Ethische Werte als Verkaufsargumente

Viele Biobetriebe engagieren sich im ökologischen, sozialen oder kulturellen Bereich in einer Weise, die weit über die Anforderungen der Biorichtlinien hinausgeht. Für solche Betriebe kann es erfolgversprechend sein, ihre Zusatzleistungen in der Kommunikation gegenüber den Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten hervorzuheben. Ein internationales Forschungsprojekt, in dem das FiBL mitarbeitet, geht deshalb der Frage nach, wie ethische Werte im Biolandbau besser kommuniziert werden können

Sensory Experiences and Expectations of Organic Food. Results of Focus Group Discussions

This executive summary describes the main objectives and findings from a qualitative survey on consumers’ sensory experiences, expectations and preferences with respect to organic food. The survey was conducted in the frame of the European Commission funded project ECROPOLIS in 2009 in Germany (DE), France (FR), Italy (IT), Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL) and Switzerland (CH). The objectives of this research were to explore: - the range of experiences, expectations and preferences for specific sensory properties of organic food. - words that are used by consumers to differentiate the taste of organic products amongst themselves and compared to conventional ones. - symbolic’ meanings and images which participants relate to sensory characteristics of organic food. - consumers’ sensory expectations and preferences related to the variability and standardisation of organic food. - consumers’ experiences to marketing of sensory characteristics of organic food. - possible differences in consumers’ sensory expectations and preferences between the participating countries

Verbreitung der Direktsaat in der Schweiz

Direktsaat ist eine wirksame Erosionsschutzmassnahme, die diverse ökologische und ökonomische Vorteile aufweist. Sie gewann in der Schweiz in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung: Seit Mitte der 1980er hat die direkt gesäte Fläche von wenigen Hektaren auf rund 12'000 ha im Jahre 2006 zugenommen. Gemessen am gesamten Ackerland ist diese Fläche aber nach wie vor gering (3 %). Regional kann die Direktsaat jedoch beachtliche Anteile aufweisen. Die in diesem Artikel vorgestellten Karten geben einen nationalen Überblick über die räumliche Verbreitung der direkt gesäten Fläche im Jahr 2006. Als Datengrundlage diente eine im Winter 2006 / 07 durchgeführte Befragung von Landwirten und Lohnunternehmern. Die Karten zeigen sehr heterogene Muster, machen aber auch verschiedene Schwerpunktregionen sichtbar. Die Interpretation dieser Muster veranschaulicht, dass die Verbreitung der Direktsaat an eine Vielzahl von Faktoren gebunden ist und nicht nur anhand naturräumlicher Gegebenheiten erklärt werden kann. Kantonale Förderprogramme spielen dabei eine ebenso wichtige Rolle wie das persönliche Engagement der beteiligten Experten und Lohnunternehmer, bestehende landwirtschaftliche Netzwerke sowie die Lebenswelten der Landwirte

Einflussfaktoren auf Soziale und Gesellschaftliche Lernprozesse im Wissenssystem Biolandbau

Improved organic farming methods that enable more sustainable use of natural resources are numerous and are applied in almost every region of this planet. However, when it comes to spreading and adapting these methods to specific ecological and socio-economic contexts, we know only little about what factors influence the learning processes involved. This study aims at a thorough assessment of factors that are enabling or hindering knowledge co-production in organic farming in general and of sustainable rice farming in particular. Following a qualitative multilevel analysis, special emphasis is placed on understanding how the socio-economic, cultural and ecological context is constituted (macro-level), how key stakeholder groups collaborate and enhance societal and social learning processes (meso-level), and to what degree these processes lead to enhancement and integration of organic rice farming methods in the farmers’ livelihood systems (micro-level). Case studies in South Korea and Cambodia show that capacity building and institutionalization of key actors such as farmer promoters and farmer researchers, as well as farmer group maintenance with diverse incentives for sustained participation are vital enabling factors

How can consumer trust in organic products be enhanced?

The study presented explores consumer trust in organic food and the effectiveness of enhancing consumer trust by communication strategies on traceability. The research is based on the general finding that trust is one of the most crucial aspects when consumer decide whether to buy or not to buy organic products. However, there are hardly any empirical works which analyse in detail consumer trust in organic food and the ways it can be enhanced. First, based on a quantitative inquiry of 600 persons in Germany the study presented investigates consumer trust in the different actors involved in the organic supply chain (farmers, processors, traders, labels), in distinct attributed qualities such as benefits for health, ecology and animal welfare as well as the customers’ criteria for assessing trustworthiness of the organic products. Empirical data is analysed by multivariate statistics such as cluster analysis to identify distinct consumer segments with respect to their trust characteristics. In a second step there will be a qualitative research method using interviews combined with a visualizing technique. The aim of this method is to understand the consumers’ attitudes towards the supply chain of organic food and the complex construct of trust better. The results shall help to develop communication strategies for enhancing consumer trust in organic food

Scales of justice in water governance: hydropower controversies in Switzerland

One significant challenge for the operationalization of water justice arises from the many dynamic scales involved. In this paper we explore the scalar dimension of justice in water governance through the insights derived from empirical research on hydropower production in the Swiss Alps and the application of the geographical concept of politics of scale. More specifically, we investigate how different actors frame the justice problem, the scales that they invoke and which actors consequently get included or excluded in their justice assessments. This study shows that there is no ideal scale for justice evaluations; whichever scale is used, some actors and justice claims are included whereas others are excluded. This is particularly true when using Fraser's trivalent concept of justice, taking into account issues of distribution, recognition and participation where each calls for its own set of scales. Moreover, focusing on the politics of scale framing, our study reveals that the justice claim itself can become a power element. Consequently, to achieve more just water governance, there is not only a need for debate and negotiations about the conceptions and meanings of justice in a specific context, there is also a need for debate about the relevance and implications of divergent scales involved in justice claims

Social Learning Processes in Swiss Soil Protection—The ‘From Farmer - To Farmer' Project

Social learning approaches have become a prominent focus in studies related to sustainable agriculture. In order to better understand the potential of social learning for more sustainable development, the present study assessed the processes, effects and facilitating elements of interaction related to social learning in the context of Swiss soil protection and the innovative ‘From Farmer - To Farmer' project. The study reveals that social learning contributes to fundamental transformations of patterns of interactions. However, the study also demonstrates that a learning-oriented understanding of sustainable development implies including analysis of the institutional environments in which the organizations of the individual representatives of face-to-face-based social learning processes are operating. This has shown to be a decisive element when face-to-face-based learning processes of the organisations' representatives are translated into organisational learning. Moreover, the study revealed that this was achieved not directly through formalisation of new lines of institutionalised cooperation but by establishing links in a ‘boundary space' trying out new forms of collaboration, aiming at social learning and co-production of knowledge. It is argued that further research on social learning processes should give greater emphasis to this intermediary level of ‘boundary spaces

Envisioning sustainable water futures in a transdisciplinary learning process: combining normative, explorative, and participatory scenario approaches

Competing water demands for household consumption as well as the production of food, energy, and other uses pose challenges for water supply and sustainable development in many parts of the world. Designing creative strategies and learning processes for sustainable water governance is thus of prime importance. While this need is uncontested, suitable approaches still have to be found. In this article we present and evaluate a conceptual approach to scenario building aimed at transdisciplinary learning for sustainable water governance. The approach combines normative, explorative, and participatory scenario elements. This combination allows for adequate consideration of stakeholders' and scientists' systems, target, and transformation knowledge. Application of the approach in the MontanAqua project in the Swiss Alps confirmed its high potential for co-producing new knowledge and establishing a meaningful and deliberative dialogue between all actors involved. The iterative and combined approach ensured that stakeholders' knowledge was adequately captured, fed into scientific analysis, and brought back to stakeholders in several cycles, thereby facilitating learning and co-production of new knowledge relevant for both stakeholders and scientists. However, the approach also revealed a number of constraints, including the enormous flexibility required of stakeholders and scientists in order for them to truly engage in the co-production of new knowledge. Overall, the study showed that shifts from strategic to communicative action are possible in an environment of mutual trust. This ultimately depends on creating conditions of interaction that place scientists' and stakeholders' knowledge on an equal footing

Promising degrees of stakeholder interactions in research for sustainable development

Stakeholder interactions are increasingly viewed as an important element of research for sustainable development. But to what extent, how, and for which goals should stakeholders be involved? In this article, we explore what degrees of stakeholder interaction show the most promise in research for sustainable development. For this purpose, we examine 16 research projects from the transdisciplinary research programme NRP 61 on sustainable water management in Switzerland. The results suggest that various degrees of stakeholder interaction can be beneficial depending on each project’s intended contribution to sustainability, the form of knowledge desired, how contested the issues are, the level of actor diversity, actors’ interests, and existing collaborations between actors. We argue that systematic reflection about these six criteria can enable tailoring stakeholder interaction processes according specific project goals and context conditions