News archive

(08/02/2010) 

On February 8, 2010, the European Commission officially announced the winner of the EU organic logo competition. Over the past two months, some 130'000 people have voted online to choose the new organic symbol from three finalists.
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(05/02/2010) 

The congress parallel to BioFach and Vivaness from February 17–20, 2010, offers a comprehensive programme of presentations.
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(04/02/2010) 

A Desk for Organic Agriculture has been established in the Ministry of Agriculture. This is reported in the latest Africa Organic News of the IFOAM Africa Office.
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(25/01/2010) 

According to the latest FiBL/IFOAM survey at least 150'000 hectares of organic grapes are grown world-wide (2008) - a 21 percent increase compared with the data from 2007.
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(20/01/2010) 

At the BioFach Congress 2010, the latest figures on organic agriculture world-wide will be presented.
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(13/01/2010) 

The 3rd IFOAM Trade Symposium entitled "Finding the Competitive Advantage, A Challenge in these Uncertain Times" will feature experts in market research and retailers who will explore the impacts of the financial crisis on organic markets and highlight the attitudes of today’s consumers. During the...
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(08/01/2010) 

At the regional collaboration meeting held on November 19, 2009 in Seoul, South Korea, a data collection working group was formed.
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(07/01/2010) 

According to Urs Niggli, Director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and member of the jury, the harsh criticism of the organic stakeholders over the 3 proposed organic logos is not justified.
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(18/12/2009) 

The European Commission has published the call for applications regarding the expert group for technical advice on organic production. The deadline for application is February 2, 2010.
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(10/12/2009) 

Copenhagen Climate Summit: FiBL calls for worldwide promotion of organic farming
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(08/12/2009) 

According to the homepage of the Copenhagen Summit, sustainability is one of the main focal points when it comes to providing adequate and satisfactory catering at the COP15.
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(08/12/2009) 

Over 3400 students from all 27 EU Member States participated in the EU organic logo competition. Out of all of the submissions, the jury made a pre-selection of the best 100 logos in the first judging round. In the following stage, three designs were selected.
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(03/12/2009) 

Agriculture must use fewer inputs and consider climate and biodiversity say experts on the 2nd European Organic Congress in a press release of the IFOAM EU Group. The group presented the new document 'Key demands for a sustainable CAP 2014-2020.'
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(26/11/2009) 

According to new research from the Soil Association at least 3.2 million tonnes of carbon would be taken up by the soil each yearm if all UK farmland was converted to organic farming.
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(20/11/2009) 

The first newsletter of the LowInputBreeds is now available at the LowInputBreeds website.
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(19/11/2009) 

At the BioFach Congress 2010 many presentations, fora, workshops and panel discussions will take place. The programme of the sessions organised by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL ist now available.
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(19/11/2009) 

A Power Point presentation with graphs and explanatory notes on the current status of organic farming world-wide is now available from the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL.
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(13/11/2009) 

According to AMA-Marketing, presently 3 percent of the apples are grown organically in Austria, which is about 4'000 tons. This quantity covers about half the Austrian requirements. Every second organic apple is imported.
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(06/11/2009) 

The European Commission will soon publish a call for applications with a view to appointing members of the expert group for technical advice on organic production and establishing the relevant pool list.
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(06/11/2009) 

The new FAO Glossary on Organic Agriculture contains 401 concepts with synonyms, variants, definitions, remarks and context fields where appropriate. It is is available in English, French and Spanish. The Arabic and Chinese versions are under development.
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(03/11/2009) 

In a recent press release BioFach informs about current market trends. FiBL provided some of the information from the current survey on organic agriculture world-wide.
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(02/11/2009) 

IFOAM EU Group organises its second Organic Congress to bring this time to the attention the potentials of organic production for solving global problems - workshop programmes and registration are now online.
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(28/10/2009) 

The International Coffee Organisation has compiled the latest export data on organic coffee and makes them available at its homepage.
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(23/10/2009) 

The Technology Platform TP Organics has reached major achievements in the first half year 2009 on its way towards a Strategic Research Agenda SRA. The current consultation is running until October 26, 2009.
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(21/10/2009) 

More than 300 participants made their way to El Salvador to the Fourth meeting of the organic sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place from October 12 to 16, 2009.
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(07/10/2009) 

A large-scale project which aims to improve animal health and product quality in European organic and ‘low input’ livestock production systems has just begun.
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(06/10/2009) 

Business people, experts and newcomers to the organic market from Romania, but also Poland, Ukraine, Germany and other countries will meet in Bucharest on 22-23 October 2009 for the first Romanian Organic Marketing Forum.
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(06/10/2009) 

The Conference 'Organic Cooperation and Research in the Mediterranean' is held by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari MAIB on October 14 and 15, 2009, in Bari.
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(05/10/2009) 

In its 2008 Annual Report, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM introduces some of its members and illustrates the federations' impact and activities.
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(05/10/2009) 

The Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture has recently released an extensive report about the current situation of organic farming in Serbia.
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(01/10/2009) 

The IFOAM database on Participatory Guarantee Systems for Organic Agriculture (PGS) intends to help PGS stakeholders and other PGS-interested persons to connect and to provide compiled information to those doing research or wanting to support PGS. IFOAM regularly updates and monitors the...
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(27/09/2009) 

The Autonomous University of Chapingo is organising several seminars for government officials and other representatives of the organic sector, in order to inform about organic farming.
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(25/09/2009) 

The proposed 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 ORCA database is now online.
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(25/09/2009) 

The symposium ’Soil Fertility and Crop Nutrition Management in Mediterranean Organic Agriculture’ takes place from March 23 to 25, 2010, in Sousse, Tunisia. Abstracts must be submitted to the organizers of the symposium no later than 1 January 2010.
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(24/09/2009) 

The government of Pakistan has planned to initiate 'National Programme for the Promotion of Organic Farming in Pakistan', officials told the Daily Times news service.
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(24/09/2009) 

In August 2009, the conference "Forstering healthy food systems through organic agriculture - Focus on the North-Baltic Region" took place in Tartu, Estonia.
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(22/09/2009) 

During the 1st African Organic Conference held in Kampala, Uganda, a one day workshop was held on "Organic Agriculture for Improved Food Security in Africa". The workshop report has now been published.
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(21/09/2009) 

Although the organic sector in Ukraine had been exclusively export oriented, since the beginning of 2009 several Ukrainian products are sold on the domestic market.
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(21/09/2009) 

About 200 participants from 22 countries (the majority in Eastern Europe) came to the second International Conference on the Organic Sector Development in Central/Eastern European and Central Asian Countries. The venue was the Agricultural University of Tbilisi in Georgia.
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(15/09/2009) 

The Kenya organic domestic market is growing fast. A recent study of the Kenya Organic Agriculture Network KOAN, compiled by Samuel Ndungu and Jack Juma, gives an overview of the the national organic market in 2008.
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(15/09/2009) 

According to the latest data, in Italy more than one million hectares are under organic management (December 31, 2008). However, compared with the previous year, there has been a decrease in the organic land area.
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(06/09/2009) 

Trevor Sargent, the Irish Minister for Food and Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, named the members of Forás Orgánach on August 28, 2009. Forás Orgánach is a new body which was established to drive forward the development of the organic sector in Ireland.
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(04/09/2009) 

A recent report informs about the organic production and export potential in the the Republic of South Africa with a focus on the Netherlands.
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(04/09/2009) 

Total sales in the organic sector in 2008 are stated as 5.85 billion Euros compared with the previous 5.3 billion Euros.
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(28/08/2009) 

At the fourth meeting of the organic sector of Latin America and the Caribbean (October 12-16, 2009) a workshop on data collection will be held. It is convened by d the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and CLUSA, one of the conference organisers.
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(20/08/2009) 

Avalon organizes a series of five events aiming at informing and inspiring people about some wider aspects of organic farming.
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(11/08/2009) 

Organic production has grown rapidly in Estonia, one of the reasons being the financial support since 2000. By 2008 organic land (approx. 87'000 hectares) was close to ten percent of all agricultural land in use, with 1245 organic producers. A new broshure informs extensively about the sector.
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(10/08/2009) 

On August 6, 2009, the detailed rules on organic aquaculture animal and seaweed production were published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
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(09/08/2009) 

The next Ecofruit conference takes place in Hohenheim near Stuttgart in Germany. Conference abstracts can be submitted until November 15, 2009.
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(09/08/2009) 

(DAFF) Trevor Sargent, Minister for Food and Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has recently announced a review of the Organic Farming Scheme. The review will look at how available funds are used to best effect to deliver increased organic production and attain the 5...
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(05/08/2009) 

The Symposium will be held at the Lisboa Congress Centre as part of the 28th International Horticulture Congress, a world conference on horticultural sciences. Papers can be sumitted until December 31, 2009.
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(31/07/2009) 

The Worldwatch Institute has prepared an extensive overview article about organic farming world-wide. Some of it is based on the data compiled by FiBL and IFOAM and on other findings of the book 'The World of Organic Agriculture 2009'. Furthermore a lot of current relevant literature is cited.
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(29/07/2009) 

Organic farming has emerged as a sustainable alternative to enhance food security in Zimbabwe as efforts to revive agriculture gather pace.
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(29/07/2009) 

According to recent press release of Green Marketing, Czechs bought most of their organic food in retail chains in 2008.
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(24/07/2009) 

The market for organic food in Finland experienced slow growth for several years but in 2007 it grew by 10 percent, and the latest figures from Nielsen show that in 2008 the market grew by a healthy 19 percent.
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(23/07/2009) 

The third yearbook of organic farming in the Czech Republic was recently published by the Czech Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with the Bioinstitut. It contains a wealth of information including detailed statistical information on the country's organic sector.
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(23/07/2009) 

The final report of the ORWINE project is focussing on recommendations for elaborating rules for organic wine in the EU Regulation on organic production.
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(22/07/2009) 

The North American organic coffee market topped 1.3 billion US Dollars in 2008, making it the single most valuable organic product imported into North America, according to new data released on July 21, 2009, by coffee market analyst Daniele Giovannucci at an event hosted by the Organic Coffee...
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(21/07/2009) 

The fourth Organic Meeting and Organic Producers' Fair of Latin America and the Caribbean will be held during October 12 to 16 2009 in Salinitas, El Salvador.
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(19/07/2009) 

Recently the third edition of the Indian Directory of Organic Stakeholders was published. It lists 867 institutions and companies.
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(16/07/2009) 

Chances and challenges for organic farming in times of climate change, biodiversity loss and global food crisis is the focus of the Second European Organic Congress to be held in Brussels on December 1, 2009.
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(16/07/2009) 

On July 15, 2009, the research Technology Platform ‘TP Organics’ held its annual Stakeholder Forum in Brussels and presented the first draft of its second major publication – the TP Organics Strategic Research Agenda.
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(14/07/2009) 

The 9th European Summer Academy on Organic Farming - Biocademy 2009 - was held on June 24 to 25, 2009, in the premises of the Horticultural Faculty of the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Lednice na Moravě, Czech Republic.
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(12/07/2009) 

The next survey on organic farming worldwide will start mid 2009. As in the previous years, it will be conducted by FiBL and IFOAM.
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(10/07/2009) 

In Austria the number of farms and the organic land increased also in 2008. With 13.8 percent of the country's agricultural land, Austria has the highest share of organic land in the European Union and the second highest in the world.
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(10/07/2009) 

The first Sustainable Foods Summit drew to a successful close at the end of June in Amsterdam, with the organisers and delegates satisfied with the inaugural event. The 2nd Sustainable Foods Summit will take place again in Amsterdam, in June 2010.
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(06/07/2009) 

A completely updated report on the current situation of organic farming in Germany is now available at the homepage of the German Ministry of Agriculture BMLEV.
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(01/07/2009) 

After more than one and a half years of discussion, the Standing Committee on Organic Farming decided at the end of June 2009 on implementing rules on organic aquaculture.
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(29/06/2009) 

Recently the Global Organic Cotton Community Platform was created for active members of the global organic cotton community to share conversations, knowledge and information about organic and fair-trade cotton.
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(29/06/2009) 

On 29 June 2009 the Executive Board of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR signed a publishing agreement with Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Dordrecht, Netherlands.
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(28/06/2009) 

On June 24, 2009, the Government of Canada revealed the new organic logo that will give organic producers access to more markets and make sure Canadian consumers can find more certified organic food products in their grocery stores.
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(23/06/2009) 

The European action plan for organic food and farming recommends, in action 11, establishing an independent expert panel for technical advice. The tasks of this group were recently outlined in a decision of the European Commission.
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(23/06/2009) 

The first African Organic Conference “Fast tracking sustainable development in Africa through harnessing Organic Agriculture and Biotechnology” was held in Kampala, Uganda, from May 17 to 22. The next African Organic Conference will be held in Zambia in 2012.
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(18/06/2009) 

The unit in charge of organic agriculture at Costa Rica's Ministry of Agriculture AROA has recently released the latest figures (2008) on organic agriculture in the country. More than 8000 hectares are under organic management.
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(18/06/2009) 

The '2nd International Conference on the Organic Sector Development in Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asian Countries' will take place in Tbilisi on September 10 and 11, 2009. Papers can be sumitted by June 25, 2009.
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(17/06/2009) 

More than 200 participants participated at the African Organic Conference in May 2009, which focused on evaluating the opportunities for organic agriculture in Africa. The book of abstracts is now available.
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(16/06/2009) 

Findings from the 2009 U.S. Families’ Organic Attitudes and Beliefs Study, show that three in ten U.S. families are actually buying more organic foods compared to a year ago.
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(12/06/2009) 

The economic slowdown is impacting global organic food sales. After reporting high growth rates for over a decade, 2009 could be the first year of single-digit market growth says Organic Monitor in a recent press release.
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(11/06/2009) 

Sales of organic food in France jumped 25 percent last year and more than 60 percent in three years to reach 2.6 billion Euros, according to Agence Bio, the French Organic Food and Farming Agency.
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(08/06/2009) 

Since the late 1990s, U.S. organic production has more than doubled, but the consumer market has grown even faster. This fast-paced growth has led to input and product shortages in organic supply chains, and several new issues are emerging in the organic industry.
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(04/06/2009) 

At a recent meeting, the Ministers for Agriculture of the European Union agreed on a common declaration for the future of the Common Agriculture Policy CAP. The IFOAM EU Group’s response is that serious steps to tackle these challenges must follow in order to make the 2013 reform of the CAP a...
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(03/06/2009) 

On May 11, 2009, Queen Rania of Jordan launched the National Programme for Organic Farming Development, which seeks to replace traditional cultivation methods with organic farming in 2 to 5 percent of the Kingdom's agricultural lands by 2014.
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(30/05/2009) 

At the 21st meeting of the FAO Committee on Agriculture, held April 22-25, 2009 in Rome, a successful side event on "Organic Agriculture, Climate Change and the Environment" took place.
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(28/05/2009) 

The European Union Group of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM, the IFOAM EU Group, has elected a new President and Deputy President and has formed an Executive Board.
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(22/05/2009) 

Uganda earned over 22 million US Dollars in 2008 from organic products exports. The country has over 206'803 organic farmers, and there are 38 exporters.
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(18/05/2009) 

Over three thousand participants have chosen a Brazilian organic logo. Three designs were presented on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Supply.
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(15/05/2009) 

From May 19- 22, 2009, the African Organic Conference, titled 'Fast tracking sustainable development in Africa through harnessing Organic Agriculture and Bio-technology' will take place in Kampala, Uganda. The conference programme is now online.
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(14/05/2009) 

From April 8-12, 2009, the National Federation for Organic Agriculture of Senegal FENAB organized, in collaboration with the FAO, the Fourth Senegalese National and Annual Fair of Organic and Natural Products in Thies.
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(14/05/2009) 

BioFach China will takpe place from May 27 to 2009 in Shangai. A video with details of the halls, presentations of products etc. of BioFach 2008 is available at the BioFach homepage.
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(14/05/2009) 

The 'All Things Organic Conference & Trade Show' provides retail, foodservice and ingredient buyers a shopping resource for new and innovative products. The 2009 All Things Organic™ Conference and Trade Show will take place June 16-18 at the Lakeview Center at McCormick Place in Chicago.
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(08/05/2009) 

On May 5, 2009, US Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced 50 million US Dollars for a new initiative to meet the Obama Administration's promise to encourage more organic agriculture production.
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(06/05/2009) 

Sales of organic products in the USA, both food and non-food, reached 24.6 billion US Dollars by the end of 2008, growing an impressive 17.1 % over 2007 sales despite tough economic times, according to the Organic Trade Association (OTA).
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(04/05/2009) 

For Spain a major growth of organic land is reported for 2008. According to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture there are more than 1.3 million hectares of organic land.
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(01/05/2009) 

The recently published study 'Organic Aquaculture 2009 – Production and Markets' looks back at the development of organic aquaculture production and identifies and describes important issues with regard to standards and laws. The study was published by Naturland and Organic Services.
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(01/05/2009) 

The European Union (EU) is looking for a new logo for organic products. Young artists or designers can enter the logo competition and send their creations until June 25, 2009. The competition is organised by the European Commission.
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(29/04/2009) 

In Argentina the organic agricultural land increased by 36 percent in 2008, and it is now more than 4 million hectares. Production of crops for export increased by 14 percent; 135'634 tons were produced.
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(29/04/2009) 

Recently in Hungary a Technology Platform for organic farming was founded. The inaugural meeting took place in April 2009.
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(26/04/2009) 

Biologica, the organic sector organisation in The Netherlands, recently presented the figures for organic farming for 2008. The area under organic management is now 50’435 hectares and has thus grown by 7.3 percent compared to 2007.
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(25/04/2009) 

In Denmark the organically managed land went up by 10 percent during 2008. Currently more than 160'000 hectares or six percent of the country's agricultural land are organic.
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(25/04/2009) 

Italy's organic market continues to grow. In 2008, the Italians spent 5.4 percent more on organic products compared to the previous year. The growth, which must partly be attributed to higher prices, was however slower than in 2007, when the organic market grew by 10.2 percent.

In total, retail...
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(23/04/2009) 

In order to strengthen the African organic network and ensure its sustainability, IFOAM is organizing a two day fundraising training for representatives of the African movements in conjunction with the African Organic Conference to be held from May 19-22, 2009, in Kampala, Uganda.The training is...
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(23/04/2009) 

The recently published leaflet 'EU environment related indicators 2009' presents 10 environment-related indicators that highlight environmental trends, including organic farming.
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(17/04/2009) 

The BioFach Newsletter reports in its latest edition, that an organic cotton project was started in Kyrgyzstan six years ago after conventional cotton production had severely damaged the Aral Sea.
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(16/04/2009) 

The turnover with organic food in the Czech Republic grew by 40 percent in 2008 and reached 1.8 billion Czech Crowns or 68 million Euros. Czech consumers thus spent more than 0.5 billion Czech Crowns more than in 2007, Green Marketing reports.
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(10/04/2009) 

Global retail sales of organic cotton apparel and home textile products reached an estimated $3.2 billion in 2008, according to the Organic Cotton Market Report 2007-2008 released by the non-profit organization Organic Exchange on March 31, 2009.
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(08/04/2009) 

The 2009 market report for the UK has now been released by the Soil Association, showing that UK sales of organic products increased overall by 1.7% in 2008 to over £2.1 billion growing strongly in the first six to nine months and then falling back in the face of the economic downturn in late 2008...
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(08/04/2009) 

The Integrated Project 'Improving quality and safety and reduction of costs in the European organic and low input supply chains' QLIF was funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. A synthesis of the main results is now available.
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(07/04/2009) 

In Austria, the turnover with organic food increased by more than six percent in 2008, according to FiBL, Agricultura and Bio Austria.
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(03/04/2009) 

The first BioFach India now takes place together with IOTF, the India Organic Trade Fair, in the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, from 18-20 November 2009.
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(26/03/2009) 

On March 24, 2009, the Swiss organic umbrella organisation Bio Suisse presented the latest figures on organic farming in Switzerland (end 2008). According to these figures, the Swiss organic market grew strongly in 2008 – by 11.2 %. The number of farms remained constant and is currently at 11.9%.
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(22/03/2009) 

For almost 10 years Bulgarian and foreign organic products have been offered on the Bulgarian market. The turnover with organic products in Bulgaria is estimated at 4 million Euros in 2008.
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(21/03/2009) 

International European Meeting on Processing and Trade of Organic Food, Non Food and Organic Raw Materials in Warsaw
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(17/03/2009) 

For the second time at Biofach all the 35 African stands were grouped together under “Organic Africa”, comprising 120 exhibitors who displayed their products .
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(17/03/2009) 

After a three-month worldwide search and review of dozens of qualified applicants, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM selected Markus Arbenz, currently of Bio Suisse, to serve as its next executive director.
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(15/03/2009) 

India is bestowed with lot of potential to produce all varieties of organic products due to its various agro climatic regions. The market is growing steadily - both the domestic as well as the export market. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority APEDA informs...
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(15/03/2009) 

African agricultural productivity, under threat following years of declining investment, policy shortcomings, and cheap food exports from other regions, could be restored through organic agriculture, UNCTAD says in a policy brief of February 9, 2009.
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(06/03/2009) 

According to the BioFach Newsletter of March 6, 2009, of the 1.1 million hectares of agricultural land in the Falkland Islands, approximately 40 % is certified as in-conversion organic, following the Islands' government's interest in organic agriculture. There is a process for obtaining organic...
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(05/03/2009) 

The German Central Market and Price Reporting Bureau (ZMP) has compiled a number of graphs on organic agriculture in Europe (in German). The graphs show the importance of certain crops grown in the countries of Europe as well as market volume and market share in the leading countries.

Graphs
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(04/03/2009) 

At BioFach 2009 several sessions related to organic agriculture and the organic market in Europe and globally took place.

The presentations from the sessions 'The World of Organic Agriculture' and 'The European Market for Organic Food and Drink' are now available at this site....
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(03/03/2009) 

According to recent report at the Fresh Plaza homepage, Turkey with its experience in farming practices, different climatic conditions and rich biodiversity possesses a high potential for organic agriculture.
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(01/03/2009) 

The tables as presented in 'The World of Organic Agriculture 2009' and additional data are now available at this site as well as a power point presentation with the key graphs.
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(26/02/2009) 

According to a new USDA GAIN Report released February 2009, the organic market in China has been growing at an annual double digit rate over the past decade. The early stage of organic farming in China was initiated by the demand from foreign countries. In 2005, the Chinese government issued...
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(25/02/2009) 

According to the German Federation of the Organic Food Industry BOELW, the organic area increased to more than 900'000 hectares in 2008. This constitutes an increase of 5.3 %.  The number of farms is 19'824, an increase of 6 %. 

According to first estimates the organic market value...
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(24/02/2009) 

Organic agriculture is developing rapidly, and statistical information is now available from 141 countries of the world. Its share of agricultural land and farms continues to grow in many countries.

For more information see the key results.
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(19/02/2009) 

On February 19, 2009, the IFOAM EU Group launched its dossier on the new organic regulation. The dossier was published by the IFOAM EU Group as a very first stakeholder attempt to give a assessment of the regulation and its implications for the organic sector in Europe.
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(18/02/2009) 

The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) will present the latest statistics about organic agriculture worldwide at BioFach 2009. The results of the study titled ‘The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and...
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(18/02/2009) 

The 10th edition of 'The World of Organic Agriculture' documents recent developments in global organic agriculture.

It includes contributions from representatives of the organic sector from throughout the world and provides comprehensive organic farming statistics that cover surface area under...
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(23/01/2009) 

The annual report 2007 of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) informs extensively about the activities of the Federation - for instance the conferences held in 2007, the Organic Guarantee System or membership developments.The report as well as the previous annual...
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(08/12/2008) 

The Second Round Table of the Eastern European countries ‘Organic Agriculture and Legal Framework’ was conducted in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 5 and 6, 2008. Participants of the public and private sector from eleven countries discussed the opportunities of organic agriculture.
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(04/12/2008) 

Recently the Italian Network for Research in Organic Farming was founded as a platform for researchers and stakeholders. Several thematic working groups cover topics like biodiversity, energy, plant protection, quality, agricultural techniques and organic animal production.
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(02/12/2008) 

On December 2, 2008, the technology Platform TP Organics was launched. TP ‘‘Organics’ is a platform for organic food and farming research which joins the efforts of industry and civil society in defining organic research priorities and defending them vis-à-vis the policy-makers.
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(16/11/2008) 

The partners of the European project ORGAP (Development of criteria and procedures for the evaluation of the EU Action Plan for Organic Agriculture) have recently compiled a list with the quantitative targets of action plans in the European Union.
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(08/10/2008) 

The International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalency in Organic Agriculture ITF concluded its work on October 7, 2008, with the launch of two practical tools intended to ease trade in organic agricultural products: the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies IROCB...
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(29/09/2008) 

On September 1, 2008, the Israeli law for the regulation of organic produce came into force. The law and regulations were elaborated in a cooperation between the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, the Israeli Bio Organic Agricultural Association (I. B.O.A.A), growers and other...
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(29/09/2008) 

On September 1, 2008, the European research project CERTCOST - Economic analysis of certification systems for organic food and farming - started.
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(28/09/2008) 

Organic agriculture can be good for food security in Africa, says a study launched in Geneva on September 28, 2008, by a joint UNCTAD-UNEP task force.
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(18/09/2008) 

The implementing rules for the new regulation on organic production were published in the Official Journal L 250 of September 18, 2008.
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(26/07/2008) 

The European Commission launched the European Union's new Organic Farming Campaign on July 26, 2008, at the Foire de Libramont agricultural fair in Belgium.
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(24/07/2008) 

The Organic.Edunet questionnaire on educational needs in the area of organic farming and agro-ecology has been online since the beginning of March 2008.
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(09/07/2008) 

The European research project Evaluation of the European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming ORGAP has now published the 'Organic Action Plan Evaluation Toolbox' ORGAPET as well as a manual.
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(01/07/2008) 

From 18 to 20 June 2008 the second conference of the International Society of Agriculture Research ISOFAR was held in Modena, Italy, in conjunction with the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress. The proceedings, which are now available in the FiBL shop (PDF and hardcopy) contain 380 papers related to...
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(20/06/2008) 

At the occasion of the 16th Organic World Congress of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, the Mediterranean Organic Agriculture Network MOAN presented the publication 'Organic Farming Policy in South-East Mediterranean and Western Balkans. Approaches and Measures in...
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(16/06/2008) 

From June 16 to 20, 2008, the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress, including pre-conferences, took place in Modena, Italy. The Congress had more than 1'700 participants.
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(12/06/2008) 

ICROFS, the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems was established by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries on June 1st 2008. It is a centre without walls - the research is performed in interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups in different...
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(10/06/2008) 

Scientists from EU’s largest organic research project, QLIF, are ready to present their results on how to improve quality, ensure safety and reduce costs of food from organic and low-input food supply chains.
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(09/06/2008) 

According to the EU Regulation on organic farming, European Union Member States must ensure that a database is established in which organic seed and seed potatoes can be registered. Recently, the Bulgarian Government decided to adopt the organic seeds database www.organicXseeds.com.
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(09/06/2008) 

Organic farming in Belgium has continued to grow substantially in 2007. The organic area increased from almost 29'000 ha to more than 33'000 ha, constituting an increase of 15 %.
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(07/06/2008) 

www.bioaktuell.ch, the recently launched platform with technical information for Swiss organic farmers, is now also available in French.
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(27/05/2008) 

On April 30, 2008, an organic action plan was launched in Ireland. Speaking at the launch Minister Sargent said that he was committed to achieving the very necessary development of the organic sector in Ireland.
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(28/04/2008) 

The organically managed area continues to grow in Austria but the current demand for organic products cannot be met. Therefore a new action plan for organic food and farming 2008-2010 was recently launched. Austria aims to remain the EU's number one country in terms of share of the organic area (16...
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(12/04/2008) 

From April 10 to 12, 2008, 228 participants from 25 countries came together for the ‘International Conference on the organic sector development in Central/Eastern European and Central Asian countries’ to discuss concepts, opportunities and strategies for developing organic food and farming systems...
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(18/03/2008) 

The 2007 yearbook on organic farming in the Czech Republic has now been published by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic in cooperation with Bioinstitut. The yearbook is available in English and in Czech.
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