New organic principles

On 26 September the General Assembly of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) approved revised principles of organic agriculture.

The approved Principles of Organic Agriculture consist of four principles upon which organic agriculture is based:

• The Principle of Health - Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible.
  
  
• The Principle of Ecology - Organic Agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.
  
  
• The Principle of Fairness - Organic Agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.
  
  
• The Principle of Care - Organic Agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well being of current and future generations and the environment.

According to the press release from IFOAM the new principles will serve to both inspire the organic movement in its full diversity, and to articulate the meaning of organic agriculture to the world at large.

SOAR summer school 2006

The SOAR summer school 2006 is held 28 May to 2 June 2006 under the topic ‘Potential of Organic Farming to contribute to Rural Development in Europe’.

The course introduces PhD students to recent organic research, and seek to create an understanding of the possible connections between rural development and organic food and farming in Europe.

The course will be held in connection with the Joint Organic Congress, with participation from at least 10 different EU projects, including notably QLIF.

Potential participants can find full information on the SOAR homepage.

Keynotes from seminar on environmentally friendly food production systems

In May/June 2005 the Sixth Framework Programme project ENVIRFOOD conducted a four-day seminar on 'Environmental friendly food production system: requirements for plant breeding and seed production'.

One of the objectives is to assemble cereals research expertise in order to work out a scientific program for collaboration in plant breeding, variety testing and seed production for organic and low-input agriculture in the Baltic countries.

Following the seminar five key publications have been published. Titles and full documents can be assessed via the QLIF homepage.

Suggestions for EU regulation

The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a new regulation on organic production.

The aim of the new regulation is to improve clarity for both consumers and farmers. Thus, the new rules will be simpler, and allow a certain amount of flexibility to take account of regional differences in climate and conditions.

The new regulation responds to the conclusions of the Council of October 2004 on the European Action Plan for organic food and farming (EAP) of June 2004.

For further information visit the Commission website.

First scientific conference at FQH

From November 28 to 29, 2005 the FiBL in Frick (CH) hosted the first scientific conference of the international association FQH (Organic Food Quality & Health) entitled "Where we are, what we have achieved".

Topics of the conference were:

• Influence of experimental design on quality parameters of milk
• Influence of experimental design on quality parameters of Grains
• Fruits and Vegetables Defining quality
• Freshness and Safety in the organic food chain
• Consumer preferences for organic food
• Feeding experiments
• Human Health

More information on the conference and FQH can be found on the FQH homepage.		The proceedings of the 1st scientific FQH conference can be downloaded (pdf) here.

Evaluating inputs for organic farming - a new system

A public conference of the Organic Inputs Project was held on October 13, 2005 in Brussels.

At the conference, the consortium of the Organic Inputs Evaluation project presented the conclusions its work, seeking feedback from interested stakeholders. Conference participants were feeding into the last stage of the project, as the final recommendations to the European Commission are drawn.

Presentations given at the conference are available at the Organic Inputs homepage.