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The alternative food movement in Japan: Challenges, limits, and resilience of the teikei system
Ist Teil von
Agriculture and human values, 2015-03, Vol.32 (1), p.143-153
Ort / Verlag
Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands
Erscheinungsjahr
2015
Quelle
2022 ECC(Springer)
Beschreibungen/Notizen
The
teikei
movement is a Japanese version of the alternative food movement, which emerged around the late 1960s and early 1970s. Similar to now well-known Community Supported Agriculture, it is a farmer-consumer partnership that involves direct exchanges of organic foods. It also aims to build a community that coexists with the natural environment through mutually supportive relationships between farmers and consumers. This article examined the history of the
teikei
movement. The movement began as a reaction to negative impacts of mechanized and chemically intensive agriculture promoted by the Japanese government. The movement experienced a rapid expansion in the early 1980s, and then gradually declined thereafter. The organic market expansion and certification system intersected with both cultural and gender role changes, impacting the
teikei
movement negatively. Consequently, the membership of
teikei
consumer groups has shrunk. Furthermore, the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident caused unprece dented damage to organic farmers in the affected regions. Despite the scientific uncertain about the safety level of radiation exposure, the organic farmers and the
teikei
consumer groups managed the situation and found a way to inspect radiation contamination. They did so with the support by networking with other
teikei
-related actors. This response to the nuclear power plant accident suggests that although the level of embeddedness presumably varies among
teikei
actors, ethics guided by the
teikei
principles are effective in forging a resilient partnership between farmers and consumers and in keeping the
teikei
system alive as an agent for social change.