Organic farming uses almost exclusively biological and natural materials and processes to produce food. The practice aims to protect human health and conserve, maintain or enhance natural resources, with the goal to preserve the quality of the environment for future generations while being economically sustainable. Organic farming has grown rapidly throughout the world in recent years. Currentl...

The US market for organic foods has grown from $3.5 billion in 1996 to $28.6 billion in 2010, according to the Organic Trade Association. Organic products are now sold in specialty stores and conventional supermarkets. Organic products contain numerous marketing claims and terms, only some of which are standardized and regulated. In terms of health advantages, organic diets have been convincing...

In the previous article [Ammann, K. (2008) Feature: integrated farming: why organic farmers should use transgenic crops. New Biotechnol. 25, 101-107], in a plea for the introduction of transgenic crops into organic and integrated farming, it was announced that the complementary topic, namely that high tech farmers should integrate elements of organic agriculture, will be a follow up. Some selec...

● lower stocking densities and production levels than in conventional systems (stocking densities on dairy farms on average 80% lower; on beef and sheep farms 40-80% lower). Organic certification Definitions of ‘organic’ farming vary internationally. Many countries operate national or ‘private’ standards, which do not have statutory status. The International Federation of Organic Farming Moveme...

A window of opportunity to promote organic farming is open for the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) that joined the EU in 2004. The development of organic farming has the potential to decrease the amount of nutrient leaching to the Baltic Sea and could help to stop the environmental degradation of the Sea. However, this requires a diverse set of institutions. This paper explores th...

<abstract> <p>Current global problems such as the loss of soil fertility and biodiversity growth world's population for which health food sovereignty must be guaranteed, make it clear that will essential to spread innovations increase not only productivity but also quality production in order meet these challenges. However, this enough if profound changes are made all systems more s...

• The role of ethical motives in consumers' choice of organic food was investigated. A self-administered questionnaire was conducted on a representative sample of 1283 Norwegian adults. The relations between ethical food choice motives, attitudes and intention to consume organic food was studied by estimating a structural equation model. Environmental and animal rights issues had a strong influ...

Europe with a long and proud tradition of dairy farming is about 105% selfsufficient in dairy products. This paper has been developed to answer the questions: (I) Should Europe continue to c o n m e a high level of dairy products? (2) Should Europe remain self-sufficient in dairy products? (3) If the answers to I and 2 are ‘yes’, is any change required in Europe’s attitude towards the use of da...