ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the discourse of 'organics', that is the term depicting organic agriculture, food, and goods in general, and the organic agriculture movement in Japan, which well demonstrate this increasing contention in agriculture. It reveals the changes, homogenization and heterogenization processes, that are evolving along with the development of this discourse from a movement discourse toward a public discourse. The chapter reviews the struggles, limits, and potential of the organic movement discourse that are emerging in the course of its development, by applying the dialectic-relational perspective of alternative vs. conventional. It looks at the interplay between the organic discourse and the surrounding movement as well as the political and social contexts. The chapter elucidates on interviews with 13 core members of the leading organic agriculture organization, the Japan Organic Agriculture Association (JOAA), as well as observations of many meetings and activities of this organization and other local organizations/groups.
