Bioacademy 2003 - Conference B: Conclusions “Ecological Agriculture: A Chance for Production Areas”
Ecological farmers nowadays receive state subsidies which motivate them to abandon the use of agrochemicals and enter the system of ecological agriculture. However, what are their other, deeper motives? What kind of responsibility do farmers have towards nature, soil, plants, animals and other people? And what kind of responsibility do producers of food products have towards consumers, animals and other people? All these issues were addressed at Conference B of the 3 rd year of the European Summer Academy of Ecological Farming. The conference was attended by about a hundred people.
The motives for making ecological agriculture viable even if the state were to stop being able or willing to provide financial subsidies to ecological farmers must stem from the inner values of the individual; we may therefore call this approach “ethical individualism”. The motive of action of the ecological farmer should primarily involve the awareness of his/her responsibility towards nature (protection of the environment through ecological agriculture) and consumers (production of wholesome and safe food). It was Martin Ott, a Swiss biodynamic farmer and chairman of an association for the cooperation in ecological farming between the West and East, who gave a talk on ethical individualism and the system of values of the ecological farmer.
Alexandra Mossakowska , from Poland, gave a talk on the possibilities of integrating mentally challenged people into life at ecological farms and her experience at the first Polish Camphill located near the Czech border.
Farm animals live owing to the fact that people want to make use of their life for economic ends: they want to acquire their meat, milk, eggs, etc. However, they have gradually stopped being aware of the fact that animals are beings who experience joy, pain and suffering. A strange schism has occurred: the so-called farming animals have been increasingly taken for soulless, inanimate machines, whose only role during the farming process is their economic performance, while domestic animals have become pets, whose keepers often consider them more precious than the humans. Reinhard Gessl, chairman of the Austrian association of the keepers of animals in a natural way, discussed the fact that animal protection acts take animals for beings that have their own value, and pointed out the fact that it is the keeper’s duty, stemming from his/her responsibility, to stable them in the so-called species-specific way, protect them from pain and suffering, and realize how indebted we are to them. In conclusion, he asked the consumers to exercise their responsibility as well, for it is them who by spending money on food decide on the way animals are to be kept and treated.
Dr. Rainer Matejka , a physician and chairman of a German association for natural treatment, discussed some civilization illnesses and their relation to human nutrition. The present-day nutrition of modern population is too rich in fat, sugar and proteins and does not contain enough vitamins, mineral substances, trace elements, fibre and secondary plant substances. Additionally, the heterogeneous substances contained in food have their share in creating allergies and other disorders. Organic food is produced without the use of farming chemicals and chemical additives, and they demonstrably contain a lower amount of nitrates. Furthermore, organic food contains more solids and ballast substances than conventional food. The crucial advantage of ecologically produced food is a higher content of the secondary plant substances. As Dr. Matejka said, while assessing the quality of food we must not ignore the fact that the production of organic food does not pollute the environment and require much less energy during the production process.
The eating habits of the Czechs and the resulting health problems were addressed by Dr. Hana Šarapatková, Head of Endocrinology and Abdominal Surgery in Olomouc, who pointed out the importance of physical activity. She went on to present the results of a research team consisting of herself, B. Šarapatka ( Olomouc University) and J. Dlouhý ( Uppsala University), who mapped the positive influence of consuming organic food on human health. For example, some investigations have shown a positive impact of organic food to male fertility (number of spermatozoids in the ejaculate); however, no results of some systematic research are available at the moment. The disputability of such research mainly consists in the lack of finance (who might pay for the research?), in the complexity of the etiological mechanisms of a number of civilization illnesses and in the fact that the cumulative effect of the residual substances originating in various farming methods on human health is not known enough.
It is rather difficult to ascertain the influence of food on a representative sample of human population; experiments with test animals are much easier to conduct. Dr. Alberta Velimirov, of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna, present the results of her research, which showed that rats demonstrably prefer organic feed to conventional feed.
The other part of the conference dealt with consumer initiatives and behaviour. Prof. Helmut Labrenz, of the University of Applied Science in Hamburg, presented his complex enquiry into the behaviour of organic food consumers, carried out in seven EU countries and in Switzerland. Its aim was to find out the motives leading the consumers to buy organic food as well as the psychological blocks which prevent them from making the purchase. The surprising outcome of the study was that the barriers mentioned by the consumers (lower quality of organic products, high price, limited selection, “it’s just some grain for those vegetarians”, etc.) are not based in reality and in fact often represent evading manoeuvres stemming from the consumer’s unconscious, who is afraid of a change of his/her lifestyle and of questioning and undermining his/her present value system. Prof. Labarenz made an impressive account of the vicious argumentation circle of the opponents of organic food. The study has shown that the purchasing of organic food is a question of one’s own value system (not its price), and that the necessary impulse is often created by some critical events in one’s life; it has also proven that the effect of agricultural and food production scandals on increasing the consumption of organic food is very short-term, for fear is a bad counsellor…
Prof. Dieter Beger presented the activities of Ökomarkt, a consumer and farming consultation centre based in Hamburg. It is a civic association which provides advisory services and promotes ecological agricultural and organic food, organizes various tastings and exhibitions, seminars and courses, as well as educational programmes for children and young people, publishes the consumer magazine “Verde”, and administers an internet portal containing information on organic food, organic cosmetics, natural textiles and ecological building materials.
Miloš Růžička , the founder of a Prague-based club of friends of ecological farms, gave a talk on its activities. He depicted the difficulties involved in getting fresh organic food in the Czech Republic, where no sales network with this products is in operation. One of the recent activities of the club was opening an internet shop at www.biopotraviny.cz. Miloš Růžička also pointed out the importance of personal contacts with the farmers and knowledge of the conditions under which the food is produced—the food thus stops being anonymous and has its own identity.
Dr. Michael Rist , the president of a consumer association based in Zürich, presented completely different tasks. The original support of biodynamic farms and farmers has increasingly given way to supporting cooperative ways of farming, for it has become apparent that the key issue of the survival of ecological agriculture will be to change the present-day economic conditions and the whole production system. Dr. Rist maintained that we should transfer from the competitive economy to an associational one. An important part in this process is played by consumers. The association of Zürich consumers therefore publishes an information bulletin entitled “Responsible Consumers as Co-Creators of the Economy”.
During the ensuing group discussion, attended by representatives from the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the hottest topic was the way and quality of selling organic products and their presence in supermarkets; other topics included the education of young people towards responsible consumer behaviour and others.
The conference was concluded by Werner Gamerith, an Austrian photographer and the author of a book entitled “ Natural Garden”, who made a slide-show presentation of his glorious organic garden and documented persuasively the ecological complexities in nature. He has also demonstrated the preciousness of the gift that had been left in human custody and the scope of our responsibility towards Earth.
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