85837 From Organic to Agro-Ecosystem Research – a Challenge.
See more from this Division: Innovations in Organic Food Systems for Sustainable Production and Enhanced Ecosystem ServicesSee more from this Session: Innovations in Organic Food Systems: Research and Innovation Challenges in Organic Production for Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Services
There reasons for scientists to be involved in organic farming research are: i) Organic agriculture is a good model for productive and sustainable food systems. Socio-economic research and modelling within this well-defined system provides information that can be generalized for other sustainable food and farming systems. ii) Organic agriculture lacks behind in innovation because R&D addressing specific bottlenecks has been underfunded for decades. Therefore, the potential for improving the performance of organic agriculture through research is huge. iii) The original boundaries of organic farming might need some modernization in the light of the progresses in ecological, bio-molecular, material, engineering and ICT sciences. Yet, a reshaping of organic agriculture towards being less driven by traditional values and more oriented towards environmental and agro-ecological goals is a challenge.
See more from this Session: Innovations in Organic Food Systems: Research and Innovation Challenges in Organic Production for Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Services