Stakeholders’ views on improving the organic certification system: Results from an EU level workshop

The FP7 CERTCOST project has the overall objective to give recommendations to the public authorities and private actors in the whole organic certification chain on how to improve the organic food certification systems in terms of efficiency, transparency and cost effectiveness. According to the project description (the Description of Work, or DoW) this will be done based on a scientific economic in depth analysis of the certification systems from the farmer to the consumer in 5 EU countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom), plus Switzerland and the candidate country, Turkey. To safeguard that the CERTCOST objectives, work plan and methodology is in line with the expectations of key stakeholders from all levels of the certification chain the DoW foresaw a Stakeholder workshop to be organised in the beginning of the project. The current report documents the main points of the discussions and recommendation given by the stakeholders at this CERTCOST Stakeholder workshop, which took place on November, 13-15, 2008 in Izmir, Turkey, 2.5 months after the project had started. A total of 20 stakeholders were invited, of whom 16 could participate in the workshop. The participant profile included both users and providers of the certification system at different levels such as representatives of farmers’ organizations certification/control bodies, government authorities, EU Commission, processors/ traders, private experts/consultants. Together with the representatives of the partner institutions in the CERTCOST project, the total number of workshop participants was 35 representing 12 European countries. Given the diverse backgrounds of the workshop participants, a working group approach (World Café approach) was applied in order to give the participants the opportunity to reflect their experiences and ideas on the implementation of the project in a synergetic, comfortable and free environment. After a brief presentation of the project, outlining the tasks of the work packages and describing the proposed links between the project and the stakeholders by the project coordinator, the stakeholders were divided into four groups according to their level in the organic certification chain, as farmers, processors/traders, certification bodies and consumers. Two working group sessions were carried out around the questions provided to the stakeholders before the workshop through electronic mails. The questions had been compiled based on input from the managers of the four work packages which were relevant to the workshop discussion. After the first working group session, a plenary discussion session for clustering of the output given by the working groups, their validation and assessment was carried out. In the second session of the working groups, it was rather aimed to harmonize the understanding between the diversified opinions mentioned in Session 1. The working group approach concluded in a final plenary discussion. On the second day, the CERTCOST work package managers presented how the discussions, comments and inputs of the working group sessions could impact on their working plans. In the final session the stakeholders were addressed directly for providing further ideas both on the project and on future collaboration options. The workshop was strongly focused on the identification of key characteristics of cost factors along the supply chain in relation to their impact on the quality of the given service. However a broad range of related subjects were discussed. The Stakeholder workshop put forward that, the ‘cost’ was among the most important topics relating to the certification system performance. The focus of the project aiming at cost effectiveness and not cost minimization was confirmed by the stakeholders. All of the stakeholders present in the workshop demonstrated elevated levels of interest on several outputs of the project. The workshop revealed very positive expectations among the stakeholders towards the risk based approach to be followed in the CERTCOST project. The detailed picture of the organic certification sector obtained through the workshop will constitute an important input to the CERTCOST project and the workshop is considered to be a successful first step in the project-stakeholder interaction. The Stakeholder workshop provided important insight into the many discussion subjects of the organic certification systems in the EU and worldwide, among others the following should be mentioned. Farmers expect to have, clear rules, fair implementation, and high skilled guidance in the inspection and certification process, and underline the need for training of farmers and certifiers and for better communication between all parties in the certification chain. Processors point out the need for a good relationship with the inspectors and certifiers as well as the fact that there existed different schemes in different countries regarding the inspection process and the related cost structure. They also highlighted the difficulty of managing the relations with increasing number of different standards and different certification bodies. It is agreed that consumers expect something they can trust and they can easily recognize, a label, a logo, a certifier, a brand, a farmer or the word ‘organic’; at local, regional, national, or EU-level. It is also concluded that whether, why and how much some consumers might be willing to pay more for particular logos was unknown and was needed to be investigated. Authorities/certification bodies stress that the issue of knowledge and education is extremely important and that there are complex legislations, no common standards, and differences within and between countries. They underline that there are different catalogues in different countries to deal with irregularities which should be harmonized. They emphasize that a clear definition of certification should be made covering its objectives, principles and tools. While on some of the issues there has been a highlighted consensus among the groups, on some others contrasting ideas became evident. Among those subjects of absolute agreement were the importance of and the need for a more clear understanding of the certification system, its components and rules by all the parties involved. Education and elevated levels of necessary skills from farmer to inspector and to consumer; increased transparency and information exchange, well defined relationships between parties were considered to be an indispensable basis for a well functioning and more efficient certification system. The inspection concept came into prominence, with a discussion on policing vs. development approaches. While an efficient and comparable control system was judged to be crucial, promising private governmental formulations were agreed to be based on country conditions. Complexity of the legislation and lack of transparency were the remarkable barriers to a more efficient control system. The EU logo and the new EU Regulation for organic certification were also discussed among stakeholders. It was suggested that the EU logo might have the potential to boost demand in the ‘less developed’ organic markets, but more promotion then currently planned would be needed. It was agreed that most consumers do not look for logos of particular standards but for the word ‘organic’ and/or an organic logo they are familiar with. This might be different for ‘committed’ organic consumers in more mature markets. Overall, it was agreed that ‘trust’ is the most crucial aspect of organic certification regarding the consumer side. The issue of multiple certification and standards appeared to be a factor deserving more attention in the certification world. Harmonization in certification of the same characteristic of a product was deemed necessary. On the other hand, exchange of experiences and cooperation with markets like ‘Fair Trade’ was agreed to be potentially beneficial

Report on evaluation of the revision of council regulation (EEC) NO 2092/91, import regime in two exporting non-EU countries (TR, CH) and on an international level

This report provides an evaluation of the new EU import regulation for organic products (Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1235/2008). To ensure that the evaluation addresses the issues and concerns of the stakeholders affected by the new import regulation and to increase the use of the evaluation results for upcoming decisions, this evaluation was organised as a stakeholder evaluation approach. Based on the results from two national workshops in third countries (Turkey and Switzerland) and from one international workshop, the report concludes in policy recommendations to improve the import system for organic products as well as the organic sector as a whole

The mechanization level of agricultural farms in Aydın province

Ekonomik anlamda tarımsal üretim, günümüzde, mekanizasyondan ayrı düşünülemez. Mekanizasyon düzeyi de tarımsal işletmelerin verimliliğinin en önemli belirleyicilerindendir. Bu çalışmanın ana amacı, Aydın yöresindeki tarımsal işletmelerin mekanizasyon düzeylerinin belirlenmesidir. Çalışmanın ana materyalini, Aydın yöresinde faaliyet gösteren 121 tarımsal işletmeden, anket yoluyla alınan veriler oluşturmaktadır. Yapılan analizlere göre, tarımsal işletmelerin %81'inde en az bir traktör bulunduğu ve bu traktörlerin yaklaşık yarısını (%59) NH markalı olduğu belirlenmiştir. ışletme başına en yaygın ekipman römork olurken (%80), balya makinesi, patates dikme makinesi ve atomizör en az sahip olunan ekipmanlardandır (%1). Mekanizasyon düzeyini gösteren birim alana düşen BG değeri 5.72 BG/ha olarak Türkiye ortalamasının üzerinde olduğu belirlenmiştir.Agricultural production in economic sense cannot be considered separately from mechanization, today. Mechanization level is the most important determinants of the efficiency of agricultural production. The main purpose of this study is to determine the level of mechanization of agricultural farms in the province of Aydýn. The main material of the study was the data which is received via survey from 121 farms in Aydýn. According to the results of the analysis, it was determined that 81 percent of agricultural farms have a tractor at least. Approximately, half of those owned tractors were New Holland brand (59%). While, trailer was the most widely owned equipment (80%), the baler, potato-planting machine and atomizer were rare-owned equipments (1%) for the farms. The value of horse power per unit area which shows the level of mechanization was calculated 5.72 Hp/ha. The value was higher than the average of Turkey

Analysis of Farmers’ Fundemantal Farm Management Decisions in Terms of Priority and Getting Support

Bu çalışmanın amacı, teknik yardım alma, planlama ve kayıt tutma gibi temel işletmecilik konularında çiftçilerin karar önceliklerini ve bu kararların alınmasında destek beklediği kurumların tercih derecelerini belirlemektir. Bu amaçla, Analitik Hiyerarşi Süreci (AHP) kullanılmıştır. Çiftçinin karar önceliğini ve kurum tercihini etkileyen faktörleri belirlemek için ise Tobit model kullanılmıştır. Araştırma yöresi çiftçilerinin işletmecilik karar öncelikleri incelendiğinde, planlama (0.585) ilk sırayı almakta ve bunu teknik yardım (0.336) izlemektedir. Yöre çiftçilerinin daha çok „hangi ürünü nasıl yetiştirecekleriyle? değil, „hangi üründen ne kadar yetiştirecekleriyle ilgilendiği söylenebilir. Çiftçiler temel işletmecilik kararlarının alınmasında üniversiteyi (0.273) tercih etmektedir. Çiftçinin yaşı, eğitimi ve işletme arazisi arttıkça, planlama önceliği ve üniversite tercihi artmaktadır.The objective of this study is to analyse farmers? fundemantal farm management decisions such as technical support, planning and recording. Furthermore, institutonal preferences of the farmers for getting support related to farm management decision making by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Tobit model was used to determine factors influencing farmer?s decision priority and institution preference. As for the farmers? priorities to fundamental management decisions under investigation, planning (0.585) was the first and the following was technical support (0.336). The farmers are particularly interested in the question of “how much to produce the crops”, not “what crops to be produced”. The farmers prefer university (0.273) for making the fundamental farm management decisions. As the farmer?s age, education and farm size increase, the priority of planning and the preference of university increase

ÇİFTÇİLERİN RİSK DAVRANIŞLARI: BİR YAPISAL EŞİTLİK MODELİ UYGULAMASI

Gizil (latent) değişkenlere dayanan Yapısal Eşitlik Modeli (YEM), tarımda risk gibi karmaşık konuların modellemesine olanak vermektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, çiftçilerin tarımsal üretimde karşılaştıkları risk faktörleri ile bunlara karşı uyguladıkları risk stratejileri arasındaki ilişkiyi Yapısal Eşitlik Modeli ile incelemektir. İzmir ilinde 2006 yılında, 162 çiftçi ile yapılan anket verileri araştırmanın ana materyalini oluşturmuştur. YEM analizi sonucunda üreticilerin karşılaştıkları risk faktörleri ve bunlara karşılık uyguladıkları risk stratejileri arasındaki ilişki katsayısı 0.80 olarak belirlenmiştir. Tarımsal üretimi en çok etkileyen risk faktörünün, üretim tekniği olduğu belirlenmiştir. En etkili stratejik önlemin ise yeni üretim teknikleri kullanmak olduğu saptanmıştır. Üreticinin doğru politikalarla yönlendirilmesi durumunda tarımsal yeniliklere açık olduğu söylenebilir

Deli dana korkusunun dana eti tüketimi ve satış kaybı üzerine etkisi: İzmir örneği

Bu çalışma yoğun yazılı basın haberlerinin yolaçtığı deli dana (BSE) korkusunun sığır eti tüketimine etkisini araştırmaktadır. Ocak 1995 ile şubat 1997 arasındaki aylık verileri kullanmak suretiyle İzmir için bir talep modeli tahmin edilmiştir. Sığır eti satışları, deli dana haberlerinin medyada yer almaya başladığı 1996 nisanında aniden düşmüş ve bu düşüş medya haberlerinin sona erdiği 1996 haziranına kadar devam etmiştir. Ekonometrik model, eğer deli dana krizi yaşanmasaydı sığır eti et satışlarının % 36,4 daha fazla olacağını göstermiştir. Ayrıca, tüketicilerin deli dana bulaşığı olmayan ete yılda kişi başına 0,5224 ABD doları ödemeyi kabul ettiği belirlenmiştir.This paper investigates the effect of the BSE scare on beef consumption due to the intense media coverage. Using monthly data, a beef demand model for January 1995-February 1997 period is estimated for İzmir Province. Beef sales dropped immediately after the media coverage on BSE in April 1996 and continued through June 1996 when the intense media coverage stopped. The econometric model reveals that beef sales in İzmir would have been 36.4% higher if the BSE crisis never occurred. The annual individual willingness to pay is $0.5224 per year to avoid consuming BSE contaminated meat

Tarım işletmelerinde üretim dallarına göre işgücü kullanımının çok boyutlu analizi: Bayındır ilçesi örneği

The purpose of this study is to examine the labor use of several enterprises in farms by means of multi dimensional scaling (MDS). The data were obtained from 162 farms located in Bayındır, İzmir. Using 14 variables, enterprises were analyzed by MDS in 2 dimensions with respect to labor use and stress value was measured as 0.0599 which means a good level. Moreover MDS classified the labor use into different groups. The study prepared a strong background for using less number of data in planning activities at both farm level and macro level.Bu araştırmanın amacı tarım işletmelerinde işgücü kullanımını üretim dalları itibariyle çok boyutlu olarak incelemektir. Çalışmanın ana materyalini İzmir ili Bayındır ilçesinde 162 işletmeden elde edilen veriler oluşturmuştur. Çok Boyutlu Ölçekleme Analizi (Multidimensional Scaling=MDS) ile üretim dalları 14 değişken kullanılarak işgücü bakımından iki boyutlu olarak 0.0599 Stress değeriyle iyi düzeyde konumlandırılmıştır. MDS analizi sonucunda; üretim dalları işgücü kullanımı bakımından farklı gruplara ayrılmıştır. Böylece gerek işletme ve gerekse makro düzeydeki üretim planlaması çalışmalarında daha az sayıda işgücü verisi toplanmasını sağlayabilecek altyapı oluşturulmuştur