Consumer views of organic and GM food

Attitudes towards food, and decisions about eating, are mediated within a complex political and cultural milieu. With food a biological necessity, decisions about what to eat are instead shaped by a complex range of values and beliefs about ourselves, the risks and pleasures associated with eating, and understandings of our relationships with others and the environment. In recent years a plethora of food scares, ranging from salmonella to chemical residues and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), have intensified awareness of the vulnerability of humans to sickness, and in some cases death, from eathing the wrong foods. Eating patterns - particularly the rapid growth in consumption of organic and chemical-free food in the developed world - thus tell us about more than anxieties related to personal health and perceived risks associated with industrially produced foods: they also reflect concerns about broader environmental, social and economic implications of food consumption practices. In this chapter we overview the recent rapid growth in the organic food and agriculture sector, with a particular focus upon Australia. This growth has been driven, in large part, by an apparently insatiable consumer demand for organic food. Expansion in organics, though, has occurred alongside substantial investment in food biotechnology research and development (R&D). While proponents of organics argue that organic farming methods will be an integral part of the shift towards a truly sustainable system of agriculture, critics suggest that sustainability will not be possible without biotechnological innovations and their application to food and agriculture. In examining Australian consumers' attitudes to both organic and genetically engineered food, and their contributions towards sustainable agriculture, this chapter also dispels the assumptions of organics consumers as just yuppies, greenies and health nuts. We explore the values and beliefs of organic food consumers, and highlight similarities and differences between these and those of non-organic food consumers. From this analysis, it is apparent that widespread opposition exists among most Australians to the entry of genetically modified (GM) food into the food system. As a consequence of this opposition - and the belief among many that consumption of organic food offers a meaningful alternative - we can expect a continued expansion of the organics industry. Before examining Australian consumer views, we survey the competing visions for the future of food production in Australia.