The Organic Mindset: Insights from a Mixed Methods Grounded Theory (MM-GT) Study into Organic Food Systems

Thomas Krikser,Sebastian Kretschmer,Christian Herzig,Bettina Langfeldt

doi:10.3390/su13094724

Abstract

A broad understanding of food systems includes a complex web of activities, outcomes and drivers, encompassing not only the food and agriculture sectors, but also the social norms and cultures in which those activities are embedded. The organic food and farming movement has lately been portrayed as a food system of its own right, since it contains all necessary sub-systems, consisting of food environments, distribution networks, processing, as well as production and supply, all of which are bounded by an organic guarantee system. The underlying hypothesis of this investigation is that drivers in the organic food system operate on a paradigm level that is associated with the codified principles of ecology, health, fairness and care. Personality science suggests that the choice to act in pro-environmental ways is driven by an internalized sense of obligation or personal norms, which justifies our pursuit of seeking key drivers of food systems in the mindset of the actor. Through integrated findings from actor-centered mixed methods grounded theory research involving eleven case territories, this study identified a pattern of global mindset attributes that intuitively drive organic food system actors toward holistic human and sustainable development.

Highlights

Organic food systems have lately been portrayed as sustainable food systems [1], since they contain all necessary sub-systems, consisting of food environments, distribution networks, processing, as well as production and supply, with the identified purpose to keep feeding people with sustainably produced and healthy food [2]
Proposed Talking Points and Stimuli for the Focus Group: How can we better understand the elusive driver concept behind food systems? What about drivers in organic food systems? Are all food system actors affected by global trends such as urbanization, climate change or digital connectivity? How do OFS actors respond to the threats and weaknesses of the global food system? Is there a specific form of social capital within OFS?
According to Bernstein, this is because the subsistence farmer is not in a position to effectively contribute toward feeding the world and small to medium size organic operations are often adopting the same kinds of aggressive ways to seek advantages in markets as corporate industrialized food system actors do [67]

Summary

Introduction

Organic food systems have lately been portrayed as sustainable food systems [1], since they contain all necessary sub-systems, consisting of food environments, distribution networks, processing, as well as production and supply, with the identified purpose to keep feeding people with sustainably produced and healthy food [2]. There may not be one single system, but many organic food systems around the world, operating at different scales and on different levels, since they are layered hierarchically and nested within one another, with macro- and microsystems, respectively [3]. A key feature of organic food systems (OFS) is the fact that they are bounded by an organic guarantee system, based on the codified principles of ecology, health, fairness and care [4]. A broad understanding of OFS includes a complex web of activities, outcomes and drivers, encompassing the food and agriculture sectors along with the environment and natural resources, which they depend upon to function, and the social norms and cultures in which those activities are embedded [5]. The choice to act in proenvironmental ways is driven by an internalized sense of obligation or personal norms [6]

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Conclusion