ISOFAR - News
Oct 9 to 13, 2013
4th International Conference on Organic Agriculture Sciences (ICOAS)
'Targeting Global Sustainability - Food Security, Biodiversity and Climate Change'
in Budapest and Eger, Hungary
Aug 21 to 23, 2013
NJF seminar 461, Organic farming systems, as a driver for change
Jun 5 to 7, 2013
2nd International Conference on Organic Food Quality and Health Research in Warsaw, Poland
May 14 to 16, 2013
ISOFAR / MOAN Symposium in Sousse, Tunisia
Crop Protection Management in Mediterranean Organic Agriculture
> Call for Abstracts BackgroundOrganic Agriculture has experienced a rapid expansion in recent years, with continued growth globally and in the Mediterranean region, where it offers sustainable development opportunities and initiatives.
Organic Farming aims for an efficient crop protection as a key indicator of sustainability which depends on the optimal integration and adaptation of the various system components.
Pests, diseases and weeds may become serious threats by causing great damages to the crops if appropriate control measures are not taken. The crop protection management is a critical issue in Organic Farming and is considered as one of the most challenging tasks that organic farmers are facing.
Given the specific conditions of arid and semi-arid regions and the production of more than one crop per year, the management of pest control in Mediterranean countries has to meet the specific conditions of the crops and improve crop protection over a longer period of time compared with conventional systems.
more informationsMar 5 to 8, 2013
Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture (in German language) in Bonn, Germany
mehr zur Wissenschaftstagung Ökologischer Landbau
Feb 15, 2013
Technology Innovation Platform of IFOAM (TIPI)
at the 'Science Day' of Biofach, Nuremberg, Germany
Oct 13 to 15, 2014
14th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Istanbul, Turkey
First announcement of the 14th OWC 'Building Organic Bridges' in Istanbul, the scientific track of which will be organised by ISOFAR, strategic partner of IFOAM. You are invited to submit papers for the following sections:
- Bridge knowledge and practice
- Bridge poor and rich
- Bridge gender and age
- Bridge old and new technology
- Miscellaneous
2nd ISOFAR International Symposium on Asian Organic Agriculture, 17th September 2012, Dankook University, South Korea
This 2nd ISOFAR international symposium in Korea will concentrate on Organic Agriculture. 8 keynote speakers were invited to deliver the speech. Topics will relate to a wide range of agronomic and animal production including organic seed, crop rotation, weeding management, bio-diversity, animal husbandry, digesting organic waste, OA and local development.- Production of organic seed and seedlings, Mohamed Ben Kheder, Tunisia
- Soil test and optimum fertilization strategy, Sang Mok Sohn, Korea
- Crop rotation and legume, Ulrich Koepke, Germany
- Agroecological weed management for organic farmer , Laszlo Radics, Hungary
- Impact of research in organic agriculture ᅵ an example from 15 years of research in Denmark, Ilse Rasmussen, Denmark
- Digesting organic waste for energy production and nutrient recycling ᅵ impacts on soil biology and fertility, Anne-Kristin Loes, Norway
- Bio-diversity and organic agriculture, Ulrich Koepke, Germany
- Organic agriculture and local development - A case study in Boshan County/Shandong/China, Wu Wenliang, Chianᅵ
- Future challenges in future organic animal husbandry practice and science need more efforts, Gerold Rahmann, Germany
Venue
The symposium is organised in the International Conference Hall of Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.
Contacts
For specific questions please contact Prof. Dr. Sang Mok Sohn. ____________________________________________________2nd IFOAM/ISOFAR International Conference
on Organic Animal Husbandry
"Tackling the Future
Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry" ,
September 12-14, 2012
Hamburg, Germany
This conference will concentrate on health and food safety in organic livestock production systems, marketing trends, innovation in organic livestock production systems and livestock breeding strategies. Key figures from around the world will present the diversity of organic livestock systems, including opportunities and challenges on the horizon. Topics will relate to a wide range of livestock species: cattle, poultry, pigs, small ruminants, fish, bees, rabbits, horses and others..... FLYER and Conference Website
3rd ISOFAR Scientific Conference in the frame of the
17th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Gyeonggi Paldang, Republic of Korea
28 September - 1 October 2011
More than 800 people from over 70 countries have participated in the IFOAM Organic World Congress in Korea (http://www.kowc2011.org),which included the Third Scientific Conference of ISOFAR. The proceedings of the ISOFAR Conference will be available in PDF form on the internal website for ISOFAR members in due time. During the event the General Assembly of ISOFAR came together and elected a new Board (http://www.isofar.org/about/board-e-board.html). The minutes of the GA will be available in due time on the internal website for ISOFAR members.

Research Media Portal: Interview with Prof. U. Köpke
Interview on Research Media - Portal for Scientific Dissemination with, Dr Ulrich Köpke, President of ISOFAR, presents a fascinating insight into the Society’s activities supporting researchers working in the field of Organic Agriculture and looks ahead to future challenges.
Advanced CEO Course for Organic Agriculture in Dankook University /Korea
Since March 2004, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (RIOA) of Dankook University offers an Advanced CEO course of Organic Agriculture in cooperation with ISOFAR. It is designed to teach farmers, extension workers, inspectors and consultants about Organic Agriculture from the principles to updated techniques including crop production, animal production, food processing, certification, eco-tourism and biogas.
Contact:
Sohn, Prof. Dr. Sang Mok
Dankook UniversityResearch Institute of Organic Agriculture
29 Anseo-dong
330-714 Cheonan, Republic of Korea
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Advanced Organic CEO Course of Organic Agriculture was offered by RIOA in Dankook University / Korea in cooper-ation with ISOFAR since March 2004 |
Abroad excursion for Organic Agriculture was carried out by RIOA / Dankook University regulary to visit European organic institutions and industry |
International Symposium on Organic Aquaculture was held in Korea in November 2010
In cooperation with ISOFAR, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (RIOA) of Dankook University hosted an International Symposium on Organic Aquaculture on November 15, 2010 in Cheonan / Korea. Over 240 participants attended to the lectures of four invited speakers from Israel, India, Thailand & Korea. The feedback of the participants from the Korean fish industry was very positive since they expect the event to contribute to the establishment of Korean organic aquaculture. Korea has not yet implemented organic aquaculture, but after the symposium fish producers intend to pay more attention to new opportunities on organic shrimps, salmon, trout and algae especially.
Organic Research Centres Alliance (ORCA)
The Organic Research Centres Alliance (ORCA) intends to internationally network and strengthen existing institutions with scientific credentials and empower them to become centers of excellence in transdisciplinary organic agriculture research. The objective is to ensure that environmental, economic, and social benefits accruing from organic research are shared worldwide. ...More
Review of the ISOFAR /MOAN Symposium, March 23 - 25, 2010 in Sousse (Tunisia)
Organic Agriculture has experienced a rapid expansion in recent years, with continued growth globally and in the Mediterranean region, where it offers sustainable development opportunities and initiatives. Organic Farming aims for closed nutrient cycles. Soil quality is a key indicator of sustainability in land management. Given the specific conditions of arid and semi-arid regions and the production of more than one crop per year, the management of soil fertility in Mediterranean countries is a critical issue in Organic Farming. ...REPORT
Here you can download selected oral presentations of the Symposium held in Sousse:
- J.Raupp, Agri-science.org; Scientific Services for Research and Education, Germany: "Long-term experiments can advise us of soil organic matter management, crop yield development and carbon sequestration"
- K. Azim, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Agadir, Morocco: "Fertilizing and nematicidal effect of argan, castor and neem cake on organic cucurbits (curcumber and melon) grown under greenhouse ion souss region (southwestern of Morocco)"
- El-Shokary, M., Mediterranean Agronomical Institute of Bari, Italy:"Evaluation of pre-crops and fertilization on soil properties and crop growth and productivity"
- K. Gargouria, Institut de l’olivier, Sfax,Tunisia: "Spatial distribution of soil organic matter content and organic matter mineralization in an olive orchard
The Book of abstracts is available here.
New books
Organic Crop Breeding
by Edith Lammerts van Bueren and James R. Myers,
ISBN 978-0-470-95858-2, Hardcover, 312 pages, € 114, Wiley-Blackwell 2012
Organic Crop Breeding will provide readers with a thorough review of the latest efforts by crop breeders and geneticists to develop improved varieties for organic production. The book opens with chapters looking at breeding efforts that focus on specific valuable traits such as quality, pest and disease resistance as well as the impacts improved breeding efforts can have on organic production. The second part of the book is a series of crop specific case studies that look at breeding efforts currently underway from around the world in crops ranging from carrots to corn. Organic Crop Breeding includes chapters from leading researchers in the field and is edited by two pioneers in the field.
Organic Crop Breeding will provide valuable insight for crop breeders, geneticist, crop science professionals, researchers, and advanced students in this quickly emerging field.
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Organic Agriculture in English and Russian language
'Organic agriculture' edited by Bořivoj Šarapatka, Jiří Urban ... Info in English or Russian

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New book organic food safety and quality
(January 24, 2008) Due to increasing consumer demand for safe, high quality, ethical foods, the production and consumption of organic food and produce has increased rapidly over the past two decades. In recent years the safety and quality of organic foods has been questioned. If consumer confidence and demand in the industry is to remain high, the safety, quality and health benefits of organic foods must be assured. The new Handbook of organic food safety and quality provides a comprehensive review of the latest research in the area.
The Handbook of organic food safety and quality issued in 2007 provides a comprehensive review of the latest research in the area.
- Handbook of organic food safety and quality. Edited by J Cooper, C Leifert and U Niggli. Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge. More
First African Organic Conference 2009 (May 19-22, 2009), Kampala, Uganda
More than 200 participants from all over the world have participated in the congress, which was focused on evaluating the opportunities for Organic Agriculture in Africa.
Selected presentation can be downloaded here:
- U.Köpke, Institute of Organic Agriculture: Research in Organic Agriculture:essential for successful system management and technological evolution
- M. K. Muwanga, National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda: Impact of PGS, Farm Adoption of ICS and Group Marketing on Household Income
- N. Halberg & L. Andreasen, International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems: Challenges in meeting European consumer demands for organic products from Africa
- G. Rahmann,
von Thünen-Institute, Trenthorst, Germany:Organic farming in Africa–between global food markets and food sovereignty–
- M. Schneider, FiBL: Long-term farming systems comparisons in the tropics:First results from Kenya
- Ssekyewa C. & Muwanga M. K.: Biotechnology in Organic Agriculture in Africa: a myth or an oversight?
- P. Van Damme: Indigenous biodiversity as a potential source of crops for future satisfaction of consumer demand
- D. Neuhoff, University of Bonn & M. Tadesse, Ambo Plant Protection ResearchCenter: Potential and research needs for home made bio-pesticides for African Organic Agriculture
- B. van Elzakker, Louis Bolk Institute: Post harvest handling and export market quality issues for organic products in Africa
- The Book of abstracts is available here.

Other events
1st International Workshop GRAB-IT 2012, ANCONA, May 10-11, 2012
The general theme of the 1st International workshop GRAB-IT is “Organic farming: a sustainable model for the transition in the Mediterranean”. The Mediterranean region is living an epochal transition, not only in political and civil rights fields but also from the environmental point of view, with deep implications for main themes like climate change and energy balance. .....More
National Platform of Organic Farming in Hungary
A National Platform of Organic Farming has recently been established in Hungary.
QualityLowInputFood - The Integrated Project QualityLowInputFood ended in April 2009.
The project aims were to improve quality, ensure safety and reduce cost along the organic and "low input" food supply chains through research, dissemination and training activities.
New ISOFAR Board elected in Modena
(July 7, 2008) A new ISOFAR Board was elected June 21, 2008 at the ISOFAR general assembly in Modena, Italy. The Board consists of twelve members. The Executive Board has three members: Professor Dr. Ulrich Köpke (President), Dr. Niels Halberg (Vicepresident) and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hamm (Treasurer). More
Proceedings of the second ISOFAR Conference
(July 1, 2008) From 18 to 20 June 2008 the second conference of the International Society of Agriculture Research was held in Modena, Italy, in conjunction with the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress OWC . The proceedings, which are now available in the FiBL shop (PDF/hardcopy) contain 380 papers related to all aspects of organic farming.
The first volume deals mainly with various aspects of organic crop production, which traditionally represent the largest share of all papers submitted to conferences on organic agriculture.
The second volume gives insights into the increasing research activities on animal husbandry, socio-economics, interdisciplinary research projects. Furthermore it contains the papers for the five workshops of the Integrated project Quality Low Input Food which was held as part of the ISOFAR conference.
International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems
(June 10, 2008) The International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS) is a newly established centre without walls funded by the Danish Ministry of Food and Agriculture. ICROFS has the objective of supporting the production and use of organic food through research. The centre initiates, supports and coordinates research of high quality in Denmark, Europe and internationally by involving researchers from a large number of universities and research institutions. The centre builds on the 10 years of experience of DARCOF (www.darcof.dk) but will have an international mandate and board with members from Africa, Asia, America and Europe.
First Volume of the ISOFAR Scientific Series published: Long Term Field Experiments in Organic Farming
(May 18, 2006) The first volume of the ISOFAR Scientific Series has now been published. This book series presents the results of organic farming research carried out by members of the ISOFAR working group on long term field expperiments (LTE).
The volume "Long Term Field Experiments in Organic Farming" contains a selection of 12 long-term experiments conducted under different site conditions in Germany, the USA, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Israel. Each experiment has a unique concept and scientific approach. But their common objective is to investigate characteristics of Organic Agriculture regarding key parameters of soil fertility, crop yield and quality.
Proceedings of the first EUCARPIA symposium on Organic Plant Breeding now available
(February 8, 2008) The first EUCARPIA symposium on Organic Plant Breeding - Plant breeding for organic and sustainable, low-input agriculture: dealing with genotype-environment interactions - took place in Wageningen in November 2007. EUCARPIA is the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding. The event was organised in cooperation with Cost Action 860 (COST860 - Sustainable low-input cereal production: required varietal characteristics and crop diversity, SUSVAR), the European Consortium of Ecological Plant Breeding ECOPB, ISOFAR and the the Graduate School Production Ecology & Resource Conservation and Wageningen University.
The proceedings are now available at the Organic Eprints archive.



