Finishing pigs: conversion is more than respecting the standards

Food scares, mainly BSE and antibiotics, have sharpened consumers concerns about food safety and quality and have increased public attention on agricultural production and food processing. The demand for organic food has increased drastically in the year 2001. In particular, the demand for organically produced pork can not be satisfied. Accordingly, the interest of organic and conventional farmers to finish pigs organically has risen. The general objective of this research project is to describe the state of organic pig finishing in Germany, to analyse the most frequently encountered problems related to an up-take of organic pig finishing, to develop strategies to overcome these problems and provide the base to develop a conversion guidebook. The specific objective of this paper is to present the results of a pilot study which was designed to further explore the research problem and test the feasibility of the study design

Environmental impacts of organic farming in Europe

Organic farming has become an important element of European agri-environmental policy due to increasing concern about the impact of agriculture on the environment. This book describes in detail the environmental and resource use impacts of organic farming relative to conventional farming systems, based on a set of environmental indicators for the agricultural sector on a European level. The policy relevance of the results is also discussed in detail

A policy relevant assessment of the environmental impacts of organic farming

Organic farming has become an important aspect of European agri-environmental policy. Since the implementation of EC Reg. 2078/92, the EU promotes organic farming based explicitly on its positive effects on the environment. The objective of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of organic farming's effects on the environment in comparison to conventional farming and to discuss the policy relevance of these issues. For this purpose the OECD set of environmental indicators for the agricultural sector has been adapted, taking into consideration only those indicators that are directly affected by the system of organic farming, as are the indicator categories ecosystem, natural resources, farm input and output, and health and welfare. Based on a survey of specialists in 18 European countries (all EU-member states plus NO, CH, and CZ) using a structured questionnaire and an extensive literature review, a conclusive assessment is given for each of the indicator categories. For most of the chosen indicator categories organic farming performs better than conventional farming on a per ha basis. These results are discussed with respect to their policy relevance. An increase in the area of organic farming would clearly improve the environmental performance of agriculture, as long as food production level is not a limiting factor. The question of whether there are other agri-environmental means of achieving a desired level of environmental performance that might be cheaper for society than organic production is discussed. It is concluded that the support of organic farming can be a useful part of the agri-environmental tool box, however, other, more specific instruments are also needed. Organic farming seems especially useful if broad environmental concerns are to be addressed

Stakeholder involvement in policy evaluation and development in 11 European countries: synthesis results

In an effort in bringing together stakeholders of the organic farming and general agricultural policy sector within the EU in April Mai 2004 a group of stakeholders met for a one day-workshop in 11 European countries (AT, GB, DE, DK, IT, CH, CZ, PL, SI, EE, HU) to formulate policy recommen¬dations for the development of organic farming sector. Close personal contact of participants in these workshops facilitated policy learning and innovation at the national level and provided a platform to form alliances to decide on further actions. This contribution presents the synthesised results from all national workshops highlighting the current situation of organic farming policy in Europe and providing recommendations for future policy instruments

Situation der ökologischen Schafhaltung in Deutschland

Für die von der Bundesregierung mit dem „Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau“ angestrebte Ausdehnung der ökologisch bewirtschafteten Fläche kann die ökologische Schafhaltung eine kostengünstige Möglichkeit sein. Um das Gesamtbild der Entwicklungspotenziale der ökologischen Schafhaltung darstellen zu können, wird deren Situation in Deutschland anhand umfassender empirischer Untersuchungen ermittelt. In dem Beitrag werden erste Ergebnisse eines laufenden Forschungsprojektes zur Situation der ökologischen Schafhaltung in Deutschland vorgestellt

Politik für den Öko-Landbau

Die europäische Politik zum ökologischen Landbau muss in einem europaweiten Aktionsplan besser aufeinander abgestimmt und weiter entwickelt werden. Zu diesem Schluss kommt eine soeben erschienene Studie von Wissenschaftlern der Universitäten Hohenheim und Ancona mit dem Titel „Politik für den Öko-Landbau“. Das Buch gibt in leicht verständlicher Form einen Überblick über den Status quo des Öko-Landbaus in Europa und diskutiert dessen wichtigste Aspekte im Verhältnis zur Agrarpolitik. Der Beitrag, den der Öko-Landbau zu Zielen der Politik leisten kann, wird ebenso diskutiert wie die Position des Öko-Landbaus im Spannungsfeld zwischen Agrarpolitik, WTO-Verhandlungen und Osterweiterung der EU. Mit Blick auf die Zukunft werden unterschiedliche Entwicklungsszenarien des Öko-Landbaus in Europa dargestellt. Abschließend werden Empfehlungen für eine sinnvolle Gestaltung der Politik für den Öko-Landbau ausgesprochen. In einem Geleitwort bescheinigt Frau Bundesministerin Renate Künast dem Buch eine „ausgewogene Dokumentation der Fakten und Meinungen“ und betont, dass insbesondere der europäische Blickwinkel des Buches interessante Ansätze für die Verbraucher und Agrarpolitik eröffnet. aus: Dabbert, S. und Häring, A.M. und Zanoli, R. (2002): Politik für den Öko-Landbau. Eugen Ulmer Verlag GmbH

Evolution of supermassive black holes

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are nowadays believed to reside in most local galaxies, and the available data show an empirical correlation between bulge luminosity - or stellar velocity dispersion - and black hole mass, suggesting a single mechanism for assembling black holes and forming spheroids in galaxy halos. The evidence is therefore in favour of a co-evolution between galaxies, black holes and quasars. In cold dark matter cosmogonies, small-mass subgalactic systems form first to merge later into larger and larger structures. In this paradigm galaxy halos experience multiple mergers during their lifetime. If every galaxy with a bulge hosts a SMBH in its center, and a local galaxy has been made up by multiple mergers, then a black hole binary is a natural evolutionary stage. The evolution of the supermassive black hole population clearly has to be investigated taking into account both the cosmological framework and the dynamical evolution of SMBHs and their hosts. The seeds of SMBHs have to be looked for in the early Universe, as very luminous quasars are detected up to redshift higher than z=6. These black holes evolve then in a hierarchical fashion, following the merger hierarchy of their host halos. Accretion of gas, traced by quasar activity, plays a fundamental role in determining the two parameters defining a black hole: mass and spin. A particularly intriguing epoch is the initial phase of SMBH growth. It is very challenging to meet the observational constraints at z=6 if BHs are not fed at very high rates in their infancy.Comment: Extended version of the invited paper to appear in the Proceedings of the Conference "Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology - Einstein's Legacy

Massive binary black holes in galactic nuclei and their path to coalescence

Massive binary black holes form at the centre of galaxies that experience a merger episode. They are expected to coalesce into a larger black hole, following the emission of gravitational waves. Coalescing massive binary black holes are among the loudest sources of gravitational waves in the Universe, and the detection of these events is at the frontier of contemporary astrophysics. Understanding the black hole binary formation path and dynamics in galaxy mergers is therefore mandatory. A key question poses: during a merger, will the black holes descend over time on closer orbits, form a Keplerian binary and coalesce shortly after? Here we review progress on the fate of black holes in both major and minor mergers of galaxies, either gas-free or gas-rich, in smooth and clumpy circum-nuclear discs after a galactic merger, and in circum-binary discs present on the smallest scales inside the relic nucleus.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. To appear in hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (Springer Publisher

Active Galactic Nuclei at the Crossroads of Astrophysics

Over the last five decades, AGN studies have produced a number of spectacular examples of synergies and multifaceted approaches in astrophysics. The field of AGN research now spans the entire spectral range and covers more than twelve orders of magnitude in the spatial and temporal domains. The next generation of astrophysical facilities will open up new possibilities for AGN studies, especially in the areas of high-resolution and high-fidelity imaging and spectroscopy of nuclear regions in the X-ray, optical, and radio bands. These studies will address in detail a number of critical issues in AGN research such as processes in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes, physical conditions of broad-line and narrow-line regions, formation and evolution of accretion disks and relativistic outflows, and the connection between nuclear activity and galaxy evolution.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; review contribution; "Exploring the Cosmic Frontier: Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century", ESO Astrophysical Symposia Serie

The Fueling and Evolution of AGN: Internal and External Triggers

In this chapter, I review the fueling and evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGN) under the influence of internal and external triggers, namely intrinsic properties of host galaxies (morphological or Hubble type, color, presence of bars and other non-axisymmetric features, etc) and external factors such as environment and interactions. The most daunting challenge in fueling AGN is arguably the angular momentum problem as even matter located at a radius of a few hundred pc must lose more than 99.99 % of its specific angular momentum before it is fit for consumption by a BH. I review mass accretion rates, angular momentum requirements, the effectiveness of different fueling mechanisms, and the growth and mass density of black BHs at different epochs. I discuss connections between the nuclear and larger-scale properties of AGN, both locally and at intermediate redshifts, outlining some recent results from the GEMS and GOODS HST surveys.Comment: Invited Review Chapter to appear in LNP Volume on "AGN Physics on All Scales", Chapter 6, in press. 40 pages, 12 figures. Typo in Eq 5 correcte