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Author : OECD
Publisher : OECD Publishing
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2003-06-04
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9789264101517
This publication reveals that organic agriculture is disadvantaged by current agricultural support policies, and the proliferation of standards and labels has sometimes confused consumers and impeded trade.
Author : Stephan Dabbert,Anna Maria Haring,Raffaele Zanoli
Publisher : Zed Books Ltd.
Page : 157 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2013-07-18
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781848137462
Consumers are more and more concerned with the health of the food they eat. While great public anxiety about genetically engineered foodstuffs and BSE in cattle has developed in Europe, on the positive side there has been a rapidly rising demand for organic produce. Food retailers, including supermarkets, have responded, and the organic sector has moved from a being marginal production fad to a serious subject of policy concern for politicians and public servants involved in European agricultural policy. In this book, three leading authorities on organic farming have for the first time produced a serious and scientific overview for the lay person of the state of organic farming and policy towards it in Europe. Based on a review of a huge body of scientific research into all aspects of the sector, the authors provide in accessible terms a balanced, up-to-date and policy relevant overview of: · The position of organic farming today - the size of the sector, its markets, where research is conducted, and current policies towards the sector. · Assessment of its possible contributions to the environment, food quality, farmers' incomes, and rural development generally. · Explanation of the key factors that will impinge on the organic farming sector in future and policy towards it as a result of the enlargement of the EU, ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, and Agenda 2000. · Detailed recommendations for future organic farming policy. Most people recognise that European agricultural policy has to change, involving further fundamental reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. This unique book will be of immense value to all those concerned with the issue, as well as of intense interest to those actually involved in the organic farming sector. Educationalists in agricultural universities and institutes will find the book a useful teaching tool.
Author : Niels Halberg,Adrian Muller
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2012-08-21
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781136469367
This book provides a timely analysis and assessment of the potential of organic agriculture (OA) for rural development and the improvement of livelihoods. It focuses on smallholders in developing countries and in countries of economic transition, but there is also coverage of and comparisons with developed countries. It covers market-oriented approaches and challenges for OA as part of high value chains and as an agro-ecologically based development for improving food security. It demonstrates the often unrecognised roles that organic farming can play in climate change, food security and sovereignty, carbon sequestration, cost internalisations, ecosystems services, human health and the restoration of degraded landscapes. The chapters specifically provide readers with: an overview of the state of research on OA from socio-economic, environmental and agro-ecological perspectives an analysis of the current and potential role of OA in improving livelihoods of farmers, in sustainable value chain development, and in implementation of agro-ecological methods proposed strategies for exploiting and improving the potential of OA and overcoming the constraints for further development a review of the strengths and weaknesses of OA in a sustainable development context
Author : Kimberly Etingoff
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 386 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781771883856
This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. As we realize the ways in which our food systems contribute and respond to climate change, sustainable agriculture becomes increasingly crucial. It is a complicated, multi-dimensional issue, which should be considered from a variety of angles. This compendium includes the perspectives of science, economics, sociology, and policy. The editor and contributors present an international and comprehensive perspective that examines the concept of sustainability as it applies to the food supply chain from farm to fork.
Author : William Lockeretz
Publisher : CABI
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2007-01-01
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781845932893
This book discusses organic farming with regards to the origins and principles, policies and markets, organizations and institutions, and future concepts.
Author : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher : Food & Agriculture Org.
Page : 390 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2018-07-20
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9789251093276
Between 2013 and 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) undertook a survey of innovative approaches that enable markets to act as incentives in the transition towards sustainable agriculture in developing countries. Through a competitive selection process, 15 cases from around the world provide insights into how small-scale initiatives that use sustainable production practices are supported by market demand, and create innovations in the institutions that govern sustainable practices and market exchanges. These cases respond to both local and distant consumers’ concerns about the quality of the food that they eat. The book evidences that the initiatives rely upon social values (e.g. trustworthiness, health [nutrition and food safety], food sovereignty, promotion of youth and rural development, farmer and community livelihoods) to adapt sustainable practices to local contexts, while creating new market outlets for food products. Specifically, private sector and civil society actors are leading partnerships with the public sector to build market infrastructure, integrate sustainable agriculture into private and public education and extension programmes, and ensure the exchange of transparent information about market opportunities. The results are: (i) system innovations that allow new rules for marketing and assuring the sustainable qualities of products; (ii) new forms of organization that permit actors to play multiple roles in the food system (e.g. farmer and auditor, farmer and researcher, consumer and auditor, consumer and intermediary); (iii) new forms of market exchange, such as box schemes, university kiosks, public procurement or systems of seed exchanges; and (iv) new technologies for sustainable agriculture (e.g. effective micro-organisms, biopesticides and soil analysis techniques). The public sector plays a key role in providing legitimate political and physical spaces for multiple actors to jointly create and share sustainable agricultural knowledge, practices and products.
Author : Bernhard Freyer,Jim Bingen
Publisher : Springer
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2014-10-17
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789401791908
This book is based on the assumption that “organic has lost its way”. Paradoxically, it comes at a time when we witness the continuing of growth in organic food production and markets around the world. Yet, the book claims that organic has lost sight of its first or fundamental philosophical principles and ontological assumptions. The collection offers empirically grounded discussions that address the principles and fundamental assumptions of organic farming and marketing practices. The book draws attention to the core principles of organic and offers different clearly articulated and well-defined conceptual frameworks that offer new insights into organic practices. Divided into five parts, the book presents new perspectives on enduring issues, examines standards and certification, gives insights into much-discussed and additional market and consumer issues, and reviews the interplay of organic and conventional farming. The book concludes with a framework for rethinking ethics in the organic movement and reflections on the positioning of organic ethics.
Author : Steffanie Scott,Zhenzhong Si,Theresa Schumilas,Aijuan Chen
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2018-09-13
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781351331357
Despite reports of food safety and quality scandals, China has a rapidly expanding organic agriculture and food sector, and there is a revolution in ecological food and ethical eating in China’s cities. This book shows how a set of social, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions have converged to shape the development of a "formal" organic sector, created by "top-down" state-developed standards and regulations, and an "informal" organic sector, created by ‘bottom-up’ grassroots struggles for safe, healthy, and sustainable food. This is generating a new civil movement focused on ecological agriculture and quality food. Organic movements and markets have typically emerged in industrialized food systems that are characterized by private land ownership, declining small farm sectors, consolidated farm to retail chains, predominance of supermarket retail, standards and laws to safeguard food safety, and an active civil society sector. The authors contrast this with the Chinese context, with its unique version of "capitalism with social characteristics," collective farmland ownership, and predominance of smallholder agriculture and emerging diverse marketing channels. China’s experience also reflects a commitment to domestic food security, evolving food safety legislation, and a civil society with limited autonomy from a semi-authoritarian state that keeps shifting the terrain of what is permitted. The book will be of great interest to advanced students and researchers of agricultural and food systems and policy, as well as rural sociology and Chinese studies.
Author : Nicola Borregaard
Publisher : IIED
Page : 37 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Developing countries
ISBN : 9781843695813
Author : OECD
Publisher : OECD Publishing
Page : 140 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2003-06-02
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9789264099241
This publication provides a conceptual framework for market creation in the biodiversity policy arena, as well as several examples of where the use of markets can assist policy makers in the search for more sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity.
Author : Gilles Allaire,Benoit Daviron
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2018-11-29
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781351210027
With increasing pressure on resources, the looming spectre of climate change and growing anxiety among eaters, ecology and food are at the heart of the political debates surrounding agriculture and diet. This unique contribution unravels agri-environmental issues at different spatial levels, from local to global, documenting the major shifts in agriculture from a long-term perspective. The book begins by exploring the changes in the industrialisation and socialisation of agriculture over time, through the lens of institutional economics including The French Regulation School and Conventions Theory. Building on Polanyi’s ‘Great Transformation’, the chapters in this volume analyse long-term and contemporary changes in agriculture and food systems that have occurred throughout the last few centuries. Key chapters focus on the historical changes in provisioning and the social relations of production, consumption, and regulation of food in different socio-political contexts. The future of agriculture is addressed through an analysis of controversial contemporary political claims and their engagement with strategies that aim to improve the sustainability of agriculture and food consumption. To shed light on ongoing changes and the future of food, this book asks important environmental and social questions and analyses how industrial agriculture has played out in various contexts. It is recommended supplementary reading for postgraduates and researchers in agricultural studies, food studies, food policy, the agri-food political economy and political and economic geography.
Author : Stéphane Bellon,Servane Penvern
Publisher : Springer Science & Business
Page : 489 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-23
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9789400779273
Stakeholders show a growing interest for organic food and farming (OF&F), which becomes a societal component. Rather than questioning whether OF&F outperforms conventional agriculture or not, the main question addressed in this book is how, and in what conditions, OF&F may be considered as a prototype towards sustainable agricultures. The book gathers 25 papers introduced in a first chapter. The first section investigates OF&F production processes and its capacity to benefit from the systems functioning to achieve higher self-sufficiency. The second one proposes an overview of organic performances providing commodities and public goods. The third one focuses on organics development pathways within agri-food systems and territories. As well as a strong theoretical component, this book provides an overview of the new challenges for research and development. It questions the benefits as well as knowledge gaps with a particular emphasis on bottlenecks and lock-in effects at various levels.
Author : Connor J. Fitzmaurice,Brian J. Gareau
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2016-01-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780300199451
An exploration of the lived experience of small-scale organic farmers in New England that unpacks how they balance their ideals with economic realities In recent years, the popularity of organically grown produce has exploded. In 2014, organic fruits and vegetables accounted for 12% of all produce sales in the United States, with $39 billion in consumer sales reported for 2015. As a federally recognized niche market within the agricultural mainstream, organic farming is increasingly on display in American grocery stores. Yet the organic food most Americans consume today is produced by an industrial food system at odds with the practices and ideals of small-scale farmers. Taking an ethnographic approach, the fieldwork by Connor Fitzmaurice and Brian Gareau at a small New England organic farm sheds light on how farmers navigate the difficult terrain between practices of sustainability and the economic realities of contemporary agriculture. Drawing on extensive research, Fitzmaurice and Gareau examine the historical context, complexities, and viability of nonconventional organic farming practices: practices that seek to balance ecology and community with the business of agriculture.
Author : Natalia S. Kotian
Publisher : Delve Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2017-11
Category : Organic farming
ISBN : 177361262X
Organic agriculture has gained immense popularity in recent years due to the belief that it is safer and better for the environment and human health because it is inherently free of synthetic chemicals that are often harmful. Demand for organic food touched USD 81.6 billion in 2015 according to Organic Monitor, with the USA being the largest consumer of organic food products. Organic agriculture and consequently, organically cultivated animal and plant products are an important and increasingly profitable segment among food products that are sold at a premium, higher than prices for conventionally produced food. The well-heeled, highly-educated class of consumers that views itself as socially responsible and politically engaged is the largest consumer of organic food. The purchase and consumption of food labelled as 'Organic' is slowly but steadily becoming one of the means of inconspicuous consumption patterns that are helping the wealthy and the nouveau riche to distinguish itself from the rest of the society. The term 'organic agriculture' is sometimes synonymously used with 'sustainable agriculture'. Many universities across Europe and North America, have started graduate-level degree programs to teach organic/sustainable agricultural development. The author herself holds a Master's degree in Sustainable Agriculture Development - Food security for development. Organic farming and its potential for contributing in a sustainable manner (read without causing pollution) to food production has greatly won the interest of young college students across the world and this is seen as problematic by critics of organic farming. The increasing agricultural cultivation area under organic farming is subject to criticism. Critics and sceptics have rightly pointed out that farms managed organically have lower yields than those of conventional farms, are input and labour intensive and do not always help the farmer to earn profits. Organic food has also been found to be no better than conventionally produced food in terms of nutrients or organoleptic properties. The supporters and proponents of organic farming strongly argue in favour of the environmental and health benefits offered by organic farming and organic produce. There are studies to support both sides of the argument.Many books and manuals are available in the market (either free or at a cost) to help farmers adopt organic cultivation practices. These suggestions are more or less based on the same principles and have many methods in common with conventional agriculture. However, the inputs are always of a non-synthetic nature. The organic agriculture manuals and guidebooks are always tailored to match the agro-climactic and soil conditions of the target reader audience. The manuals have systematic instructions and methods w.r.t. soil fertility management, seed/plant material procurement for cultivation, weed control, pest and disease management, organic animal husbandry and storage of harvested produce. Farmers across the globe have had a mixed bag of results trying to implement organic agricultural practices recommended for their region. This book is an attempt to honestly evaluate the practical implementation of organic farming recommendations and to see their advantages and disadvantages. The author, as an enthusiastic, young rural development worker in India, had herself tried to promote organic sugar cane production among smallholder farmers. The results were very enlightening. The most important lesson learnt was that agricultural research and subsequently extension education efforts are logistically difficult to implement and are in fact, far removed from reality. The chapter on soil fertility management considers all the possible organic options for enhancing and maintaining soil fertility. The suggestions on the use of bulky and concentrated organic manures have been studied with the point of view of actually implementing these on the farm. Green manure crops and leguminous crops have also been studied for their use in improving soil N, P and K content along with the potential advantages and disadvantages of actually including them in a crop rotation cycle. Organic farms need to supply the correct amount of macro and micronutrients to their crops for optimum growth and input-substitution i.e. the use of a proportionate amount of manures to match N, P and K supplied by chemical fertilizers, is not the correct method. Input substitution can potentially lead to ground and surface water pollution due to leaching, just like in the case of excessive synthetic fertilizer use. It can cause a serious imbalance of macronutrients in the soil as decomposition of organic manure tends to reduce certain nutrients and makes others available in concentrated amounts in the soil solution. The book also discusses the logistical and financial difficulties involved in the procurement of extremely large volumes of organic fertilizers as mandated in many organic agriculture manuals. What many individuals, including this author before attempting organic farming, often fail to take into account is that organic agriculture and conventional, industrial agriculture interdependent. Organic farms are permitted to use manures and organic wastes that originate from non-organically managed facilities. So an organic maize farm is permitted to use cow dung from a non-organically managed dairy or chicken manure from a non-organic poultry farm and hence this makes the maize farm indirectly dependent upon nutrients from synthetic sources. Organic agriculture and conventional farming are inextricably intertwined. For ensuring that organic agriculture grows in cultivation area, gains more consumers and that it is taken seriously, it should be accepted that organic and conventional farming must co-exist. The success of organic agriculture also requires the selection of seeds or planting material suited for organic cultivation practices and the chapter on seeds and planting material discusses the various options available to farmers. Most of the commercially available varieties of various crops in the market are either high-yielding, F1 hybrids or patented GMOs that are best suited to intensive chemical fertilizer usage and heavy irrigation. These varieties do not produce viable seeds that can be used in the next cropping season for sowing by the farmer. This makes farmers dependent upon corporate companies for seeds every year. It is even believed that if all GMO and high-yielding varieties were to be taken out of the market, then farmers would be left with very few viable seed options for cultivation. The use of F1 hybrids leads to the loss of useful characteristics that may be present in indigenous, traditional varieties as these are often replaced by hybrid seeds. Both traditional and contemporary hybrid varieties have their place in the agricultural production system and both should be considered and used on organic farms as per their characteristics and utility for a farmer. This also makes a wide variety of seed choices available for organic farmers. Organic agricultural production should not be hindered due to an artificial shortage of seeds despite the availability of commercial, hybrid seeds. However, organic agriculture regulations prohibit the use of GMOs and seeds treated with chemical pesticides.Weed control in agriculture, both conventional and organic, is the most important priority for farmers. It is even said that the benefit of effective weed control for crops is comparable to the addition of fertilizers to the land. Organic agriculture does not allow the use of chemical defoliants for weed control on organic farms and this leaves farmers only with mechanical and manual weed control measures. This steeply increases the requirement for human labour and machinery use. Organic farming is hence a very difficult cultivation system to adapt in countries where agriculture is not heavily mechanized. Even in industrialized countries where heavy farm machinery use for almost all agricultural tasks is the norm, elimination of herbicide use is a difficult proposition. Synthetic herbicides are applied to farms with standing crops to free them of weed growth so as to permit harvesting combines and other harvesting machines to pass unhindered through the crop for harvesting. The chapter discusses the various options available for weed control on a farm and the advantages and disadvantages associated with their use. Organic farming is highly labour intensive and the availability of labour for carrying out weeding work and the ability to bear the extra cost greatly determines a farm's ability to adapt organic management practices. Moreover, the health problems caused by manual weeding work for labourer also have the potential to cancel out all benefits accrued through the elimination of synthetic chemical usage on farms. As herbicide usage is prohibited on organic farms, so is the use of pesticides for the control of pests. Consumers turn to organic food because it has negligible or no pesticide residues whereas many farmers opt for organic agriculture because conventional, industrial farming ruins natural resources on and near the farm. The chapter on Biological control of insects and pests discusses the various non-chemical options available for farmers for pest control and how the natural enemies of pests can be deployed against pests, under certain circumstances, for keeping pest populations below the threshold of economic damage. This is far easier said than done because biological control mechanisms are a slow process and take many years to establish themselves. Moreover, biological control agents such as entomopathogens and beneficial bacteria are often difficult to procure, store, transport and deploy on a farm. They also need to be protected against chemical treatments that may be carried out on neighbouring farms. Another risk that exists with the prolonged use of bioagents is the threat that they themselves might become harmful for non-target species and might even start feeding upon crop species. There have been recorded instances where insects introduced against weeds started feeding on the main crop itself. A farmer needs to take into consideration various permutations and combinations before choosing and using various bioagents on his field. However, the threat from bio agents is not as dangerous as that from the excessive and unregulated use of pesticides. Apart from plant-origin products, the customer today has also grown increasingly conscious of the quality of livestock products and the conditions under which they are manufactured owing to the various scandals involving adulteration of milk, meat and eggs with harmful synthetic substances (deliberate or otherwise) and bacterial contamination due to unhygienic production practices. People are also concerned about antibiotic overuse for rearing animals and the subsequent development of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria rendering many known drugs ineffective for treatment. There have been reports from various countries about traces of several pesticides, insecticides, drugs and hormones being detected in animal-origin products that could prove harmful to human health to the extent of being carcinogenic. The stated concerns have prompted an increase in the number of livestock farmers shifting to organic production, both for quality concerns and to earn better premium on organic milk, meat and eggs. The chapter on organic livestock farming discusses various organic livestock and poultry farming management systems and covers issues related to health management, record keeping, breeding strategies, cost of production and input and the various problems encountered in organic breeding of livestock. Finally, any business works for profit. Organic farms are no different. For organic farming to be successful, the organic products need to be certified and marketed correctly at the optimum price point for the farmer to be able to recover his costs and to earn a decent profit. The final consumer must also be assured of actually receiving what he/she has paid a higher premium for i.e. truly organically produced goods. The prices for organic food are often very high as compared to conventionally produced food and this is expected to change once the supply of organically produced food increases and balances out the market. The market for organic food is growing at a rapid pace but the production of organic food can barely match this rate. To ensure sustainable growth of the organic food produce market, there is an urgent need to provide farmers with correct and practical advice for all aspects of organic farm management, to offer them assistance with record-keeping, certification, appropriate transportation and food-processing to avoid contamination of organic food with prohibited chemical substances, and marketing of organic produce.
Author : Mrinila Singh,Keshav Lall Maharjan
Publisher : Springer
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2017-11-07
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9789811056192
This book explores the sustainability aspect of organic and conventional farming systems, which is commonly categorized into three sub-aspects: social, environmental and economic. The social structure of a given area, organic friendly technologies, soil properties, crop diversification and income are the elements chosen for comparison, and are analyzed using descriptive and statistical methods. In addition, the book assesses the current status of the local organic market in Nepal and field experiments involving the use of various organic means to achieve better production for selected vegetables. Determining the benefits and/or challenges of organic and conventional farming is important to determining the most viable type of farming in the long term, but can be greatly impacted by a given area’s specific characteristics (social, environmental, political, etc.), which is why this study focuses on a specific location: the Chitwan district of Nepal, where group conversion to organic farming has existed alongside conventional farming for years. This book offers a useful guide for both practitioners and academic researchers who are interested in organic farming and food security, particularly in developing countries.