Consensual NIMBYs, Contentious NIABYs: Explaining Contrasting Forms of Farmers GMO Opposition in Austria and France

Abstract

This article contrasts forms of farmers' resistance to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Austria and France. While Austrian farmers take a back seat in public opposition to GMOs, Austria's national GMO policy is designed to protect farmers, particularly organic farmers, by banning the unwanted technology. It thus mitigates both public controversy and the potential framing of the GMO issue which might go beyond a merely defensive 'not in my back yard' (NIMBY) rationale. French farmers' protest, by contrast, is highly argumentative and is very much shaped by farmers' protests. Its leading voice is the farmers' union Confédération Paysanne and its spokesman José Bové, who employ spectacular protest strategies involving the destruction of GMO fields and acts of civil disobedience and figure prominently in the anti-globalisation movement. In discussing the reasons for these differences, the analysis examines two approaches to political opportunity structures: a general and a dynamic, policy-specific approach.

Feasibility of new breeding techniques for organic farming

“…For instance, Canadian farmers (from organic to GM producers) all ranked the risks associated with herbicide-tolerant wheat (Triticum aestivum) as higher than the benefits [60], a pattern confirmed elsewhere [61,62]. In Austria, where 11% of all farmers practice organic farming, a restrictive coexistence policy for GM crops has been implemented, driven by both the public and organic farmers [63].…”

Genetics and livestock breeding in the UK: Co-constructing technologies and heterogeneous biosocial collectivities

“…Given the high profile and on-going nature of the debate about genetically modified (GM) crops within Europe (e.g. Seifert, 2008) it is understandable that popular and academic attention has been focused on genetic technologies within the context of plant based agriculture. However, the corollary is a relative lack, at least until very recently, of rural social scientific interest in the ways in which livestock agriculture is being influenced by genetic technologies (Holloway and Morris, 2008;Morris and Holloway, 2009;Holloway et al 2009;Twine, 2010).…”

Environmentalism, Resistance and Solidarity

“…Other groups outside FoE carried out sabotage attacks on GM crops, particularly the small farmers group La Confédération paysanne, affiliated to LVC in France and direct action environmentalists in the United Kingdom (Doherty and Hayes 2012). Throughout the EU, consumer groups were especially influential in reducing demand for GM food (Ansell et al 2006;Schurman and Munro 2009;Seifert 2009). Hence alliances may increase the impact of the campaign, but reduce the credit that single groups can claim for success.…”