Healthy and safe organic food in the function of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation with a focus on global trends and innovations
Healthy and safe organic food plays a crucial role in environmental protection and biodiversity conservation. Organic agriculture is an approach to cultivating healthy and safe food and other agricultural products that rely on natural methods and processes, avoiding the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and other synthetic substances. The primary goal […]
Factors to scale out innovative organic farming systems: A case study in Flanders region, Belgium
CONTEXT: Sustainability transitions in agri-food systems are expected to reduce their negative environmental and social impacts. On the other hand, Europe demands an increase in the agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. Innovations in agri-food systems, especially in the organic sector, could close the gap in sustainability transitions and the foreseen conversion to organic […]
Cost-effective biodiversity conservation with organic farming – spatial allocation is key
To make the best use of the limited funding for biodiversity conservation, resources should be used cost-effectively. Support to organic farming is a widely implemented strategy to enhance farmland biodiversity, yet its cost-effectiveness for biodiversity conservation remains largely unexplored. Using an ecological-economic model calibrated with data from southern Sweden, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness of organic farming […]
Dossier Legambiente “Stop pesticidi nel piatto” 2024
La nuova edizione del dossier “Stop pesticidi nel piatto”, frutto della consolidata collaborazione tra Legambiente e Alce Nero, riporta ancora una volta l’attenzione sull’uso dei fitofarmaci nell’agricoltura italiana. Questo documento rappresenta un punto di riferimento fondamentale per comprendere l’impatto delle sostanze chimiche di sintesi sugli alimenti che consumiamo, grazie a un’analisi approfondita dei dati forniti […]
Sows and piglets adjust their use of an outdoor paddock with season and piglet age during the first weeks of life in an organic farm
From PPILOW project – Few studies have examined sows and piglets’ use of outdoor access during their first weeks of life, when reared with access to a hut and a pasture as in the organic system. We studied whether the age of the piglets and the season of the year influenced the use of an […]
Welfare issues and potential solutions for laying hens in free range and organic production systems: A review based on literature and interviews
In free-range and organic production systems, hens can make choices according to their needs and desires, which is in accordance with welfare definitions. Nonetheless, health and behavioral problems are also encountered in these systems. The aim of this article was to identify welfare challenges observed in these production systems in the EU and the most […]
Dual-Purpose Poultry in Organic Egg Production and Effects on Egg Quality Parameters
Egg laying genotypes have been selected for generations due to their high yield and egg quality, resulting in efficient feed utilization and low body weight; hence, they are not suitable for meat production. This imposes an issue for the male layer chicks, which are killed at one day old. Because of ethical and food waste […]
Impact of the New EU Organic Regulation on Smallholder Value Chains and the European Organic Sector
European consumers expect that all organic products sold in Europe meet the same high quality standards regardless of country of origin and that this high quality will be ensured through rigorous control from field to fork. With the new Organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848, the European Commission has addressed consumers’ and farmers’ concerns about creating a […]
Rough estimate of the climate change mitigation potential of the CAP Strategic Plans (EU-18) over the 2023-2027 period
According to data reported by Member States of the European Union (EU) under the EU Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/19991 , in 2022 the agricultural sector is estimated to have emitted 366 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), accounting for 11% of the estimated EU’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with two thirds emitted by […]
Vitamin E supplementation – revised recommendations for organic dairy cow production (RELACS practice abstract)
Vitamin E is essential, and supplementation to the diet is often needed to meet the requirements of cows. Current supplementation recommendations may be overestimated in forage -based systems where grazing or grass -clover silages are the basal diet, with low to moderate levels of concentrate feed. An update of the requirements and recommendations for vitamin […]
