Report on the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Modena

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. ( Info at the FiBL homepage).

Please find below brief reports on some of the major events of the congress in which FiBL was involved including links to some of the papers presented (to be continually up-dated). ( Papers from FiBL staff)

June 18-20, 2008: System Values Track

Thematic conferences surrounding the congress dealt with subjects such as organic markets (mainstream certification, short supply chains and participatory guarantee systems) and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Other important issues tackled comprised the adaptation and mitigation of climate change in agriculture, and research on the effects of biodiversity loss. A lot of attention was paid to the relation between Organic Agriculture and Health, by sharing experiences in sustainable agriculture, agroforestry systems, plant genetics and food production systems.

Programme overview (all events)
IFOAM press release of June 23, 2008' Cultivate the Future: 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress successfully concluded'

June 18-20, 2008: 2nd ISOFAR Conference

Among many other subevents, the 2nd conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR took place. 200 papers and 160 posters were presented at this conference. The proceedings were published by ISOFAR and FiBL will be made available in the FiBL-Shop (printed and PDF).

Homepage of the 2nd ISOFAR Conference 'Culivating the Future Based on Science'
Programme of the ISOFAR Conference
FiBL Contact: Thomas Alföldi

June 16-17, 2008: Organic fruit conference

The Organic Fruit Conference was held prior to the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress, and was organised by the Commission “Sustainability trough Integrated and Organic Horticulture” of the International Society for Horticultural Science  IHSH . The conference papers will be published in a special edition of the jounal Acta Horticolturae.

Programme
FiBL contact: Franco Weibel

June 18, 2008: FAO Workshop on Climate Change  

Climate change and the quest for sustainable energy are challenging agroecosystems’ productivity and food supply systems. This Workshop, organiszed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, harnessed knowledge and experience of the organic community in three areas: climate change adaptation and mitigation; energy use and bioenergy; and Carbon in organic certification.

Workshop programme at the Organic World Congress homepage
Paper by Niggli et al. Does Organic Farming have Greater Potential to Adapt to Climate Change?
Background: ITC/FiBL briefing on Organic Farming and Climate Change
FiBL Contact: Urs Niggli

June 18, 2008: Workshop Research Vision for Organic Food and Farming

Organic farming is a productive low-input agricultural system, emphasising sustainability and offering innovative concepts for global problems. The IFOAM-EU Group and ISOFAR have developed a strategic research program that focuses on ecological intensification, sustainable rural regions, high quality food for healthy nutrition and on integrating people and their ethical values into the future evolvement of food production. The workshop, organised by FIBL, invited farmers, processors, traders, NGOs and scientists to debate how the practical and scientific aspects should co-operate on future innovations.

Programme
Paper by Niggli et al. Food, Fairness & Ecology: An organic research agenda for a sustainable future
FiBL Contact: Urs Niggli

June 18, 2008: FiBL-IFOAM Workshop on Data Collection

The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick, and Foundation Ecology and Agriculture SOEL have been providing global organic farming statistics annually since 2000. In the framework of the survey the current number of farms and organic agricultural land is collected, and since the 2006 edition land use details have been included. The data are published annually in the yearbook ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’.

Even though in many countries the data availability has improved considerably since 2000, when the data collection was started, there are still major problems associated to data collection in many countries, particularly in countries which do not have a legislation on organic farming and where there is little public interest in such data. In these countries, data collection is carried out by the private sector who does not always have access to the full data and not always the resources to process the data.

At the workshop, it was concluded that data collection efforts must be increased and that, in particular, the cooperation with the inspection bodies is of crucial importance as they have many of the data naeeded (number of operators, land area, land use, production volumes). It was concluded that the dialogue on data collection should be continued.

Workshop Homepage
The World of Organic Agriculture 2008
FiBL Contact: Helga Willer

June 19-20, 2008 The QLIF Workshops

Furthermore five workshops of the European Integrated Project Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) took place, orgaised by FiBL. At these workshops the latest QLIF results were discussed interdisciplinary.

Programme of the QLIF Workshops and papers
FiBL Contact: Helga Willer

June 21, 2008: ISOFAR General Assembly

At the ISOFAR general assembly on June 21 a new board was elected. Ulrich Köpke of the Institute of Organic Agriculture IOL of the University of Bonn was confirmed as the president. Niels Halberg of the Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems, Denmark, is the new vice president and Ulrich Hamm of the Univeristy of Kassel is treasurer. ISOFAR was initated by FiBL and IOL in 2003 and FiBL director Urs Niggli served as vice-president from 2003-2008.

www.isofar.org
FiBL Contact: Helga Willer

June 22-24, 2008: IFOAM General Assembly

At the IFOAM General Assembly a new board was elected. The new president is Catherine de Matteo, USA; FiBL director Urs Niggli and Roberto Ugas of the University of La Molina are vice-presidents.

The new IFOAM Board (from left to right): Masaya Koriyama, Japan; Roberto Ugas, Peru; Vanaja Ramprasad, India; Urs Niggli, Scwitzerland; Katherine DiMatteo, USA; Jacqueline Haessig Alleje, Philippines; Fabio Piccioli, Italy; Ong Kung Wai, Malaysia; Andre Leu, Australia; Moses Kiggundu Muwanga, Uganda. Foto: © Thomas Cierpka, IFOAM

The general assembly voted for Korea as the next venue for the IFOAM Organic World Congress.

IFOAM press release of June 24, 2008: 'IFOAM’s General Assembly successfully concluded: New World Board and Executive Board elected'
FiBL press release of 27.6.2008:
- Urs Niggli zum Vizepräsidenten der Welt-Bio-Dachorganisation IFOAM gewählt
- Urs Niggli a été élu Vice-Président de l’IFOAM
Video IFOAM Organic World Congress 2011 in Korea
FiBL Contact: Urs Niggli