Vision Research Agenda to 2025

The TP Organics Vision Research Agenda was prepared between June 2007 and July 2008 on the basis of wide-ranging discussions with farmers’ organizations, scientists, organic traders and retailers, and EU-wide umbrella organizations representing a variety of commercial, non-commercial and civil interests. Up to now, research projects and national framework programmes on organic agriculture have addressed immediate technology gaps in organic agriculture and food production. This Vision has been politically expedient and has given rise to a greater number of producers and professional skills for the task of serving unexpectedly fast growing consumer driven markets. Thus, many organic research projects had a short term perspective only. In contrast to this, our vision takes a long-term perspective on the research needs of organic agriculture and food systems. The three strategic research priorities presented in the vision focus in particular on the inconsistencies between economy, ecology and social cohesion in agriculture and food production and propose research activities and insightful learning concepts for organic and other farming systems

Vision for an Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda 2025. Organic Knowledge for the Future.

The 'Vision for an Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda to 2025' was prepared between June 2007 and August 2008 on the basis of wideranging discussions with farmers’ organizations, scientists, organic traders and retailers, and EU-wide umbrella organizations representing a variety of commercial, non-commercial and civil interests. The Vision Paper i) shows the strengths and weaknesses of organic food and farming, ii) identifies five global and European challenges and trends on which food and farming research should focus, iii) groups the strategic priorities of future research and iv) highlights a large number of specific research activities for the future. The potential for innovation on the basis of organic knowledge is considerable and its potential impact on public goods and services as well as on markets is also great. However, current spending on research and dissemination does not adequately reflect this potential. The paper is intended to show the way towards a European organic food and farming research agenda that will help to meet the major challenges of the next twenty years. Parallel to the process of developing the Vision paper, a Technology Platform entitled “Organics” was established with a focus on sustainable food systems and public goods, and will be officially launched in autumn 2008

Forschungsvision 2025 für die ökologische Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft

The TP Organics Vision Research Agenda was prepared between June 2007 and July 2008 on the basis of wide-ranging discussions with farmers’ organizations, scientists, organic traders and retailers, and EU-wide umbrella organizations representing a variety of commercial, non-commercial and civil interests. Up to now, research projects and national framework programmes on organic agriculture have addressed immediate technology gaps in organic agriculture and food production. This Vision has been politically expedient and has given rise to a greater number of producers and professional skills for the task of serving unexpectedly fast growing consumer driven markets. Thus, many organic research projects had a short term perspective only. In contrast to this, our vision takes a long-term perspective on the research needs of organic agriculture and food systems. The three strategic research priorities presented in the vision focus in particular on the inconsistencies between economy, ecology and social cohesion in agriculture and food production and propose research activities and insightful learning concepts for organic and other farming systems

Vision d‘avenir pour la recherche en agriculture biologique à l‘horizon 2025. Un savoir bio pour l‘avenir

Ce dossier a pour objectif de montrer le chemin vers un programme de recherche européen en agriculture et alimentation biologiques qui permettra de faire face aux défis des vingt prochaines années

Vizija za raziskovalni program za ekoživila in ekološko kmetijstvo do leta 2025

The TP Organics Vision Research Agenda was prepared between June 2007 and July 2008 on the basis of wide-ranging discussions with farmers’ organizations, scientists, organic traders and retailers, and EU-wide umbrella organizations representing a variety of commercial, non-commercial and civil interests. Up to now, research projects and national framework programmes on organic agriculture have addressed immediate technology gaps in organic agriculture and food production. This Vision has been politically expedient and has given rise to a greater number of producers and professional skills for the task of serving unexpectedly fast growing consumer driven markets. Thus, many organic research projects had a short term perspective only. In contrast to this, our vision takes a long-term perspective on the research needs of organic agriculture and food systems. The three strategic research priorities presented in the vision focus in particular on the inconsistencies between economy, ecology and social cohesion in agriculture and food production and propose research activities and insightful learning concepts for organic and other farming systems

Implementation Action Plan for organic food and farming research

The Implementation Action Plan completes TP Organics’ trilogy of key documents of the Research Vision to 2025 (Niggli et al 2008) and the Strategic Research Agenda (Schmid et al 2009). The Implementation Action Plan addresses important areas for a successful implementation of the Strategic Research Agenda. It explores the strength of Europe’s organic sector on the world stage with about one quarter of the world’s organic agricultural land in 2008 and accounting for more than half of the global organic market. The aims and objectives of organic farming reflect a broad range of societal demands on the multiple roles of agriculture and food production of not only producing commodities but also ecosystem services. These are important for Europe’s economic success, the resilience of its farms and prosperity in its rural areas. The organic sector is a leading market for quality and authenticity: values at the heart of European food culture. Innovation is important across the EU economy, and no less so within the organic sector. The Implementation Action Plan devotes its third chapter to considering how innovation can be stimulated through organic food and farming research and, crucially, translated into changes in business and agricultural practice. TP Organics argues for a broad understanding of innovation that includes technology, know-how and social/organisational innovations. Accordingly, innovation can involve different actors throughout the food sector. Many examples illustrate innovations in the organic sector includign and beyond technology. The various restrictions imposed by organic standards have driven change and turned organic farms and food businesses into creative living laboratories for smart and green innovations and the sector will continue to generate new examples. The research topics proposed by TP Organics in the Strategic Research Agenda can drive innovation in areas as wide ranging as production practices for crops, technologies for livestock, food processing, quality management, on-farm renewable energy or insights into the effects of consumption of organic products on disease and wellbeing and life style of citizens. Importantly, many approaches developed within the sector are relevant and useful beyond the specific sector. The fourth chapter addresses knowledge management in organic agriculture, focusing on the further development of participatory research methods. Participatory (or trans-disciplinary) models recognise the worth and importance of different forms of knowledge and reduced boundaries between the generators and the users of knowledge, while respecting and benefitting from transparent division of tasks. The emphasis on joint creation and exchange of knowledge makes them valuable as part of a knowledge management toolkit as they have the capacity to enhance the translation of research outcomes into practical changes and lead to real-world progress. The Implementation Action Plan argues for the wider application of participatory methods in publicly-funded research and also proposes some criteria for evaluating participatory research, such as the involvement and satisfaction of stakeholders as well as real improvements in sustainability and delivery of public goods/services. European agriculture faces specific challenges but at the same time Europe has a unique potential for the development of agro-ecology based solutions that must be supported through well focused research. TP Organics believes that the most effective approaches in agriculture and food research will be systems-based, multi- and trans-disciplinary, and that in the development of research priorities, the interconnections between biodiversity, dietary diversity, functional diversity and health must be taken into account. Chapter five of the action plan identifies six themes which could be used to organise research and innovation activities in agriculture under Europe’s 8th Framework Programme on Research Cooperation: • Eco-functional intensification – A new area of agricultural research which aims to harness beneficial activities of the ecosystem to increase productivity in agriculture. • The economics of high output / low input farming Developing reliable economic and environmental assessments of new recycling, renewable-based and efficiency-boosting technologies for agriculture. • Health care schemes for livestock Shifting from therapeutics to livestock health care schemes based on good husbandry and disease prevention. • Resilience and “sustainagility” Dealing with a more rapidly changing environment by focusing on ‘adaptive capacity’ to help build resilience of farmers, farms and production methods. • From farm diversity to food diversity and health and wellbeing of citizens Building on existing initiatives to reconnect consumers and producers, use a ‘whole food chain’ approach to improve availability of natural and authentic foods. • Creating centres of innovation in farming communities A network of centres in Europe applying and developing trans-disciplinary and participatory scientific approaches to support innovation among farmers and SMEs and improving research capacities across Europe

The relevance of oral exposure in the workplace: a systematic review and meta-analysis

IntroductionThe inclusion of all relevant exposure routes in the exposure assessment is essential for the protection of workers. However, under European chemical regulations but also for workplace risk assessments according to occupational safety and health (OSH) requirements, the quantitative assessment of oral exposure is usually neglected assuming good occupational hygiene. In contrast, several studies point to the importance of unintentional ingestion in the workplace. To our knowledge, there is no systematic analysis of the extent of this exposure route.MethodsTherefore, the aim of this study was to assess systematically the current knowledge on the relevance of occupational oral exposure using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method. Five electronic databases and nine institutional websites were searched for all publications on the relevance. The data were extracted into a concept matrix. In the subsequent meta-analysis, the identified conclusions on the relevance were analyzed. In addition, the measurement methods or modeling approaches that were described for occupational oral exposure were determined as well as the potentially relevant workplaces and substances.ResultsIn total, 147 studies were included in this analysis that contain a general or several, differentiated assessments of the relevance of occupational oral exposure. Nine of these studies assessed this exposure route as irrelevant. However, 123 studies considered oral exposure as potentially contributing and 80 studies explicitly identified it as relevant. 78 and 94 of the publications described modeling and measurement approaches, respectively. The workplaces frequently identified as potentially or explicitly relevant were other indoor, other industrial or recycling workplaces. Analogously, metals, dust and powders or pesticides were the most frequently investigated substance groups.DiscussionAs several studies assessed occupational oral exposure as relevant in the context of different workplaces and substances, further investigation of this exposure route is needed. This systematic review and meta-analysis serve as a basis for further development of feasible assessment methods for this route of exposure

Theoretical Background of Occupational-Exposure Models-Report of an Expert Workshop of the ISES Europe Working Group "Exposure Models"

On 20 October 2020, the Working Group "Exposure Models" of the Europe Regional Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES Europe) organised an online workshop to discuss the theoretical background of models for the assessment of occupational exposure to chemicals. In this report, participants of the workshop with an active role before and during the workshop summarise the most relevant discussion points and conclusions of this well-attended workshop. ISES Europe has identified exposure modelling as one priority area for the strategic development of exposure science in Europe in the coming years. This specific workshop aimed to discuss the main challenges in developing, validating, and using occupational-exposure models for regulatory purposes. The theoretical background, application domain, and limitations of different modelling approaches were presented and discussed, focusing on empirical "modifying-factor" or "mass-balance-based" approaches. During the discussions, these approaches were compared and analysed. Possibilities to address the discussed challenges could be a validation study involving alternative modelling approaches. The wider discussion touched upon the close relationship between modelling and monitoring and the need for better linkage of the methods and the need for common monitoring databases that include data on model parameters.Peer reviewe

Exposure modelling in Europe : how to pave the road for the future as part of the European Exposure Science Strategy 2020-2030

Exposure models are essential in almost all relevant contexts for exposure science. To address the numerous challenges and gaps that exist, exposure modelling is one of the priority areas of the European Exposure Science Strategy developed by the European Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES Europe). A strategy was developed for the priority area of exposure modelling in Europe with four strategic objectives. These objectives are (1) improvement of models and tools, (2) development of new methodologies and support for understudied fields, (3) improvement of model use and (4) regulatory needs for modelling. In a bottom-up approach, exposure modellers from different European countries and institutions who are active in the fields of occupational, population and environmental exposure science pooled their expertise under the umbrella of the ISES Europe Working Group on exposure models. This working group assessed the state-of-the-art of exposure modelling in Europe by developing an inventory of exposure models used in Europe and reviewing the existing literature on pitfalls for exposure modelling, in order to identify crucial modelling-related strategy elements. Decisive actions were defined for ISES Europe stakeholders, including collecting available models and accompanying information in a living document curated and published by ISES Europe, as well as a long-term goal of developing a best-practices handbook. Alongside these actions, recommendations were developed and addressed to stakeholders outside of ISES Europe. Four strategic objectives were identified with an associated action plan and roadmap for the implementation of the European Exposure Science Strategy for exposure modelling. This strategic plan will foster a common understanding of modelling-related methodology, terminology and future research in Europe, and have a broader impact on strategic considerations globally.Peer reviewe

Assessing anti-rabies baiting – what happens on the ground?

BACKGROUND: Rabies is one of the most hazardous zoonoses in the world. Oral mass vaccination has developed into the most effective management method to control fox rabies. The future need to control the disease in large countries (i.e. Eastern Europe and the Americas) forces cost-benefit discussions. The 'Increase bait density' option refers to the usual management assumption that more baits per km(2 )could compensate for high fox abundance and override the imperfect supply of bait pieces to the individual fox. METHODS: We use a spatial simulation, which combines explicitly fox space use (tessellation polygons) and aeroplane flight lines (straight lines). The number of baits actually falling into each polygon is measured. The manager's strategic options are converted into changes of the resulting bait distribution on the ground. The comparison enables the rating of the options with respect to the management aim (i.e. accessibility of baits). RESULTS: Above 5% (approx. 10%) of all fox groups without any bait (at most 5 baits) relate to the baiting strategy applied in the field (1 km spaced parallel flight lines, 20 baits per km(2 )distributed) under habitat conditions comparable to middle and western Europe (fox group home-range 1 km(2), 2.5 adults; reference strategy). Increasing the bait density on the same flight-line pattern neither reduces the number of under-baited fox group home-ranges, nor improves the management outcome and hence wastes resources. However, reducing the flight line distance provides a more even bait distribution and thus compensates for missed fox groups or extra high fox density. The reference strategy's bait density can be reduced when accounting for the missed fox groups. The management result with the proper strategy is likely the same but with reduced costs. CONCLUSION: There is no overall optimal strategy for the bait distribution in large areas. For major parts of the landscape, the reference strategy will be more competitive. In situations where set backs are attributed to non-homogeneous bait accessibility the distribution scheme has to be refined zone-based (i.e. increase of the flight line length per unit area). However, increase in bait density above the reference strategy appears inappropriate at least for non-urban abundance conditions of the red fox