What is the Working Environment like on Organic Farms?

A good working environment is part of the fundamental values in organic farming. In Denmark the association of organic farmers state, that the aim of organic farming is "to give everyone involved in the organic production a high quality of living". But how do the organic farmers actually experience their own working situation? And what factors play a part in their daily physical as well as psychological working environment? These were the questions we set out to answer in a project at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Science

Nature and Nature Values in Organic agriculture an analysis of contested consepts and values among different actors in organic farming

The relationship between agriculture and nature is a central issue in the current agricultural debate. Organic Farming has ambitions and a special potential in relation to nature. Consideration for nature is part of the guiding principals of organic farming and many organic farmers are committed to protecting natural qualities. However, the issue of nature, landscape, and land use is not straightforward. Nature is an ambiguous concept that involves multiple interests and actors reaching far beyond farmers. The Danish research project Nature Quality in Organic Farming has investigated the relationship between nature and organic farming. This article will focus on an expert workshop held in connection with the project that investigates the way different actors conceptualize nature. Farmers, scientists, and non-governmental organizations came together to discuss their experiences of nature and expectations of organic agriculture. From this interaction, it was clear that nature is a contested notion. Different understandings of nature exist within the three groups and there is disagreement as to whether emphasis should be given to biological qualities, production values, or experiential and aesthetic perspectives. This complexity provides a challenge to organic farming as well as to the implementation of nature considerations in general. It illustrates an underlying battle for the right to define nature and nature quality and essentially decide what organic farmers should work towards. We argue that successful implementation requires organic farmers to carefully consider what expectations they wish to meet. Optimally it is dependent on a dialog between stakeholder interest groups that allows for multivocality and pluralism

REDD+ and the Collaboration between Practitioners and Experts

REDD+ is a response to the growing urgency of mitigating climate change and hindering the deforestation of tropical forests. The simple thought of “making trees worth more standing up, then cut down” and therefore storing carbon in trees, has proven to be quite complicated and complex, especially as bilateral agreements are based on result-based payments. However, what is considered a result can be much more than just the amount of reduced carbon-emission. Brazil is the country with the most tropical rainforest in the world, and Indonesia is home to the world's third largest tropical forest, and therefore important partners in the work towards reducing GHG emissions. These two countries and their bilateral agreement between Norway will be in focus in this thesis. After over 13 years, the programme has met many challenges, including miscommunication and inconsistent approaches in the bilateral agreements. Another concerns safeguarding, a requirement to have a system for in REDD+ agreements. This has proven to be almost impossible to monitor and report on. Further, the funding from Norway comes through the ODA budget, which presents additional requirements which have caused difficulties. The programme goes through evaluations, and the government does use research in their strategic planning and in the development of REDD+. Still, there are lessons learned after these years which suggests that better understanding and collaboration between researchers and practitioners is beneficial. This thesis investigates the issues with REDD+ agreements being funded through the ODA budget, and the difficulties of safeguarding as part of the requirements to receive result-based funding. Further it explores how practitioners and experts in Norway collaborate towards REDD+ today, how they share knowledge, how they interact with each other and if they have the same understanding of what the programme is trying to achieve - and what is necessary to achieve the set goals. It argues that more informal collaboration between practitioners and experts to create a common understanding and connection is necessary and would be beneficial in gaining more information regarding national contexts before mapping out plans or setting goals, which could be part of resolving issues found in connection with having safeguarding and ODA finds connected with result-based payments

Strain restricted typing sera for the use in the genetic monitoring of inbred strains of mice and rats from two danish SPF breeders

Strain restricted typing sera (SRTS) were produced for some of the most used inbred mouse and rat strains in Denmark by injecting lymphocytes pooled from several different strains intraperitoneally into the recipients. The SRTS were combined with a complement dependent cytotoxieity assay. It was possible to distinguish animals from strains with different MHC haplotypes but not animals from strains with the same MHC haplotype. It was concluded that the SRTS eomhined with a  complement dependent cytotoxicity assay could distinguish between some of the most commonly used inbred strains of rats and mice in Denmark

Karbondynamikk i landbruksjord

Karbon tilføres jorda via planterøtter og i form av husdyrgjødsel og annet organisk materiale. Det er krevende å øke innholdet av karbon i dyrket jord. Hovedgrunnen er at mye karbon fjernes fra jorda via avlinger som gras, korn og grønnsaker. Karbonholdige molekyler er også ettertraktede energikilder og byggeråstoff for jordorganismene i eng- og åkerjord, og avgjørende for næringsfrigjøring i jord. Bare en liten andel av karbonet som tilføres jorda vil vanligvis være der etter noen år. Klima, driftsmåte, jord-egenskaper, planterøtter, mikroorganismer og meitemark påvirker karbonets skjebne i matjordlaget. Det er ennå mye vi ikke vet

"Først med hjernen - så med hjertet". Et antropologisk speciale om konventionelle landmænds erfaringer med omlægning til økologisk jordbrug

Specialet undersøger konventionelle landmænds omlægning til økologisk jordbrug. Det beskriver landmændenes begrundelser for omlægningen og ser på den betydning, skiftet til økologi får for den enkelte landmands naturforståelse og selvopfattelse

Engbelgvekster med mange oppgaver. Økosystemtjenester fra kløver.

De vanligste norske engbelgvekstene er rødkløver og kvitkløver. I enkelte deler av landet blir også luserne noe brukt. Belgvekster i eng- og fangvekstblandinger binder nitrogen fra lufta ved hjelp av Rhizobium-bakterier i knoller på røttene. Kløver i enga bidrar til økt grasvekst samme år, samt at kløver alene og i blandinger gir en god gjødseleffekt for etterfølgende vekster. Undersøkelser viser også at en fangvekstblanding med kløver og eksempelvis raigras har like god evne til å redusere utvasking av nitrogen som det en blanding uten belgvekster har. Økt bruk av kløver i enga med påfølgende redusert bruk av kunstgjødselnitrogen gir økt nitrogeneffektivitet og kan redusere utslipp av drivhusgassen lystgass fra enga. Kløver bidrar til karbonlagring i jord ved sjøl å samle nitrogen fra lufta. Nitrogen er viktig for innbygging av karbon i organisk materiale i jorda. Kløverplantene tåler moderat tørke godt og kan under våte forhold bidra til økt vanninfiltrasjon i jorda. Høyest nitrogeneffektivitet og best effekt på jordstruktur, karbonlagring og robusthet mot tørke blir det når kløver dyrkes sammen med andre arter, særlig ulike grasarter

Køn, nation, sikkerhed og massevoldtægterne i Bosnien

Voldtægter var et væsentligt led i krigsførelsen i Bosnien, ikke mindst fordi de rettede sig mod både den nationale og den kønslige identitet. I kølvandet fulgte en fortolkningsmæssig og politisk debat om Vestens sikkerhedspolitiske ansvar