Preview of events
Interested in addressing questions around resilience, societal transformation, health and food sovereignty with more than2,500 organic stakeholders, farmers, researchers and policymakers from around the world? Register now to the Organic World Congress 2021, the world’s largest organic gathering from 6-10 September 2021 online and in Rennes, France.
With more than 450 contributions, 80 conferences and 50 countries represented, the 2021 edition of the Organic World Congress will offer a global, diverse space inspiring positive change through knowledge exchange, learning, and the formulation of organic, sustainable solutions. For more information, have a look at the Congress website and check out the preliminary programme. As IFOAM Organics Europe, we will contribute to the Congress with a session on new genetic engineering techniques, a topic high on the European and global political agenda. We will also organise a session on natural inputs in organic farming systems as part of the RELACS project. In this session, we will discuss the future of plant protection products, fertilisers and inputs on organic livestock production.
Make sure to follow @OrganicsEurope on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and have a look at our website to stay tuned.
The Organic World Congress 2021 is organised by IFOAM – Organics International, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and takes place in conjunction with the movement’s General Assembly.
On 30 September to 1 October 2021, our bi-annual Organic Food Conference (formerly Organic Processing Conference) is foreseen to take place in Warsaw, Poland, under the motto ‘The future of organic food’.
This year’s edition will gather sector representatives and policy-makers to talk, among others, about the new EU Organic Regulation, European Organic Action Plan, and organic market development.
Attend this event to network, share information and gain insights into supply-chain development, market trends and more.
We organise the Organic Food Conference in collaboration with the Polish Chamber of Organic Food.
More information and registration will follow in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for updates by visiting our website and following @OrganicsEurope on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
This year’s Organic Innovation Days, TP Organics’ annual event, will take place online on 30 November-1 December. Titled ‘Better inputs for organic farming’, the Organic Innovation Days are a unique opportunity to meet members of TP Organics, network with EU stakeholders and decision-makers, as well as discuss and exchange with the partners of the European research projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS. These two Horizon 2020-funded projects aim at reducing the use of contentious inputs in organic farming systems.
What can I expect at this year’s Organic Innovation Days?
Day 1: Alternatives to contentious inputs in organic farming
On the first day, participants will be taking a closer look at plant protection products such as copper and mineral oil as well as soil and nutrients, peat and plastic, antibiotics, vitamins, and novel bedding materials in livestock husbandry. The projects’ experts will present each topic and a discussion will follow.
Day 2: Socio-economic aspects, the way forward & policy debate
On the second day, Organic-PLUS and RELACS experts will present the socio-economic results of the projects in three sessions:
- Consumer perspectives and citizen juries;
- Socio-economic and environmental impacts of alternative tools and technologies;
- Acceptance level of different alternative inputs, towards a European roadmap for replacing contentious inputs.
These exchanges will be followed by a high-level policy debate on how to tackle contentious inputs in organic farming. The European Commission’s Directorate General on Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) will introduce the topic by discussing the contribution of the Organic Action Plan to this goal. The RELACS and Organic-PLUS project coordinators will conclude the event and point out next steps.
Background information
TP Organics is the European Technology Platform for organic food and farming and agroecology officially recognised by the European Commission for giving input in research and innovation policy and programmes. IFOAM Organics Europe hosts its secretariat.
Coordinated by Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) Switzerland, RELACS has 29 partners from 13 European countries. IFOAM Organics Europe is responsible for communication, dissemination, and facilitation of the science-practice-policy dialogue. RELACS will foster the development and facilitate the adoption of cost-efficient and environmentally safe tools and technologies, to phase out the dependency on and use of inputs considered contentious in organic farming systems.
Replacement of Contentious Inputs in Organic Farming Systems’ (RELACS) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773431.
Coordinated by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, ‘sister’ project Organic-PLUS (O+) involves 10 universities and 15 multi-actors (other research institutions and NGOs) in 8 EU and 4 non-EU countries. The overall aim is to provide high-quality, trans-disciplinary, scientifically informed decision support to help all actors in the organic sector, including national and regional policy makers, to reach the next level of the organic success story in Europe. Both projects started in May 2018 and officially run until end of April 2022 (not considering possible Covid-19 extensions).
Pathways to phase-out contentious inputs from organic agriculture in Europe (Organic-PLUS) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774340.
This event is co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union, under the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). The sole responsibility for this event lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. EASME is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.
These sessions are financed by the projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS, which have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 773431 and No 774340, respectively.