Sustainable farming road map A new “road map” for EU organic agriculture plotting the future course of sustainable farming has been launched in Brussels. The Organic Research Vision 2025 document shows the numerous ways in which organic food production can significantly contribute to solving such problems as climate change, loss of biodiversity, food security and depopulation of rural areas. The vision paper has been produced as part of the EU Technology Platform (TP) “Organics” programme. “Organic research has an incredible potential to develop new and innovative social, ecological and economic concepts related to sustainable food production”, says Nic Lampkin from the University of Aberystwyth. “The EU should lose no time and use the tool of the 7th EU Research Framework programme to boost organic research”, urges Marco Schlüter, director of the IFOAM EU Group, “The EU can’t miss this chance to foster innovations and economic development in line with the need of society for sustainable solutions. Sufficient efforts in organic research are of outmost importance to secure future potentials.” The EU Technology Platform ‘Organics’ brings together the organic sector, research community and civil society to identify research needs and priorities and to enhance the development of organic food production and with this its benefits for the society. It follows the model of so called technology platforms acknowledged by the EU. The strong involvement of civil society makes TP ‘Organics’ unique. Organic markets offer huge prospective opportunities for farmers and industry in the EU. The retail market for organic products in the EU has reached almost 16 billion Euros – a figure representing more than half of total organic global food sales. Notes – TP ‘‘Organics’ is a platform for organic food and farming research which joins the efforts of industry, research community and civil society in defining organic research priorities and defending them vis-à-vis the policy-makers. The “Vision for an Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda to 2025 – Organic Knowledge for the Future” is a publication of TP ‘Organics’ prepared after a one-year round of consultations. The Vision reveals the huge potential of organic food production to mitigate some of the major global problems of the century. It also argues the need for more research in specific priority areas and therefore for more funding for such research.
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