Kristen Lyons

Going organic : mobilizing networks for environmentally responsible food production

This book sets out to examine what really is going on in the organic sector socially and politically. In the process, it debunks a number of apparently common-sense beliefs: that organic consumers are wealthy environmental and health extremists; that growth in the industry will inevitably undermine its environmental values; that mainstream media is antagonistic to organics; and that the industry is driven by consumer demand. This book seeks to make a practical contribution to the development of more sustainable food systems by articulating what it takes to get people involved in organics at each stage of the food chain.

Constructing "green" foods: corporate capital, risk, and organic farming in Australia and New Zealand

Public concern over environmentalquality and food safety has culminated in thedevelopment of markets for “green” foods – foodsthat are variously construed as fresh, chemical-free,nutritious, natural, or produced in anenvironmentally-sustainable manner. Understanding theemergence of “green” foods is dependent on analysisboth of the ways in which foods are produced andprocessed, and of the meanings that are attached tothem at each stage of their production,transformation, and consumption. The notion of “green”foods is thereby understood here as a fluid andcontestable signifier that myriad actors involved inthe production/consumption cycle may attempt to shapefor their own purposes. This paper explores corporate capitals recent attempts, through certification logosand advertising, to signify the “healthiness” andenvironmental virtues of organically-produced foods inAustralia and New Zealand. These attempts have not,however, been universally successful either in termsof gaining consumer interest, or in gaining agreementsbetween farmers, certifying organizations, andcapitalist firms over the meaning of “organic” and thepractice of “sustainable” agriculture. The experienceof corporate involvement in the organics industry isillustrative of yet-to-be-resolved processes ofreflexive modernization. As food production andtransformation continues to produce environmental andsocial risks, the question of just what makes food“green” will continue to be a source of social conflict.

Consuming Green: the Symbolic Construction of Organic Foods

Abstract One of the key features of the recent dramatic growth in the organic food industries is the extent to which this is demand driven, suggesting the need to focus analytical attention more closely on the agency of consumers within organic food networks. In this paper we begin by drawing from focus groups undertaken with consumers throughout Australia to examine the meanings of food they identify to be important. In order to examine the significance of ‘green’ signifiers in the consumption practices of Australian consumers, we then examine the various meanings consumers associated with organic food. This analysis illustrates consumers’ understandings of the range of advantages and disadvantages associated with the consumption of such foods. An examination of these findings also provides a preliminary understanding of the social and cultural meanings Australian consumers value, as well as the barriers and opportunities for expanding the organic industry in Australia.

Community engagement or community action: Choosing not to play the game

Abstract Environment movement organisations in Australia have experienced a frustrating honeymoon with deliberative governance. During the last three decades, conservationists have had increasing access to decision-making processes and forums. Since the 1980s, environmental decisions have generally involved public consultation and community engagement. Activist participants in these processes have tended, however, to over-estimate their potential to achieve conservation objectives through deliberative governance. And in many instances, environmental advocates have been coopted, institutionalised and neutralised. This case study of the major and successful campaign to control widespread landclearing in Queensland, Australia, examines failed community engagement. By rejecting both hierarchical, centralised decision-making and the inadequate engagement practices proposed by the state, activist groups mobilised community opinion and action to bring about an historic conservation win.

Enacting food sovereignty: values and meanings in the act of domestic food production in urban Australia

This article brings to light one aspect of alternative agri-food practices by exploring the values and meanings domestic food producers associate with their actions, thereby making a small contribution to increasing understanding of the act of urban backyard food production. While Australian backyards have long been productive spaces, there has been little examination of this phenomenon in the Australian context. Limited quantitative data give some insight into the extent of domestic production, and while there is an increasing interest in certain aspects of the local food system, including community gardens and farmers markets, there is a dearth of literature that explores the contemporary act of domestic production. This work seeks to situate the act of domestic production within the broader movement calling for change within the global food system, particularly that being articulated by the food sovereignty movement. Drawing on Gibson–Grahams diverse economies framework, and through interviews with eight domestic food producers in one Australian city, this work finds that the act of growing food at home offers space for hope – where small acts can be seen as part of the broader food sovereignty movement seeking to remake our food system.

Environmental Values and Food Choices: Views from Australian Organic Food Consumers

A study that examines the meanings that Australian consumers associate with organic food and the implications these understandings have for understandings of the environment is presented. Understandings of organic food reveal the interconnections between healthy food and healthy environments where the food is free from chemicals, safe, familiar, natural, simple, unprocessed, fresh, and flavoursome.

Critical engagement, activist/academic subjectivities and organic agri-food research in Uganda

This paper provides a reflexive account of engagement in activist/academic organic agri-food research in Uganda. I argue that critical engagement across the third space – between and across activist and academic subjectivities – enables a re-thinking of the subjectivities of activist/academics and research participants and the place of research in social change and theory building. I demonstrate some of the multiple ways of enacting activism within the academy by reflecting on my critical engagement with the Katuulo Organic Pineapple Cooperative in Uganda, whose members grow certified organic pineapples for sale on the international market. While there is a growing interest in critical activist research, its agenda is also constrained by the corporatist turn in universities. As such, the subjectivities, methods and theory building of activist/academics in agri-food (and other) research represents part of the resistance to normalised ways of doing and being in contemporary neo-liberal universities.

Urban Food Advocates' tactics to rebuild food systems: Convergence and divergence in food security and food sovereignty discourses

Food movement advocates articulate a diversity of approaches to address the current food crisis. These approaches resonate with both food security and food sovereignty discourses and range between reform and radical rights-based theories of change. This paper draws from research with urban food advocates in Australia to provide insights into the relations between tactics to change food systems and their resonance with food security and food sovereignty discourses. On the basis of this analysis, the paper concludes that tactics for social change – or the food politics enacted by urban food advocates – both converge and diverse with food security and food sovereignty discourses. These outcomes point to the diversity of approaches for identifying and evaluating pathways for rebuilding food systems.

The Role of Faith-based Organizations in Environmental Governance: the Case of Forestry in Solomon Islands

Abstract Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have played a significant role in environment-related forms of development and governance in Melanesia, including the Solomon Islands. Yet despite their centrality, there remain significant gaps in understandings of processes and outcomes associated with FBO engagement in environment-related development interventions. This paper addresses this gap by analysing the place of the Christian Fellowship Church (CFC), an indigenous FBO active in plantation forestry (and other activities) in the Western Province in the Solomon Islands. We find that the CFC possesses impressive income-generating potential and political networks; however this does not always translate into positive social, economic or environmental outcomes at the village level. While FBOs such as CFC are often championed as playing an important role in environmental governance in an under-resourced nation state, the reality is that they can fall well short in delivering appropriate outcomes for poor communities or the environment despite, and because of, their close ties to target communities.

Privatising development and environmental management: undermining social license in the Ugandan plantation forest sector

Conceptually located within the literature on privatisation of forestry, and environmental initiatives more broadly, this article examines how companies such as Green Resources in Uganda are achieving legitimacy, or failing to do so, in communities, thereby threatening what is understood as their Social License to Operate. Green Resources makes strong claims related to positive community investment, aimed towards social and environmental outcomes, recognising the importance of such investment for ongoing legitimacy both at a community level, and in terms of numerous licenses and certifications in the context of devolved environmental governance. Drawing on case study field research during 2011–2014, findings indicate that the SLO of Green Resources is under significant stress due to various forms of community response. Our findings lead to a discussion and conclusions about the contradictions and tensions emerging between the privatisation of development processes and corporate-led community investment, such that SLO becomes ever precarious. Our article builds on prior literature that applies SLO to analysis of the extractive industries, by arguing for the importance of including industrial large-scale plantation forestry into the lexicon of extractivist industrial development studies.