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United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development: Side Event on Organic Farming at UN on May 6th

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The EU Presidency/The Republic of Slovenia, Denmark and the European Commission present
a CSD 16 side event on

Organic Farming

6th of May 2008, 6.15pm - 7.45pm
Conference Room 4, UN Headquarters, New York*

The development of organic farming in the EU in last decades has been rapid. It is a response to environmental awareness of consumers, their ethical believe and also farmers' recognition of the importance of sustainable practices. The EU has adopted legislation and developed a comprehensive system to provide advisers and farmers with the necessary knowledge to support restructuring of farm holdings and to raise public awareness in this field. The first EU Regulation on organic farming was drawn up in 1991 and implemented in 1992. The organic Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 laid down the basic rules for plant production, processing of organic foodstuffs and for their inspection. Year by year the organic Regulation has been amended. As a result of constant revision process, the rules became very complex and difficult to understand. Therefore, in June 2007 a new Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labeling of organic products was adopted which will be applied from 1 January 2009.

As in many EU MS, also in Slovenia many farmers showed interest in organic farming and the number thereof is increasing year by year. From 41 farmers in 1998 the number increased to 1,999 in 2007. The consumer interest in these products and food is also growing rapidly as consumers are more and more informed and demanding in regard to the food quality. As organic farming respects nature, animal well-being and environment it leads towards long-term and sustainable agriculture and rural development. It also helps to promote social stability in rural areas and gives economic opportunity and development perspective to family farms. Nevertheless due to growing consumers' demand and sustainability challenges in agriculture, organic farming system is also a relevant option for medium and large scale producers.

Anamarija Slabe (Head of Unit, ACP and South Africa, FAO and Food Aid, DG AGRI, European Commission): Technology Platform and a Vision for an Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda 2025

In a participatory process initiated by ISOFAR (International Society for Organic Farming Research) and IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) EU Group, an exciting and globally relevant Vision for an (European) Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda 2025 has been developed in order to launch a Technology Platform (TP) with a working title »Food, Fairness and Ecology« in 2008. The vision is based on global challenges for agriculture and food sector in the next 20 years. It is consisting of four parts:

• Ethical value systems for guiding technology development and integration of stakeholders and civil society into innovation.

• Viable concepts for the empowerment of rural economies in a regional and global context.

• Efficient approaches to ecological intensification.

• High quality foods - a basis for healthy diets and a key to improving the quality of life.

The aim of the TP is the development of the Strategic Research Agenda to support realization of the vision by research in the prioritized areas. Vision available on: http://www.fiblgate.org/tp/

Martina Bavec .Institute for Sustainable Development, Metelkova 6,1000 Ljubljana;Slovenia,): Ecologica - online learning in organic farming

Ecologica is a new approach for getting knowledge by e-learning method. During Leonardo da Vinci pilot project "Development of central data bank on European level for the education of ecological farming adviser's" e-learning platform was prepared (http://www.ecologica.net/website/). Knowledge and education centres at eight partner institutions were developed. Collecting a basis of organic (ecological) farming knowledge is on a joint server called Ecolibrary. The Knowledge centres perform the dissemination of collected database to advisers and other interested groups within the frame of e-learning training courses based on the mutually developed education material which was adapted to the given ecological, technological, social, national and economical conditions of each country of the partners. Department of Ecological and Sustainable Production Systems of Corvinus University Budapest from Hungary coordinated the project with partners: University of Maribor Faculty of Agriculture from Slovenia, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Czech University of South Bohemia, Latvian University of Agriculture, MÖGÉRT, Biocert Association Italy and Slovak Agricultural University. All of them are associated in Ecologica International.


Henry Lanng (Ministry of Agriculture, Denmark): CORE organic - Joining resources to improve research in organic food and farming

The Danish government has expressed a strong interest in promoting the development of organic farming and ensuring that organic farming will still be the right choice for those consumers, who wants to make a difference for themselves and for the environment. Still, organic farming faces dilemmas when balancing between different objectives. For example use of manure and its control. It is necessary to keep up the pace in the research on organic farming also to ensure, that new global challenges from for example greenhouse gases and fair trade can be met by the organic sector - to what extent does organics imply consumption only on the local or regional markets, and thereby constitute a technical or ideological barrier to international trade.

Denmark has during the last couple of years chaired the European cooperation on research in organic farming and food production systems the ERA-net CORE Organic. CORE Organic is a transnational partnership where resources within research in organic food and farming are joined. In September 2007, the first ERA-NET project period came to an end; at the same time eight transnational research projects initiated under the auspices of CORE Organic were launched. There is a general understanding between the CORE organic partners of the need for a continued and widened cooperation on organic research in Europe, and the Danish government has expressed its willingness to chair a new

ERA-NET CORE organic II. In connection with a new CORE organic II, Denmark intends to set up a genuine International Center for Organic Research. Denmark wishes to investigate the potentials of organic agriculture and production in developing countries. Among other things the promotion of organic farming in developing countries can play a major role in combating climate changes.


Discussion of 20-30 minutes

The above speakers speak for 10-15 minutes each, allowing for 30 minutes discussion at the end.

Total duration: 1h 30

Refreshments will be served.

* Please note that a UN grounds pass is required for access

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