M3.5 ‐ Organic plant breeding in a systems‐based approach and integration of organic plant breeding in value chain partnerships

Developing organic breeding is a key challenge for the organic sector. It is necessary to better adapt varieties to the specific needs of the organic sector (disease resistance, taste, weed suppressing ability, etc). It is also important to enable the organic sector to face the requirements of the New Organic Regulation (EU 2018/848). From 2036, exemptions to the use non‐organic seeds will not be granted any more (Article 53, Regulation 2018/848). The active participation of breeders, farmers, processors, retailers and traders is crucial to develop organic breeding. They all play a critical role and share the responsibility in upscaling organic plant breeding and ensuring future food security, food quality and climate robust agriculture as well as integrity of the value chain. Even consumers could take part in supporting organic plant breeding with informed purchases. On the 12 of February 2019, IFOAM EU, the Louis Bolk Institute (Netherlands) and FiBL Switzerland co‐organized a workshop ‘Organic plant breeding in a system‐based approach and integration of organic plant breeding in value chain partnership’ as part of the Horizon 2020 project LIVESEED. The workshop took place at the largest organic trade fair at Nürnberg Messe biofach to reach out to different actors of the organic sector. The main objective of this workshop was to gather interested stakeholders across the value chain to discuss the responsibilities and their potential concrete engagements in facilitating organic plant breeding. Organized as a world café workshop 1, the participants had the opportunity to discuss three main issues: - Why should different value chain actors support organic plant breeding? - The advantage of organic plant breeding for the value chain (farmer, processors, traders). - The advantage of organic plant breeding for consumers and society (local and global). This report describes in detail the main conclusion of the discussions held during this workshop

Organic produce Value Chain Analysis (OF0344)

Growth in the Organic food market has been rapid in recent years. According to the soil association, retail sales of organic food are now worth £1.2 billion – an 11% increase on the previous year. Organic Supply Chains have developed to serve different routes to the consumer. Some chains are simple and involve direct supply to the consumer through, for example, box schemes and farmer’s markets. However in the main greater complexity is involved. Some 75% of organic food is sold through the multiple retailers. Generally speaking, this introduces more stages into the supply chain and as a result there is more complexity. All organic businesses have to be profitable and this requires them to operate efficiently. The Food Chain Centre has undertaken three projects dealing with organic producers supplying through multiple retailers. The projects applied the concept of ‘lean thinking’ and ‘value chain analysis’. The projects were led by the Food Process Innovation Unit, which is part of Cardiff University’s Lean Enterprise Research Centre. The Lean Enterprise Research Centre enjoys a global reputation in the application of lean thinking and their work demonstrates that businesses can use the concept to secure long term competitive advantage. Lean thinking provides a way to do more and more with less and less – less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space – while coming closer and closer to providing consumers with exactly what they want. In other words, the project focused on removing waste from supply chains and focusing on customer value. This is an established approach based on practices first developed in the Japanese motor industry. Lean thinking has become widespread in UK manufacturing and according to a recent survey by McKinsey it is what sets apart the best performing manufacturers. Many companies that have embraced lean thinking have delivered dramatic improvements over a three year period including: • 90% reduction in defects • 90& reduction in response time to customer orders • 75% reduction in inventory • 50% reduction in space • 50% reduction in variable costs Organic production has some unique features that challenge the lean approach. These include: • The ethical underpinning for many businesses involved in organic production • The highly regulated nature of production that prohibits many practices prevalent in conventional food production • The small scale nature of a substantial part of organic production • The environmental factor – in that organic farming also makes a major contribution to higher levels of bio-diversity and lower levels of pollution The Cardiff team are not typical consultants, neither are they experts in organic production. They are expert facilitators, guiding teams drawn from businesses and helping them to see their supply chains in new light. Each project starts from a recognisable product that consumers purchase. The three projects deal with organic carrots, potatoes and lamb. In each case more than one business is involved in getting the product to market. The project constructed a team with members drawn from each business within the supply chain and support from Cardiff University facilitators to draw a ‘process map’ of the current state of affairs, making sure to capture what is actually happening (‘warts and all’) and not what is supposed to happen. The Cardiff team then helped each project team to investigate issues such as: • Do products flow through the chain as quickly as possible or are there unnecessary hold-ups? • Do some activities add more costs than value? In which case what can be done about it? In particular, are there activities that add absolutely no value to the consumer that can just be eliminated? • Have people learned to live with errors, treating them as inevitable or are they constantly striving to eliminate them? • Are the right quality tests in the right place in the chain and are they working effectively? • Are the right performance measures in place? • When problems are identified, are they traced to their source and dealt with? • Is the right information shared along the chain? • Are there effective ordering and stock holding policies that impose heavy costs on suppliers? The team then created a second map of how they would like the chain to operate in the future. Finally, they draw up an action plan of how to work in partnership to get there. The projects discovered that there were substantial opportunities to transform the profitability of business within the supply chain, whilst maintaining or improving customer value. These improvement opportunities include: • Re-designing the layout of factory and farm • Creating supply chain teams to focus on reducing faults at particular stages of the supply chain • Forums for customers and suppliers to work jointly on improvement projects • Agreeing to exchange information that is currently unavailable in a practical format • Collecting new performance measures and sharing these more widely • Making better use of Information Technology to share information • Working in partnership, to increase long term commitment to supply chain objective

An exploratory value chain analysis for Burmese pickled tea (LAPHET) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of AgriCommerce in Agribusiness, Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Laphet (pickled tea) is a well-known traditional cuisine of Myanmar consisting of tea leaves fermented into a pickle. It has a unique taste different from tea used for drinking and has health benefits. Despite the fact that pickled tea is a popular food in Myanmar, no research has been done to analyse its value chain and evaluate its potential in the global market. This study is an exploratory research and aims to examine the value chain of pickled tea from production to the final consumer and to evaluate how to improve the quality in the value chain. In addition, the improvements to the integrity to the pickled tea value chain are addressed. The value chain analysis revealed the major actors in the pickled tea value chain and described the process as tea leaves pass through several intermediaries with value being added at each stage before reaching the end consumer. The chain is governed by wholesalers and manufacturers who have capital advantage over the other chain actors. Therefore, farmers get the lower share of the price margin. This study shows the domestic pickled tea value chain and it describes the upgrades to the chain if it is to be upgraded. Pickled tea is a profitable industry and has high potential in the global market. However, there are considerable weaknesses and challenges to developing a sustainable pickled tea industry from both farm and market perspective. Supply issues such as availability of tea leaves, quality and consistency of the pickled tea, and effective grading along the value chain were addressed. Food safety and traceability is also a key area of concern. The study recommends that value chain upgrading can help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the chain. Generally, the findings suggest that strategies aiming to strengthen the linkages within the value chain, collective marketing, and improved processing technologies can enhance the development of the pickled tea value chain in Myanmar. Therefore, policy aiming at increasing farmers’ access to modern technology and inputs, developing infrastructure, cooperative development, and improving extension systems are recommended to accelerate the chain’s development

West Coast Groundfish in California Value Chain Assessment

The West Coast Groundfish fishery is one of the most complex U.S. fisheries to ever successfully end overfishing and rebuild its depleted stocks. This resulted in the certification of 13 species by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2014. The fishery's recent success can be attributed to having a strong science-based management program and robust monitoring system in place. However, despite this progress in conservation, the long-term economic stability of groundfish harvesters is uncertain. In an effort to improve the financial viability of harvesters, the Packard Foundation provided a grant to Wilderness Markets to evaluate the value chain of this fishery in California. By identifying constraints and opportunities, we hope to attract impact investment capital to this issue—thus helping to ensure the long-term economic sustainability of the fishery at all levels

Dairy value chain management in Bulgaria

The dairy sector is among the most fundamentally affected by post-communist transition and EU integration of Bulgaria. This paper presents the dairy chain management in the country at current present stage of development. First, it analyses the state and forms of dairy value chain management identifying the dominant and prospective models of dairy chain management. Second, it outlines the features, factors and efficiency of a new business model of dairy farms inclusion in supply chain.value chain management; market, private and public governance; dairy sector; Bulgaria

Assessment of socio-economic configuration of value chains : a proposed analysis framework to facilitate integration of small rural producers with global agribusiness

Value chain analysis is an important tool to assess and enhance the performance of agribusiness. This paper analyzes the empirical application of a conceptual framework known as the Rural Web to evaluate the socio-economic complexity of a specific agribusiness value chain. This can be used as a complementary approach to traditional value chain analysis. The proposed framework goes beyond linear descriptions of product flows and examines how supply chains are built, shaped and reproduced over time and space, while considering social, cultural, environmental and political aspects. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework is a suitable method for value chain analysis, principally for those whose early stages are based on small and medium-sized rural actors. The Rural Web analysis offers decision-makers a platform to identify key actors not traditionally considered in value chain analysis, as well as the social interrelationships that occur at different dimensions. It also enables the identification of corrective and preventive measures to enhance agribusiness value chains