Handen ineen om biologische productie te stimuleren (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Directoraat-generaal Onderzoek en Innovatie (RTD) i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 4 juli 2012.

Organic food production is a potential solution for a number of the challenges facing the development of agriculture and rural areas across Europe. This type of low-intensity farming can help reduce environmental pressures, support local ecosystems while improving food quality and animal welfare. It also has a role in maintaining livelihoods in rural areas and has an impact on climate change adaptation.

While the organic food sector has been expanding successfully in recent years there is however still great potential for innovation and research has an important role to play.

It is widely recognised that to make maximum use of this potential in organic farming a comprehensive multi-country research effort is needed in Europe and this has been the focus of a network of research bodies brought together under the CORE Organic II project. Coordinated transnational research can ensure that the research in this fast growing sector is not fragmented across national borders and is more focused on agreed strategic areas.

The three-year CORE Organic II project commenced in 2010 as a European transnational research cooperation project. Its aim is to support the science to help develop the organic production while delivering societal goods and allow the sector to better meet the demand for organic food and products. It also aims to promote sustainable development in food production and improve the general competitiveness of European agriculture.

The project brings together 26 partners from 21 European countries that are collaborating to provide transnational funding for a series of research projects of common interest. The partners recognised that undertaking such research on a coordinated transnational basis will increase the effectiveness of organic research funding and improve the impact of research in this area.

CORE Organic II builds on the experience and outcomes of the first CORE Organic project which ran from 2004 to 2007. Under this project eight transnationally funded research projects were launched covering topics ranging from the quality of organic wheat, to animal health and welfare, safety in organic products and tools to prevent disease in organic pig herds.

This work has been continued under CORE Organic II and in the first phase eleven new research projects have been launched since September 2011. These projects are structured around the three thematic research areas:

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    Designing robust and productive cropping systems at field, farm and landscape level;
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    Ensuring quality and safety of organic food along the whole chain;
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    Robust and competitive production systems for pigs, poultry and fish.

A second series of research projects is currently being evaluated for possible transnational funding focused on the research areas of plant breeding and the organic market. A test call has recently been published using the real common pot funding model and involving six countries. The research area is management of phosphorus and use of secondary fertilizers.

CORE Organic II is coordinated by International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS), which is responsible for maintaining communications among the project partners, researchers and other participants.

"The aim of CORE Organic II is to continue building organic farming and organic food systems on a Europe-wide basis by strengthening and widening the network of researchers. We are focusing not only on scientific quality but also on the relevance and potential of the results for the sector," commented project coordinator Ulla Bertelsen from ICROFS.

"It is also important that the research topics we select for the CORE Organic calls are highly prioritized throughout Europe, that way not only the countries paying for the research can benefit from the results - but all of us."

Project details

Participants: Denmark (Coordinator), France, Czech Republic, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania

FP7 Proj. N° 249667

Total costs: € 1 607 082

EU contribution: € 999 976

Duration: March 2010 - February 2013