Future supply and marketing strategies in the Danish organic food-sector

Organic agriculture is frequently heralded as one of the frontiers of a ‘new’ environmentalism where concerns about food safety, land use and social justice are converging with a politics of relocalization. These values have also been identified as three fundamental principles in organic agriculture: 1) The principle of circulation 2) the precautionary principle, and 3) the principle of subsidiarity. Indeed the provision of organic food - from farm to table - would appear to countervail many contemporary trends in the production, processing, distribution and marketing of food in general. Yet, explosive growth since the 1980s is both cause and effect of a proliferation of new entrants who are attempting to capture the lucrative niche markets lurking behind organic products and the organic label. Consequently, the field is experiencing rapid changes in production and marketing strategies, and a restructuring of economic imperatives. And while a plurality of economic and ideological actors continue to thrive within the organic sector, large agribusiness firms - or successful start up firms which increasingly mirror agribusiness practices - are penetrating the most dynamic and profitable segments.

The objective of this research project is to analyse the future development of the Danish organic food sector, with two commodities as case studies:

- organic pork
- organic vegetables

Emphasis will be placed on identifying the economic forces and changes within the chains in combination with the macrosocial foundations which sets the regulatory framework for the economic behaviour among individuals, firms and consumers along the network of the chosen chains.

By linking the research results of the economic and production dynamics within the organic food chains together with the various social movements that are at stake in the consumption of organic food, the aim is to identify and explain the diversification of the organic chain and provide with useful supply strategies for further growth in a ten year perspective.

Expected achievements:

• A new methodological approach towards chain management analysis in organic foods and production.
  
• Scientific contributions to new institutional economic chain management analysis in agribusiness and the food industry.
  
• Development of organic supply and market strategies in Denmark in a ten year perspective.
  

Publications

Project title
III.7 Future supply and marketing strategies in the Danish organic food-sector (SAMSON)

Project leader
Mogens Lund, senior researcher, SJFI-Farm unit

Project participants
Kostas Karantininis, associate professor, KVL-Economic unit (Ph.D. adviser)
Paul Rye Kledal, research assistant, SJFI-Farm unit