Country Report on Organic Farming Research in Switzerland

The report presents the current (2005) status of organic farming resarch in Switzerland. Switzerland has a long history of organic farming research, which in its beginnings has been carried out by organic farming pioneers and by private institutions like the Goetheanum, Möschberg Centre and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). It was in the 1990s, when Swiss Federal Agricultural Research Stations (Agroscope) became also involved in organic research topics. It can be estimated that currently approximately € 7.5 million per annum are allocated very specifically to organic farming research from public budgets. The National Research Programme is organised according to a four-year research concept of the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture (FOAG). Within this concept, organic farming is considered as an important issue of Swiss agricultural research, and research for organic farming is carried out as a continuous process. The Research Institute of Organic Farming (FiBL) is doing research exclusively for organic farming, whereas at the Federal Agricultural Research Stations research for integrated and organic farming is carried out in parallel. Together with the activities of FiBL, all relevant agricultural topics such as plant production, animal health and husbandry, food quality and socioeconomics are covered and carried out in the context of organic farming. Research is organised as a) A mandate of € 3.5 Mio annually to FiBL (the so-called “Leistungsauftrag” by the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture (FOAG) and the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office (SFVO) and b) As a priority setting within the three Federal Agroscope Centres