TP Organics Newsletter 03 – 09 | Special about Strategic Research Agenda development

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Dear readers of the TP Organics newsletter,

It’s a great pleasure for me to present to you the second special newsletter dedicated to the development of

the TP Organic Strategic Research Agenda (SRA).

In April 2009, TP Organics published the first Strategic Research Agenda draft and started the public

consultation process.

A broad range of research ideas were collected trough Workshops and the online consultation.

The comments and the research needs collected will be included in the updated version of SRA and will be

presented during the TP Organics Stakeholder forum. (Brussels, July 14th

)

In the following you will find more information about the consultation process and on the next steps, in

particular the mentioned Stakeholder forum.

Organics regards,

Eduardo Cuoco

TP Organics coordinator

Content summary

Strategic Research Agenda consultation process

• State of consultation process on research needs (from April to June,2009)

Eduardo Cuoco

• SME’s Multilanguage consultation round

Eduardo Cuoco

• The main comments collected in the socio-economic challenges: Empowerment of Rural Area

Susanne Padel

• The main comments collected in the ecological challenges: Eco-functional intensification

Niels Halberg

• The main comments collected in the food challenges: Food for health and well-being

Machteld Huber

SME’s involvement into the Strategic Research Agenda development:

• SME’s involvement in organic research

Alexander Beck

• Interview with Ronald van Marlen

Machteld Huber

Next SRA Appointment

• TP Organics stakeholder forum – Brussels (Belgium) – July 14th

, 2009

• Workshop at conference "Fostering healthy food systems through organic agriculture -focus on Nordic-

Baltic region” - Tartu (Estonia) - August 25th

, 2009

• Workshop at Technical Conference on organic production in Mediterranean Basin- Mallorca

(Spain)- Friday, 18th

September 2009

TP Organics supporters

Strategic Research Agenda consultation process:

State of consultation process on research needs (from April to June,

2009):

During the last months TP Organics held several workshops around Europe in order to involve researchers,

advisors, members of inspection/certification bodies as well as different users/beneficiaries of the research

such as farmer, processors and market actors and persons from civil society organizations in the SRA

developing process.

In particular TP Organics arranged workshops in:

Romania (at IFOAM EU Seminar), Sweden (at NOC – Nordic Organic Conference), Poland (at OMF – Organic

Market Forum) and Czech Republic (at BIOACADEMY).

Furthermore, two specific public consultations have been launched on the TP Organics website.

The first consultation was addressed to the whole organic sector and was opened from April 20th

to June 1st

2009. Comments were requested in relation to the first draft of a Strategic Research Agenda for organic

food and farming.

The second consultation addressed to SME’s, was organised in two rounds, the first round in English from

April 20th

to June 1st

, and the round second in several languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian,

Dutch, Polish and Danish), from June 18th

until till July 30th

(still open!).

Both consultations have been developed in order to get participation of experts from the industry and

SME’s, which is very important to design a good research agenda for the benefit of the users

(More info on: [link to SME consultation])

Below some statistical data is summarised on the participation in the consultation process (during the

period April 20th

– June 1st

):

1. Summarised table:

People involved in the consultation : 164

Countries involved in the consultation : 32

Organisations involved in the consultation: 124

2. Sector involved in the consultation:

3. Focus on SME’s field of activity:

4. Participation from countries:

SME’s Multilanguage consultation round:

TP Organics thinks that the participation of experts from the industry and SME’s is extremely important to

design good research agenda for the benefit of the sector.

In order to collect the needs of the SME’s and Industry sector, TP Organics has prepared a brief

questionnaire in Polish, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch (soon in German and Danish)

Please, give your comments on the Strategic Research Agenda, through completing a short on-line

questionnaire by following this link:

EN - http://www.tporganics.eu/index.php/sme-consultation-en.html

ES - http://www.tporganics.eu/index.php/sme-consultation-es.html

FR - http://www.tporganics.eu/index.php/sme-consultation-fr.html

IT - http://www.tporganics.eu/index.php/sme-consultation-it.html

NL - http://www.tporganics.eu/index.php/sme-consultation-nl.html

PL - http://www.tporganics.eu/index.php/sme-consultation-pl.html

We would be very grateful if you could take the time to respond to the questionnaire and send us your

feedback until 31st

of July.

The main comments collected in the area of socio-economic challenges:

Empowerment of Rural Area, Susanne Padel

Since the 1st draft of Theme 1 for the SRA was published in April, the theme has been presented at 1st

Nordic Organic Congress in Gothenburg and at the BioAcademy in Lednice. Further comments were

received through the on-line consultation and some personal communications.

There is a need to consider the linkages between the three themes proposed, for example Key Challenge

(KC) 1; Putting organic principles into practice, has relevance also to the other thematic areas. It was

further suggested that the theme should include research topics that are relevant for international

development, such as the question how organic farming can contribute to food security and be an issue of

international trade. These overarching issues will be discussed as part of the stakeholder work in Brussels in

July 2009. Discussion and suggestions were received for all six key challenges, most for KC2 and least for

KC6.

Apart from the suggestion to consider overlaps with other themes it was suggested that the main focus

under Key Challenge 1 (Putting organic principles into practise) under Theme 1 should involve aspects of

organic principles that affect humans (as operators, consumers or as civil society). A number of potential

new research topics were suggested, such as the relationship between quality attributes and market price,

the impact on small holders, the consideration of certain indicators as part of the certification systems,

implementing principles in processing rules and finding other ways of engaging citizens.

Key Challenge 2 (Enhancing the contribution of organic farming to multifunctional rural development in

Europe) also has relevance to other themes. It was suggested that research topics under this theme should

focus on socio-economic aspects of rural development. They need to explore the importance of

relationships and trade between regions as well as within regions, models of change to more sustainable

behaviours (for example at farm level) and different transition pathways for specific regions (e.g. lagging

regions, mountain regions). Further topic suggestions include the specific role of small-holders, and farming

and gardening for therapy, prevention and rehabilitation. Key challenge 2 was the most popular within the

one-line consultation.

Parts of Key Challenge 3 (Develop adequate knowledge and communication systems) remain somewhat

outside the traditional research area. Key challenge 3 was considered less important in the on-line

consultation. However, the intensity of discussion at previous workshops indicated that the sector

considers that the traditional separation of research and development activities are not always very

successful and therefore the sector is concerned about having a communication systems for an agriculture

that cannot rely on input suppliers as sources of information. Some aspects overlap with KC1 (e.g. value

communication) and with KC4 (e.g. improve traceability and transparency).

Comments suggested that Key Challenge 4 (New models of international trade) should clearly focus on

international development and the opportunities that organic farming offers for farmers. It was further

suggested to consider more decentralised distribution systems and new forms to grow food (e.g. through

urban agriculture, gardening) as part of the research topics.

Important comments to Key Challenge 5 (Assessing sustainability) referred to the need to focus not only on

assessment but on improvements, to consider new challenges (such as climate change) and the resilience

of organic systems, i.e. their ability to respond to change external conditions, for example as a result of

climate change.

Key challenge 6 received few comments overall and the questions raised were whether policy development

is really a separate key challenge or should be integrated as part of the other KC, in particular KC2.

The main comments collected in the area of ecological challenges: Eco-

functional intensification, Niels Halberg

The Theme and its Key Challenges were revised based on input from the Biofach workshop and other

contacts with practitioners and experts from January through April. Since then the theme has been

presented and discussed at a workshop in BioAcademy and via the open access web based consultation. A

number of constructive and interesting comments were given to the Key Challenges, in terms of their

relevance and in the form of more specific problems to address within different KCs. A significant

proportion of the comments were general ideas and wishes for the sector’s development rather than

pointing out specific problems to solve with input from research. Therefore, in the next phase efforts will

need to be given to formulate such ideas into researchable questions.

The Key Challenges which received most comments and ideas were;

Key Challenge 1: Improved ecological support functions

Key Challenge 3: Resilient organic crop production systems

Key Challenge 5: Green improvement of genetic resources

For Key Challenge (KC) 1 “Improved ecological support functions” there was wide support to the ideas of

how “organic agriculture can maintain and improve biodiversity so that natural balance between pests and

natural pest controllers can occur? Organic farmers need to understand how the regulation can happen so

that they could manage the environment in order to improve it (by maintaining or improving a certain

biodiversity in the fields, hurdles and slopes).” The KC should also include soil fertility aspects and

integration of methods for soil protection against erosion and improved use of water.

Comments and ideas under KC 3 “Resilient organic crop production systems” were to a wide large extent

overlapping with KC 1 because the best bets on improving resilience were considered to be improvement

of diversity in and around the cultivated land. For example “Diversity in time and space as a tool for

resilient systems. Diversity on different space scales (region, farm, field, within field) and time scales. How

does it work and how can we make use of it?”. Other comments to KC 3 were that the energy aspect should

be wider than biogas and to look broader at how energy from organic matter could be part of crop

rotations, but without replacing food production. There were also a few comments suggesting including the

potential of draught power to save energy.

It will be considered to combine KC 1 and KC 3 in future versions of SRA.

KC 5 “Green improvement of genetic resources” was considered important by many commentators (under

KC 5 itself and as part of the comments to KC 3) but from very different perspectives. Some suggest that

there is a close link between traditional breeds, varieties and organic agriculture while others underline the

need to increase breeding efforts specifically targeted to the low input environment of organic systems.

The comment to this topic also reflects a diversity of opinions regarding use of new breeding methods such

as molecular markers and the perspectives of participatory breeding schemes. Moreover, the link to Theme

3 was stressed by the suggestion that food quality for human nutrition and organoleptic quality should be

an important breeding goal. Other comments stressed the need for research into the production of healthy

and viable seeds of organic origin for an optimal crop establishment and, likewise, to develop organic

nursery production for fruit plants.

The comments under KC 2 “Modern mixed farming systems” supported that there is a need to find new

ways to integrate several agricultural functions (thus counteracting tendencies to monoculture in OA in the

North and South of Europe) and to close nutrient cycles; - but not necessarily at farm level. As stated in one

comment: “A 'modern' mixed farming system offers best opportunities for good agricultural practice:

relation between number of cattle and land area, biodiversity, product diversity, landscape diversity, social-

economic relations etcetera”. Other aspects suggested under KC2 were recycling human waste and water

use efficiency on landscape level. Another commentator suggested to include research in the use of

“Organic Farming principles for recovering degraded soils”.

There were also supportive and constructive comments to Key Challenge 6 (KC 6): Development and

adaptation of novel technology, especially focusing on “innovative approaches for mechanical weed

management will be a crucial issue for the expansion of organic farming. Methods for organic seed

treatments are needed to avoid the increase of seed born diseases,….”. In parallel, it was suggested to

develop physical control of pests and diseases in combination with ICT and technique to minimize soil

compaction.

There were very few comments to the Key Challenge 4: Appropriate and robust livestock production and to

the Key Challenge 7: Technology assessment and cross disciplinary evaluation. Under KC 7 it was suggested

to look at new forms of inspection and certification systems including “sets of new evaluation methods for

environmental impacts”. Other ideas were to study the use of organic matter in a cross-disciplinary

framework, much as suggested under KC 1 and KC3 by other commentators. There were also a number of

good ideas and comments related to technology assessment within other KCs, which may indicate that this

effort should be included in research topics such as breeding and new technology for automation and ITC

rather than having a KC of its own. Considering the limited response after all, it will not be safe to conclude

that there is no need for research into organic livestock production (KC 4).

On a more general level it was suggested to structure the description of the Key Challenges according to

different project types such and funding modes. This will be considered on an overall level by the

TPOrganics steering committee and theme coordinators. Next step, however, will be to consider combining

a few of the Theme 2 KC’s in order to end up with for example five well described and argued Key

Challenges. Therefore, the suggested area “Energy and climate Change” will be included in the two KC’s on

mixed systems and on resilient crop production/ecological support functions as suggested above. Other

cross cutting issues include the need to focus on whole food systems in a food chain approach. This will be

addressed by the theme coordinators together at a workshop back-to-back with the stakeholder workshop

in Brussels on mid July. After this, the theme 2 expert group will be involved in formulating the research

questions more precisely under the reformulated Key Challenges.

The main comments collected in the area of food challenges: Food for

health and well-being, Machteld Huber

From February till May five different conferences around Europe were visited and Workshops were held, to

consult stakeholders about their needs and priorities for research topics on the theme ‘Food for health and

well-being’. Besides that, an Online consultation occurred, where people also could give and gave their

input.

That resulted in a diverse feed back, with many suggestions, some of which only occurred once, but others

came back many times.

We started with six Key Challenges (KC), which were a bit reshuffled along the line.

I will shortly give an impression of the prioritization and give an example of some comments. Much more

was mentioned, but cannot be all described here.

1. It was very clear that as well in the Workshop consultations as at the Online consultation KC 6: ‘Effect

studies on health and well-being in animals and humans consuming foods of different qualities’ had highest

priority.

People hoped for epidemiological studies, but also animal studies and in vitro studies. Allergies were often

mentioned, as well as the influence of processing, e.g. processing of milk on allergies. But also the question

was raised to look in human studies also for effects of organic food on mental well-being and mental

decline.

An original suggestion was to search for the effects on health and well-being of growing your own organic

food. When that was proposed many people supported.

2. Second priority was KC 2: ‘Assessment tools, standards and references concerning organic food quality

and vitality’. It was suggested to evaluate holistic methods like biocrystallization & biophotons in relation to

the modern techniques of metabolomics and proteomics. The development of in vitro tests for vitality and

quality was mentioned several times as desirable. And it was suggested to look at a next generation when

searching vitality.

3. Third priority was KC 3: ‘Development of best practice farm management in relation to food quality

aspects’. This KC clearly connects to Theme 2 on agriculture.

It was mentioned that knowledge about best varieties for quality is very important. Further the

development of critical control points on farm level need to be developed.

4. Fourth was KC 1: ‘Development, evaluation and communication of organic concepts/principles related to

food quality & health’. It was suggested to work out different formulations for different consumer groups.

Several times the tension between expectations about quality and measurability were mentioned.

5/6. Next were with same counts KC 4: ‘Technologies for safeguarding defined organic quality along critical

points in the entire food chain’ and KC 5: ‘Relation between processing technologies and food quality’.

These KCs were in the beginning together, then split on demand, but now several times it was suggested to

combine them again. It was mentioned that development of quality critical control points is very important,

as well as the evaluation of criteria for careful processing.

Finally some valuable suggestions were made.

One theme was about ‘life style’. It was suggested to connect ‘low impact life style’ to the consumption of

organic food. It was also suggested to make the quality concept of organic food towards lifestyle and health

broader. Is the lifestyle connected to the choice of food?

Many times the topic ‘communication’ was addressed. It was considered that the message needs to be

formulated better, including more ‘indicators for holistic sustainability strength’ in organic and

differentiating the message to different types of consumer groups.

SME’s involvement into the Strategic Research Agenda development:

SME’s involvement in organic research, Alexander Beck

Small and medium companies are the innovators in the food industry! This means the SME's has to be the

leading force in sustainability orientation in food industry too. For being successful in this area it is

necessary to link consequently the development activities in SME's with research. The DG Research of the

European Commission has to enforce this process by orientating their research agenda strongly on

sustainability tasks. This should include mainly the orientation towards; 1. Production in organic systems, 2.

Food quality and 3. More environmentally friendly and careful processing, packaging, handling and

transportation. By doing so, the socio-economical aspects has to be addressed in general in

a transdisciplinary approach.

SME's has the best skills to address all these aspects in an integrative way. They are (mostly) locally and

culturally integrated and have a strong relationship to the customers and to the farmers. SME's are often

more flexible and creative than big companies.

Interview with Ronald van Marlen, Machteld Huber Interview with Ronald van Marlen, director of Ariza/Arisu in The Netherlands and Turkey, board member

of the Dutch Association of Organic Producers (VBP) by Machteld Huber.

Can you describe your company? We are a SME specialized on producing and processing of fruit into

juices, concentrates and purees. 80% is organic, the rest is babyfood quality. We have a Dutch division: Ariza

and a Turkish division: Arisu. I am one of the two directors.

Our yearly financial turnover is 20 Million Euros net, we employ 36-50 people, depending on season and we

process 50.000 tons of fruit per year, being apples, pears, apricots, cherries, strawberries and all other kinds

of red fruits.

Did you know about the TP Organics initiative? Yes, I read the Vision on Organic Food and Farming 2025

and found it very good! I think research can be of great value to the enterprises and I find the initiative of

connecting organic research stronger to the EU, very good. Research can be very valuable for enterprises.

There is however still a large gap between the two worlds, the world of the producers and trade and the

world of the researchers, with many preconceptions. Researchers think that enterprises just think about

making money. That is not true! Many really have a broader interest! I was at the IFOAM Conference in

Modena last year and I had to explain many times to researchers what I was doing there! For me the

conference was very interesting; I learned there a lot! So it is good that the EU stimulates contacts between

researchers and SME’s!

Do you have experience with research? Yes. We work together with several well known (organic) research

institutes, which support our production and help to generate answers to our practical questions. We have

also developed together the Bio Quality Assurance BIOKAP (www.biokap.com) initiative, collecting

information about pesticide residues, found on our organic products. Anonymously several companies put

their data in a data base, so we get ourselves an overview where which problems occur. With this

information we can analyze what the real problem is and try to find solutions.

What do you see as your main problem, where research could help to find a solution? There are lots of

problems to be solved, and in a little time I could produce a whole list! But here I think also as a board

member of the Dutch Association of Organic Producers and if I look at the organic sector as a whole, I see

overall problems, where research can help.

The organic market is exploding at the moment. Lots of people come in, who have no idea about what

organic is about. At the same time, we as enterprises get into business with the real big players in the

market. There, we need ammunition to argue why organic is special. At the moment it is not enough

anymore to be without residues. We are not even always without! It is also not enough anymore to be

‘certified organic’. That isn’t exclusive enough anymore. That is a big challenge!

There is a sustainability wave going on. The biggest Dutch supermarket chain started with a line ’pure and

honest’. Organic is only partially included on that! To me that is a sign that organic is getting too ‘thin’ and

that we need to become really innovative again. Bring in new elements, like sustainability, fair trade,

etcetera. There, we need the researchers! They are the pioneers in producing new thoughts and facts, which

we as SME’s can use. Examples? The biocrystallization, the organic quality concept… It is important that the

researchers translate their results into practice and that the SME’s begin to see that they can benefit from

research.

Will you fill out the SME questionnaire? Certainly yes!

Would you want to be involved in a research project? Certainly yes!

Next SRA Appointment:

Stakeholder forum – Brussels (Belgium) – July 14th

, 2009

This is a forum for all TP partners and interested organizations.

It presents ideas for Strategic Research Agenda contents and development.

The stakeholder forum is open to non-governmental organizations operating throughout the EU, to

representatives from governments, and to relevant companies and business partners. Observers from EU

institutions are also invited to the meeting.

We invite you to communicate to info@tporganics.eu your willingness and interest to participate.

Time: Tuesday, 14th

July 2009, 14.00 to 17.00 Place: Committee of the Regions of the EU, Rue Belliard 99-101 B - 1040 Brussels - Belgium

STAKEHOLDER FORUM: TP Organics towards a STRATEGIC RESEARCH AGENDA Workshop program is available clicking here. For further information write to: info@tporganics.eu

Workshop at conference "Fostering healthy food systems through organic

agriculture -focus on Nordic-Baltic region” - Tartu (Estonia) – Tuesday,

August 25th

, 2009

Time: Tuesday, 25

th August 2009, 10.00 to 12.00

Workshop program is available clicking here. For further information write to: info@tporganics.eu

For further information on the conference:

http://www.njf.nu/site/seminarRedirect.asp?intSeminarID=422&p=1004

Workshop at Technical Conference on organic production in

Mediterranean Basin- Mallorca (Spain)- Friday, 18th

September 2009

Time: Friday 18

th September 2009, 16.00 to 18.00

Place: Finca Raixa, Bunyola Workshop program is available clicking here. For further information write to: info@tporganics.eu

The Platform is financially supported by D1

German Federal Organic Farming Scheme of the Federal Ministry of

Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, www.ble.de

Foundation on Future Farming, www.zs-l.de

Schweisfurth Stiftung, www.schweisfurth.de

Software AG Stiftung www.software-ag-stiftung.com