PLENARY MEETING - PRESENTATIONS' CONCLUSION - SUMMARY
Bioacademy 2008
Introductory plenary meeting, Wednesday 3rd September 2008
The main current topics in the development of organic farming in the EU 2008/2009 from the point of view of IFOAM
Francis Blake, Chairman of the British Soil Association and President of IFOAM EU Group
In his speech Mr Francis Blake summarised the work of IFOAM EU Group over the last three years, during which they have worked hard revising the new EU Regulation (analysis, publicity, consultation with the organic sector in member countries and constant pressurising of authorities to amend and improve the regulation).
The whole process consists of four stages: The new EU Regulation No. 834/2007 was approved in July 2008 (stage 1) and its implementation rules were brought in June 2008 (stage 2), the new implementation rules will include: aquaculture, seaweed, yeast and wine (stage 3 – not yet complete) and it will be necessary to complete the unfinished areas - poultry, review of inputs and processing rules (stage 4).
Putting the new regulation into practice will be quite complicated; its interpretation will have to be unified.
IFOAM EU Group will work on a dossier on the new Regulation which should serve as a “guide”, it is hoped that this will be ready by Biofach 2009.
Besides the work on the regulation, another new development is the establishment of an organic research technology platform on which IFOAM EU cooperate with ISOFAR.
Food, ecology and ethics: trends in research and vision for organic farming
Urs Niggli, Director of FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland
Mr Urs Niggli introduced a newly elaborated document – an agenda for the OF technology platform (TP) “A Vision for Organic Food and Farming to 2025”. He explained that there are many technology platforms in Europe which significantly affect European research (many of them focus on biotechnology), but none of them include organic agriculture. These are consortiums which include research institutes, industry, authorities, NGOs etc. they have a great influence on forming topics within the 7th Framework Research and Science Programme. The first platform was established in 2002, at present there are 29 of them. However, none of them includes agriculture as a complex of ecological and socio-economic systems and therefore IFOAM EU and ISOFAR decided to establish their own OF TP.
Mr Niggli’s vision: organic farming and food production will determine the direction and make discussion on sustainability easier.
ISOFAR – platform for OF research
Daniel Neuhoff, ISOFAR - International Society of Organic Agriculture Research, Germany
Daniel Neuhoff introduced ISOFAR organisation, founded on 30th June 2003 in Berlin.
Their main aim is to promote, encourage and support research in all areas of Organic Agriculture by facilitating global co-operation in research, methodological development, education and exchange of knowledge, supporting individual researchers through membership services and integrating the public in the research process.
ISOFAR’s most significant activity of the year was the 2nd Scientific Conference within the IFOAM Organic World Congress, entitled ‘Cultivating the Future Based on Science’, in Modena, Italyi, 18 – 20th June 2008.
Morning section, Thursday 4th September 2008
"Causes of stagnating organic production in CZ "- presentation of project outputs
by EPOS - Association of Advisors in Organic Farming, Roman Rozsypal
According to Mr Rozsypal the proportion of imported organic foodstuffs is 65% of retail turnover and the increase in consumption is 80% covered by imported produce. He defined the reasons for stagnation of Czech organic production as: small arable acreage, inefficiency of organic agriculture, fragmented production, ineffective marketing, subsidies being the only instrument to affect the system of land management, non-implementation of Action Plan for OF Development. He concluded that acreage payments, even if significantly differentiated in EAFRD, probably will not bring a noticeable change in the structure of organically farmed land (increase in arable land percentage). He sees this as a weak point of Czech organic farming, because cereal production determines not only the production of bread, pastries, pasta and other organic foodstuffs of plant origin, but also the poultry, eggs, pork and other meat products that the market lacks. According to Mr Rozsypal we cannot expect the situation to change in a few years with organic cattle-farms returning or converting to dairy production, because such changes require massive investment in cattle sheds, milking and dairy plants, and especially problems with employees (care of animals and milking) and increased work costs (salaries and compulsory insurance).
“Development of organic farming in Ukraine”
Eugene Milovanov
Eugene Milovanov presented the basic structure of organic farming in Ukraine. The current total acreage of organically farmed land is 280 872 ha and, in 2006, 80 organic farms were registered. In 2007 the National Programme for the Development of Agriculture was adopted, including the aim of achieving a 10% OF share of the total production. This year, an international conference on OF and its development was held in Kiev for the first time.
Closing plenary meeting, Thursday 4th September 2008
Non-financial support for organic farming – development of the organic sector in Austria
Bettina Brandtner - Lebensministerium, the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment
Bettina Brandtner presented basic data on financial support for organic farmers in Austria. In 2008 the Ministry has provided payments to OF for: 151.087 ha of arable land, 219.065 ha of permanent grassland, 1.528 ha of orchard, 2.170 ha of vegetables. She emphasized that non-financial support is also very important. “Non-financial” means support which is not dependent on direct payments. Non-financial support affects public opinion in a certain way (public relations), represents political support, press reports issued by the Ministry, websites, campaigns, legislative foundations, encouraging consumer interest. Typical Austrian organic food consumers are: sports people, pensioners, families with children and housewives. Organic food sales: approximately 64% via market chains, 16% via specialised shops, 5% via kitchens, canteens, hotels (catering), 8% farmyard sales, markets, 7% export.
Organic farming in Slovakia – experience and trends
Rudolf Trebatický, Manager of the Deparment of Environmental Activities, Ministry of Agriculture, Slovak Republic
Rudolf Trebatický presented basic data on OF in Slovakia: on 31.7.2008, 360 farms with a total acreage of 140 081 ha were registered along with 54 organic food producers, 8 companies involved in collecting wild-growing fruit and herbs, 12 organic seed producers, 9 producers of organic feedstuffs, 25 traders of organic produce, 5 importers. The total acreage of organically farmed land is 7. 37%.
Experience in OF is both: positive (stabilised system – legislation, inspection, subsidies; organic food processing, market development, increase in sales points and shops, increase in range of organic produce on offer), but also negative (despite certain improvement, finalization of produce is still low, lack of information and awareness, farmers’ criticism of strict legislation on farmyard sale and Cross Compliance checking). They intend to achieve 10% of acreage, preferably in areas of water source protection, improvement in promotion and support for research is necessary.
Trends and prospective for processing organic foodstuffs in Slovakia
Andrea Jurèáková – the Slovak Ministry of Agriculture
Aim: to ensure the production of safe, good quality organic foodstuffs for the Slovak population, at present 52 registered organic food producers in Slovakia, this is a 57.6% increase since 2006
Research and development: Centre of Excellence in Foodstuff Research – 13 scientific, research, inspection and private institutions – Biocentrum Modra is being discussed
Practical application of knowledge and findings is vital. There has been an increase in the range of organic products.
Organic: local, regional or global – and does it matter at all?
Bernward Geier, Colabora - let's work together, Germany
In his contribution, Bernward Geier contemplated where the organic sector is heading. He emphasised that the important thing is not to abandon ecological principles. Big players are entering the organic sector – multi-national concerns such as Nestlé (there are 10 multi-national concerns in the food industry and 9 of them are active in the organic sector), but the majority of consumers have no idea they are supporting the concern with their purchase. An important role is played by retail chains (e.g. Aldi sells the greatest quantity of organic potatoes). The rebirth of town markets and direct sale is necessary as well as cooperation with “slowfood” systems. BIO FAIR TRADE – it is essential to involve developing countries in OF development. Differences in prices are extreme in developing countries (in China ORGANIC is 400% more expensive, despite this China has many organic food shops). Education is vital – teaching the fact that profitability lies in processing and sales, not just in production. Egypt is a good example – 80% of tea of organic quality is sold on the Egyptian market and only 20% is exported (previously the opposite situation applied). Small producers must be provided with good conditions. We, too, must act globally! Locally, regionally and globally!
Discussion after the first block of presentations:
A question for Bettina Brandtner: Is it possible to promote national BIO trademarks and those of national associations and national products within national campaigns co-financed by OF?
Answer: Yes, in Austria we promoted our national trademark and referred to the higher standards that are behind this logo.
A question for Bernward Geier: What do you think about subsidies in developed countries which practically make it impossible for developing countries to enter the market? Would it be fair to cancel such subsidies with regard to those poorer countries?
Answer: Subsidies are basically only good for supporting innovation. If you compare, for example, cotton production in California and in African countries, then subsidies are extremely harmful.
A question for Bernward Geier: How can organic produce feed the whole world?
Answer: This discussion is always about quantity. However, the amount produced doesn’t matter, the important thing is that people are capable of feeding themselves and are enabled to do so, especially in developing countries. And this is where organic farming can help, as it is not so dependent on inputs.
New priorities for the Organic farming Development Action Plan in the Czech Republic
Jiøí Urban, Vice Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Czech Republic
Jiøí Urban summarized the latest statistics which show some positive trends in OF development in the Czech Republic. For example, the greatest increase was in the number of medium-sized companies between 10-50ha acreage and also small companies below 5ha. But we cannot be complacent about improving statistics. There are still numerous issues to be resolved. At present, the most serious problem he can see is the lack of specialist structure in OF, in the areas of research, advisory services and sales. There is also a lack of good reasoning towards the state sector. There is good experience abroad of establishing so-called competence centres for organic farming. For example, in Czech state research institutes, research into organic farming is not given priority. Therefore it is essential to start work on the new OF Action Plan for 2010 and beyond. Mr. Urban intends to establish a working group of people, appointed directly by the Minister, who will analyze the situation and prepare the new Action Plan which should be ready in two years.
GMO – the unbelievable story of David (farmer Percy) a Goliath (Monsanto company)
Percy Schmeiser. Percy and his wife Louise are the current Alternative Nobel Prize winners, Canada
All their lives, the Schmeisers have been cultivating seed (their own oilseed rape varieties) for the area in which they farm. Mrs. Schmeiser worked as a seed researcher. In 1996 the first GM crops were approved in Canada (corn, oilseed rape, soya beans and cotton). In 1998 Monsanto company sued the Schmeisers for illegal use of Monsanto oilseed. The Schmeisers’ fields had been contaminated by the Monsanto GM oilseed and now Monsanto claimed that they had used their seed. This was a dangerous precedent that took 7 years of legal proceedings until it reached the Supreme Court. It was finally concluded in March 2008 with an extrajudicial agreement and payment for cleaning the field (this means after 10 years of legal dispute, at a total cost of $400,000 in legal fees).
There are already two crops in Canada which cannot be grown in organic quality – oilseed rape and soya. No co-existence is possible; the business activities of many farmers have been harmed, including bee keepers. It is not possible to produce organic honey in Canada, due to pollen contaminated by GM crops. Besides this, Monsanto runs its own police, watching farmers in case they grow GM crops without a licence, thus sowing the seed of suspicion among farmers and encouraging farmers to inform on each other.
European organic farmers between the developing market and Brussels’ agrarian policy in 2008
Thomas Dosch, Chairman of Bioland association of organic farmers, Germany
Thomas Dosch began his contribution with a reflection on where organic production is heading and expressed the need to return closer to OF principles. “We must think of what we should do collectively and not live at the expense of others”. He reminded that the word “agriculture” consists of agrarian culture, and doesn’t mean industrial food production. What used to be a discussion on organic versus conventional foodstuffs, is now regional organic versus global organic (food transported long distances). There are two obvious strategies – one calculating what is cheaper and involving global purchase of food, the second focusing on regional produce. It is essential to be aware that the final price of most organic products is determined by large marketing companies which can be avoided if the whole supply chain is shortened. Thomas Dosch asked, “Do we only want to fill the shelves of retail chains?” We cannot leave the success of our organic produce only to the market – competition with conventional food is not fair, because conventional foodstuffs are produced at the expense of the environment, therefore they are cheap. We must be active on the European level – we have a newly completed Regulation, but that is only one of the building blocks. A current question is that of the CAP, the 2nd pillar is supposed to be reduced by 20%, which will probably mean less money for organic farming. Direct payments will be limited, but the crucial condition is that, in the future, organic agriculture is rewarded for public service such as protecting the quality of water sources, biodiversity etc. What then is expected of us? We must differentiate between markets, improve research, we must form more associations! There are more lobbyists in Brussels at the moment than European Government officials themselves! We must know how to assert and represent our interests in Brussels.
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