International Conference on Agricultural Research for Development: European Responses to Changing Global

• 27–29 April 2005, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Organised by European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD)
• For more information, see: http://www.efard2005.org/index.htm

International Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture: Researching Sustainable Systems

• 21 to 23 September, Adelaide
• Coordinated by the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) in co-operation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA).
• ISOFAR welcomes scientific papers on all aspects of Organic Agriculture
• For more information, see: http://www.isofar.org/adelaide2005/index.html

Biodiversity in organic farming

• IUCN and IFOAM have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which will lead to the establishment of a joint Working Group to study the contribution of organic agriculture to the conservation of biodiversity. To further facilitate access to information on organic farming and biodiversity issues, the IUCN Office for Central Europe has developed a new section on its website, now available online.
• For more information, see: http://www.iucn-ce.org.pl/organic-biodiversity/en/

21 actions to boost organic farming

On June 11 2004, the European Commission has adopted the “European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming”.

• Press announcement
• http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/qual/organic/index_en.htm

Its objective is to facilitate the ongoing development of organic farming in the EU. The Commission puts forward a list of 21 concrete policy measures to be implemented, concerning information, production standards, research etc.

International conference on Ecology in a cost-benefit society

At Roskilde University, Denmark 17–18 June 2004

• http://webhotel.ruc.dk/eco/index.htm

Environmental protection almost always impacts on the economy: generally, for the benefits that accrue there will be some costs to society. There are those who argue that these costs are always worth paying since nature should be held above all else. Others take the view that some kind of balance should be struck; that at least costs and benefits should be made clear and taken into account in formulating policy and legislation.

Will food security ever be achieved?

Workshop at the Nordic Agricultural Academy, Odense, Denmark, November 22 – 26, 2004. While the dates of the workshop stand, there may be changes to the program.

• Draft program

Supported, mainly, by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Agricultural and Rural Development Advisers’ Forum (ARDAF) in Denmark has a
tradition of conduction workshops for development workers that are involved
in agriculture one way or another. We see the workshops as an
opportunity to exchange information on a significant topic of current
interest to development workers and to create links to important research on
the topics that are chosen for the workshop. You can have an idea of earlier
years’ workshops by visiting the site of the proceedings at
http://www.ihh.kvl.dk/htm/php/tune.htm

The World Forum on Agrarian Reform (FMRA)

To be held in Valencia (Spain) in November 2004, connected with the World Social Forum’s movement.

• Announcement

After occupying a central position within social struggles of peasant movements, in international institutional agendas and in developmental policies of many countries for the greater part of the 20th century, the Agrarian Reform issue seemed to have lost importance in the last decades. This occurred in spite of the profound social pressures linked to poverty, hunger and struggles for land and water which put humanity at risk of greater future conflicts. Today, in the context of neoliberal lobalisation, the planet’s greatest challenges demand new access and earth management policies and urge us to take up Agrarian Reform issues once again and to seek out new methods which allow us to reduce inequalities and guarantee the fundamental rights of people throughout the world.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Thematic Evaluations on Organic Agriculture 2001–2002 and 2004-

• http://www.ifad.org/evaluation/public_html/eksyst/doc/thematic/

Between 2001 and 2002, the Office of Evaluation (OE) in IFAD conducted a Thematic Evaluation on Organic Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean. This evaluation, based on six case studies (Argentina, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico), was meant to convey findings and lessons learned in view of a possible future IFAD regional policy in Latin America to fight rural poverty by investing in organic agriculture. The report, that can be viewed on IFAD’s website at http://www.ifad.org/evaluation/public_html/eksyst/doc/thematic/PL/organic.pdf (1 Mb), addressed the main explanatory factors (agro-ecological, socio-economic and institutional) that have contributed to (or hindered) the development of organic farming in the surveyed countries.

OE is now carrying out a new Thematic Evaluation on Organic Agriculture in the Asia Region. The evaluation will focus on case studies in India and China and will address key issues such as the organizational forms of Organic Agriculture as well as marketing channels and certification.