Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the shape of people's desire for an alternative agri-food system alongside their inability to recognise the neoliberal component in ethical foods. It does so by analysing the organic agriculture movement both against its current European backdrop and in Sicily more specifically.

Paper long abstract:

Intersecting comparative and ethnographic perspectives, this paper reflects on the problematic relation between the desired economy of ethical foods—particularly organic ones—and the contemporary neoliberal economy. Organic agriculture can be seen as an international counter-movement acting against many of the problems created by the industrial agri-food sector. A comparison of the movement in Europe allows to highlight its shared traits: a desire to defend food quality and personal health, local producers and nature, and a rejection of traditional forms of political activism to achieve these aims. Usually absent from such traits are wider issues of class and inequality. It is arguable, however, that class and inequality greatly affect organic agri-food systems, especially in our difficult economic times. A case in point of this situation is found in western Sicily and the city of Palermo. By looking at a variety of actors, from growers to retailers to consumers, the paper will therefore ask the following questions. Who will benefit from the economy these actors try to accomplish? Who is left out from the desired model? How are concerns about the 'local' fashioned vis-à-vis those about national and international economy? Which values are called upon and which are, instead, left unspoken? The paper argues for the need to specify more fully the characteristics of the desired paradigm shift that the organic movement is supposed to embody, and to address questions of class, social justice and neoliberal governmentality.