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Report about Science Day 2014 at BIOFACH

On February 14, 2014, the BIOFACH Science Day took place for the second time. Science Day was a joint event of TIPI, TP Organics, ISOFAR (International Society of Organic Agriculture Research), IFOAM, the IFOAM EU Group and organized by FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture).

Photo gallery from Science Day 2014 (for link see below)

Science Day 2014  was opened with a speech from that Andre Leu, president of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). According Leu, the Technology Innovation Platform of IFOAM (TIPI) will help IFOAM bring together and mobilize the organizations working on organic research so that organic agriculture worldwide can expanded and improved. Organic agriculture has been largely ignored by the research community, and he expects TIPI to see a shift from the current situation where billions of dollars are spent on conventional farming to research focused on a truly sustainable ecologically based organic agriculture. Equally important will be the paradigm shift from dogma-based systems to science based systems so that this next phase truly reflects our definition of organic agriculture especially where we combine tradition with innovation and science, said Leu.

The European Technology Platfrom TP Organics organised two successful sessions in the morning of Science Day.

  • The first one was dedicated to the launch of the EIP AGRI dossier of IFOAM EU, TP Organics and ARC2020 (see above).
  • The second session dealt with the revision of TP Organic's Strategic Research Agenda. Farmers, companies and researchers discussed together the top research needs for the coming years. The session was opened by Hans-Joerg Lutzeyer (European Commission, DG Research and Innovation) who illustrated the opportunities for organic food & farming in Horizon 2020. He was followed by Eduardo Cuoco who explained the achievements and future activities of TP Organics and Urs Niggli who gave an inspiring presentation on  research needs of the organic sector. The presentations provided the basis for a lively debate. The outcomes of the workshop will be included in the revised Strategic Research Agenda of TP Organics. This Agenda will be a key document to lobby for more funds for organic oriented research at EU level.

The afternoon sessions of the Science Day were dedicated to the international aspects of organic food and farming research, and the Technology Innoation Platform of IFOAM presented its work on the vision on global organic food and farming research, and key issues were discussed in 4 ensuing working groups.  (For details see separate news item on the Organic-Research.net website).

Science Day was concluded by Sang Mok Sohn, president of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), who thanked all participants for their efforts to make this meeting a successful milestone for the further development of organic agriculture research worldwide. He expects that the valuable approaches and ideas presented during the Science Day will play a valuable role in further enhancing research in organic agriculture.

More information

Contact

  • Eduardo Cuoco, TP Organics, Brussels, Belgium
  • Helga Willer, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Switzerland

Links

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