From organic principles to wider application and a resilient agriculture: a reflections paper

Planetary boundaries are exceeded in many ways and major transformations are needed in economic systems and lifestyles - in particular in the industrialized world. The declining resources of critical input factors and exceeding of the buffer capacity of natural systems will in particular affect contemporary industrialized, high-input-high-output agriculture. Can organic farming principles be applied more widely and help to make agricultural systems more resilient? How relevant are they to the challenges the agricultural sector faces today? If relevant and effective, why are they not more widely applied? In this paper contemporary challenges of conventional agriculture are related to organic farming principles and practices. In the concluding section reference is made to those factors that seem to limit a wide application of the particular principles and practices. Reference is made to policy and market failure, information deficits and the widespread misconceptions around 'modernization', innovation, valuation and efficiency that have caused many contemporary problems

Strengthening the positive links between organic farming and a sustainable development of rural areas

Organic farming can play a major role in the sustainable development of rural areas. Our assumption is that it supports the finding of a new balance between societal demands for high environmental quality, the pressures resulting from competition in a world market economy and a wide array of rural development goals and initiatives. The German 'Regional Action - Rural Areas Shaping the Future' pilot programme has been implemented in order to gain best-practice models for securing the economic, ecological and social viability of rural areas and for trial-testing a new integrated, bottom-up approach. In this contribution we present the results of an analysis of the project databank of the Regional Action pilot programme. It is concluded that the projects that are being implemented aim at a reconstitution of nature-society relations, indicating that agriculture and the potential of rural areas are no longer being evaluated in mono-functional terms

Growth, business logic and trust in organic food chains: an analytical framework and some illustrative examples from Germany

The organic food market in Germany has been growing significantly. While expanding, businesses and food initiatives face many challenges. The paper focuses on the challenge of maintaining the added values of organic farming and consumer trust. Both are key assets in organic food chains, and both are difficult to secure when volumes grow, distribution channels change and when producers, processors, sales businesses and con-sumers are less closely connected which tends to limit direct communication and trans-parency. In the central part of the paper, we present an analytical framework that can be used to better understand these connections. Focus is on changes in business logic, chain organisation and coordination. Three case studies of organic value chains in Germany are used to illustrate the application of the framework. The analyses show that business logics and strategies are implemented through a particular set of management and/or marketing instruments and that these impact on the organisation of the businesses, the linkages between chain partners and the marketing of products

Strengthening the Role of Academic Institutions and Innovation Brokers in Agri-Food Innovation : Towards Hybridisation in Cross-Border Cooperation

Existing research suggests that regions can develop their long-term competitive advantage through well-functioning interregional innovation cooperation. In this article, we use the example of innovation in small and medium-sized agri-food enterprises (SMEs) to scrutinise and compare regional innovation approaches on each side of the Dutch-German border and explore how they can converge into a cross-border innovation space. Particular attention is paid to the role of academic institutions and innovation brokers in creating a common innovation space. We explore how differences between two cross-border regions can be harnessed to enhance the impact of innovation, and how this may lead to what we describe as hybridisation effects. In the empirical analysis, we apply the concept of hybridisation to a cross-border innovation space, something that, as far as we are aware, has not been done before. We empirically ground the concepts of a cross-border innovation space and hybridisation and illustrate how relative regional strengths can lead to hybridisation effects. We conclude that differences in economic structures, institutional set-ups, visions and identities inherent in cross-border spaces are not only hindrances, but also opportunities, and we highlight the importance of these complementary strengths and the potential for their strategic use by regional innovation actors. Our findings are highly relevant for the further development of the Interreg Europe programme and the implementation of the EU's Territorial Agenda 2030.Peer reviewe

Stimulating the social and environmental benefits of agriculture and forestry: An EU-based comparative analysis

publishedVersio

Neuartige Wege des Handelns und Denkens : Innovationsprozesse im ländlichen Raum

Innovationen sind für die Anpassung der ländlichen Wirtschaft an veränderte Rahmenbedingungen von besonderer Bedeutung. Die eigentlichen Innovationsprozesse entstehen dabei durch Kooperationen innerhalb von regionalen Netzwerken. Doch wie können solche Netzwerke zukünftig besser unterstützt werden

Taking Action: Turning Evolutionary Theory into Preventive Policies

The emerging infectious disease (EID) crisis has been challenging global health security for decades, dealing substantial damage to all socioeconomic landscapes. Control measures have failed to prevent or even mitigate damages from an accelerating wave of EIDs, leading to the emergence and devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of the pandemic, we must critically review our public health policies and approaches. Current health security measures are based on the evolutionary theorem of host-parasite coevolution, which falsely deems EIDs as rare and unpredictable. The DAMA protocol (Document, Assess, Monitor, Act) is nested in a novel evolutionary framework that describes how emergence can be prevented before the onset of an outbreak. In this paper, we discuss the importance of establishing efficient communication channels between various stakeholders affected by EIDs. We describe implementation strategies for preventive interventions on global, regional, and local scales and provide guidelines for using such strategies in the relevant policy environments of human, livestock, and crop diseases

HealthyGrowth German Case Study: Fact Sheet of Producer-Consumer-Community Landwege e.G.

Fact Sheet, short presentation of HealthyGrowth case study business: Landwege e.G

HealthyGrowth German Case Study: Fact Sheet of Bohlsener Mühle GmbH & Co

Fact Sheet, short presentation of HealthyGrowth case study business: Bohlsener Mühle GmbH & Co

Beitrag des ökologischen Landbaus zur Entwicklung ländlicher Räume: Fallstudien in verschiedenen Regionen Deutschlands

In der Studie wird der Frage nach den Stärken und Schwächen des ökologischen Landbaus im Hinblick auf die ländliche Regionalentwicklung, gemessen an Wertschöpfung und Beschäftigung, nachgegangen. Die Berechnungen beruhen auf einem vereinfachten Ansatz in Anlehnung an die Input-Output-Analyse. Datengrundlage bilden Erhebungen in ökologisch und konventionell wirtschaftenden Betrieben und Unternehmen des vor- und nachgelagerten Bereichs. In den drei untersuchten Landkreisen (Nordvorpommern, Vogelsberg, Schwäbisch Hall) kann in der Ist-Analyse kein zusätzlicher Einkommens- und Beschäftigungsbeitrag des ökologischen Landbaus im Vergleich zu konventionellen Systemen nachgewiesen werden. Der relative Einkommens- und Beschäftigungsbeitrag und auch die Multiplikatorwirkungen sind tendenziell vergleichsweise niedrig. Zu begründen ist dieses zunächst unerwartete Ergebnis einerseits mit der agrarstrukturellen Situation des Ökolandbaus im Vergleich zu konventionellen Systemen (z.B. geringere Dichte ökologisch wirtschaftender Betriebe, höhere Flächenausstattung und Arbeitseffizienz, bereits erfolgte Reorganisation betrieblicher Abläufe im Rahmen der Umstellung). Andererseits ist das Ergebnis auf die regionale Abgrenzung nach Landkreisen zurückzuführen. Insbesondere die Vertiefungsstudie zur wirtschaftlichen Vernetzung „Vogelsbergkreis – Rhein-Main-Gebiet“ zeigt für die konventionellen Betriebe eine eher kleinräumige Vernetzung mit dem Landhandel und mit lokalen Verarbeitern (Bäckern, Metzgern). Die Handels- und Verarbeitungsstrukturen für ökologische Erzeugnisse sind dagegen bisher eher großräumig angelegt („Groß-Region“: 50-150 km Umkreis), so dass sie innerhalb von Landkreisgrenzen nicht erfassbar sind. Aus methodischer Sicht wird weitgehend Neuland betreten. Daher sind die quantitativen Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Pilotstudie vor dem Hintergrund einer begrenzten Messgenauigkeit zu beurteilen. Diese ist auch verbunden mit der unbefriedigenden Datenlage. Fundierte quantitative Aussagen zu regionalen Multiplikator- und Substitutionseffekten erfordern aufwendige Analysen, die im vorgegebenen Rahmen nicht realisierbar waren. Die Darstellung weitergehender methodischer Ansätze ist daher auch Teil der Untersuchung