Synthesis, part of a Special Feature on Multicriteria Assessment of Food System Sustainability Three perspectives on motivation and multicriteria assessment of organic food systems

ABSTRACT. Organic food systems are based on a complex of value criteria that often are not explicitly considered when agents think, communicate, and make decisions concerning organic food. Multicriteria assessment (MCA) refers to a group of tools that help the user to tackle such highly complex issues. The question is how an MCA tool should be designed to facilitate reflections, communication, and decision making in relation to organic food systems. A key issue is motivation. There are several divergent theories of motivation, and the question cannot be adequately answered by using any single theory. We discuss an economic, a psychosocial, and a relational perspective on motivation and MCA. Using the example of a consumer assessing and choosing products in the supermarket, the economic conception of motivation offers a focus on decision-making processes. The psychosocial approach to motivation draws attention to the influence of cognitive structures and experience-based emotional drivers. Finally, the relational approach stresses that motivation is situated in the relations between agents. We discuss how the three perspectives converge and diverge regarding the purpose of using an MCA tool, the scope of the MCA, the strategic focus, and challenges and potentials associated with an MCA tool. Through this multiple-perspective approach, the general idea of MCA is expanded and elaborated to refine the design of an MCA tool for organic food systems

Concepts of Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Livestock Systems

In 2005, The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) developed four new ethical principles of organic agriculture to guide its future development: the principles of health, ecology, care, and fairness. The key distinctive concept of animal welfare in organic agriculture combines naturalness and human care, and can be linked meaningfully with these principles. In practice, a number of challenges are connected with making organic livestock systems work. These challenges are particularly dominant in immature agro-ecological systems, for example those that are characterized by industrialization and monoculture. Some of the current challenges are partly created by shortages of land and manure, which encourage zero-grazing and other confined systems. Other challenges are created in part by the conditions for farming and the way in which global food distribution systems are organized, e.g., how live animals are transported, how feed is traded and transported all over the globe, and the development of infrastructure and large herds. We find that the overall organic principles should be included when formulating guidelines for practical organic animal farming. This article explores how the special organic conceptions of animal welfare are related to the overall principles of organic agriculture. The aim is to identify potential routes for future development of organic livestock systems in different contexts and with reference to the specific understanding of animal welfare in organic agriculture. We include two contrasting cases represented by organic livestock systems in northwestern Europe and farming systems in tropical low-income countries; we use these cases to explore the widely different challenges of organic livestock systems in different parts of the world

Opsamling på projektmøde 3 i MultiTrust projektet 6-7 marts 2012

Opsamling på projektmøde 3 i MultiTrust projektet Kalø vildtforvaltningsskole, 6-7 marts 2012 Indhold Kort referat af punkter, diskussioner og konklusioner på mødet 2 Punkt 1 - Status for projektet: Hvad har vi lovet – og hvor langt er vi nået (Oplæg v. Hugo) 2 Punkt 2 – Den tværgående og afsluttende WP2 rapport (Oplæg v. Jeppe og task-ansvarlige) 2 Punkt 4 – WP2 evaluering (Jeppe) 6 Punkt 5 – Opstart af WP3 (Oplæg v. Hugo og task-ansvarlige) 7 Punkt 6 – Project Management Committee møde (Oplæg v. Hugo) 7 Handlepunkter fra projektmødet 8 Bilag 1: Program