[Duurzaamlijst] Organic Update Newsletter - April 2001

["Jelle Schottelndreier" <jellesonja@wanadoo.nl>]

Organic Update Newsletter - April 2001

The monthly e-zine from www.organic-research.com

Please distribute widely

Contents

1. Re-launch of organic-research.com
2. Call for papers
3. The profitability of organic grain cropping systems
4. Life cycle assessment of organic grasslands
5. Recent publications
6. News


1.  Re-launch of organic-research.com

CABI Publishing is pleased to announce the re-launch of
organic-research.com, with several major enhancements as well as a complete
design makeover and improved functionality. We hope you like it.

The major enhancements are:

Abstracts database: over 100,000 abstracts of articles on organic and
related research, selected from the CAB ABSTRACTS® database. This is a
unique resource covering the literature, both temperate and tropical, in
serials, conference proceedings, books and reports. The database will be
updated weekly, adding around 150 abstracts per week.

Research: newly commissioned research papers by experts in their field.

Bookshop: a wide selection of books on topics related to organic and
sustainable agriculture for browsing and buying securely online.

News database: the complete news archive has been transferred to a
searchable database, making it much more convenient to use. The news
database may be searched by keyword, topic category or country.

Although plenty of the site content will remain freely accessible, the
premier content, i.e. the abstracts database, newly commissioned research
papers, and full news archive, will be available only to paying members.
Annual membership costs just £75/$120 for individuals and £275/$435 for
organizations. Why not register for a 30-day free trial today to taste the
benefits of full membership.


2.  Call for papers

To better serve the organic community, organic-research.com is actively
developing the research section of the site and is calling for original
research papers. Since the site receives thousands of visits each week,
organic-research.com is an excellent alternative medium to make your
research work better known. We will consider any topic related to organic
production and organic produce. For accepted papers, the principal author
will receive a free personal subscription to the full site content for one
year. Papers should typically be from 4 to 10 printed pages (10 to 25
1½-spaced A4 pages) in length. Shorter, topical research notes will also be
considered. Please email your proposals to the Editor at
organicresearch@cabi.org.

Some suggested topics

* Farming systems research methodologies
* Soil fertility in organic systems
* Nutrient management systems and effects
* Composting and recycling of organic matter
* Biocontrol and pest, disease and weed management in organic systems
* Cropping systems
* Animal husbandry and health
* Environmental impacts of organic farming systems
* Breeding for organic systems
* Seed production
* Product quality and quality assessment
* Marketing and market development of organic produce
* Consumer attitudes to organic produce
* Organic foods and human health
* Biodynamics
* Training and advisory systems
* Regulatory systems, labelling and certification
* Policy and development of organic farming
* Economics
* Ecotourism


3. The profitability of organic grain cropping systems

To compare the profitability of organic and no-till grain cropping systems
relative to that of conventional systems, researchers at the Department of
Agricultural and Resource Economics of North Carolina State University have
collected information from the literature for 321 separate studies. The
profitability of 120 direct comparisons of organic production to
conventional and 144 no-till vs. conventional direct for North American
grains were included. It was shown that the relative profitability of
organic production was, on average, higher for maize and grain sorghum if
the research was conducted at a research experiment station. No-till
averaged higher profitability in on-farm trials and with oilseeds, maize and
grain sorghum. A meta-analysis of the economic comparisons indicated that
study location (Eastern, Central or Western North America) was an important
factor in explaining the relative profitability of each alternative cropping
system relative to the conventional system. In addition, study type (on-farm
or research station experiment) and type of grain crop (small grain,
oilseed, other) were important in explaining the relative profitability of
both systems.

Reference: Marra, M. C. and Kaval, P. (2001) The relative profitability of
sustainable grain cropping systems: a meta-analytic comparison. Journal of
Sustainable Agriculture 16(4) 19-32.


4. Life cycle assessment of organic grasslands

The life cycle assessment method was used by researchers at the Institute of
Organic Agriculture, University of Bonn, Germany, to assess the
environmental impacts of 18 grassland farms in three different farming
intensities - intensive, extensified, and organic - in the Allgäu region in
southern Germany. Extensified and organic, compared with intensive farms,
could reduce energy use, global warming potential and impact on ground water
mainly by non-use of mineral nitrogen fertilizer. Energy consumption of
intensive farms was 19.1 GJ/ha and 2.7 GJ/t milk, while they were 8.7 and
5.9 GJ/ha and 1.3 and 1.2 GJ/t milk, respectively, in extensified and
organic farms. Global warming potential was 9.4, 7.0 and 6.3 CO2-equivalents
per ha and 1.3, 1.0 and 1.3 CO2-equivalents per t milk for the intensive,
extensified and organic farms, respectively. Acidification calculated in
SO2-equivalents was high, but the extensified (119 kg SO2/ha) and organic
farms (107 kg SO2/ha) emitted less than intensive farms (136 kg SO2/ha).
Eutrophication potential computed in PO4-equivalents was higher for
intensive (54.2 kg PO4/ha) compared with extensified (31.2 kg PO4/ha) and
organic farms (13.5 kg PO4/ha). Farmgate balances for N (80.1, 31.4 and 31.1
kg/ha) and P (5.3, 4.5 and -2.3 kg/ha for intensive, extensified and organic
farms, respectively, indicate the different impacts on ground and surface
water quality. In analysing impacts on biodiversity, landscape image and
animal husbandry, the organic farms had clear advantages.  This was
indicated by number of grassland species, grazing cattle, layout of
farmstead and herd management. However, these indices showed a wide range
and were partly independent of the farming system.

Reference: Haas, G., Wetterich, F. and Köpke, U. (2001) Comparing intensive,
extensified and organic grassland farming in southern Germany by process
life cycle assessment. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 83(1/2) 43-53


5. Recent publication

Rippin, M., Kasbohm, A., Behr, H. C., and Ellinger, W. (2001) Ecomarket
annual book 2001: selling prices in organic farming years 1999 and 2000.
[Ökomarkt Jahrbuch 2001: Verkaufspreise im ökologischen Landbau Jahre 1999
und 2000.] Materialien zur Marktberichterstattung Vol. 37, 192 pp.
This publication has data to January 2001 from 1412 organic farms in Germany
to provide an overview of selling prices for vegetables, fruits, potatoes,
and cereals.


6. News

To see the complete stories, go to http://www.organic-research.com/

UK ORGANIC MILK PRICE UNDER THREAT
Organic dairy producers in the UK can expect lower prices if they produce
excess organic milk because rapid growth in production is outstripping
market demand.

EXPANSION IN ORGANIC BUTCHERS IN ITALY
By February this year the number of dedicated organic butchers shops in
Italy had risen to 150 in the wake of the BSE crisis according to the AIAB
(Italian Association of Organic Agriculture).

ORGANIC APPLES WIN OUT IN NEW SCIENCE STUDY
In a study published in Nature on 19 April, apples produced in an organic
system achieved similar yields as and higher profitability than apples grown
under a conventional system.

ORGANIC FARMS AT RISK FROM GM CONTAMINATION
The Soil Association has identified five organic farms which lie within a 6
km radius of the government's recently announced spring GM trial sites.

LATEST EUROPEAN ORGANIC STATISTICS
A Fact Sheet just published by the Soil Association gives the latest
statistics on organic production and consumer demand for organic food in the
UK and Europe.

WARWICKSHIRE GM MAIZE TRIAL THREATENS WORLD-RENOWNED ORGANIC CENTRE
A GM maize trial is proposed at Wolston, Warwickshire, UK, less than two
miles from Ryton Organic Gardens, the long established headquarters of the
Henry Doubleday Research Association.

ORGANIC TARGETS BILL PRESENTED FOR SECOND READING IN HOUSE OF COMMONS
A private member's bill sponsored by Simon Thomas, MP for Ceredigion,
calling for 30% of agricultural land in England and Wales to become organic
by 2010, was presented for its second reading in the House of Commons on
April 6

£16 M ORGANIC PROJECT AT WEST COUNTRY COLLEGE
A £16 million plan called "Project Carrot" is to kick-start Herefordshire in
the UK as Europe's leading organic economy.

NATURLAND REPORTS SOLID GROWTH AND A RUSH TO CONVERT
The German organic association Naturland has reported strong growth in both
the number and area of organic farms in 2000 and healthy future prospects.

ORGANIC SECTOR GROWING IN NETHERLANDS BUT BANK WARNS ON FARM CONVERSION
TARGETS
Sales of organic food in the Netherlands will rise 20% this year according
to Rabobank, but the bank warned that despite consumer interest in organic
products it will not be sufficient to generate the ambitious rate of
conversion to organic farming targeted by the country's agriculture ministry



With best wishes to all our readers,
Anton Doroszenko
Editor, organic-research.com
organicresearch@cabi.org


Joining the List
Send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with one line of text saying:
subscribe organic-update

Leaving the list
Send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with one line of text saying:
unsubscribe organic-update





-----------------------------------------------------------------
De Duurzaamlijst: | Abonnement opzeggen? Stuur een E-mail aan:
voor nieuws,      | majordomo@ddh.nl en schrijf in het tekstdeel:
opinie en overleg | unsubscribe duurzaamlijst
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Meer over de Duurzaamlijst op http://www.ddh.nl/duurzaam