discussion of sustainability to identify the key aspects of sustainable agriculture. In order to investigate the interaction of organic farming with the agro-industrial complex, a survey was conducted in Central Macedonia, Northern Greece, involving local organic farms. The results of our study indicate that a large proportion of organic producers did not differ substantially from their counterparts in conventional agriculture in so far as their relationship with the agro-industrial complex is concerned. Finally, this research highlights two scenarios for the evolution of organic farming. The first is the full absorption of organic farming to the existing economic system and the second one is the development of organic farming in a radically opposite direction to conventional farming.

Angeliki Loumou

Papers

Organic Agriculture’s Approach towards Sustainability; Its Relationship with the Agro-Industrial Complex, A Case Study in Central Macedonia, Greece