Facing global problems like food security, the unsustainable use of natural resources, the degradation of soils and biodiversity as well as climate change, international experts demand a strategy change in agriculture and in agricultural research. Such a change encompasses not only re-establishing principles like closing cycles in agro-ecosystems, making best use of regulating and supporting ecosystems services but also making use of indigenous or tacit knowledge of farmer communities in addition to technological progress. The reports of the “Millennium Ecosystem Assessment” and of the IAASTD highlighted the need for this change in 2005 and 2008. Influenced by these recommendations, the potential of organic food and farming systems have to be assessed for the future of agriculture. Consequently, it is important to debate the future development of organic food and farming systems. Does organic agriculture stick to a niche strategy of producing high quality food for an elite of consumers? Or is organic farming a main stream strategy for feeding the world by minimising the negative impacts on the environment? Are these two objectives combinable? Organic farming is based on management strategies which are crucial for sustainable agriculture: The productivity of crops is maintained by closed circuits of nutrients and biomass, depending on multiple interfaces between livestock and cropping systems. Crop rotations integrate leguminous plants in order to make agriculture independent from external nitrogen supply and consequently reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions. Furthermore, the management and increase of biodiversity is an inherent approach of organic agriculture in order to control pest and diseases, as well as the increase of soil fertility in order to maintain high yields. And finally, organic farming has always used indigenous and tacit knowledge. Eco-functional intensification will be the major challenge of future agriculture. That’s why the IFOAM-EU group published a vision for the future of organic food and farming systems (see www.organicresearch.org) and made a first step towards its implementation by setting up a technology platform called “organics”
