Market based growth, development and integrity in the Danish organic sector

The demand for organically produced foods is increasing and creates an interest in producing and exporting organic products – in Denmark as well as in other countries. The increased demand and the increasing international trade with organic products offer new opportunities and but also increase competition on a global market.

A precondition to keep up the Danish organic production is that quality and range of organic foods meet the demands of the consumer. Another precondition is that the consumers at all times have confidence in the way in which the products are produced.

This is why the Danish Ministry of Food, Fisheries and Agriculture has asked DARCOF to carry out a knowledge synthesis on the future opportunities and barriers for production, manufacturing and sales of organic products.

The work runs from May 2007 to October 2008. The conclusions were announced on a public meeting in June 2008, where a Danish 50 page ‘white paper’ with recommendations and a summary of the results was published. Below is the translation into English of this white paper. The full final report with white paper and background papers was published (in Danish) in october 2008.

• White paper with summary of results and recommendations, 55 pp., 23. Oct. 2008

Archetypical actor strategies

The development of organic agriculture is a very complex and heterogenic dynamic process. Many different actors are involved, who have different values and goals and different views on what organic is about, and who all influence the course of the organic sector to a larger or smaller degree. If we want to assess the options for a continued growth and development of the organic sector in a nuanced and realistic way, it is therefore essential to include actor strategies.

We have identified three archetypical actor strategies, mainstream, alternative conservative and alternative innovative, which represent a substantial part of the heterogeneity that we see in the organic sector.

• Short description of the archetypical actor strategies of organic actors