December 31, 2021
Message from the ISOFAR president 2021
Dear ISOFAR members,
the second CoVid-19 year is gone, and we all have face difficulties in our scientific work and networking again. ISOFAR has done several actions in 2021 to keep the network of Organic Farming researchers alive as much as possible. We were able to organize the ISOFAR scientific congress in Rennes, France, had our General Assembly, and contributed to several online events. Thanks to all those who have done all the organization under severe difficulties. The Journal ORGA is still our best "child" and growing well. If you have anything for publishing, please consider our journal as well.
I hope, in 2022 the conditions will be better for global networking of the Organic Farming scientists. ISOFAR has planed some events, together with friends around the world. We will start a regular webinar on Organic Farming research, will hold a workshop in presence at the 2nd Organic Expo in September 2022 in South Korea, be partner of the 5th African Organic Conference. You as members allow us to act and work for a global network.
Thank you very much for your contribution and support.
On behalf of the new elected ISOFAR world board: Jessica (vice-president), Daniel (treasurer), Raffaele (ORGA), Reza, Jochen, Sabine, Mahesh, Wahyudi, Victor, Khaled and Khalid.
Regards
Gerold
December 15, 2021
ORGA 4-2021 is available
Dear Reader,
We are pleased to deliver your requested table of contents alert for Organic Agriculture. Volume 11, Issue 4 is now available online.
In this issue
Organic agriculture in Turkey: status, achievements, and shortcomings
The effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and organic labeling on Swiss consumers’ acceptance of pork salami
Organic management of Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu intercropped with leguminous
Soil microbial communities in tilled organic and no-till conventional crop production systems
The use of animal manure in the organic cultivation of Passiflora incarnata L. increases the content of phenolic compounds in the leaf and the antioxidant activity of the plant
Solid phosphate sludge composted with organic horticultural residues improves the growth of citrus and forest seedlings
Phytochemical profile of chickpea cultivars grown in conventional and organic farms in Southern, Italy
Plant growth promotion by Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus and its interaction with genotype and phosphorus availability in tomato seedlings
Sustainable organic farming supports diversity of Coleopteran beetles as a good indicator taxon: a case study from central Lao PDR
Diversity of entomofauna in organic versus conventionally managed soybean fields protected by forest shelter belts in Ukraine
Trichoderma spp. isolates from the rhizosphere of healthy olive trees in northern Algeria and their biocontrol potentials against the olive wilt pathogen, Verticillium dahliae
Value chain analysis of organic pumpkin in India
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November 26, 2021
Fifth International Agronomy Congress (IAC) "Agri-Innovations to Combat Food and Nutrition Challenges", 23-27 November 2021, PJTSAU, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
ISOFAR was partner of the 5th IAC, held online (https://iac.isa-india.in). This Fifth International Agronomy Congress was a review of the progress in agri-innovations and work out strategies to combat food and nutrition challenges by generating new opportunities/technologies through agronomic research. The Indian Society of Agronomy has taken initiative to organize the Congress at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India to maintain the continuity and provide an international platform to the agronomists world over to discuss the emerging issues.
President Prof. Gerold Rahmann gave a speech on "Organic Farming - a global overview".
October 28, 2021
2nd OrgaTrop Conference, Yogjakarta, Indonesia
Department of Soil, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, organized the 2nd International Conference on Organic Agriculture in The Tropics (Orgatrop 2021). It is an ideal academic platform for researchers to present the latest research findings and describe emerging technologies and directions in sustainable agriculture. ISOFAR was partner of this event again.
The 2nd Orgatrop 2021 was held virtually on 28-29 October 2021. The theme of this conference is "Organic Agriculture as a sustainable agrosystem to support agriculture production and food safety under the threat of climate change". The website is https://orgatrop.faperta.ugm.ac.id/.
President Prof. Gerold Rahmann gave a speech on Organic farming in the context of climate change and vice versa.
October 13, 2021
AVALON Conference: "Added Value of the Organic Farmer, Bioregions" (www.toekomstbestendigboerennoordnederland.nl)
Which are the broader benefits of organic farming? Is it useful to aim for ‘Bioregions’ with higher ambitions than the 25% uptake in 2030 as foreseen by the EU? The conference was intended for farmers, farm advisers, policy makers, students and educational institutions from the Netherlands and abroad. The plenary session were held on 13 October is on location: Ecostyle/Biosinstrum, Ecomunitypark in Oosterwolde, the Netherlands. It was also be streamed online. The organization is in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, the Provinces of Fryslân, Groningen and Drenthe, Avalon, the project Added Value of the Organic Farmer. the Soil Knowledge Center and Symphony of Soils.
President Prof. Gerold Rahmann gave a speech on "Organic farming challenges in a changing World: From soil to soilless production?"
September 8, 2021
The 6th ISOFAR conference at the 20th IFOAM Organic World Congress 2021
From its roots, organic inspires science, and vice versa
The scientific roots of organic systems are anchored in the four principles of IFOAM – Organics International: ecology, health, fairness, and care. Scientific skills are needed for the continuous improvement of organic food, systems, and culture.
The Forum invited researchers to share their work in the following five themes, with a special focus on interdisciplinary research.
Scientific discussions are critical for the development of research, not only in advancing knowledge and methodology but also in expanding innovation in approaches and visions. These discussions will provide the scaffolding for the 6th ISOFAR Conference of Organic Agricultural Science of the Organic World Congress in Rennes in 2021.
All authors agreed that all papers are uploaded to the public and free access online platform Organic Eprints and to be published in this Book of Abstracts of the Thünen-Report 88 2021. 19 papers have been already published in a special edition of the peer reviewed Journal of Organic Agriculture in Volume 10, supplement issue 1, in December 2020 (https://www.springer.com/journal/13165).
About 200 scientific papers have been accepted for presentation. The abstracts are found here:
September 7, 2021
7th ISOFAR General Assembly
The 7th ISOFAR General Assembly was held on the 7th September 2021 in Rennes, France, in conjunction with the 20th Organic World Congress. Due to the CoVid-19 pandemia the GA was done as hybrid GA, 33 attended via Zoom, 10 were in-person. The previous board was released from duties and all participants gave big thanks to all of them for their volunteer work. The new board was elected and 12 candidates have been elected for the therm 2021-2024:
June 30, 2021
Registration for the hybrid workshop "publish or perish" as OWC21 pre-conference (7th Sept 2021, 9-12 CEST) is open.
Objectives:
Organic farming systems are dependent on science and research. Plentiful, high-quality published papers are critical for improving organic agriculture across the world. This pre-conference will:
Provide a forum for relevant information and the chance to discuss questions in organic agriculture research
Raise awareness on the importance of scientific publishing
Present the ISOFAR journal, share updates, and develop ideas for collaboration to increase the volume and quality of published papers.
Encourage more scientists and other stakeholders to produce and submit relevant, high-quality papers for peer review and publishing in the member journal of ISOFAR, Organic Agriculture
Learn how-to construct high-quality scientific papers, from the introduction to the conclusion
Expected Outcomes:
Strengthened network among scientists working with organic agriculture;
Improved skills to strengthen scientific publication activities;
Methods for transferring research results to farmers and other stakeholders (dissemination strategies);
Complementary, post-OWC paper writing-groups, voluntarily peer-review, webinars for research project design, groups established to utilize the OA journal for a conference
June 1, 2021
Organic Agriculture: special issue on LandLessFood workshop published.
This special issue presents the outcomes from “Designing sustainable and circular agricultural systems for the year 2100,” the joint scientific workshop of ISOFAR, the Thünen-Institute, and INRA-Morocco, which was held from November 14 to 16, 2019 in Marrakesh, Morocco. Nineteen scientists from a broad array of background and nationalities came together with the understanding that food security globally is at risk, especially in the post-2050 timeframe. Current concepts, strategies, measures, and scientific efforts carried out by governments, NGOs, businesses, and societies do not deliver satisfying solutions for how to sustainably produce enough healthy and affordable food to support the global population. With the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, it became even more evident that food security is a challenge. This workshop took an innovative approach to addressing the challenges of future agriculture by considering sustainable, circular agricultural systems. Participants presented research results on algae-based food, edible insects, mushrooms, novel concepts for nutrient management, bioreactor-based farming, sustainable food culture, as well as sensor- and remote-controlled automatic food production. This special issue presents the papers contributed to the workshop and the results of the discussions.
May 26, 2021
ISOFAR board member Prof. Dr. Victor Idowu Olugbemiga Olowe gave today his 63rd inaugural lecture at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
April 20, 2021
Journal of Organic Agriculture, volume 11, issue 1 has been released.
Do you want to publish your article in this journal?
Please visit the homepage of Organic Agriculture for full details on:
aims and scope
editorial policy
article submission
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April 13, 2021
WEBINAR: Maximizing Carbon Sequestration in Organic Systems
The Organic Center will be hosting a free webinar on Maximizing Carbon Sequestration in Organic Systems. The webinar is taking place on Friday, April 16 at 11:30 am Pacific Time (18:30 GMT). Join us to learn more from the Robert Crystal-Ornelas, PhD, co-author of a recently-published paper that looks within organic management to quantify carbon sequestration of different practices used by farmers.
Panelists:
Robert Crystal-Ornelas, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar in the Energy Geosciences Division | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Amber Sciligo, PhD, Associate Director of Science Programs | The Organic Center
REGISTER HERE
April 13, 2021
Warsaw University Seeks BS Students in Organic Agriculture
The Warsaw University of Life Sciences is recruiting students for it's Organic Agriculture and Food Production BSc program.
The program offers students a holistic and interdisciplinary knowledge in the area of organic agriculture and food production, presented by the best specialists from different faculties of Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW and from abroad.
Learn more about the program here
March 1, 2021
IFOAM has launched the World of Organic Agriculture 2021
Like every year, IFOAM has launched the annual edition of the Statistics of the World of Organic Farming on BioFach Nueremberg, this year virtually done in February. Many ISOFAR members have contributed to the content. It is a valuable summary of the real world of Organic farming and markets. Here you can download the edition for free.
February 10, 2021
KCOA Project: Training of Team of Trainers (ToToT) in Nigeria
A train-the-trainer workshop, the KCOA Project: Training of Team of Trainers (ToToT), was hosted by the Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria (NOAN), in collaboration with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM-Organics International), sponsored by the German Development Agency (GIZ). The ToToT workshop was successfully held in Nigeria between February 1-5, 2021, with 14 participants strategically selected from all geopolitical zones of the country. The workshop covered topics such as ecological organic agriculture, soil fertility management, markets for sustainable food systems, and an overview of the KCOA platform. The workshop also include a field trip to Ajibode Organic Farm, where they interreacted with farmers using the practices covered in the workshop.
Read more about the workshop in our News page.
February 8, 2021
Webinar on Environmental Impacts of Organic Cotton
The Organic Center will be hosting a free webinar on their latest research collaboration with Iowa State University, examining the environmental impacts of organic cotton. The webinar will take place on February 17, 2021 at 10am Pacific Time (18:00 GMT).
Panelists:
Kathleen Delate, PhD, Professor, Iowa State University
Angela Wartes-Kahl, Organic Trade Assoc. Fiber Council
Jessica Shade, PhD, The Organic Center (Discussion Leader)
February 1, 2021
Special Issue for the Organic World Congress 2020 published
The Organic Word Congress 2020 in Rennes has been postponed to 2021 (Sep. 6-10 in Rennes, France), as well as the scientific forum with 280 accepted presentations. Nevertheless, we have invited authors to submit their contributions for a special issue of Organic Agriculture. After a peer-review we have accepted 19 papers for publishing. ISOFAR members have free download via our member area.
January 1, 2021
Message from the ISOFAR president 2020
Dear ISOFAR members,
2020 comes to an end, and I can say: “I am happy about this”. It was an extraordinary difficult year without traveling, no meetings and hurdles for any action. I guess, all of you have experienced the same problems. Nevertheless, if was a year of reflexion and focusing. I am still positive and optimistic about Organic Agriculture and the role of science to make it even stronger. ISOFAR has an important international role to bring scientist together and make joint actions. I like to give you some outline of the coming year.
Read more