1,526 research outputs found
Geht es gerecht zu?
Full text linkIn Ökobetrieben finden sich häufiger Frauen in leitenden Positionen als in konventionellen, doch noch immer kann dort nicht von Gleichstellung gesprochen werden. Das lässt sich aus einer Online-Befragung herauslesen, deren Ergebnisse Susanne Padel und Zazie von Davier hier vorstellen
Lifting the lid on organic certification
No full textCERTCOST, a European research project on the system of certification of organic food ran from 2008 until November 2011 with the aim of providing recommendations to improve the efficiency, transparency, and cost effectiveness of organic food certification systems in Europe. ORC became a project partner in 2009 when Susanne Padel joined us from Aberystwyth University. This article reviews some of the findings relating to certification and non compliance
The European Market for Organic Food
No full textMost of the information and statistics presented in this chapter were compiled as part of a survey among national experts of national or international organic markets. Many of these figures are based on estimates, and the methods of data collection vary from country to country as no uniform data collection system for organic market data is yet in place. In addition, national organic sales figures may vary between years depending on the information sources.
Descriptions of market trends in this chapter are the result of market observations by Toralf Richter (Bio Plus AG, Switzerland) and Susanne Padel (University of Wales). The authors would welcome any comments that may help to improve the quality of data and information about the organic market in Europe in future. Some content of this chapter was already published in the Soil Association ‘Organic Market Report 2006’3
The European market for organic food (Session at the BIOFACH 2017)
No full textAt the session "The European market for organic food", the latest data on the European market as well as selected country markets was presented.
- European organic market data 2015(Dr. Helga Willer)
- The organic market in Germany - highlights 2016 (Diana Schaack)
- UK organic sector and market trends 2015 and 16 (Dr. Susanne Padel)
- The French organic food market (Eva Lacarce)
- The Italian market for Organic food (Francesco Solfanelli
The European market for organic food (Session at the BIOFACH 2015)
No full textThe European market for organic food (Session at the BIOFACH 2015)
Presentations
- The Organic Market in Europe 2013 (Helga Willer, Diana Schaack)
- Organic market in Germany 2014 (Diana Schaack)
- Data collection in the UK (Susanne Padel)
- Facts and figures from the French organic observatory - Experience gained from the OrganicDataNetwork case studies (Nathalie Rison Alabert
The European Regulatory Framework and its implementation in influencing organic inspection and certification systems in the EU
No full textThe report presents a review of the most important European and international legislation that set the framework for organic certification, of reports prepared by international agencies working with organic standard setting and certification, and of relevant scientific literature. It discusses problems, future challenges of the organic control systems in Europe leading to suggestions for improvement.
Food quality assurance is of key importance for the future development of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU. A large number of mandatory and voluntary assurance and certification schemes exist for agriculture and in the food industry leading to the risk of increased costs for producers and confusion of consumers. Such schemes include the setting of requirements and bodies that undertake control and provide certificates. Requirements can be divided into statutory regulations regarding food safety and good agricultural practice and standards for voluntary attributes. Basic requirements of food safety, animal health and animal welfare are controlled by the Official Food and Feed Control (OFFC) systems, governed by Council Regulation (EC) 882/2004. Third party certification provides credibility to claims related to voluntary standards and is communicated to the consumers through the use of certification marks. The EU has developed a legislative basis for quality claims in relation to geographical indications, traditional specialities and organic farming and considers introducing labelling rules in relation to animal welfare, environmental impact and the origin of raw materials. Organic certification is one of a number of overlapping and competing schemes.
The development of organic standards and certification in Europe started with private standards and national rules, leading to Regulation (EEC) 2092/1991. The requirements for competent authorities, control bodies and operators in this regulation regarding the control systems are reviewed. The discussion highlights the low level of knowledge among consumers of the requirements of organic certification, a weak emphasis of the control system on operator responsibility for organic integrity, issues of competition and surveillance of control bodies, a lack of consideration of risk factors in designing the inspection systems and a lack of transparency.
A total revision of the European Regulations on organic production began in 2005. One important change introduced by the new Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007 for
Organic Food and Farming is that the organic control system is placed under the umbrella of Council Regulation (EC) 882/2004 on Official Food and Feed Controls. Regulation (EC) 834/2007 also requires that control bodies have to be accredited according to general requirements for bodies operating product certification systems (ISO Guide 65/EN 45011). From July 2010 packaged organic products will have to carry the new EU logo as well as the compulsory indication of the control body. The report reviews the requirements for competent authorities, control bodies and operators from the various legal sources. The discussion highlights a lack of clarity on the impact of the OFFC regulation on the organic control system including how risk based inspections are to be implemented and the potential for in-consistencies in the enforcement of the regulation.
A number of international initiatives concerned with the harmonisation of organic standards and to a lesser extent certification are reviewed, such as the International Task Force on Harmonisation and Equivalence (ITF)1
Two main alternative guarantee systems for organic production have been developed and researched by a number of organisations including IFOAM, ISEAL, FAO and the EU Commission. Smallholder Group Certification based on an Internal Control System (ICS) and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) could also represent ways to minimize certification costs also for European farmers, in particular for operators that market directly or through very short supply chains. Both systems also illustrate examples of certification systems with a focus on system development and improvement. , the European Organic Certifiers Council (EOOC), the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL) and the Anti-Fraud Initiative (AFI). The multilateral initiatives have led to a better understanding of current problems and the scope and limitations for harmonisation. They have also contributed to the sharing of tools and methods and the identification of best practice.
Apart from organic farming the European Union has two other food quality schemes: Regulation (EC) 510/2006 on geographical indications and Regulation (EC) 509/2006 on traditional specialities. The report explores the potential for combining these with organic certification, and draws lessons for organic certification based on Italian experience.
The final chapter summarises problems and challenges from the previous chapters. Suggestions for improvements of the organic control system focus on two issues: the need for further harmonisation of the surveillance of control bodies and enforcement of the regulation and how operators’ responsibility for further development of organic systems could be supported in the control and certification system
Is organic Farming ‘innovative’ enough for Europe?
No full textThe paper explores how organic agriculture fits into the framework of innovation systems that is becoming more widely accepted in supporting innovation also in agriculture which is faced with many societal challenges. It explores the need to better understand the role of different types of innovation and in particular the role of knowledge and how joint learning systems for sharing different types of knowledge can be developed using examples from SOLID and TP organics
Motives for buying local, organic food through English Box Schemes
No full textThe aim is to explain the growing interest of English consumers in local organic food sold through box schemes, by providing insights into the motives of customers of such schemes and examining the relationship with their awareness about problems of the agro-food system.
A mixed methods approach combined in-depth interviews with 22 box scheme customers with a quantitative survey of 416 consumers, analysed by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and an Ordered Logit model.
Consumers of small local organic box schemes in England are both altruistically and hedonistically motivated. This includes a strong political motivation to change the current food system, as shown by the strong influence of an anti-globalisation factor and wanting to support small farmers. They perceive local organic food as a more environmentally sustainable alternative to the mainstream food system. The box schemes offer consumers a practical alternative by providing high quality products combined with convenience, illustrating the importance of the latter also in local food shopping. This reinforces the possibility to successfully combining the attributes of ‘local’ and ‘organic’.
The study was conducted in only one country (England) with about 400 consumers of ten organic farmer-led box schemes. It was based on a self-selecting sample of consumers of such schemes, which included a large proportion of females and people with high level of education. Further research is needed to validate the results.
This study is the first academic study investigating the main factors affecting consumers’ choice to purchase local organic food through a number of English box schemes. It identifies that such consumers are ethically and politically motivated and show some differences compared with the general literature on organic food consumption
Assessing the risk of non-compliance in UK organic agriculture: An econometric analysis
No full textThe purpose is to provide an analysis of the risk factors influencing non-compliance in UK organic farming.
The paper uses a formal econometric model of risk analysis to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of non-compliance in organic farming. A panel of data from the archives of the largest control body in the UK for 2007-2009 is used, and specific analyses are performed for two types of non-compliances. A zero inflated count data model is used for the estimation, taking into account the fact that the occurrences of non-compliance are very sparse.
Results show the existence of strong co-dependence of non-compliant behaviours (i.e. the occurrence of major and critical non-compliance increases the probability of occurrence of the minor one; similarly the probability of occurrence of major non-compliance increases when minor non-compliance occur). Besides, livestock production and farm size are relevant risk factors.
Albeit highly representative, the findings are based on Soil Association data only and not on all UK organic farms.
The paper provides practical indications for control bodies, concerning aspects that could be strengthened for more efficient risk-based inspections. The paper advocates the use of financial information like turnover or capital stock, and of data concerning the characteristics of the farmers, that could substantially improve the probability of detecting the most severe non-compliances.
Certification is essential for organic farming, and an improvement of inspection procedures through a risk-based approach could add efficiency and effectiveness to the whole organic food system, with obvious advantages for consumers and the society as a whole.
This paper provides for the first time empirical evidence concerning the implementation of the organic certification system in the UK
Rapid sustainability assessment of organic and low-input farming across Europe and identification of research needs
No full textThe objective of this report is to present information on research needs to support improvement of sustainability of organic and low input dairy farms in the EU which could be addressed with on-farm projects. The report describes the execution and findings of two tasks in Work Package (WP) 1 of the SOLID project: 1) Case studies using a rapid sustainability assessment on a total of 70 organic and 32 low input dairy farms in nine countries across Europe and 2) a series of workshops held in these countries, designed to discover farmers’ views of research needs relating to aspects of sustainability. A total of 72 dairy cow farms from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Romania and UK, and 30 dairy goat farms from Flanders, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain and Italy were involved in the case studies. The farms were associated with the SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) partners in the project, which included co-operatives, advisory services and an organic certification body
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