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

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

A systems approach to the management of arbuscular mycorrhiza: Bioassay and study of the impact of phosphorus supply

The aim of this study was to find out whether utilization of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), in crop production in Nordic conditions, can be promoted through management of the cropping system. P fertilization was chosen as the pilot system to manage because it has a major effect on AM and because it is problematic from the viewpoint of sustainability. Our scant knowledge of AM functioning and its effects in the field is mainly due to the methodological problems of research. Therefore, a bioassay of AM effectiviness was developed. In addition, the work demonstrated the challenge of a systems approach to research on low organizational levels of the agroecosystem. The starting point was the goal of sustainable phosphorus management in the food system, focused down to the AM level. The conclusions were then linked back to the context of the target suprasystem. The study demonstrated thet, even in research at lower system levels, choices are made regarding the degree of systemism, and the soft dimension of systems approach is also relevant. The higher system level of interest affects the approach to be taken in research on the subsystems, and it is important that the conclusions are related to the system level considered. Representative results for AM infectivity and effectiviness in field soils were obtained in a bioassay involving sampling of the field soil in the spring, after the thaw, and creating a control with suppressed AM through the incorporation of 20 mg(/kg soil in target moisture)benomyl in the soil immediately before sowing. Flax proved to be an appropriate test plant together with a relevant host. This bioassay also allows standardization for the practical purpose improving the prediction of field soil P availability and its problems, especially in sustainable agriculture. Understanding the interrelations of the tripartite system of mycorrhiza encompassing plant, soil and AMF is a prerequisite for management of AM. The influence of P on AM formation and effectiviness in terms of growth and nutrient uptake of barley, red clover and flax was investigated. As well, the effect of P on the size, composition and functioning of the field AMF communities was clarified. The impact of the P history on P response and the immediate effect of omitting P application and halving N fertilization were elucidated with flax. Two long-term field experiments representing contrasting soil types with low and intermediate contents of extractable P were utilized. Besides the bioassay for AM effectiviness developed, two other bioassays and a field assay were employed. A conceptual model of the impact of P on AM effectiviness was presented. P fertilization consistently decreased AMF infectivity and generally AM effectiviness, too. Cumulative P fertilization decreased the size of the AMF communities but did not affect the hyphal P transport capacity, or, in contrast to some other studies, the species composition. Instead, functional intraspecific adaptation of the AMF communities to extreme P conditions was observed. However, the mode of action of cumulative P fertilization of major practical importance was the change in the soil conditions in which the AMF functioned. In some cases the restriction on contribution of AM to crop growth and nutrient uptake in the field seemed to be a low rate of mycorrhization due to incompatibility of the plant with the soil P status or with the AMF community evolved. Most often, however, the benefit appeared to be limited by plant and soil factors which cause AM to be a net cost. AM appears to be an ecosystem service that is impaired or lost by intensive cultivation. In soil representing the present lower end of the P supply of Finland's field soils, but the average status of the late sixties, the higher AM effectiviness in soil with no added P for 20 years compensated the annual P fertilization of 45 kg/ha(soil PH20 2.5 v. 9.5 mg/kg) for flax. The compensation was not complete for red clover. In contrast to July, at harvest barley received no benefit from AM and only a slight benefit from cumulated P. The management benefit, or increase in relative contribution of AM to growth by omitting the annual P fertilizations of 45 kg/ha, was in the low P soil, for flax, 30 % of seed dry weight, 35 % of seed P content and 35 % of the total P uptake at harvest in the field. The contribution of AM in low P soil was up to 35 % of P uptake and 18 % of dry weight. No benefit from AM was found in soil with an intermediate or high content of extractable P (P H2O 5.4 to 21.3 mg/kg). Instead, yield reductions of as much as 56 % were recorded up to a P level that was sufficient to hinder mycorrhization. The results suggest that AM deserves to be considered in the development of sustainable production systems as well as in breeding and soil quality assessment programmes serving sustainable agriculture

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