Helga Willer

Building a global platform for organic farming research, innovation and technology transfer

Organic food and farming systems have a great untapped potential to provide the world with healthy, high-quality food that is produced and distributed in an ecologically sound and fair way, but numerous production challenges and barriers slow the adoption of organic practices. Innovations addressing these challenges are not being developed sufficiently because of insufficient capacity in research, development and technology transfer, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Given the limited resources, as well as the specific needs of organic food and farming systems, different pathways are needed to develop new technologies that are compatible with the principles of organic farming. The Technology Innovation Platform of IFOAM—Organics International (TIPI) was established to advance organic farming through research, development, innovation and technology transfer. As a global platform for organic food and farming systems research, innovation and technology transfer, TIPI advocates for three main pathways along which this is expected to happen, each of which comes with a specific set of research objectives and outcomes: (1) empower rural areas, (2) practice eco-functional intensification and (3) produce food for health and well-being. TIPI identified three strategies to build the necessary capacity: (1) develop research methods appropriate for organic food and farming systems; (2) renew partnerships between farmers, farm advisors, scientists and consumers; and (3) integrate technological, social and ecological dimensions of innovation.

The quality of organic market data: providing data that is both fit for use and convenient

Members of the organic supply chain need high-quality data to make correct investment decisions, but data with sufficient depth and quality are not widely available in Europe. The quality of available data is a key concern for both data collectors and data users. The aim of this study is to identify whether the commonly used quality attributes (accuracy, coherence, comparability, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility, relevance), which have been developed from the perspective of data collectors, are also appropriate from the perspective of end users of organic market data. A further aim is to assess whether the data quality needs of end users are being met by the existing data. The results of two surveys carried out in Europe, one of data collectors and one of end users, are presented. Sales data at retail level (values and volumes) are used as an illustrative example and the perceptions of end users are compared with the reported data collection approaches, quality checks and availability of data. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis were used to investigate the relationship between users’ perceptions of the data quality attributes and their overall perceptions of data quality. The findings suggest that data quality checks do help to improve the quality of data as perceived by end users but that people will use whatever data they can get, even if it has poor quality. This could have potentially negative consequences, such as a lack of confidence in the organic market, if important decisions are based on poor quality data. The analysis also suggests that the commonly used attributes represent two dimensions of data quality: ‘fitness for use’ which encompasses accuracy, relevance, comparability and punctuality; and ‘convenience’, which encompasses affordability, comparability, timeliness and accessibility. The attribute of comparability belongs to both dimensions as it contributes to both fitness for use and convenience. Data collectors wishing to improve the quality of their data should focus on enhancing fitness for use first and then on the convenience of their data for users.

Innovative research for organic 3.0 - Volume 1: Proceedings of the scientific track at the Organic World Congress 2017, November 9-11 in Delhi, India

Organic farming already meets multiple sustainability goals, and factors limiting its mainstreaming are social rather than technical. What is the next step for organic farming? To date, both organic and industrial agriculture have been based on the particle-matter approach within the disciplines of chemistry and biology. This review paper argues that the logical next step is to embrace QuantumBased Agriculture (QBA) that draws from the theories and concepts of quantum physics and biology and takes a wave-based approach. The paper outlines how modern medicine, and many of our communication technologies, already apply quantum science, it explains the nature of QBA, its potential, and how commercial agricultural projects in the EU are already integrating quantum theories. Finally the paper notes that QBA is not new; it also may explain the mechanisms by which indigenous and Biodynamic farming practices work.