Managing for the Sustained Success of Organic Food Associations

Abstract

Systems and agricultural organizations are facing new challenges in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. Opposing the existence of other food producers that show low profitability in their production systems, there are other models that have differentiated through ecological production being able to reach high profitability in their production systems. Ecological agriculture is seen as an opportunity to supply to those social segments that would rather consume healthy products. This article reviews literature on processes and key management factors for the sustained success of an organization, resulting on a conceptual framework that synthesizes these ideas. Mainly it looks at two international standards: ISO 9004 (2009) and ISO 21500 (2012). This conceptual framework is used to analyze the experience of an organization of organic farmers called Camposeven, which counts with farmers with over 40 years of experience in production, processing, and marketing of conventional and organic crops in the region of Murcia in Spain.