Reseach Focus in Organic Agriculture

UHOH
BOKU
SGGW
LIFE
CULS
SLU

University of Hohenheim

UHOH has a long tradition in research on Organic Agriculture: In 1973, the first experimental station converted to organic principles in Germany belonged to UHOH. Today, an organic experimental station with two different rotations in close vicinity to the university provides excellent research opportunities. Most departments dedicate a substantial share of their resources to Organic Agriculture research. As the professors and assistants are involved in teaching, this ensures a direct transfer of the latest results to the students as well as a confrontation of the students with the current questions of the sector. A bachelor or master thesis is often part of the those projects, in many cases in collaboration with associations or other actors of the organic sector. With the new Master Course "Organic Food Chain Management" established in 2005, Organic Agriculture gained additional importance.
The different departments of the UHOH - mostly at the Faculty of Agriculture - are working on more than 40 projects on Organic Agriculture related topics e.g. "Substitution of copper in Organic Farming" or "Further development of organic farming policy in Europe with particular emphasis on EU enlargement (EU-CEEOFP)". At UHOH, the following topics are emphasised strongly:

Socioeconomics of Organic Farming
Soil fertility and plant nutrition in Organic Farming
Crop protection in Organic Farming
Organic crop production
Plant Breeding in Organic Farming

A closer cooperation between the Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Natural Sciences concerning food processing has already started and will be intensified in future. In addition, the Faculty of Agriculture is strongly orientated towards sustainable land use and resource management in the Tropics and Subtropics. This opens up future opportunities for Organic Agriculture Research in the countries of the South according to their growing participation in the organic sector. Moreover, a variety of projects - especially in fundamental research - is relevant for Organic Agriculture in a indirect way as these projects try to elucidate mechanisms and connections e.g. in plant nutrition or phytopathology.
Certain projects reflect also the growing interest of private enterprises in Organic Agriculture, e.g. a project on maize breeding which is co-financed by a partner of the plant breeding industry. With these projects the UHOH is included in the growing network of universities, public and private research institutions on a national and international level that deal with research on Organic Agriculture. For example, together with the other participants of this subject area, the UHOH is participating in the EU funded project "QualityLowInput Food (QLIF)".

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

During the 1980s and 1990s the organic farming movement in Sweden went through a period of institutionalisation, which manifested itself both in agricultural policy and in research development. Research on organic agriculture is mainly conducted by researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) including the departments of Soil Science, Ecology and Crop Production Science (now Crop Production Ecology), Entomology, Animal Nutrition and Management, Animal Breeding and Genetics, Animal Environment and Health, Agricultural Biosystems and Technology, Crop Science and Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden. The Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CUL), one of the Collaborative Centres of SLU, which was established in 1997, coordinates the national programme for organic farm and food systems, offering researchers and doctoral students a forum for seminars, workshops and communication support.
In 2001 "Ekoforsk", a research programme for applied research was launched by SLU in order to solve bottlenecks in organic primary production. Within the "Ekoforsk" Programme university scientists are commonly cooperating with advisors connected to private and public extension service institutions and organisations.
There are 16 experimental farms or agricultural colleges that host research, development projects, or long-term experiments related to organic farming in Sweden. As well some organic farmers make their farms available for research in relation to different projects.