scholarly journals The Transition of the Agro-Food System: Lessons from Organic Farming in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9495
Author(s):  
Isabel Salavisa ◽  
Maria Fátima Ferreiro ◽  
Sofia Bizarro
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Food System ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Development Paths

The paper presents a study on the transition of the agro-food system in Portugal through the analysis of case studies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The theoretical framework draws on the literature on the transition of sociotechnical systems, taking into account the multidimensional nature of the food system (ecological, environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural). Social and institutional innovation, technological innovation, public policy impact, and the interactions with the dominant regime are the main dimensions guiding the study of the organic farming initiatives. We identified the supportive policy measures, the role of producers’ networks, the relevance of values, and the obstacles and challenges these initiatives face in their growth process. While the results are in line with the theoretical debate, they also provide new insights on the selection environment, the networks’ dual nature and the existence of different development paths within the organic food niche. One of the main conclusions is that organic farmers perceive the regulatory framework as unfair relative to that of conventional agriculture. Therefore, it is crucial to change this framework to speed up the transition of the agro-food system in Portugal and at the European level.

scholarly journals Generic drugs: international trends and policy developments in Australia

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Lofgren
Keyword(s):  
Generic Drugs ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
International Trends ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

Public and private third-party payers in many countries encourage or mandate the use of generic drugs. This articleexamines the development of generics policy in Australia, against the background of a description of internationaltrends in this area, and related experiences of reference pricing programs. The Australian generics market remainsunderdeveloped due to a historical legacy of small Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme price differentials betweenoriginator brands and generics. It is argued that policy measures open to the Australian government can be conceivedas clustering around two different approaches: incremental changes within the existing regulatory framework, or a shifttowards a high volume/low price role of generics which would speed up the delivery of substantial cost savings, andcould provide enhanced scope for the financing of new, patented drugs.

scholarly journals Addressing the Role of Landraces in the Sustainability of Mediterranean Agroecosystems

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 6029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiomar Carranza-Gallego ◽  
Gloria I. Guzmán ◽  
Roberto Garcia-Ruíz ◽  
Manuel González de Molina ◽  
Eduardo Aguilera
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Grain Protein Content ◽  
Wheat Varieties ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Organic Farm ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Rainfed Conditions ◽  
Wheat Landraces

Wheat yields are predicted to decrease over the next decades due to climate change (CC). Mediterranean regions are characterized by low soil fertility and stressful conditions that limit the effect of technological improvements on increasing yield gains, while worsening the negative CC impacts. Additionally, organic farming (OF) lacks specifically adapted genetic material. Accordingly, there is a need to search for varieties adapted to these conditions and whose cultivation may help semi-arid agroecosystems sustainability, focusing on specific agronomic and functional traits. To this purpose, wheat landraces and modern wheat varieties were evaluated under Mediterranean rainfed conditions during three growing seasons under contrasting situations: A conventional farm and an organic farm. Results regarding straw production, weed biomass and biodiversity, and grain N concentration suggest that the cultivation of landraces under Mediterranean rainfed conditions can enhance agroecosystem sustainability through positive effects on ecosystem services such as soil quality, functional biodiversity, or grain protein content, without significant reductions in grain yield. Results highlight the relevant role of wheat landraces as genetic resources for the development of cultivars adapted to Mediterranean agroecosystems conditions, especially for organic farming, but also for conventional agriculture.

scholarly journals Barriers to the Development of Organic Farming: A Polish Case Study

Agriculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 536
Author(s):  
Władysława Łuczka ◽  
Sławomir Kalinowski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Organic Production ◽  
Institutional Barriers ◽  
Production Risk ◽  
Conversion Period ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The main purpose of this paper is to explore farmers’ opinions on the barriers to the development of organic farming. A survey was carried out with 262 Polish organic farmers in order to classify the barriers to organic farming development into production, and economic aspects, market aspects and institutional and regulatory aspects. As a next step, a detailed analysis was performed of how the farmers view these barriers. According to this study, Polish organic farmers attach greater importance to economic factors than to non-economic ones. Low yields and production volumes are the reason why many farmers see organic farming as being risky. More than 80% and nearly 60% of farmers covered by this study found the production risk to be very high or high, respectively, during and after the conversion period. Most farmers say they intend to continue their organic production activity only if financial support is provided. Nearly one in five farms (18.3%) want to discontinue organic production in future. This is especially true for two types of farming: specialized grazing livestock farms and mixed holdings. The farmers believe that market aspects and institutional and regulatory factors are the key barriers to the development of organic farming. The findings regarding the role of institutional barriers and communications from regulatory institutions, which affect the farmers’ decision-making processes, are of particular importance. In Poland, the main institutional problem is the instability of laws applicable to organic farming, which adds to the farmers’ uncertainty and decision-making risks. The case study of Poland, which is among the emerging markets for organic food, shows that a stable and coherent support policy is a condition for organic-farming development.

scholarly journals Healing the Metabolic Rift between Farming and the Eco-System: Challenges Facing Organic Farmers in Canada and in Sweden

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Clow ◽  
Darrell McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Food System ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Metabolic Rift ◽  
The Social ◽  
Organic Farmers

There is a growing list of scholarly and popular works which, when taken collectively, raise major concerns about industrialized farming and our present food system, particularly its impact on the natural environment. Over a century ago, Karl Marx used the concept “metabolic rift” to describe problems related to ecological and social sustainability resulting from capitalist industry and agriculture. in this paper, we examine the extent to which some members of today’s organic farming movement are addressing the metabolic rift and changing the social organization of food production.

scholarly journals Keeping the Actors in the Organic System Learning: The Role of Organic Farmers’ Experiments

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian R. Vogl ◽  
Susanne Kummer ◽  
Friedrich Leitgeb ◽  
Christoph Schunko ◽  
Magdalena Aigner
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Academic Scientists ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Set Up

<p>The creative process that leads to farmers’ innovations is rarely studied or described precisely in agricultural sciences. For academic scientists, obvious limitations of farmers’ experiments are e.g. precision, reliability, robustness, accuracy, validity or the correct analysis of cause and effect. Nevertheless, we propose that ‘farmers’ experiments’ underpin innovations that keep organic farming locally tuned for sustainability and adaptable to changing economic, social and ecological conditions. We first researched the structure and role of farmers’ experiments by conducting semi-structured interviews of 47 organic farmers in Austria and 72 organic/agroecology farmers in Cuba in 2007 and 2008. Seventysix more structured interviews explored the topics and methods used by Austrian farmers that were ‘trying something’. Farmers engaged in activities that can be labelled as farmers experiments because these activities include considerable planning, manipulating variables, monitoring effects and communicating results. In Austria and Cuba 487 and 370 individual topics, respectively, were mentioned for experimenting by the respondents. These included topics like the introduction of new species or varieties, testing various ways of commercialization or the testing of alternative remedies. Two thirds (Austria) and one third (Cuba) of the farmers who experimented had an explicit mental or written plan before starting. In both countries, the majority of the farmers stated that they set up their experiments first on a small scale and expanded them if the outcome of the experiments was satisfactory. Repetitions were done by running experiments in subsequent years and the majority of the farmers monitored the experiments regularly. In both countries, many experiments were not discrete actions but nested in time and space. For further research on learning and innovation in organic farming we propose an explicit appreciation of farmers’ experiments, encouraging further in-depth research on the details of the farmers’ experimental process and encouraging the inclusion of farmers’ experiments in strategies for innovation in organic and non organic farming. Strategic research and innovation agendas for organic farming would benefit from including organic farmers as co-researchers in all steps of the research process in order to encourage co-learning between academic scientists and organic farmers.</p>

scholarly journals Integrating Farmer Producer Organisations in Sikkim Organic Mission: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Measures

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Rajiv Gurung ◽  
Manesh Choubey
Keyword(s):  
Organic Farming ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Marketing Channels ◽  
The State ◽  
Conventional Farming ◽  
Northeast Region ◽  
Pests And Diseases ◽  
Organic Farmers ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
Policy Measures

Sikkim, a small mountainous state in the northeast region of India launched an organic mission in 2003 and aimed to become fully organic by 2015. Since organic farming was being traditionally practised by most of the Sikkimese farmers since ages, adoption of organic farming in the state was not a difficult task. In 2016, Sikkim was declared “India’s first fully organic state”. However, even after achieving the organic tag, Sikkimese crops have not been able to reach high-value organic markets at a larger scale. Most crops are sold within the state at local markets or roadside-stalls. Production, processing and marketing of organic crops under existing farmer collectives like Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) will further boost the organic mission and benefit the farmers. With the help of a primary survey among 60 organic farmers in Sikkim, this paper first identifies the constraints faced by organic farmers existing still after the launch of organic mission and then advocates role and necessity of existing Farmer Producer Organisations to enhance the mission. On the basis of mean score, constraints in order of severity were lack of reliable marketing channels (2.87), low yield(2.67), incidence of pests and diseases (2.40), competition from non-organic food (2.33), lower profitability compared to conventional farming (2.20), exploitation by middlemen (2.12), high transportation costs (1.98), lack of knowledge about bio-inputs and technology (1.90), lack of storage and processing facilities (1.87) and timely access to seeds (1.68).

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