ecologynr 2 // May 2012 farmingAND Education TRAINING AND EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES IN ORGANIC FARMING - AROUND THE WORLD Organic Agriculture B.V. Organic Raw Materials – The Safer Choice Consumers expect a lot from Organic products: Over the years Tradin has initiated a number of own projects. health, safety, well-being and environmental friendliness. These projects are the backbone of Tradin’s trade activities: • Sesame and Green Coffee from Ethiopia. Food producers therefore need appropriate organic raw • Frozen Fruit from Serbia and Bulgaria. materials and Tradin Organic Agriculture BV provides these: • Original Basmati Rice from Pakistan. certifi ed, controlled, analysed organic raw materials. • Vietnam’s Cashews, Pineapples and Passion fruit. A wide range of products is being imported from over • The Seeds and Pulses from China. 36 countries all over the world, coming from well • Iranian Raisins. established packers and processors: • Coconut Oil from Indonesia. Dried Fruits and Nuts / Seeds, Pulses and Grains / • Cocoa and Banana Chips from the Philippines. Cocoa products / Juices, Purees and Concentrates / • Orange Juice and Pink Grapefruit Juice from Mexico. Sweeteners / Fats and Oils / Frozen Fruit and more. These projects do not only supply safer raw materials, but From the cultivation, to the harvesting and further also they are exemplary and have a positive spill-off effect processing or refi ning Tradin is present. We can organize, in their regions. Beyond the organic agricultural techniques, control and manage all part of our supply chain, allowing sustainability, CO2 footprint, and Fair Trade concerns are at us to meet the expectations of our customers. Therefore, our top priority, all these characteristics have been embraced we can provide a full traceability report to each of our into our daily operations to provide the best possible social customers for each products. organic products with the smallest environmental impact. Tradin BV – Your source for organic raw materials Cocoa project Philippines Project Vietnam Fruit project Orange project Mexico Serbia Sesame project Ethiopia More projects in China, Iran, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Pakistan... bringing well-being to life www.tradinorganic.com [email protected] MAY 2012 // NR 2 Table of Con tents EDUCATION 39 ENOAS 8 Fascinating organic Network of Organic Agriculture careers Students By Urs Niggli By Andrzej Szeremeta 10 Training and Education 40 The French training ECONOMY & MARKET Farmers and consultants learn network for organic 16 The growth of jobs in from practice farming the organic sector By Conrad Thimm How to train the trainers and Calculating organic employment teachers? By Peter Brul 20 WWOOF By Patrick Sivardière Linking organic famers and ORGANIC & HEALTH volunteers 44 IFOAM Academy 22 What is health? By Amanda Pearson By Konrad Hauptfleisch Changing scientific ideas about how to define health 27 Young Organics 46 Hohenheim University By Machteld Huber By Julia Lernoud Studying organic agriculture and food systems at the University of 24 School meals 28 Master of organic Hohenheim, Germany How to increase organic food agriculture By Sabine Zikeli consumption in schools By Cor Langeveld, Walter Rossing By Melanie Lukas, Anne-Kristin & Anja Kuipers 48 E-Train Løes, Benjamin Nölting & Carola Online training for organic Strassner 31 E-Learning for inspectors and consultants organic retail By Florentine Meinshausen STANDARDS & By Ulrich Diermann CERTIFICATION 34 Compiled by the 32 Study organic agriculture Organic Standard in English, Spanish or Standards, certification and Portuguese legislation An overview of available organic courses COMPANY PROFILE By Peter Brul EVENTS 42 Do-it 13 The road to Rio Portrait of an organic trade 36 Organic training in ‘The future belongs to the company Switzerland organized’! By Peter Brul As diverse as organic farming itself By Robert Jordan By Robert Obrist AND MORE.... Editorial 5 News 6 Calendar 50 School meals Trust in Quality. Save time - combine our certification services . organic (EC, NOP, JAS, private labels) . fair trade & social accountability . natural textiles . fisheries & aquaculture World- . forestry, timber & paper . wild collection . cosmetics . good practices & food safety . off-farm inputs verification wide. traceability & analysis With innovations one step ahead We build bridges between regional suppliers . Fair For Life - Fair Trade & Social Responsibility . and discerning consumers across ConCert - IMO Import Safety Services . AquaGAP - Sustainable Aquaculture many languages, cultures and expectations. GOTS Positive List System . FairWild - Harvest & trade of wild plants . E-Train Online Training Platform A highly experienced international body for quality assurance of sustainable products. www.imo.ch IMO Head Office Weststrasse 51 CH – 8570 Weinfelden Switzerland Phone: +41 (0) 71 626 0 626 Fax: +41 (0) 71 626 0 623 [email protected] EDITORIAL Trust Denise Godinho Peter Brul in Keep on learning! Results in organic agriculture like high yields, A recent large meta-study showed that, on aver- low economic and environmental costs, high age, crop yields on organic farms are 80 % of Quality. product quality and improved soil fertility conventional yields. Where organic agriculture is can be good, but this is not always the case. combined with good agricultural practices, the Farmers, and others working in the organic results are good. My experience as a consultant Save time - combine our certification services industry, where ever they live, should always and trainer in organic projects in many countries . organic (EC, NOP, JAS, private labels) be focussed on how to improve their work. is that the organic production itself can be much . fair trade & social accountability Farming, which involves producing food and better than before or the neighbours’, due to . natural textiles maintaining soil fertility and the landscape, is training and information exchange. Nowadays . fisheries & aquaculture a big responsibility for everybody involved. there are around ten million people working in World- . forestry, timber & paper Worldwide, people are moving to the city and the organic industry. Organic agriculture has . wild collection away from agriculture. There are less people been expanding over the years and has had a . cosmetics on the land to produce food for the rest of the huge impact on thinking about agriculture and . good practices & food safety population. These farmers have to produce environment, the use of agro-chemicals, the . off-farm inputs verification more, and at a better quality, often for lower need to maintain soil fertility and communicati- . traceability & analysis prices. Organic producers aim to farm in a way ons between farmers and consumers. But good wide. that it is sustainable, in balance with nature and education in organic agriculture is needed to With innovations one step ahead results in produce that meets quality market continue this progress. This applies to profes- We build bridges between regional suppliers . Fair For Life - Fair Trade & Social Responsibility criteria. The successful farmers are learning sionals, already working in the business, and . farmers. Through networks of learning groups, to newcomers, students, young farmers and and discerning consumers across ConCert - IMO Import Safety Services . AquaGAP - Sustainable Aquaculture together with researchers and consultants, they others. This issue of Ecology & Farming is many languages, cultures and expectations. GOTS Positive List System try to gain more knowledge, improve their work about education and training in organic agricul- . FairWild - Harvest & trade of wild plants and introduce innovations. The same is true for ture. It is the first attempt we know of to provide . E-Train Online Training Platform people involved in processing, marketing, cer- an overview. We hope to get a lot of reactions, tification, research and training. As in all other and we will update our readers on these on businesses, you have to improve your work, our website and in the magazine. The organic otherwise your business (or your farm) will not industry should be an attractive field for young A highly experienced international body be sustainable in the long run. Organic farming people who are looking for an interesting and is by definition farming in progress, it is a pro- meaningful job. And there will be plenty of new for quality assurance of sustainable products. cess of development. jobs in the organic sector in the coming years. Peter Brul www.imo.ch ECOLOGY & FARMING | 2-2012 5 IMO Head Office Weststrasse 51 CH – 8570 Weinfelden Switzerland Phone: +41 (0) 71 626 0 626 Fax: +41 (0) 71 626 0 623 [email protected] experts. In many cases however, especially in tro- // NEW meta STUDY ON ORGANIC VS. pical countries and in areas where it is not usual CONVENTIONAL Agriculture to work with consultants, a group of farmers with (by Peter Brul) a commercially interesting cash crop who work without any (chemical) inputs are certified, to be Researchers at McGill University and the University of Min- able to sell for a premium price. Nothing or nearly nesota, Canada did a large desk study on organic agriculture, nothing changes in agricultural practice. These the results of which were recently published in ‘Nature’. Their can also be the poorest farmers in a region who conclusion: Overall, organic yields are 25% lower than conven- did not have the money to buy (chemical) inputs. tional. The difference, however, varies widely across crop types