A tripartite standards regime analysis of the contested development of a sustainable agriculture standard

Maki Hatanaka (), Jason Konefal and Douglas Constance

Agriculture and Human Values, 2012, vol. 29, issue 1, 65-78

Abstract: As concerns over the negative social and environmental impacts of industrial agriculture become more widespread, efforts to define and regulate sustainable agriculture have proliferated in the US. Whereas the USDA spearheaded previous efforts, today such efforts have largely shifted to Tripartite Standards Regimes (TSRs). Using a case study of the Leonardo Academy’s initiative to develop a US sustainable agriculture standard, this paper examines the standards-development process and efforts by agribusiness to influence the process. Specifically, we analyze how politics operate in seemingly “depoliticized” TSRs, and how agribusiness and the USDA use “framing practices” and procedural complaints to influence the standard-development process. We contend that although governance mechanisms are a potentially powerful tool for advocates of alternative agrifood, their efficacy may be constrained by science-based requirements, an agribusiness countermovement, and a captured state. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Keywords: Agribusiness; Governance; Policy; Sustainable agriculture; Standards; Social movements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-011-9329-7

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