The role of consumers in transitions towards sustainable food consumption. The case of organic food in Norway

Political targets for consumption of organic food are set in many European countries and also in Norway. Organic food is in these policies often considered as a spearhead for transition towards more sustainable production and consumption in the food sector. Measures such as consumer information and food labelling schemes are established in order to increase consumption of organic food. These policies are in line with a view within the academic discourse were the reflexive, political consumer is seen as a key agent for change. However, in spite of a major political effort to increase organic food consumption in Norway over the past 15 years, consumption has increased marginally. We therefore question this view of the consumer's influence and power to change the relations in – and developments of – the present food system. Based on the results of two consumer surveys carried out in 2000 and 2013, the article discusses the observed changes in perceptions of barriers towards purchase of organic food among Norwegian consumers. We found that organic food was considered more available in the stores in 2013 than in 2000. However, for other factors such as trust in the labelling system and the quality of organic food the perceptions had become more negative. Most important; more consumers saw no benefits from buying organic food in 2013 than in 2000. This means that the political emphasis on the self-regulating consumer has shown little effect. The article concludes that both the political tools and theoretical analyses to a greater extent must be turned away from a primary focus on the consumer towards identifying key economic and political conflicts of interest as important barriers to sustainable food consumption transition.