Definitions of «Sustainability» and «Sustainable Technology». A Seemiotic and Narrative Approach on Agricultural Regulations

In this paper, we focus on food production guidelines provided by two European sustainable regulations : the European Union (EU) Organic and the Biodiversity Friend certification. Drawing upon recent developments in the study of "technologies of law", this chapter seeks to examine the role and the meaning of technology in the expanding sector of sustainable standards in food production. Our claim is that agricultural regulations and certifications are semiotic devices which performatively define different technological systems which channel “human” and “non-human” forces in order to smooth out tensions between environmental and economic constraints. In the first paragraph, we show how cruci…