How do we know if organics is good? Sustainability assessment and complementarity or How do we know if organics is good? Hugo F. Alrøe CSAFE Visiting Academic Scientific Consultant in the New Zealand Sustainability Dashboard project Drawings by and Peter Smith, Tumblehead Seminar at CSAFE, University of Otago, 25. Feb. 2016 What is organics? How do we know if organics is good? • Organic history: organics as protest against conventional • Organic certification: organics as sector and market • Organic principles: organics as movement and agroecology What does science say? There are many perspectives on organics Perspective Methods Values Aspect 1
What does science say? Nature quality: biodiversity Organic farms Conventional farms There is much debate on Old hedge (> 50 years) whether organic is better clay soil than conventional or not. Old hedge (> 50 years) A few examples: sandy soil 3 row hedge (15 years) Number of plant species per 100 m hedge (From the REFUGIA project) Is ”feed the world” a question of production? Nature quality: 25 % larger area dedicated nature areas needed for organic food production Technology is the solution Organic is luxury or distributive justice? Climate change is also a challenge agriculture … • or food sovereignty and self-sufficiency • or what is meant by “conventional” • or the question of rapidly changing diets Niels Roland 2
Climate from a product perspective (LCA) Climate from a farm perspective Conv.: Conv.: 1.20 kg CO 2 eq. per litre App. 10 ton CO 2 eq. Org.: 1.27 kg CO 2 eq. per litre per hectare Organic: App. 6 ton CO 2 eq. per hectare Animal welfare: options for natural behaviour Niels Roland Animal welfare: human care and control Animal welfare: human care and control Conv.: mortality 24 % Org.: mortality 33 % 3
Sustainability assessment and Summing up the debates on whether complementarity organic is good Debating values without knowledge is empty! • These debates turn on value-laden and contested concepts Debating knowledge without values is blind! and these contested values are at the basis of sustainability assessments Sustainability assessment and Typical sustainability assessment complementarity Paper coming out in Ecology and Society • These debates turn on value-laden and contested concepts • These contested values are at the basis of sustainability assessments • Some values seem contradictory, and maybe complementary? Figure: Sustainability assessment of Swiss organic agriculture, in: Schader et al. (2012) Environmental performance of organic farming Niels Bohr’s complementarity Generalisation of complementarity Quantum physics: Quantum physical complementarity position | momentum is based on the quantum of action: But Bohr considered complementarity Biology to be a general epistemological lesson Psychology Ethics that applies to other fields: (Drawings by Bohr 1949) … A phenomenon always belongs to a perspective that determines what can be observed and what cannot be observed. Complementary observations are observations of the same object that exclude each other due to the conditions for observation, • but which both/all contribute to the representation of that object. • The phenomenon includes the whole experimental apparatus 4
The semiotic basis of observation Forms of observation complementarity Quantum physics: e.g. position | momentum Delimitation of the observing DAIRY COW system Sign Observer stance: Semiotic from without | from within reference Interpretant Immediate object Dynamical object A cow that produces milk Animal with a surplus for an income of possible functions Causal interaction Rubin’s vase: figure | ground Based on the semiotics of Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914). See the papers by Alrøe & Noe 2011, 2014 on hugo.alroe.dk http: / / bizgovsoc4.wordpress.com/ 2012/ 11/ 13/ 3000/ Different forms of complementarity that Different forms of complementarity that are relevant to sustainability assessment are relevant to sustainability assessment Observer stance Observer stance detached detached | involved detached | involved complementarity complementarity Value Value justice justice | mercy complementarity complementarity Value complementarity in product quality Value complementarity in animal welfare Uniform standard Uniform standard Care Care Naturalness Diversity of experiences 5
Value complementarity in nature quality Complementarity and sustainability Three perspectives on growth and sustainable development: human Authentic, Authentic, untouched nature untouched Growth without Growth within Growth and limits limits injustice Environmental Ecological Political ecology economics economics substitutability ecological limits ecological justice human nature Rich, human- made Byrne & Glover 2002, Byrne et al. 2006 Planetary boundaries Growth and ecological injustice Rockström et al. 2009, here from Nature’s feature on planetary boundaries, 24. Sep. 2009. Kerala, India, 2004 Observer stance complementarity Two forms of farm research in Denmark in the 1990’s Detached monitoring Involved development Niels Roland 6
Full versus rapid sustainability assessment A full assessment tool Full assessm ent tools Rapid assessm ent tools Description and monitoring Learning and development Accurate, general Enabling action, site-specific Marchand et al. 2014, Triste et al. 2014 A full assessment tool Full versus rapid sustainability assessment detached | involved Full assessm ent tools Rapid assessm ent tools Description and monitoring Learning and development Accurate, general Enabling action, site-specific Marchand et al. 2014, Triste et al. 2014 Assessment from without or within Use of knowledge: risk versus precaution • Research driven • Effects (performance) • Science-based assessment • But the scientific knowledge is limited • Entity (farm, sector) • General aspects Risk assessment Principle of precaution • In front of possible irreversible damage • User driven • Precautionary action • Criteria (values) without a conclusive scientific understanding • Chain / system The Bichel assessment (1999): A 100 % conversion • Concrete initiatives of Danish agriculture to organic production 7
Implications for sustainability assessment Indexes are integration machines … Two main problems of sustainability assessment The surplus of The problem of integration: possibilities for integration Getting from The problem of implementation: sustainability assessment to sustainability transformation indexes hide information Even typical sustainability assessments … Including: • Differences in values and concerns • Possible issues of complementarity Figure: Sustainability assessment of Swiss organic agriculture, in: Schader et al. (2012) Environmental performance of organic farming are based on indexes Complementarity and participation Observer stance detached | involved complementarity • Participation in itself is not enough – stakeholders can be involved without their perspectives being involved • The complementarity between monitoring and development is important • Involved means influence on the values behind – and this means the values must be exposed 8
Complementarity between sustainability A better understanding of complementarity assessment and sustainability transformation • Can help see why complementarity cannot be overcome – • Science tends to take a detached only handled in better or worse ways. stance to produce a valid sustainability detached • And focus attention on how to handle assessment issues of complementarity better. | • Can help distinguish between issues of • But taking a detached stance excludes involved complementarity and other taking an involved stance to help bring problematic issues – about sustainability transformation and thereby between problems that may be resolved and those that may not. • And focus attention on how to better recognize issues of complementarity. 9
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