Associative Deadlocks and Transformative Capacity: Engaging in Australian Organic Farm Industry Development

Summary

Recent work on industry policy argues that group and state capacity are important in underpinning (or undermining) the capacity to govern industrial development. Put simply, group capacity - alongside state capacity - is deemed an important ingredient in any recipe for (re)developing national industry. This article further develops the literature on governance and transformative capacity, adding deliberative networking as a key facet. Examining the development of the organic farming sector in Australia, it is argued that the absence of transformative capacity frustrates development. Specifically, although the state has slowly come to see a need for some interaction and facilitation of organic industry development, particularly of a national domestic standard, this intervention is made difficult by the absence of: (i) capable organic industry organisations; (ii) 'in-house' departmental expertise; and (iii) venues capable of fostering policy deliberation. We argue that the reworked concept of transformative capacity can have wider application in making sense of industry development in other infant industries.