Conventionalisation? Organic farming bites back!

This is a summary of the discussion during the workshop 2.6 on conventionalisation of organic farming and how farmers or farmers' associations avoid conventionalisation. It also includes the abstracts of the papers that were presented during the workshop

Minifundios and metropolis: territorial management of organic farming in Ibiúna (São Paulo, Brazil).

In spite of the growing demand in green vegetables from three main cities in São Paulo State, smallscale vegetable farmers are still facing economic problems. Subsequently, the maintenance of small farmers and families depending solely on agriculture appears as very difficult. Organic Farming (OF) is increasingly considered as a possible alternative for designing a "new rural" in Brazilian communities (Abreu, 2000). It is seen as an opportunity for economic valuation of horticulture products (root, fruit and leaf vegetables for salads). The existing demand for this type of product, together with favorable green market prices, especially during summertime, would both stimulate and propitiate an expansion in production (Assis, 2002). The consumer of organics also expects a product that has certified or guaranteed quality, and such standards are not yet fully stabilized in Brazil. Organic farming is also considered as a way to preserve environment; although this attribute is not always recognized by consumers. However, the ways small farmers adopt OF in new peripheral “green belts” (Ueno, 1985) to conquest a urban demand in organics have not been investigated extensively. We explored this issue with a case study in the wide community of Ibiuna, located close to three main cities of São Paulo state, comprising together 20 million inhabitants. This study shows how small farmers were organised or organise themselves to meet urban demands and develop organic production. It explores a diversity of evelopment models of horticulture organic farming, based on four forms of social organizations which are characterized and discussed

How to promote innovation and interdisciplinarity in organic food and farming research evaluation

The development of organic food and farming research calls for system-oriented, innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. The process of evaluating research proposals is a crucial step towards this objective. Based on the EU CORE Organic pilot call for joint transnational research projects, we analysed to what extent the evaluation criteria and procedures implemented address this issue. Feedback on the experience of the target groups involved in this call was gathered and discussed in relation to findings from the literature. Our results show that interdisciplinary and innovative aspects could be better addressed, and evaluation criteria more clearly defined and delimited. This entails reshaping the main criteria and developing more suitable evaluation categories and sub-criteria. We also suggest creating mechanisms to enable funding of a few “risky” research projects, to facilitate entry of newcomers to the arena, to promote exploratory research projects and to support longitudinal interaction among applicants and assessors

The contribution of conversion to organic food and farming to the analysis of dynamics and governance in transitions towards sustainable agri-food systems

Sustainable agri-food system approaches are rooted both in the environmental movements and in the political-economic critique of the contemporary system. Organic food and farming (OF&F) as an alternative agri-food system among others encompasses multiple dimensions and performances, enabling the study of conversion as a prototype of transition. We use the multilevel pathways framework to describe the transition process. We first present OF&F as a heterogeneous entity and examine the consequences of acknowledging its diversity. We show that OF&F as an innovation influences the mainstream design of agri-food systems, and we explore the strategies of the actors in charge of its development. We then introduce how different levers can influence types and levels of conversion, with actors who have diverse expectations to articulate. This raises the issue of time frames with short-term adaptations and long-term transitions. Finally, we introduce the market itself as a composition of sectors and territories. We argue that this diversity has to be kept beyond consensus to build multiple strategies. We represent the initiatives of different networks in their spatial and social dimensions. This begs the question of the coexistence of these models. We conclude that the policy level has a prominent role to play in enabling this coexistence

Relationships between social forms of organic horticultural production and indicators of environmental quality: a multidimensional approach in Brazil

Organic farming (OF) is increasingly considered as a possible alternative for designing a "new rural" in Brazil, where OF covers a wide range of production and certification systems. However, the ways small farmers adopt OF in green belts to meet an urban demand in organic vegetables have not been extensively investigated. Likewise, the impact of such practices on environmental quality components has not been sufficiently documented. Our objective was to relate forms of organisation to environmental assessment in a watershed where organic horticulture significantly contributes to landscape and water quality. We showed how small farmers were organised or how they organised themselves to meet urban demands and develop OF. We assumed that associated practices were consistent with environmental impacts, as evaluated by indicators. Based on interviews with stakeholders, we identified four forms of organisation and associated farmers' practices. We related them to environmental assessment in three compartments: landscape ecology, water quality and soil quality. Although organisations share some objectives, namely with regard to visual quality and the "right price" of products, differences appear in their scope and internal operation, their values and relationships with consumers, and their technical and environmental contents. As for technical content, input supply, planning processes and crop diversity vary among organisations, ranging from liberal to hierarchical. Our results also showed similarities and differences among various organisations in terms of environmental impact. Such results are interpreted and discussed in the light of technical and social dimensions that account for the progressive design of new systems in Brazil

Thematic and citation structure dynamics of Food & Farming research

This paper analyses the Organic Food & Farming (OF&F) scientific domain dynamic throught a "progressive document co-citation analysis" based on peer-reviewed papers from Web of Science. The dataset of OF&F domain displayed an exponential growth and a thematic diversification pattern. Both dominant and marginal clusters in association with their main cited articles were identified. This study enables to pinpoint major themes addressed or emerging. It can feed further research work and projects, namely with the definition of information system and research policy

Formas sociais de desenvolvimento da horticultura orgânica familiar em áreas de cinturão verde de território de Ibiúna, estado de São Paulo.

O desenvolvimento da agricultura orgânica (AO) no Brasil tem múltiplas formas. Além de um nicho de mercado ou de uma oportunidade de exportação, consiste numa prática social alternativa, que recria espaços de produção e novas relações entre produtores, mercado e consumidores. Por meio de suas experiências com a AO, em uma comunidade próxima a três metrópoles, horticultores familiares de Ibiúna, SP, criaram entidades coletivas e experimentaram novas práticas sociais. No estudo, mostrou-se como esses minifúndios foram organizados para desenvolver agricultura orgânica e responder a diversos objetivos. Com base nas entrevistas e nas observações de campo, foram consideradas as formas concretas de organização e de desenvolvimento da agricultura orgânica. No primeiro momento, foi apresentado um quadro teórico desse estudo sobre os desafios da agricultura orgânica em Ibiúna. Em seguida, descreveu-se o universo da pesquisa e caracterizou-se o desenvolvimento da agricultura orgânica como projeto social, o qual estabelece interações entre a economia e o meio ambiente no território de Ibiúna. Na terceira parte, foram identificadas as quatro formas sociais de organização, a dinâmica de funcionamento, os valores sociais e os culturais e suas inter-relações. Enfim, foram discutidos os elementos suscetíveis de garantir a reprodução social e de fortalecer novas vias de desenvolvimento

Un SIG pour analyser les stratégies de mise en valeur du milieu par des éleveurs de moutons

Une base de données géographique «Milieu naturel - pratiques d’élevage» a été mise en place sur un secteur de l’arrière-pays méditerranéen, le Lodévois (Hérault)

Deliverable 2.2: List of topics prioritised according to national and common criteria to be considered for transnational calls

The overall goal of work package 2, “Identifying research topics for transnational calls”, was to identify research topics for transnational calls within CORE Organic II. This deliverable first provides an overview on the selection and prioritization processes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd call, then presents the research topics initiated under CORE Organic II and finally identifies remaining research gaps. This deliverable refers in several aspects to the deliverables 2.1 and 2.3, finalized earlier. Here we summarize the main experiences to share with other ERA-NETs. Furthermore we provide an update of relevant aspects around research on organic food and farming in the partner countries. Towards the end of CORE Organic II, we made an update of a survey carried out in 2010 and described in deliverable 2.1. The updated tables are presented in the annex

Quantity versus quality and profit versus values ? Do these inherent tensions inevitably play in organic farming?

The literature shows that the systems advocating the productivity relatively neglect the ecological services whereas those based on these services, as Organic Farming (OF), are generally less productive. Which balance between these two issues should be found and would contribute to a sustainable agriculture? OF as a value-laden agriculture, whose principles are based on ecology, equity, health and care appears as a candidate for combining performances. In the first section we show results at farm level on environmental and agro-economic performances. In the second section, we underline the challenges facing OF to confirm its prototype’s position. OF as a heterogeneous entity presents different types of trade-offs between the performances. Some performances need an up-scaling approach to be confirmed. This up-scaling enables also a more global assessment integrating the externalities of conventional farming that OF tends to internalize. Finally we conclude that other criteria should also be considered to better take into account the values and the long terms sustainability, because the contemporary systems have been constructed on optimizing productivity and maximization of short terms yields