The German organic sector from the perspective of social-ecological research on agriculture and nutrition

Social-ecological research analyses agriculture and nutrition from the perspective of sustainable development. This interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach embeds the organic sector in a broad societal and ecological context, integrating normative aspects into its research methodology. New insights from six German research projects are presented

State of the art of the project “innovative Public Organic food Procurement for Youth” (iPOPY)

The paper is part of the proceedings of an iPOPY seminar. The authors give an overview of the iPOPY project and its first results. This outline of the holistic research approach helps locate the challenges of the supply side of public organic food procurement for youth

Improving the regional institutional context for the organic agriculture and food industry

The impact and success of political and economic innovations on the organic agriculture and food sector depend to a great extent on institutional framework conditions, which determine how the organic sector is embedded in and interacts with the wider economic, political, social, and regional context. A thorough analysis of the institutional context can reveal much about regional options and scope for action, indicate institutional gaps, and help to evaluate the potential of policy programmes. The paper outlines an analytical framework for the institutional analysis of the organic agriculture and food sector and presents results from a case study of the East German region of Berlin-Brandenburg. It concludes with recommendations on how to improve the regional institutional setting

Organising supply chains of organic products for Italian school meals - The case of the province and of the city of Piacenza

The paper is part of the proceedings of an iPOPY seminar. The authors describe, how supply chains of organic school food might be organised in a sustainable way in order to serve high quality food to pupils. They present a best practice case of controlled food chains (filiera controllata) from Italy, the European champion of organic school food. From the province and the city of Piacenza in the region of Emilia-Romagna, we can learn a lot about a short and certified organic food-chain, a wide range of regional and organic products provided through a shared logistic organisation among local partners, and specific tender procedures