Sustainability strategies for organic food and farming

Local organic food should be an accessible alternative, both concerning availability and price, for a citizen-consumer influencing through food choices, and for the rural poor. This sets a challenge to the politicians, as also addressed in the European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming. Its is based on two pillars - consumer markets and public goods, and conclusively on two payers. The society pays through allocation of subsidizes and taxes as well as through legislation, which regulate the price relations. The economic interventions by society increase the equity and access to food in comparison to a price premium

Abstract

This report presents the interdisciplinary synthesis of the multidisciplinary BERAS study: The research questions for the interdisciplinary work were as follows: Do localisation and recycling in rural food systems enhance sustainability, and what are the prerequisites for this

Introduction

The introductory chapter describes the challenge and notes the complex of rural problem, associated with food systems, with focus on those in countries bordering the Baltic Sea. It concludes with the general hypothesis that food systems that are more local and recycling would be more sustainable than current ones

Conceptual framework

This chapter introduces the concepts of the interdisciplinary work of the BERAS study - food system, sustainability, localisation, recycling, interdisciplinarity and case study approach - and shows how they relate to one another

Results and discussion

In this chapter, the interdisciplinary synthesis of the results of the BERAS project is presented and discussed. First, the effects of localisation and enhanced recycling on the ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainability based on the case studies are reported, the cases where food systems and farms studied in their present state. Thereafter, the positive additional effects on sustainability obtainable by further promotion of localisation and recycling in the cases are suggested. The impact of total conversion to recycling organic agriculture is then considered. Obstacles to and solutions for localisation and recycling are identified. An finally, on the basis of these, conclusions about the sustainable way to localise and recycle are presented

Implications of and possible responses to climate change

Climate change is expected to worsen food insecurity and seriously undermines rural development prospects. It makes it harder to achieve the Millenium Development Goals and ensure a sustainable future beyond 2015. Findings from the recent 4th assessment report of IPCC, Working Group II indicate that already towards 2050 with respect to food crops yield losses between 10 and 30 % can be expected as compared to current conditions in large parts of Africa, including Western, Eastern and southern Africa. Climate change is likely to increase disparities between developed and the developing world, while many uncertainties remain. It is, for instance, estimated that developing countries would need to bear 75-80 % of the costs of damages caused by a changing climate. The prevention of such threats cannot rely on economic growth, but requires climate policies that combine enhancement of development with reduction of vulnerabilities and effective financing mechanisms that support the transition to low-carbon economics. The major strategies to reduce the potentially harmful effects of global changes, especially climate change are 1) adaptation of food and farming systems to climate change, 2) enhancing their resilience and adaptive capacity to changes in climate variability and extremes that are difficult to predict, and to global change more generally (including socio-economic changes), and 3) mitigation of climate change and trading the options to mitigate in low-income countries on the global carbon markets to create a substantial financial flow from the North to the South

Impact of cropping system on mycorrhiza

The impact of cropping system on field communities of mycorrhizal fungi was studied utilising a long-term experiment on a loamy soil. Two contrasting crop rotations each with two fertilisation regimes were compared. The conventional crop rotation (barley-barley-rye-oat-potato-oat) was fertilised at either full or half the normal recommended rate. In the low-input crop rotation, one year with barley was replaced by clover, and oat was cultivated in mixture with pea. For this rotation biotite and raw phosphate was used to compensate for the K and P of the harvested yield; animal manure was used at the beginning only. Clover and straw were returned to the soil either directly or after composting. Mycorrhizal infectivity and effectiveness were studied in bioassays in the growth chamber, and the spore densities of mycorrhizal fungi as well as their species composition in the field were determined. Only the low-input system with application of compost conclusively favoured mycorrhiza, in comparison to some or all of the other systems depending on time and function. The low-input system with no compost was more favourable than the conventional systems in terms of growth effect in 1996, but in 1997, clover incorporation markedly inhibited mycorrhiza in comparison to the other systems. Inhibition of mycorrhizal functions may indicate general mismanagement and imbalance in the soil ecosystem. This stresses the need for further studies on the importance of composting easily decomposable organic matter prior to soil incorporation for management of soil quality

Conclusions

There is good potential for sustainable localisation and recycling in rural food systems around the Baltic Sea. Localisation and recycling enhance sustainability in its ecological, economic and social dimensions. A sustainable way of localisation and recycling would be local recycling between farms and from the demand chain

A systems approach to the management of arbuscular mycorrhiza

Helena Kahiluoto granskar i sin doktorsavhandling möjligheterna att bevara den ekosystemtjänst som mykorrhizans funktion utgör och stödja sig på utnyttjandet av denna i en hållbar fosforhushållning. I avhandlingen, som är den första doktorsavhandlingen inom ekologisk odling i Finland, undersöktes också den metodologiska frågan om "systemansatsens" (system approach) utmaningar

Material and methods

This chapter introduces the cases and the disciplinary approaches and methods. The BERAS study had a case study approach, and this report presents the interdisciplinary synthesis of the multidisciplinary study. Ultimately, the BERAS study attempted to clarify the potential impacts of enhanced localisation and recycling rather than to compare the average status of the present local, organic food systems and organic farms with the dominant food systems and agriculture