Environmentally Sound Agriculture Between Transformation and Conformation: The Changing Portrayal of the Growing Organic Farming Movement in Austria's Newspaper Coverage

Abstract

ABSTRACT Possible contributions of organic farming to solve the current environmental crisis in industrialized agriculture can range from greening the existing agrofood system to being a driver for systemic change. The growth of organic farming has led to debates over whether organic is still a driver of societal transformation or whether it has become a slightly greener version of conventional agriculture. We investigate the changing roles that are ascribed to the growing organic farming movement by societal communication processes in the context of transformations towards more sustainable food systems. We analyze how organic is portrayed in six Austrian newspapers during its time of growth (1990–1999) and in more recent years. Results from media frame analysis show that already in the 1990s organic was not portrayed as a radical driver of change, and the emergence of new product-centered frames indicate an increasing representation of organic farming as simply a green production method.