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The legal and institutional infrastructure of organic agriculture in Turkey and the progress of the production and the marketing of organic agricultural products are analyzed. An overview of the field research carried out in Turkey, on both the production and consumption of organic products, is presented. The policies currently implemented for the improvement of the sector have been evaluated. Some strategic policy suggestions have been put forward.

The purpose of this study is to examine how use of agriculture information systems could impact farmers' intention to convert from traditional to organic agriculture production in the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam, based on a research framework developed from integrating Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Theory of Planned Behavior. Specifically, the authors aim to test the direct impact of use of agriculture information systems on converting intention and the interaction between use of agriculture information systems and perceived economic benefits, perceived non-economic benefits of organic production and market access on the formation of converting intention.

Data were collected from a sample survey that included 634 agriculture-producing households in Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang and Cao Bang provinces of Northern Vietnam. The logistic regression was used for data analysis.

Research findings indicate that perceived economic benefits, non-economic benefits, market access and use of agriculture information systems positively support the converting intention. Moreover, the use of information systems strengthens the links between the converting intention and perceived economic benefits, perceived non-economic benefits and market access.

This research is innovative in incorporating the use of agriculture information systems as both direct contributor and moderator in converting decisions.

The project explored the ways in which the topics of organic food and agriculture are discussed in representative North American media outlets in reference to food safety, environmental concerns, and human health.

Articles from five newspapers were collected and coded using the content analysis technique and analyzed for topic, tone, and theme.

For a six‐year time period, 618 articles on organic food and organic agriculture are analyzed and the prominent topics are found to be genetic engineering, pesticides, and organic farming. Articles with a neutral tone with respect to organic agriculture and food accounted for 41.4 percent of the articles, while positively toned articles garnered 36.9 percent. The themes human health, food safety, and environmental concerns were discussed with positive reference to organic food and agriculture in 81, 50, and 90 percent, respectively, of comments pulled from the articles.

Analysis of these articles over time, between media outlets and by topic allows for understanding of media reporting on the subject and provides insight into the way the public is influenced by news coverage of organic food and agriculture.

Research that analyzes media coverage for how it portrays the topic of organic food and organic agriculture with respect to health, food safety, and environmental concern, and concludes that articles about organic production in the selected time period are seldom negative.

This introduction provides an overview of the discourse on alternative agrifood movements (AAMs) to (1) ascertain the degree of convergence and divergence around a common ethos of alterity and (2) context the chapters of the book. AAMs have increased in recent years in response to the growing legitimation crisis of the conventional agrifood system. Some agrifood researchers argue that AAMs represent the vanguard movement of our time, a formidable counter movement to global capitalism. Other authors note a pattern of blunting of the transformative qualities of AAMs due to conventionalization and mainstreaming in the market. The literature on AAMs is organized following a Four Questions in Agrifood Studies (Constance, 2008) framework. The section for each Question ends with a case study to better illustrate the historical dynamics of an AAM. The literature review ends with a summary of the discourse applied to the research question of the book: Are AAMs the vanguard social movement of our time? The last section of this introduction provides a short description of each contributing chapter of the book, which is divided into five sections: Introduction; Theoretical and Conceptual Framings; Food Sovereignty Movements; Alternative Movements in the Global North; and Conclusions.

This chapter draws from bibliometric data and secondary sources to explore the interrelation between sustainable development and organic agricultural practices. The study contends that the adoption of organic farming methods holds the potential to address multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thereby contributing to the well-being of all living organisms. The analysis of current trends in organic agriculture research has revealed prevalent themes pursued by academics. Notably, themes such as biotechnology, biodegradation, soil conversion, soil restoration, environmental sustainability, health, alternative agriculture and community development emerge as significant and burgeoning areas of study within the field. Additionally, other themes have come to the forefront in the findings, including agricultural emissions, cultivation practices, environmental regulations, erosion control, agricultural policy and sustainable agriculture. These themes present vital areas for further investigation and exploration, indicating areas where more research is warranted. This qualitative piece through content analysis provides a deep insight on the fact that organic farming in relation to sustainability is a very under researched area. Researchers and practitioners can explore this area as a tool to achieve the goals of sustainability in diverse dimensions. The study suggests some under-researched areas as future research agendas which include supply chain and distribution management, market development and consumer behaviour in relation to organic farming, investigating and creating novel commercial strategies for organic farming, financial and investment mechanisms in the field of organic farming, technological developments in organic agriculture, analysing rules and regulations to see how they affect the development and sustainability of organic farming and social impact and stakeholder engagement for organic farming as tool to promote sustainability.

In this chapter we discuss the dynamics of convergence-divergence between organic and non-organic farming systems. We are specifically interested in how and in what ways organic systems emerge into a new system that synthesizes the diverse qualities of competing systems. Or, will these systems continue to diverge because of their path dependencies and contradictory, unresolvable logics? Alternatively, are we confronted with conversion? Following a discussion of the origin of organic agriculture and the IFOAM Principles, we explore differentiation of two agricultural paradigms that was developed more than 20 years ago before the rise of GMOs. This comparison identifies the key features of both systems and a first interpretation on the potential of convergence-divergence. Third, we take a macro-look at agro-food chain that offers insights on the convergence-divergence potential in the context of global, economic, market, political, and societal dynamics. Fourth, we discuss convergence-divergence at the production level comparing the four agricultural systems. Finally, we reflect and assess on the explanatory potential of our study for the future development of organic and non-organic agriculture/farming. We conclude that there is more evidence for conversion than for convergence.

Especially after the Second World War, both in developed and to some extent developing countries, agriculture became highly mechanized and specialized as well as heavily dependent on agro‐chemicals. Such intensification of farming has produced higher yields and greater wealth but has also created some problems affecting the environment, food and farm‐worker safety. Today, different farming systems are subject to discussion and research to discover an alternative to this current agriculture such as organic production, to create conditions for sustainable agriculture and development. Organic farming has been developed in most Western countries such as the USA, Canada, Japan and European Union. In Turkey, organic farming is relatively new, but the number of producers involved in organic production activity has been increasing rapidly since the mid 1980s mainly by the relationships of some multinational companies in order to export organic products to the developed nations especially to the EU. Developing countries like Turkey have some advantages and also challenges for organic food and fiber production. First of all low‐input traditional systems are still a major part of those countries’ agriculture. Contrary to the developed countries, organic agriculture practices can help the farmers to increase productivity and to protect natural resources through using proper technological systems and also easy access to market and information. As in Turkey, most developing countries have small domestic organic markets and have begun to seize the export opportunities presented by organic farming. The main challenges they face are not having proper production practices, certification organizations and being tied only to foreign markets. It is a fact that development of organic production in these countries requires farmers to act in an organized manner instead of depending on a certification, export or import companies or a governmental body. The role of the government, of course, is also important to establish a legislative base and to support organic farming by convenient policy measures.

This study aims to examine the attitudinal inconsistency among Taiwanese consumers toward organic agriculture/food, and its relationship to their willingness to pay a premium and purchase for organic product.

A telephone survey consisting of 913 households was made to reach an estimated 3.3 percent sampling error with 95 percent confidence level.

It was found that those who were female, who had higher occupation prestige, who had college education levels, who were aged in their 40s, and who possessed an optimistic opinion toward the necessity of organic farming tend to pay a premium for and buy organic food. The majority of Taiwanese respondents showed a high level of concern about pesticides but a low trust in organic food, which revealed an attitudinal inconsistency toward organic agriculture/food. A multiple discriminant analysis with a moderating variable shows that consumers' trust in organic food and their pesticide concern jointly explain the respondents' willingness to pay a premium and purchasing behavior. The influence of consumers' pesticide concern on their willingness to pay a premium and purchase actually depends on their levels of trust.

As a whole, lack of trust and confusing organic product certification levels is the main barrier to Taiwan's organic agriculture development. Further communication and policy modification is needed to reinforce consumers' confidence in organic agriculture/food.

This study examines the legal codification of nascent markets, specifically, the process of defining and incorporating Islamic banking and organic agriculture within the legal system in Turkey. I find that actors’ priorities differ significantly with respect to formal codification and that the existing legal order and socio-political and economic contexts shape how state and non-state actors influence legislative and regulative action. This study contributes to our understanding of how actors and their ideological commitments and relational concerns affect the legal formulation of new industries.

Rural regions have rarely been the topic of inquiry in economic development studies or research related to knowledge management. Most studies on knowledge management have focused on high‐tech regions. The purpose of this paper is to present a case which illustrates the mechanism and factors of learning regions with knowledge‐based development engaged in growing agricultural activities such as organic agriculture.

The paper is a case study of a Mexican cooperative.

The case study illustrates how organic agriculture standards and the attractiveness of the market change the rural setting by promoting knowledge creation and application in the field. The results of such knowledge generation are endogenous growth practices for people who otherwise abandon agriculture as a means of living. Learning, innovating and networking are requirements and outcomes of following organic standards. Simultaneously, the creation of efficient institutions and the solidity of local governance are promoted within the region.

This paper focuses on the description of the case rather than the theoretical features. This paper highlights characteristics and critical elements present in an agricultural success through the depiction of knowledge creation within a cooperative and surrounding community, that pose elements which consequently can be extended to promote regional development in other rural settings.

Characteristics of the organic industry place a region in a competitive position and encourage community involvement to coordinate, to learn, and to improve processes. The organic agriculture industry requires a knowledge foundation essential for meeting industry standards and, thus, requires organization of the community including farmers as well as local institutions.