European Research
Today's high political and societal acceptance and interest in organic farming research is reflected in the fact that the organic farming research is substantially funded by the European Union and that the European action plan stresses the importance of organic farming research.
At this webpage links and information related to organic farming research are made available.
Contents
Organic food and farming research in Europe: Background
Organic farming research is organised differently in the countries of Europe.
Until the 1980s, organic farming research was mainly carried out by private research institutes, which have been the driving force for the development of organic farming research for many years (for example the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, founded in 1973 or the Organic Research Centre Elm Farm).
In the 1980s the first universities took organic farming on their curricula, in the 1990s the first EU-funded projects on organic farming contributed to a better collaboration of researchers on organic farming on a European level, and the first state research institutes became active.
Today's high political and societal acceptance and interest in organic farming research is reflected in the fact that the organic farming research is substantially funded by the European Union, and that the European action plan for organic food and farming stresses the importance of organic farming research. Many national action plans include special programs for organic farming research. Examples are Germany's Federal Organic Farming Scheme BOEL www.bundesprogramm-oekolandbau.de), 
which has a dedicated research part, and in Denmark the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (www.ICROFS.org ), previously Danish Research Centre for Research in Organic Farming (DARCOF) has been running since 1996.
At the state research institutions organic farming is getting increasing attention in many countries. For intstance, the German Federal Agricultural Research Institute has one research institute dedicated to organic farming research.
Conferences
Recently several international conferences have taken place documenting the current status of European organic farming research. The papers of many conferences are documented in the Organic Eprints archive.
- 2011: Scientific conference of the German speaking countries
- 2009: Scientific conference of the German speaking countries
- 2008: 2nd Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR
- 2008: 4th QlIF Congress
- 2007: Scientific conference of the German speaking countries
- 2007: 3rd QLIF Congress
- 2006: Joint Organic Congress
- 2005: Scientific conference of the German speaking countries
- Papers from further conferences at the Organic Eprints archive
Links
- EC.Europa.eu/Agriculture: Information about organic farming research at the European Commission's organic farming website
- Organic-Europe.net: Directorate General research of the European Commission, selected links
- Organic-Research.org: European organic farming projects
- OrgPrints.org: Organic Eprints archive
- TPOrganics.eu: Homepage of the Technology Platform TP Organic
Selected publications
- Burioni, Massimo (2002): Consolidated report summarising individual contributions of the Seminar on Organic Farming Research in Europe “How to facilitate the development of transnational co-operation in research in Organic Farming by member and associated states” Brussels, 24-25 September 2002 . European Commission, Research Directorate General, Brussels
- European Commission, DG Research (2005) Organic Food and Farming Research in Europe . European Commission, Research Directorate General, Brussels
- European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (2012): A decade of EU-funded, low-input and organic agriculture research (2002-2012) . Brussels
- (1999) The Policy and Regulatory Environment for Organic Farming in Europe . Chapter 9: Research. Organic Farming in Europe: Economics and Policy Vol. 1. Universität Hohenheim, Stuttgart - Hohenheim
- Lange, Stefan; Williges, Ute; Saxena, Shilpi and Willer, Helga ( Eds. ) (2006) Research in Organic Food and Farming. Reports on organisation and conduction of research programmes in 11 European countries. Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung (BLE) / Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food BLE, Bonn, Germany.
- Niggli, Urs and Willer, Helga (2001) Stimulating the potential for innovation in organic farming by research . Published in Danish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, (Eds). Organic Food and farming - Towards Partnership and Action in Europe, 10 - 11 May 2001, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 194-199. Danish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Copenhagen
- Slabe, Anamarija (rapporteur) (2004): Consolidated Report on Second seminar on “Organic Food and Farming research in Europe” How to improve trans-national cooperation November 26th 2004 Conference Centre Albert Borschette (CCAB), room 2C. European Commission, Research Directorate General, Brussels
- Zanoli, R., and Krell, R. (Eds.) (1999) : Research methodologies in organic farming. Proceedings . In: REU Technical Series (FAO), no. 58 ; SREN Workshop on Research Methodologies in Organic Farming, 1, Frick (Switzerland), 30 Sep - 3 Oct 1998 / FAO, Rome (Italy). Regional Office for Europe; Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Frick (Switzerland) , 1999 , 177 p.
