Generating Governance Capacity in Infant Industries: The Development of Organic Farming in Denmark and Australia

Summary

Organic farming is of increasing interest to policy makers as it has been linked to environmental, rural development and market related outcomes which have high political salience. As such, attention naturally turns to catalysing organic growth. Patterns of growth vary considerably among countries, but existing explanations of variation lack authority. This paper compares the development of organic farming sectors in Australia and Denmark, countries at polar ends of the organic sector development continuum. They provide a good comparison as both countries share key characteristics, such as a history of state-agricultural industry partnerships, an implicit post-1980’s consensus around a market model for agricultural industry development, and the general absence of consumer distrust over food quality. After ruling out a number of well worn explanations for differential growth we focus on the role of governance capacity. We argue that the Danish case, in contrast with Australia, demonstrates that when well-developed associative and state capacities can combine alongside interest intermediation then governance capacity is generated and infant industry development is made possible.