Conference Tracks

The Organic World Congress 2017 will have four parallel conference tracks:

Submission Deadline has now passed

More information on each track can be found below

Each track has its own objectives and criteria, and below you find more information on the individual tracks.

With your application you express a commitment to participate in person in the session you apply for, between the 9th and 11th of November (the General Assembly takes place on the 12th & 13th November) 2017 in Delhi.

The deadline for application has now passed. The subcommittees will review the applications and inform you before the end of March 2017 of whether your submission has been selected. We will inform the panelists on time for them to register with an early bird discount. The organizers do not have a budget to sponsor panelists' expenses.

Panelists are entitled to actively participate in the discussions and freely express their own opinions. They are expected to respect other participants and abstain from any form of insult and discriminatory behavior on the basis of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity.

Main
Track

Fishbowl discussions inspire organic decision-making globally and locally

The Main Track is composed of two parallel sessions (Track A and Track B) that take place throughout the breakout sessions of the Organic World Congress. It is a series of public discussions and debates by leaders from the organic movement on how we can best promote and implement the organic agenda.

'Global Adoption of Organic Principles for Truly Sustainable Agriculture' is the overarching theme, encompassing a diversity of topics that are relevant for global and local progress. The audience is invited to contribute to strategic discussions with the panel experts.

Track A will deal with basic topics, easy to understand and accessible to all interested in diving into the discussions, regardless of their depth of knowledge on organic topics. It is titled 'Fundaments of Organic Around the World'.

Track B brings together experienced organic stakeholders who spearhead the discussions and lead progress and development in the movement under the heading Addressing Organic Challenges."

Each session has a short theme description and leading questions to guide the discussions. Sessions will follow the fishbowl methodology and feature a moderator and four to five panelists. Each speaker will make an introductory statement of 5 minutes. In Track A, maximum 2 slides are allowed per speaker, Track B functions strictly without speakers' slides.


Global adoption of Organic Principles for Truly Sustainable Agriculture

Session

Main track A: Fundaments of organics around the world

Discuss your needs and aspirations, inspire your organic community.

Main track B: Addressing organic challenges

Expert discussion rounds for leading the movement.

Inauguration and opening Plenary

Breakout 1

Organic 1.0 and 2.0 strategies, trends and achievements

Building on the past, learning for the future.

Together for a more organic world

Identification of dos and don'ts to create alliances with likeminded organizations. (Reference to Organic 3.0 Feature #4)

Breakout 2

The global food system and the alternative paradigm

Moving towards truly sustainable agriculture in view of climate change, the loss of biodiversity, soil and clean water.

Integrity building 3.0

Reforming certification – expanding the options to gain consumers' trust (Reference to Organic 3.0 Feature #3)

Breakout 3

Organics in the landscape of sustainability initiatives

Actors and factors in the global organic world, including friends and allies.

G.A. Motions of IFOAM – Organics International: Debate Part 1

Motioners and their challengers debate their opposing views.

Breakout 4

Proposals for further improving organic systems

Open space debate

Mid-Conference Plenary

Breakout 5

Farmers first! Smallholder development to combat malnutrition

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture with agroecological methods for improving nutrition, and the health of children, women and men.

New technologies and organic principles

Aquaculture, urban farming, new plant breeding techniques: where do we draw new organic lines?

Breakout 6

Organic in the eye of consumers and the media

Recognizing the needs of consumers and preparing for public disputes: Providing evidence, presenting arguments, demonstrating impacts and breaking down misconceptions.

'Rejuvenating' organics

Young generations, urban farming, food movements, transition cultures etc.: How do we achieve mutual interest and engagement?

Breakout 7

Organic Textiles and Body Care Products

Challenges and opportunities for the development of organic textiles and cosmetics.

Fairness for all in the value chain!

Continuous improvements exemplified with empowering the weakest actors. (Reference to Organic 3.0 features 2&5)

Breakout 8

Making Asia, Africa, North America, Latin America, Europe, Euro-Asia and Oceania more organic

Roundtables per continent for organic leadership.

G.A. Motions of IFOAM – Organics International:
Debate Part 2

Motioners and their challengers. (Panel discussion)

Breakout 9

Proposals for scaling up organic agriculture worldwide

Open space debate

Breakout 10

Policies that support true sustainability in agriculture

Government actions beyond regulating organic.

Culture of innovation with care

How to dynamically develop organic while applying the principle of care. (Reference to Organic 3.0 Feature #1)

Breakout 11

International organic trade based on equivalence

The opportunities and challenges of development from recognition of imports based on compliance to multilateral recognition of equally reliable systems.

True Cost Accounting and Pricing

Overcoming the obstacles to making true cost accounting and pricing part of everyday life. (Reference to Organic 3.0 Feature #6)

Breakout 12

Making Organic 3.0 a reality

Show how transition can happen in the organic sector by 2020 and 2023 through a cultural change.

Main Track A

Click on the session titles for more information.


Background

The organic movement has emerged about a hundred years ago. In the meantime, the organic Sector has grown to over US$ 80 billion consumer purchases, 2 million farmers and 80 million ha of certified land. Non-certified organic agriculture – an important part of the sector - is not even included in those figures and the upward trend is uninterrupted. This success is impressive and it is worth analyzing the strategic approaches that have worked. The lessons inspire strategies and action for the future.

Session Objectives: This session summarizes the history. It gives an overview of past strategies with an outlook to the future demands of the organic sector.

Leading Questions

  • What are Organic 1.0 and Organic 2.0? What is our history?
  • Which historic steps led to success? Why were they so important?
  • What are the present trends and challenges drawn from history?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.

Background

Global agriculture produces food in sufficient quantities. However, hunger is still a sad reality to 800 million people and 2,5 billion people are malnourished (leading to stunting, wasting and obesity) with an immense cost to society. We face many serious global challenges like climate change, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, pollution, violating farmers' rights, urbanization, migration etc. for which the present agricultural system is at least partly responsible. But what are the alternatives?

Organic agriculture – a dynamic and continuously developing farming system – is a forerunner of truly sustainable agriculture and offers practical solutions to address major global challenges: producing healthy food for a growing population, enabling farmers to earn a fair living, enhancing soil fertility and biodiversity, safeguarding and replenishing scarce water resources, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change etc. By moving towards organic, agriculture can be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.

Session Objectives: This session summarizes how alternative systems can ensure a move toward true sustainability and highlights the function of organic agriculture.

Leading Questions

  • What are the main global challenges with regards to the global agriculture system?
  • How does agriculture need to be reformed?
  • What is the function of organic agriculture and how can it be an alternative or a contribution to achieve true sustainability?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.

Background

Organic agriculture started small, with a clear profile and few actors. The ambitions to grow, to be an alternative system and to work holistically have led to a complex landscape of actors representing a multitude of institutions around the globe with a vast diversity of approaches in every region. Given the fact that various like-minded movements are working to shape agriculture and its value chains around the globe makes the institutional landscape even more complex. The associations with terms like organic, regenerative, agro-ecology, fair trade, low input or integrated are not clear and sometimes even vary from one region or stakeholder group to another, respectively. Reports, directories and statistics may help to provide an overview, but there currently is not any widely accepted collection of information on global actors and factors.

Session Objectives: The session draws an overview of the global organic landscape including the relationships to institutions, friends and allies.

Leading Questions

  • What are the institutions of the organic sector on local, national and international levels?
  • What is the relationship between the organic, likeminded organizations and other actors?
  • How can we strengthen the institutional landscape for true sustainability? Where are the priorities?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.

Proposals for further improving organic systems (open space debate)

This open space session provides an opportunity for participants to discuss their priorities and suggestions. We call for proposals of themes that we publish in the conference program and that are discussed under the leadership of the proponent (in case the theme attracts like-minded persons to discuss it during the session).

Background

Despite a surplus food production, undernutrition and malnutrition is prevalent in many parts of the world. Awareness of nutritional properties of food, balanced diet and better access to food could help ameliorate the problem. Following agroecological and other biodiversity-rich cropping methods by smallholders may be a pathway to nutrition-sensitive agriculture. Empowerment of poor smallholders with a focus on women and children, raising awareness and providing access to biodiversity could help make local communities more self-sufficient and less vulnerable to hunger and hidden hunger.

Session Objectives: Analyze experience and evidence of agro-ecological nutrition-sensitive agriculture and conclude how organic agriculture can contribute to improving the situation for the farming families.

Leading Questions

  • Why is agroecological, organic farming a good strategy to improve the nutrition of smallholders?
  • Which cropping/livestock rearing methods contribute to nutritional security? How do we reach farmers?/li>
  • How can policy makers globally recognize the role of agro-ecological organic nutrition sensitive farming?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.

Background

Undisputedly, without the demand of consumers, organic would not have developed to what it is today. The positioning - that means the perception of organic agriculture in the eyes of consumers and citizens - is essential for our development and therefore many organic stakeholders are concerned with communication to the media and consumers. The growing market, the fact that organic asks for a price premium, increased awareness and the rising prevalence of mass and social media have led to a heightened scrutiny on organic agriculture. On the one hand, organic stakeholders are regularly challenged by organic scandals due to high (unrealistic?) consumer expectations, due to gaps in the organic systems or fraud. On the other hand, the organic community challenges the conventional paradigm and their defenders fight back, particularly since they are well-funded by the agroindustry and by state budgets.

The new era of Organic 3.0 impacts on the consumer messages and organic consumer campaigns. The positioning of organic agriculture with its proven multiple benefits for producers, the environment, society and consumers has to be clear and attractive so that the audiences can endorse the developments through their purchasing decisions.

Session Objectives: The session outlines the positioning of organic and the narrative of the global organic movement towards the consumers and the public media.

Leading Questions

  • How do we position organic agriculture and how do we want to be perceived?
  • What is our narrative and what are our key and priority messages? Globally and nationally?
  • What is the best communication strategy for the overall movement with which consequences for the stakeholders?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.

Background

Production, processing (usually textiles) and marketing of textiles and body care products with organic claims are an integral part of the organic sector. This includes products derived from plants (e.g. cotton, bamboo, olive oil) and animals (e.g. wool, silk, milk extracts). While producers are often also organic food producers (e.g. through crop rotation or multipurpose plants and animals) the value chain and support sectors are usually specialized and have their own rules and institutions (e.g. Textile Exchange). Organic farming, including fiber and body care product ingredients, are regulated in many countries, but rarely are there public regulations for body care and textile processing so that either no standards or only private standards such as Cosmos, Nature or GOTS apply. Those sectors often have their own platforms to push for market development (E.g. Vivaness, Natural Cosmetics Conference, Textile Exchange or GOTS events) with strong brands in the sector. We analyze common features, the values and the touching points of the food, fiber and body care sectors.

Session Objectives: To take stock of the organic textile and body care sectors and to identify synergies with other organic value chains.

Leading Questions

  • What are the challenges and opportunities of the organic textile and body care product sector?
  • What are the contributions of organic textiles and cosmetics to true sustainability and what are “organic textiles and body care products 3.0"?
  • What are the synergies of further integration?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4-6 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing, with maximum 2 slides.

Background

Organic agriculture is growing on all continents in terms of acreage and consumption. The situations vary from region to region with specific strengths, challenges and strategies that need to be reflected and deserve inspirations. The global concept of Organic 3.0 requires regional adaptations. The regional movements – either organized into Self-organized Structures within IFOAM – Organics International (e.g. IFOAM Organics Asia) or not – take a lead in defining development priorities and regional sector development. Those regional movements for instance strengthen leadership, communicate to consumers and keep policy dialog to decision makers alive.

Session Objectives: Reflect on developments and strategize about actions, region by region, in parallel small roundtables.

Leading Questions

  • What is the stage of organic development in the region: Strengths and weaknesses?
  • What does Organic 3.0 mean for the region: threats and opportunities?
  • How do we translate thoughts into reality?

Methodology: 7 parallel roundtables with a moderator and 2 presenters each that set the stage with 5 – 10 opening statements for a discussion. No slides, but print materials can be put on the table.

Proposals for scaling up organic agriculture worldwide (open space debate)

This open space session provides an opportunity that participants discuss their priorities and suggestions. We call for proposals of themes that we publish in the conference program and that are discussed under the lead of the proponent in case the suggestion finds like-minded persons to discuss it during the session time.

Background

The contribution of organic agriculture to environmental protection and social development is widely acknowledged. When governments gain interest in supporting organic agriculture, their policies may regulate or promote/support the sector. Supporting policies and programs offer incentives and assistance to the production or marketing of organic products, or promote practices for sustainable farming. These policies work outside of organic norm-setting and labeling and may include research, capacity-building, subsidies and communication, but may also work with market tools or with restrictions on farm inputs that have adverse effects (fertilizers, pesticides, GMO etc.). Despite its importance, the organic movement only recently started to look into best practices around setting promoting policies and into tools development.

Session Objectives: Taking stock of best practice of organic policy setting for policy makers and advocates.

Leading Questions

  • What are most impactful cases of setting promoting policies around the world?
  • What are the low hanging fruits and the priorities in various contexts?
  • What can convince governments/intergovernmental bodies to invest and follow best practice?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.

Background

Decentralized developments of organic standards and verifications adapted to local natural, societal and political conditions lead to differences of the organic systems of countries and regions across the globe. While these differences assure local ownership and good adaption, they pose a challenge for international trade and each other's recognition. Many markets demand full compliance with it's own rules, which creates so called non-tariff trade barriers and a big burden on local certification bodies and on producers, particularly on smallholders in developing countries that depend on exports to various markets. Much has been done to promote trade based on equivalence (e.g. by IFOAM – Organics International, FAO and UNCTAD) and to date 38 current or prospective organic arrangements between countries (including EU) exist. However, there are setbacks e.g. with the proposed new EU organic regulations to move in certain situations from equivalence to compliance. But there is also an initiative to agree on plurilateral equivalence with the governments of US, EU, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Chile in the lead.

Session Objectives: Analyze the recent developments and propose recommendations for advocates and decision makers for organic import regulations

Leading Questions

  • What are the experiences, best and worst practices in designing the organic import regimes in the last decade?
  • How do organic imports have to be organized to fulfill the principle of fairness for all (consumer, local producer, exporting producer)?
  • What are the recommendations to regulators of organic imports?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4-6 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing with a maximum of 2 slides.


Main Track B

Click on the session titles for more information.


Background

The goal of Organic 3.0 is to become more relevant and to increase impacts. It includes alliances with the many movements and organizations that have aligned goals and complimentary approaches. The organic movement is a pioneer but no longer alone in working for a paradigm of ecological and social intensification based on natural processes and closed cycles. The organic movement is inclusive and also wants to be included in collaboration with other like-minded movements. These movements and organizations comprise for example agro-ecology, fair trade, smallholder and family farmer movements, community supported agriculture, food movements, urban agriculture and many others.

Being inclusive and taking leadership and responsibility also means taking clear positions against policies and practices that go against the objective of a truly sustainable agriculture and value chains. Issues may evolve over greenwashing, greedy exploitation of the planet and society, and against unsustainable farming, value chain and consumption patterns.

Session Objectives: The session strategizes about how to gain the trust of likeminded movements and how to include them in order to gain effectiveness towards achieving the goal of true sustainability in agriculture.

Leading Questions

  • Who are the likeminded movements and how to include them for the organic goals?
  • Which change of our strategies do we look for?
  • What kinds of attitudes do we need in order to make cooperation with likeminded possible and effective? How would that translate into our communication?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.

Background

Organic 2.0 successfully developed standards and implemented certification systems validated in a legally enforced system of compliance verification. This will continue to be important, however Organic 3.0 wants to diversify the way we ensure transparent integrity. The Organic 3.0 tools may come from Organic 1.0 like the self-claims based on personal relationships. They may rely on presently well developing alternatives such as the Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), on short chain markets or on consumer cooperatives that manage conformity assurance with a very high level of consumer trust. Alternatively, various new verification schemes for instance related to the reputation economy and web-based communication technology may become popular.

Session Objectives: Get an overview of potential and desirable developments to guarantee organic.

Leading Questions

  • Why do we need to reform the organic guarantee system and allow diverse ways to provide transparency?
  • What are the (new) options and how do we assess them?
  • What are the obstacles of the desirable developments and how do we overcome them?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.

Background

Voting members of IFOAM – Organics International have the right to propose motions to the GA. The motions will be published a few weeks before the OWC. This session presents 50% (other motions see session 8B) of the motions to the GA 2017 and discusses positions.

Session Objectives: Inform members and non-members about the GA 2017 motions. Debate the pros and cons and provide an opportunity to make the motions more acceptable based on feedback.

Methodology: Panel with the motioners. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5 minutes opening statement and he/she can answer to questions and statements from the audience. Slide with the motion text.

Background

Traditionally, the organic movement has had a rather consensual vision of what an organic system is. For instance, the links to the soil and building soil fertility have been consistently considered as a fundament of organic thinking. Similarly, the rejection of genetic engineering is a non-negotiable in all organic standards worldwide. Yet the recent pace of innovation in food production systems creates unprecedented dilemmas and debates within the organic movement. The Principles of Organic Agriculture are not specific enough to draw a clear consensual line between organic and non-organic, when it comes to such innovations as recirculation systems in aquaculture, aquaponics, container growing in urban farming or in greenhouses, and high-tech plant and animal breeding techniques that may or may not qualify as 'Genetic Engineering'. Using the hottest topics of the moment as examples, the session will present the status of these highly philosophical debates and discuss where the 'organic line' should be drawn, taking into account recent strategic conclusions.

Session Objectives: Discuss the new 'organic line' for key technological innovations. Reflect on the compatibility of new technology and developments with the organic principles.

Leading Questions

  • What are the debatable issues when drawing the organic lines in aquaculture, urban farming and new plant/animal breeding techniques?
  • What are the pros and cons of drawing the lines for certain technologies? What are the areas of conflict?
  • Can perfectly sustainable systems be non-organic? Does the Organic 3.0 concept change certain positions?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.

Background

More than other farming systems, organic agriculture is concerned with future generations having equal or better opportunities. However, there is insufficient interest from a young generation to enter (organic or not) farming, since other opportunities in society often seem to be more attractive for young people. Furthermore, the leadership in the institutions and companies is well established and in many cases there is little space for young people and young ideas.

Organic Agriculture – an innovation and an alternative itself – is not very young any more and is well renowned for what it has achieved. Nowadays, new movements are coming up with the reputation of being young movements with the power to facilitate change.

There is an issue on how to “rejuvenate Organics" in order to assure that organic remains vital beyond generations and that it continues being a change agent rather than only being a short time phenomenon alongside the green revolution.

Session Objectives: Create ideas how to 'rejuvenate organics' and facilitate the mainstreaming of those ideas in the organic sector.

Leading Questions

  • How do we make organic farming and consumption attractive for young people?
  • How do we empower the leadership of an upcoming generation in the organic sector?
  • What are the potential and risks for organic to be part of young and highly dynamic food movements?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.

Background

Organic 3.0 addresses all sustainability dimensions as described in the Best Practice Guidelines of IFOAM – Organics International, including ecological, social, economic, cultural and accountability aspects. It demands continuous improvement but it is up to producers to identify the priorities in their specific context. Farmers, processors and traders must use an appropriate tool to benchmark own operations.

One of the universal priorities is the empowerment of disadvantaged stakeholders like smallholding family farmers in difficult ecological, economic and governance environments, or of women who largely carry the burden of ensuring decent livelihoods for their families in critical conditions. The question is, how to operationalize this goal.

Session Objectives: The session describes how operators can implement continuous improvement for the benefit of the poorest?

Leading Questions

  • How can we operationalize the ambition to develop away from optimization on minimal standards to continuous improvements?
  • What is fairness along the value chain? What are the steps to reach there?
  • How can we empower the poorest and the women in the global south?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 open chairs. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement. No slides are used.

Background

Voting members of IFOAM – Organics International have the right to propose motions to the General Assembly. The motions will be published a few weeks before the OWC. This session presents 50% (other motions see session 3B) of the motions to the GA 2017 and discusses positions.

Session Objectives: Inform members and non-members about the GA 2017 motions. Debate the pros and cons and provide opportunities to make the motions more acceptable based on feedback.

Methodology: Panel with the motioners. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement and he/she can answer to questions and statements from the audience. A slide with the motion text is presented.

Background

Innovations have always played a big role in organic agriculture. It is not a farming system that is disrupted by new technology and dominated by conservative thinking as many people think. To successfully address the tremendous challenges of the 21st century, a combination of social, ecological and technological innovation is essential. The Organic 3.0 concept suggests having innovation committees that explore potentialities and develop positions on the use of upcoming technologies by applying the organic principle of care. These committees ensure responsible handling and fast uptake of new technologies and are getting the same type of importance as standards committees in Organic 2.0.

Session Objectives: The session explores how the culture of innovation can be mainstreamed in the organic world.

Leading Questions

  • How does the organic movement develop positions about innovations today and in an Organic 3.0 context? What is the difference?
  • How can the organic movement become innovation-friendly?
  • How can the concept of innovations committees achieve the desired impact?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.

Background

It needs to be economically viable for farmers, processors and traders to do the right thing from a sustainability perspective and for consumers to make better food choices. If the positive and negative externalities are not reflected in the price, then inevitably the marketplace becomes distorted and the consumer is unable to comprehend the true value. Progress in this regard depends on developing tools for true cost accounting and pricing and it depends on the framework conditions in the markets influenced by the national and international policies. Rewarding positive external effects and application of the polluter pay principle may open new ways of creating an enabling environment. Therefore, true cost accounting is a lobby priority but it is challenged by the complexity of the issue and by political resistance of the many that are benefiting from the distorted markets.

Session Objectives: Strategize how advocacy for true cost accounting can become more effective.

Leading Questions

  • How can true cost accounting become easily understood and applied? What are the tools and how do they have to be designed?
  • Which policies for promotion support organic agriculture? Who are the allies and support the inclusion of positive and negative externalities?
  • What shall be the advocacy strategy of the organic movement globally, national and locally; internally and externally?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.

Background

Organic 3.0 is innovation-oriented. It expects ongoing improvements by the operators. It foresees system changes so that more diversity in organic assurance is normal. It requires more inclusive strategies of the organizations. It asks for fairness and empowerment of the weakest and it advocates for true pricing. The paradigm shift from Organic 2.0 to Organic 3.0 is a change in the culture of the movement and addresses the attitudes of the stakeholders. It requires a reform of structures and institutions by all stakeholders and it requires new strategic foci of messaging.

The results of the OWC 2017 main track discussions need a synthesis and guidance on actions to turn concept into reality.

Session Objectives: To get a synthesis on the main track results in order to facilitate the concerted take home messages for all OWC participants.

Leading Questions

  • What are the take home messages of the OWC main track discussions?
  • How are we turning the discussion into a different reality?
  • How do we measure success of the Organic 3.0 uptake and the system adaptations?

Methodology: Fishbowl with 4 panelists and 2 'open chairs'. Each panelist gets an opportunity for a 5-minute opening statement based on a briefing. No slides are used.






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Farmers' Track

India is the country with the highest numbers of organic farmers in the world and a special emphasis is placed on encouraging farmers to submit presentations on their work in organic, especially with regards to the innovations used on their farms.

Presentations should be submitted in English, French, Spanish, or Mandarin, so they can be translated into Hindi, alongside of English, the official language of the congress. Still, to ensure greater inclusions, farmers will be able to do the actual oral presentation in their mother tongue.

Presentations from organic farmers in the three broad areas will be considered for the Organic World Congress: Seeds & Biodiversity; Soil Fertility & Health, Soil Life & Plant Health; Ecological Farming Practices & Systems.

Submission Requirements

Presentations must follow the easy-to-use format designed for this track. Sample PDFs are available in various languages and can be downloaded on the website of the Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI). Please note that all presentations should be sent to myofai@gmail.com. The deadline for submission was November 30th, 2016.

All submissions need to fall into one of the following categories and sub-topics:


A. Seeds and Biodiversity (including fauna, wild and domesticated)

  1. Conservation of indigenous seed
  2. Working with open pollinated (OP) seed
  3. Seed treatments and management solutions
  4. Seed storage systems: Traditional and new
  5. Maintaining village level seed banks
  6. Successful low-cost seed conservation
  7. Maintaining seed diversity
  8. Maintaining/ enhancing soil bacteria diversity
  9. Wilderness areas in organic fields
  10. Livestock: Working with indigenous species
  11. Managing troublesome animals and wildlife-farmer conflicts
  12. Fodder and forage farming: Traditional fodder, forage and improved varieties on organic farms


B. Soil Fertility and Health, Soil Life and Plant Health

  1. Mulching methods
  2. Conserving, enhancing and maintaining beneficial soil bacteria
  3. Dealing with insect imbalances
  4. Using beneficial insects and organisms
  5. Termites for organic farmers
  6. Earthworms, vermiculture and vermiwash
  7. Rehabilitating soils after chemical farming
  8. Cover crops and green manure crops
  9. Forestry principles for organic farms
  10. Organic horticulture and floriculture
  11. Soil nutrient preps
  12. Organic dairy production (indigenous cattle and buffalo, plus goat farming)
  13. Organic poultry production (indigenous chicken and duck)
  14. Restoring the bee and frog to organic agriculture
  15. Small equipment for small organic farmers
  16. Fish production and integrated farming
  17. Planning organic farms for water conservation
  18. Reducing water usage for intensive cropping
  19. General water conservation and use
  20. Building overall farm ecology


C. Ecological Farming Practices and Systems

  1. Biodynamic Agriculture
  2. Permaculture
  3. Organic farming
  4. Zero budget farming
  5. No tillage agriculture
  6. Diversity of SRI techniques
  7. Homa Organic Farming
  8. Biodiversity-based farming
  9. Holistic approaches to farm workers on organic farms
  10. Natural farming
  11. Insights of traditional agriculture
  12. Non-conventional crops and wild produce
  13. Non-pesticidal management (NPM)
  14. Insect repellents and traps
  15. Maintaining balance sheets (economic inputs)
  16. Product harvest and storage
  17. Food processing, quality assurance guarantees and upscaling (organic jams, pickles, etc.)
  18. Education of children and complete organic life styles – the organic way


Submit a paper to the Farmers' Track



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Scientific Track

'Innovative Research for Organic 3.0'

The future challenges of global agricultural are severe. It has to:

• Feed 9 to 11 billion people in the next 30 to 80 years with enough, affordable and healthy food;

• Protect the environment (e.g. soils, water, air, biodiversity and landscapes) whilst increasingly under pressure to achieve greater levels of intensification;

• Mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt on climate change in all farming systems and value chains;

• Incorporate novel ethics, food habits, demographics and lifestyles into the food chains;

• Produce food on limited farmland and fossil (non-renewable) resources efficiently and profitably.

Concepts of farming system must address these challenges by all stakeholders on local, regional, national and global levels. Organic can play an important role as a leading sustainable food system. Yet, from a global perspective, organic is still a niche. As long as less than 1% of the global farmland is managed organically and only a small share of the global population consumes a significant amount of organic products, this will not change.

The Organic World Congress 2017 will be held in India, a country challenged with most of the above mentioned issues.

Against the backdrop of the global challenges listed above, the scientific track will present and discuss the potential of organic farming, focusing on these topics:

  1. Feeding the world (productivity, efficiency);
  2. Minimizing food chain induced global changes (ecology);
  3. Respect for ethical and cultural issues (ethics);
  4. Improvement of the quality and health benefits of food (quality);
  5. How to make organic prosper and be profitable (economics);
  6. Better cooperation among global research communities (networking).


Research results will be presented and discussed in 20 sessions of 1.5 hours each, and must link to the ordinary scientific disciplines (i.e. soil, plant, animal, economics, social).


Science Board

  • Prof Dr G. Rahmann (ISOFAR, Germany, chairman Scientific Board),
  • Prof Dr V. Olowe (ISOFAR Board Member, Nigeria),
  • Prof Dr R. Ardakani (ISOFAR Board Member, Iran),
  • Dr A.K. Yadav (APEDA, India, chairman Scientific Board Members from India),
  • Dr J.P. Saini (HPKVV, Palampur, India),
  • Dr N. Ravisankar (ICAR-IIFSR, Modipuram, India),
  • Dr H.B. Babalad (UAS, Dharwad, India),
  • Dr N. Devakumar (UAS, Bangalore, India),
  • Dr S.L. Goel (OFAI, India),
  • Dr G. Soto (COSA, Costa Rica),
  • Dr H. Willer (TIPI/FiBL, Switzerland),
  • Mr C. Andres (TIPI/FiBL, Switzerland).

  • Submission Requirements

    All papers should at least outline an answer to the question: “How does your research contribute to Organic 3.0?" Submissions should be full papers of at least two, but no more than four, A4 pages. The deadline for submission was November 30th, 2016.

    Papers should not contain a section on "organic animal husbandry" but should focus on Organic 3.0.

    Further criteria for the selection of oral papers and posters are as follows:

    1. Does the research address organic farming?
    2. Does the paper fulfill scientific standards?
    3. Does the paper provide solutions to future challenges?
    4. Does the paper represent diversity in terms of regions, gender, ages, topics?

    Please use this Word document template to base your submission on:


    Example Scientific Track Submission



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    Marketing Track

    Organic Markets and Quality Assurance – Growers & Processors as Partners in Organic and Fair Markets


    Organiser: APEDA

    The Organic World Congress 2017 is unique in its higher focus on smallholder family farmers and their innovations. Markets - with their own dynamics - may be a challenge but can also provide opportunities for farmers if there are good partnerships between the actors in order to ensure fairness and sustainability.

    Shorter supply chains and emphases on the relationship between the actors in the chain bring the grower, processor and the consumer closer and thus benefit all stakeholders. Integration of organic farming with fair trade will create new synergies. Trust and trust building measures that promote fairness and ensure empowerments of family farmers for example through participatory guarantee systems (PGS), deserve special attention.

    The 'Marketing and Quality Assurance Track' of the OWC 2017 discusses innovative ideas for shortening the value chains, for systems that build trustful relations between actors, for promising marketing methods and for organic and fair trade alliance building. Emerging trends in quality assurance, e.g. PGS, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), fair trade and other alternative and integrative systems will be presented.

    The Track Committee calls for papers that are elaborating on these thoughts. There will be 12 sessions over the three days. Each session will have 3-4 oral presentations and 3 poster presentations. The Track Committee will screen received papers and invite selected speakers that are committed to participate in the OWC 2017.

    Submission Requirements

    Submissions should be full papers of at least two, but no more than four, A4 pages. The deadline for submission is November 30th, 2016.

    Themes of the sessions:

    1. Markets as engines of growth for the farmers in the organic and fair trade movements
    2. Alliances of organic and fair trade for sustainable market development
    3. Small is beautiful - success stories of farmers markets
    4. Local markets vs export markets
    5. Engagement with consumer and consumer organizations (or other networks of the civil society) to promote the organic and fair trade markets.
    6. Fair pricing and profit sharing along the supply chain from producer to retailer
    7. Use of modern communication technologies to shorten the supply chain from the producer to the consumer
    8. Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) – strengthening the grass root organic movement
    9. Innovations in PGS – wild harvest, processing & trade
    10. Case studies of further alternatives to conventional certification systems for organic and fair trade
    11. Opportunities and challenges in third party certification systems
    12. The future in integrity and trust building


    Marketing and Quality Assurance Expert Panel

    • Prof. Sukhpal Singh, IIM Ahmadabad, India
    • Dr. Amar KJR Nayak - Chair Professor NABARD, XIMB Bhubaneshwar, India
    • Dr. Tarun Bajaj – APEDA, India
    • Mathew John, Keystone Foundation, IFOAM World Board member
    • Ashish Gupta, India
    • Dr. Rudi Dalvai, President, WFTO, Italy
    • Natalia Leal, CEO, WFTO, The Netherlands
    • Rasdi Wangsa - Organic Indonesia, Indonesia
    • Patrick Bellisario - Member IFOAM Asia – OPTA, Philippines
    • Dr A.K. Yadav, APEDA, India – Coordinator, M&QA Expert Panel




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    © IFOAM - Organics International 2017