Organic Farming as an European Innovation System

he paper explores how organic agriculture fits into the framework of innovation systems that is becoming more widely accepted in supporting innovation also in agriculture which is faced with many societal challenges. It explores the need to better understand the role of different types of innovation and in particular the role of knowledge and how joint learning systems for sharing different types of knowledge can be developed

Overview of supply and demand for concentrated organic feed in the EU in 2002 and 2003. Summary of draft project report of EEC 2092/91 (Organic) Revision

Annex IB of the EU Regulation on organic farming (2092/91) sets out that animals on organic farms should be fed with feed stuffs from organic farming systems. Only if organic feed is not available in sufficient quantity and quality, can a set percentage of those non-organic components be used that are listed in Annex II. The derogations for using conventional feed are due to expire in August 2005 and currently negotiations in Brussels are concerned with what rules will apply after August. Several Organisation of the organic sector have already taken significant steps to reduce the reliance on conventional feed for ruminants. In Denmark, all organic cattle have to be fed 100% organic diets, and BIOLAND and DEMETER in Germany have also included this in their standards. Other producer organisations (for example BIO SUISSE and NATURLAND) have reduced the number conventional components that are still permitted. In France, the percentage of permitted conventional has been reduced to 10% for all categories of animals, including pigs and poultry. However, concerns have been expressed that this might lead to a high reliance of imported feed stuff (mainly Soya) in organic rations

Consumer attitudes in North-west England to organic and regional food

The market for organic foods in the UK is considered to be one of the leading ones in Europe, and world-wide is estimated to have a value of £1 billion (SA, 2003). The main reason why consumers buy organic food is considered to be health benefits, followed by taste. Of growing importance also are concerns for the environment and animal welfare, but these more altruistic concerns remain less important then personal ones. The rapid increase of demand for organic food over the last few years is seen to be the result of various food-scares (Farodoye, 1999; MINTEL, 1999; SA, 1999; Datamonitor, 2002). The development of the market appears, therefore, driven primarily by consumers, but retailers, especially the multiples, have had a key role in furthering growth, promoting products, increasing range and aiding farmers to convert. The majority of what are considered to be "heavy" organic buyers are in Greater London and the South East. Organic farming is also frequently associated with the promotion of food production and short supply chains, i.e. consumption close to the place of production. This implies that organic food must be purchased by consumers in rural areas near to where most of it is grown, and last year the sales of organic food through farmers' markets, box schemes and farm shops reached a dynamic growth rate of nearly 30 per cent, higher than the organic sector as whole. However, most organic food in the UK remains purchased through supermarkets (SA, 2003). Consumer studies do not differentiate between urban and rural consumers, so that the available knowledge reflects general, rather than specific, trends. This paper present results of a series of focus groups carried out in North-west England in the city of Lancaster, in order to supplement existing survey knowledge of consumer attitudes to organic food in relation to more rural areas and attitudes to organic marketing initiatives. The work was carried out as part of a larger EU-funded project on Organic Marketing Initiatives and Rural Development (OMIaRD QLK5-2000-01124), in support of a case study of one Organic Marketing Initiative in the region

Lifting the lid on organic certification

CERTCOST, a European research project on the system of certification of organic food ran from 2008 until November 2011 with the aim of providing recommendations to improve the efficiency, transparency, and cost effectiveness of organic food certification systems in Europe. ORC became a project partner in 2009 when Susanne Padel joined us from Aberystwyth University. This article reviews some of the findings relating to certification and non compliance

Local and/or Organic: A balancing of values for producers and consumers

The poster explores the meaning of organic and local food and how closely they are related in the mind of consumers and producers of organic food, drawing on focus group discussions and laddering interviews with 181 consumers and 33 producers. The results show that both groups associate organic food with local trade and see this as an important value. It is concluded that in the complex organic food networks both producers and consumer have to balance localness with other values and constraints when making decisions about where to buy or where to sell their organic products

Testing of OrgPlan Conversion Planning software (OF0331)

OrgPlan is a computer package designed to support farmers and consultants in planning a conversion to organic farming. It consists of two main elements: the basic planning module and a database with data for organic, in-conversion and conventional data. It was developed with DEFRA funding (OF 0159) by a partnership between the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, the University of Hertfordshire, Elm Farm Research Centre and SAC. The objective of this work was to obtain feedback before its general release on the suitability of OrgPlan in supporting the process of planning a conversion to organic farming. Given the risks of the organic conversion process and the sensitive nature of the financial reports that OrgPlan can generate, further testing with consultants experienced in organic conversion planning was carried out. The work was broken down in four objectives. Independent of this, OrgPlan has been used by the contractor in the context of research work, in particular the Modelling of Strategies of Organic Milk Production (OF 0146). Objective 1: Update of standard data The contractor updated the OrgPlan database with data from the 2002/03 Organic Farm Management Handbook and other sources. Objective 2: Workshops and Field testing of the software Three workshops with a total 22 consultants were held during which they were given a basic introduction to the use of OrgPlan and had a first opportunity to use the software on their own computer or appropriate workstations. OrgPlan can effectively support several aspects of a first broad brush planning of an organic conversion (rotation planning, cropping and livestock enterprises, feasibility of a proposed organic scenario in terms of financial output, nutrient and forage budgets) and can assist with more detailed financial planning of investments, leading to Profit and Loss and Cash-Flow forecasts. OrgPlan could have a wider application in whole farm planning, but this would require extending the database to cover a wider range of enterprises common on conventional farms. Key strengths identified by the consultants (not in order of importance) • Financial planning • Availability of basic enterprise data set • Rotation planning and nutrient budgets • Combination of financial and nutrient data in one package • Create different scenarios giving instant access for reassessment of options • Possibility to ‘tweak' a scenario • Library, navigation around the collection is excellent • Help topics clear and straightforward • Broad brush planning, particularly for farms planning new enterprises Key weaknesses (not in order of importance) • Limited range of enterprises in the database, particularly for horticultural crops • Problems with set-up, use of database and understanding all functions • Need for regular updates of the dataset • P and K Fertilisers routinely included in organic enterprises • Data entry in some sections is long-winded Objective 3: Essential corrections to the software and update of advisory section • A list of problems and suggestions was compiled. All essential changes will be implemented before a release of the software. Other suggestions, which entail more complicated programming work, are included in a as ideas for future development of OrgPlan. Objective 4: Final report This is the final report submitted to DEFRA. The contractor will also submit to DEFRA a concept outlining the steps to be taken for the release of the software, which is planned for autumn 2003

Conversion to Organic Production Software (OrgPlan, OF0159)

This is the final report for Defra Project OF0159. The Organic Conversion Planner (OrgPlan) is a computer program for farmers and advisors reducing the time input necessary for planning a conversion to organic farming. Conversion planning can help to identify whether organic management is suited to the farm and potential problems during the conversion period itself. This involves an assessment of the current situation of the farm, based on which proposals for an organic 'target (endpoint)' can be developed. This includes proposed rotation(s), cropping and stocking plan for the specific farm situation and the proposals need to be tested for their technical and financial feasibility, including impact on forage supply, nutrient requirements and financial budgets. In a final step a more detailed strategy for getting from the current situation to the target situation needs to be worked out. On the basis of such a plan a farmers can make an informed choice about the feasibility of a conversion and planning can help to reduce the risk of conversion. General whole farm planning methods can be broadly split into budgeting and optimisation methods. The former uses input and output data from existing enterprises or standard data, whereas the latter uses mathematical models to determine the optimal choice of enterprises for a maximisation of a key indicator, e.g. profit. OrgPlan uses the budgeting approach, building on experience with mainly German speaking budgeting software for organic conversion. It overcomes a number of key limitations of spreadsheet based budgeting approaches in relation to access to standard enterprise data, additional support tools (e.g. rotation planner) and ease of use. The software is structured into three major sections: In Central Resources basic standard data and farm profiles are entered, viewed and adjusted, and rotations can be planned. Access is also provided to the advisory section, containing documents about organic production standards, organic managmenet notes and a software help file. It is also possible to access these from other sections of the software. In the Scenario Planning section new files for a scenario are created, where a scenario refers to a period of several years of a farm during conversion and/or under organic management. Cropping and livestock plans are generated and a first assessment of the scenario of key farm mangement indicators, nutrients and forage budgets is provided. After adding whole farm financial data the results are transferred into the Report Builder where profit and loss and cash-flow forecasts for the scenario can be generated. Reports can be viewed on screen, printed (HTML format) or exported for further analysis in other packages (spreadsheets). A key aim in developing the software was to reduce the time input needed for conversion planning. The software is windows based and follows the layout of the EMA software (developed by UH). It was programmed in Microsoft (MS) Visual Basic, using MS Access databases for the storage of data. It used results of several DEFRA funded research projects and has relevance to the Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS). A series of nine basic steps are needed to use the software to plan conversion. These are: viewing and modifying standard enterprise data, viewing and modifying rotations, creating a farm profile, creating and planning a conversion scenario, getting first feedback on the scenario, adding whole farm financial data, planning new investment during the scenario period and viewing and printing reports and/or export data for further analysis in other packages. The basic planning tool has been released as part of the EMA 2002 software (EMA Plan). Because of the sensitive nature of the financial calculations that are the main feature of OrgPlan, further field testing of the programme in conjunction with the Organic Standard Data Collection is envisaged in the autumn of 2002 for with experienced Organic Farming Consultants

Communicating with customers

The growth in demand for organic and Fairtrade products is a clear example of the emerging importance of ‘ethical consumerism’ in the food sector. But as the popularity of organic food grows, so too does the range of mass produced organic products. Indeed, competition between many organic products is now predominantly a question of price. As a result, there are concerns that the ethical values and objectives of the organic movement are no longer central to large sections of organic production. The article summarises results of the Farmer Consumer Partnership (CORE FCP) project

The European Market for Organic Food

Most of the information and statistics presented in this chapter were compiled as part of a survey among national experts of national or international organic markets. Many of these figures are based on estimates, and the methods of data collection vary from country to country as no uniform data collection system for organic market data is yet in place. In addition, national organic sales figures may vary between years depending on the information sources. Descriptions of market trends in this chapter are the result of market observations by Toralf Richter (Bio Plus AG, Switzerland) and Susanne Padel (University of Wales). The authors would welcome any comments that may help to improve the quality of data and information about the organic market in Europe in future. Some content of this chapter was already published in the Soil Association ‘Organic Market Report 2006’3

Conversion to Organic Milk Production (OF0103)

This is the final report from the Defra project OF0103 In the UK fewer than 50 dairy farms were registered as organic in June 1995. The slow increase of farmers willing to convert to organic milk production was seen as one impediment for development of the organic milk market. The overall objective of this joint 3-year project was to monitor the physical, environmental and financial implications of conversion to organic milk production on a research farm (Ty Gwyn) and ten commercial farms in southwest England and Wales, in order to provide policy makers and farmers with more information about the consequences of conversion. Although the size of the sample is comparably small it represents about 20% of all organic dairy farms in the UK and an even larger proportion of farms converting in the South Western region at the time. The report has substantial section on the following themes: • Land use and farm management, including the varying degrees of enterprise specialisation, conversion in stages or all at once, and motives for conversion • Soil nutrients, including nutrient budgets and balances, in which organic management generally produced lower nutrient surpluses • Herbage production trends after conversion and related to other factors such as soil type; generally herbage production fell sharply initially but then recovered substantially in the second and third years, also with increased herbage quality • Biodiversity studies, showing that there were few weed problems and that species richness of small mammals and birds tended to increase after conversion • Animal production, showing increasing milk from forage per cow and initial sharp falls in stocking rate, which then increased to within 90% of the period before conversion by year 4 of organic management. • Animal health, where the main features were reduced use of antibiotics, increased use of alternative remedies, only slightly higher rates of clinical mastitis, and only low incidence of bloat even with clover rich grazing • Economic performance, where initial milk sales were substantially reduced as premiums could not be obtained in the first three years when stocking rates were so much reduced, although gross margins per cow were increased due to reduced variable costs; this was followed by a recovery of revenue levels, to an extent which varied with farm type, but the small sample size requires caution in interpreting the results. The attached main report starts with a more detailed executive summary