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Bioacademy 2007

Lednice, June 29th, 2007 - the 7th year of Bioacademy was held in Lednice Na Moravě, CZ, from June 27th to June 29th, 2007. The main topics included the role of organic farming in relation to landscape protection and to climatic change, processing organic products directly on farms, and the specifics of organic production of pigs and fish. Czech processors of organic food repeatedly pointed out the reasons for low production of organic food in the Czech Republic and called attention to the problems of farm processing of organic food and subsequent marketing and sales.

The current statutes of the so called “hygiene package” concerning hygiene requirements on food processing do not take into account the specifics of small-scale processors - that is one of the main reasons why the number of farms engaged in  their own processing is quite low. In Germany, for instance, the volume of processed organic food sold directly on farms is - for meat and meat products - up to 35% of total turnover. In the Czech Republic, on the other hand, the volume is negligible and, moreover, due to the above reasons, it is often in the form of illegal sales. Participants in the conference demanded that the PRO-BIO Association of Organic Farmers and other professional associations raise the topic with the relevant authorities, particularly with the State Veterinary Bureau.
Furthermore, there are not enough sales co-ops to assist in marketing Czech organic food.

Manifestly lower production of greenhouse gasses, more considerate use of soil with minimal soil erosion, and generally higher adaptability of organic farming to changes in climate - these are the results of research projects presented at the plenary session, focusing on the relationship between organic farming and climatic change.
“With the growing demand for organic food, there is also an increasing threat of rising transportation costs and of narrow specialization - threats that may finally impair the whole effectiveness of organic farming”, warned Isabelle Peutz, the director of the section of organic farming in DG Agriculture at the European Commission. One of the key roles in this field is played by consumers, who should be actively encouraged to change their behaviour and modify their patterns of consumption, for instance towards locally produced food.

Numerous projects were introduced at the conference that presented organic farming as a tool for optimization of landscape use. A properly functioning, healthy landscape shows a higher degree of biodiversity and its maintenance requires a complex approach. “In order to have a healthy landscape, it is not enough to simply stop using industrial fertilizers”, said Jiří Urban (Bioinstitute, project Organic Farmers for Nature) and emphasized the importance of organic infrastructure and of farm management.

New European directives on organic fishing were presented, effective from 2008.

There were 220 participants at the seventh year of the European Summer Academy on Organic Farming, coming from 20 countries. Among important guests at the conference were, along withIsabele Peutz, also Urs Niggli, director of FiBL Research Institute, Francis Blake, president of IFOAM-EU Group, and Berhnard Freyer from BOKU Wien - University of Agriculture. The conference included excursions to model farms in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Traditionally, the main organizers of Bioacademy were PRO-BIO Association of Organic Farmers and Bio Austria, in cooperation with experts from FiBL, Bioinstitut and Palacký University in Olomouc. The conference was held under the auspices of IFOAM EU GROUP, the Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Petr Gandalovič, the Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic, Martin Bursík, and with financial contributions from EU-TAIEX, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment of Austria, Ministry of Agriculture of Slovakia and a number of private sponsors. The conference was held on the premises of the Horticultural Faculty of the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Lednice.

 

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