Organic-farmknowledge.org: New information available for organic farmers & advisors
The Organic Farm Knowledge platform provides organic farmers and advisors with practical information. Initially, the platform was set up covering tools and information on organic arable farming, addressing current bottlenecks. In the past two years, materials on feeding monogastrics and seeds/breeding were added. Now the platform covers all themes of organic food agriculture – from production, certification to environmental protection & beyond. Interested parties are welcome to contribute their practice-relevant materials to the platform, helping European agriculture to become more sustainable.
The restructured platform features six main themes: Crop production, Animal husbandry, Soil, Food chain management, Environment and society and Farm management. Users can browse through the platform’s themes or search the toolbox directly according to tool type, language, keywords and more.
This expansion marks a major milestone in the development of the multilingual Organic Farm Knowledge platform, which aspires to become the European reference hub for practical knowledge on organic farming, thus contributing to the European Farm to Fork strategy’s goal that 25% of the European Union’s farmland should be organic by 2030.
The platform’s roots
The platform’s original focus on arable crop production and animal husbandry was developed through the two European funded projects in the Horizon 2020 programme: OK-Net Arable and OK-Net Ecofeed. These projects founded and built this platform from its roots, synthesised existing knowledge and developed new tools adapted to the needs of farmers. The collection of knowledge within these two projects has resulted in approximately 400 tools available on the platform, with 330 relating to crop production and 150 to animal husbandry. The theme expansion was strategically planned by the Executive Board and Editorial board to make it attractive for end-users and sustainable in the long term.
Call for further collaborations
Several research projects collaborate with the Organic Farm Knowledge platform, using the platform to disseminate their practice-oriented results. The knowledge platform is open to further collaborations, enabling continued growth of knowledge provision by increasing its range of available tools. Partnerships are a win-win: projects can promote and further disseminate knowledge created in their research direct to end-users, therefore increasing their impacts while facilitating the growth and successful continuation of the platform. This platform will continue to thrive only through strengthening and furthering alliances.
Please contact us for more information on how your project or organisation can collaborate or contribute to Organic Farm Knowledge – you find our contact details at the end of the article.
About Organic Farm Knowledge – the bridge between science and practice
The goal of the platform is increasing the sustainability, productivity and quality of organic farming across Europe by bridging the gap between science and practice. It disseminates existing practical knowledge and research innovations developed in European organic-focused projects to target farmers and farm advisors. Organic Farm Knowledge brings this knowledge together at the European level and facilitates user-friendly and barrier-free access to a wide range of practical tools and resources and promotes knowledge exchange.
The platform was set up in 2017 by the International Centre of Organic Farming Research ICROFS in the framework of the OK-Net Arable project, and it was developed further in the OK-Net Ecofeed project by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, IFOAM Organic Europe and ICROFS.
In its Executive and Editorial Boards key organic farming institutions from several European countries are represented.
Contact
Lauren Dietemann, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL [email protected]
Bram Moeskops, IFOAM Organics Europe, [email protected]
Weblinks
- Organic-farmknowledge.org:
Organic Farm Knowledge is a product of OK-Net Arable and OK-Net EcoFeed. These projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No. 652654 and No. 773911 respectively. The information contained within this platform only reflects the author’s view. The Research Executive Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.