News
Call for papers: India Organic Seminar 2008
(26.08.2008) The International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture ICCOA is organizing the fourth India Organic Seminar "Global Organic Agribusiness: India Arrives". The seminar accompanies the India Organic Trade Fair. The Seminar is organized in cooperation with international and national organizations. It will be held at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Dehli, November 27-29, 2008. The call for papers has recently been issued, papers may be submitted until September 30, 2008.
International Seminar on strategies for better health and welfare in beef and dairy cattle in Sweden
(August 20, 2008) On October 15 and 16 the international Seminar 'How are cattle doing? Tomorrow’s strategies for better health and welfare in beef and dairy cattle' will take place in Sigtuna, Sweden. Several acknowledged researchers will give a broad input for the discussion. The seminar is organized by CUL - the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture. Last day for registration is September 15, 2008. More
October 5-9, 2008: Banana and plantain in Africa. International Conference in Mombasa, Kenya
(July 29, 2008) The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA in collaboratio with Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa FARA, BioversityInternational , Kenya Agricultural Research Institute KARI, and International Society of Horticultural Science ISHS is organizing the International Banana Conference, 5-9 October, 2008 in Kenya.
According to the organisers organic agriculture will feature prominently, especially in the context of the European market.
Information is available on www.banana2008.com
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.
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.
International Scientific Conference on Sustainable Farming Systems, in Slovakia in November
(February 1, 2008) The 5th International Scientific Conference on sustainable farming systems ECOMIT which will be held November 5 to 7, 2008 in Pieštany, Slovakia. The aim of the conference is to present and promote research results and experiences in the field of sustainable agriculture with emphasis on soil and climate change. Papers can be submitted until June 30. More
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 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.
